Do you trust Steve Schmidt on his attacks on John McCain

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What he's saying is probably true but, as fun as it might be to see the McCains get dragged, Schmidt is still an HP grifter so who care.

This. What's the most fun is that he's making serious allegations about a deceased statesman who's very highly regarded by most of the general public--the greater Atlas community's generally critical view of John McCain is the definition of a "high-information" position that would seem strange to most people who only casually follow politics--yet he's doing so in the format of hours-long personal-beef Twitter tirades against that person's politically irrelevant daughter.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Yes I do.

There was always something fishy about the 2007-2008 campaign, McCain's primary operation, the selection of Palin and the incompetence of the whole campaign pause and such forth.

A crooked campaign manager, being retained only because he kept the lid on a bunch of McCain's dirty laundry makes all of the other things seem more reasonable.

McCain never should have been the nominee. His image was largely that of a media fabrication and this showed on the Lehman brother's collapse. The guy was great at playing Moderate Hero, eating up accolades by the media for it and accruing his own following of devotees (Remember, he only became the nominee because of Fred Thompson and Rudy falling on their swords at just the right time to help him out, and Huckabee only beat Romney in Iowa because Brownback dropped out. Also Lindsay Graham, before he was kowtowing to Trump was doing likewise for McCain.)

I said Romney was the proto-Trump on the shift towards nationalism on immigration and to some extent trade. But McCain very much was essential to Trump's rise, both in the bases anger at him, but also thanks to the Palin pick. Also reading that litany of campaign turbulence reminded me a lot of Trump's in 2016 (taken up to 11 because everything is bigger with Trump).

This hits the nail on the head as Mr.X said, but I’d like to add some of my remembrance from Gamechange, the original pick was Lieberman but it seems like this was leaked by someone early on in the process so it had to be scraped, next were Pawlenty Romney and a few others. Palin interestingly enough wasn’t a though until a few days before the announcement I think they did all the “vetting” with Palin in less than a week.

At the time I was pleased with the Palin pick because all I knew was she had kicked the teeth in to the Murkowski (Frank) - Stevens - Young Cartel that dominated Alaska politics at the time and was to that point the most popular Governor in the country, trading places with Joe Manchin and John Hoeven a couple of times.

Schmidt implied that Graham leaked the Lieberman pick in one of these tweets.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

What he's saying is probably true but, as fun as it might be to see the McCains get dragged, Schmidt is still an HP grifter so who care.

This. What's the most fun is that he's making serious allegations about a deceased statesman who's very highly regarded by most of the general public--the greater Atlas community's generally critical view of John McCain is the definition of a "high-information" position that would seem strange to most people who only casually follow politics--yet he's doing so in the format of hours-long personal-beef Twitter tirades against that person's politically irrelevant daughter.

Sounds like peak Atlas to me.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

What he's saying is probably true but, as fun as it might be to see the McCains get dragged, Schmidt is still an HP grifter so who care.

This. What's the most fun is that he's making serious allegations about a deceased statesman who's very highly regarded by most of the general public--the greater Atlas community's generally critical view of John McCain is the definition of a "high-information" position that would seem strange to most people who only casually follow politics--yet he's doing so in the format of hours-long personal-beef Twitter tirades against that person's politically irrelevant daughter.

Sounds like peak Atlas to me.

Is Schmidt secretly an Atlas poster?

[BlueSwan]

I mostly believe him yes, but obviously we are only hearing his perspective.

[MillennialModerate]

I didn’t mind Schmidt and sometimes even liked him. But saying he covered up “all of McCains filth” is a little strong. So what, he banged a lobbyist. Who cares. He gave enough to this country where I think that can be forgiven

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I didn’t mind Schmidt and sometimes even liked him. But saying he covered up “all of McCains filth” is a little strong. So what, he banged a lobbyist. Who cares. He gave enough to this country where I think that can be forgiven

Its never about the sex itself, but what actions were taken to keep that secret and what impact did those have.

This has always been my issue with these philandering politicians.

[Torie]

Wow, that is one of the weirdest near stream of conscience attempt at self therapy articles I ever read. Schmidt seems to be a tortured soul.

But yeah, it is all true, and McCain all too often was impulsively reckless, which is why even though I had given money to McCain's campaign, ended up voting for Dubya as to whom I also had doubts as to his mental acumen, even though I think he had a good temperament - sort of like Biden in that department.

[Sir Mohamed]

I dunno, it's possible. But Schmidt is a questionable figure to begin with.

[OSR stands with Israel]

I dunno, it's possible. But Schmidt is a questionable figure to begin with.

Also even if his campaign manager had a business relationship with an oligarch , it’s not really indicative of McCain given McCain’s policies towards Russia were far more aggressive than any major post Cold War politician . So Davis’s relationship with the oligarch didn’t influence McCain’s policies at all really .

The only question then is if Davis did anything illegal but given we didn’t have much sanctions on Russia at the time , the answer is almost certainly not . At the end of the day it’s the government’s responsibility to be tough on these nations and not private individuals .

Same reason why I blame the government more than I blame corporate America for letting China get away with a lot for many years as well .