Steve Schmidt gives a Master Class on Twitter outrage and not giving a f**k.

[madaboutharry]

This has been going on since last night. The wretched Meghan McCain let out her inner ugly with a tweet accusing The Lincoln Project and Steve Schmidt of running a pedophile ring. ( Context: A man named John Weaver was found to have been sexting and harassing young men and was subsequently forced out of the organization.) The smear against Schmidt was gross. And Steve Schmidt wasn't having it.

Steve Schmidt exploded onto Twitter letting loose on Meghan, calling her out for disgusting and disgraceful behavior during the 2008 campaign, and then let loose on John McCain and his corrupt connections with the likes of Paul Manafort and all things Russia.

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=z6JOYg52xRbSL95TGF-eOw

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=tmYnqEVVuqVPjoZjtajFSQ

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=1UovNKd5woeYlRDpKYY2Wg

If you are on Twitter, you can read the whole thing from Schmidt which has been going on pretty much non-stop since yesterday evening. It is a very frightening window into the duplicity of the 2008 McCain campaign, what a complete loathsome horror Meghan McCain actually is, and how the Republican Party has long been corrupt by Russian money.


And I would like to add this:

What is this new bullshit with republicans throwing the pedophile accusation at the wall like a plate of spaghetti? It is a disgrace. But what people need to realize is that it diminishes the suffering of victims who have experienced actual sexual abuse at the hands of a predator. It trivializes the crime of pedophilia and turns it into a political game. It proves once again how utterly full of shit republicans are when they try to claim some mantle of morality or righteousness.

[hlthe2b]

1. Yeah. I went through three pages of his twitter feed early this AM. Cathartic for him and

nearly equally so for me.

[TheBlackAdder]

21. JFC, check out the earlier part of this twitter dump. A Putin puppet was the one who vetted Palin.

.

https://www.politicususa.com/2022/05/08/steve-schmidt-drops-a-2008-mccain-campaign-russia-bombshell.html

And then all Palin was doing was hyping how scary Putin is.

Notice how quiet Palin is now that Putin is gaining favor with the GOP.

.

[hlthe2b]

24. I found it equally disturbing that McCain knowingly brought on a prominent Putinista to

launder Russian/Yanukovych Ukrainian funding to the campaign... As Schmidt now admits, tactics (on this), Trumpian before Trump. How the old-time anti-Russian pro-US military icon could have done this admittedly surprises me. Not that I was ever much of a McCain fan, but I did admire his service and had thought that he was as honorable as a Republican could be in that era. To be realistic, he probably WAS.

[FakeNoose]

54. Maybe John McCain was just really naive

Maybe he wasn't pro-Russian or anti-Ukraine, but I'm just guessing. It could be that people on his campaign were lying to his face and using him, in the same way that Manafort used Chump while acting as his unsalaried campaign manager. We know that Manafort had a secret agenda because he accepted $ millions from Yanukovich while he worked for Chump for "free." Who's to say the same thing didn't happen on McCain's campaign?

Something tells me that Steve Schmidt knew all this, and he was keeping it to himself out of respect for the memory of John McCain. However McCain's really stupid daughter Meghan changed all that. Now he's got no reason to keep quiet anymore.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. Someone needs to post the entire thing, beginning with Megan.

[UTUSN]

39. Boom! - Here's a short article summary, focused on him and her, leaving out the Russia

All the time she was on The View I thought she just lashed out at Libs, forever saying her sainted father encouraged her to be on that show, how it was perfect for her opinions. Looks like he just wanted to get rid of her.

******QUOTE*******

https://www.businessinsider.com/john-meghan-mccain-embarrassed-daughters-tantrums-campaign-manager-2022-5

John McCain was 'appalled and embarrassed' by Meghan McCain's tantrums, former campaign manager says

…. "I was the first adult that @MeghanMcCain ever encountered that she heard the word 'NO' from. I told her she was unimportant and that the Presidential election wasn't about her," Schmidt wrote.

The former campaign strategist recalled how he "left her on the tarmac" after she was late for a flight to one of her father's speaking engagements. "He was appalled by @MeghanMcCain conduct on the campaign. Appalled and embarrassed," Schmidt wrote. ….

He alleged that the tantrums, which he said involved "raging, screaming, crying," were directed at staff, makeup artists, and the Secret Service.

Schmidt said he confronted the former TV personality and was met with an entitled response. "I told her she was privileged and lucky and should be grateful," he wrote. "She told me and anyone else who would listen in response, 'Do you know who the Fuck my Dad is?' " ….

****UNQUOTE***

[UTUSN]

59. Here's the PUTIN part SCHMIDT cites from the 2008 article undermining Montenegro/Ukraine:

*********QUOTE********

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/mccains-kremlin-ties/

McCain’s Kremlin Ties
He may talk tough about Russia, but John McCain’s political advisors have advanced Putin’s imperial ambitions.
OCTOBER 1, 2008

…. Yet despite McCain’s tough talk, behind the scenes his top advisers have cultivated deep ties with Russia’s oligarchy—indeed, they have promoted the Kremlin’s geopolitical and economic interests, as well as some of its most unsavory business figures, through greedy cynicism and geopolitical stupor. The most notable example is the tale of how McCain and his campaign manager, Rick Davis, advanced what became a key victory for the Kremlin: gaining control over the small but strategically important country of Montenegro.

According to two former senior US diplomats who served in the Balkans, Davis and his lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, received several million dollars to help run Montenegro’s independence referendum campaign of 2006. The terms of the agreement were never disclosed to the public, but top Montenegrin officials told the US diplomats that Davis’s work was underwritten by powerful Russian business interests connected to the Kremlin and operating in Montenegro. Neither Davis nor the McCain campaign responded to repeated requests for comment. (Davis’s extensive lobbying work, especially on behalf of collapsed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has already attracted critical media scrutiny.) ….

In mid-September The Nation’s website published a photo of McCain celebrating his seventieth birthday in Montenegro in August 2006 at a yacht party hosted by convicted Italian felon Raffaello Follieri and his movie-star girlfriend Anne Hathaway. On the same day one of the largest mega-yachts in the world, the Queen K, was moored in the same bay of Kotor. This was where the real party was. The owner of the Queen K was known as “Putin’s oligarch”: Oleg Deripaska, controlling shareholder of the Russian aluminum giant RusAl, currently listed as the ninth-richest man in the world, with a rap sheet as abundant as his wealth. … ….

The story of how McCain’s closest aides and employees have been undermining his vociferously expressed opposition to Putin and Russia’s oligarchs offers a highly disturbing preview of what a McCain administration might look like. When McCain’s campaign proclaims “country first,” one has to wonder, Which country? The one with the highest bidder?

****UNQUOTE********

[Baitball Blogger]

62. Isn't it amazing how everyone is talking now?

Thanks for the info!

[UTUSN]

65. Welcome. Well, SCHMIDT's been talking since losing with McCAIN, dished dirt on PALIN

And has been slicing and dicing Drumpf since 2015.

*** But as for the new tell-alls, their cover is that they didn't speak out or quit Drumpf at the time because he would have replaced them with far worse, his loyalists who would actually *do* what he wanted, a whole gang of Stephen MILLERs. As many have said, it's true that's what would have happened, but it's a pale comfort. Drumpf never should have happened to begin with.

[rurallib]

3. Can Schmidt sue McCain over this?

[blueinredohio]

7. I certainly hope so!

And hope he does it. These people are not going to stop until they get sued to hell and back.

[azureblue]

4. what it this

What is this new bullshit with republicans throwing the pedophile accusation at the wall like a plate of spaghetti?

It started as a projection / cover up for Repub pedophlia to cover for Trump. so the smear machine decided to use it as an attack to try to keep America on the defensive. Agian, to try to distract from their own crimes - they hope the reporting of their own crimes will be drowned out by their accusations. Sounds so much like the days of the Salem which trials...

[vlyons]

30. Rachel Maddow did a show of the pedophile thing a week or so ago

According to her, accusations of pedophilia have a long history in dirty politics. It's such a universally despised criminal act that such an accusation is what the dirty tricksters always seem to use.

According to Rachel, both Hitler and Stalin used it to villify their political opponents. Stalin used trumped up child abuse convictions to eliminate his opponents. And now Republicans are doing the same. Remember how they accused Hillary of running a child trafficing ring in the basement of a pizza shop? At the time, I just shrugged off such stupid nonsense. But no more!

I hope Schmidt sues her to hell and back for slander. Putting giant big dents in their back accounts seems to really get their attention. Money and power being the only things that they care about.

[yardwork]

5. Don't miss Glenn Greenwald jumping in to defend Putin. Warning his pay.

[Hortensis]

50. Usual memes hit. Notice he's defending Russian asset Tucker Carlson

while using this Schmidt thing to smear liberals [Democrats]. Including trying to launder Tucker's toxic RW anti-establishment populism by equating it with FDR's liberal Democratic sanity. (!)

Link to tweet

And he's been hitting Meghan McCaine's "pedo" theme to smear Democrats (via Schmidt).
Incoming from various directions, consistently consistent with Kremlin agitprop.

[yardwork]

51. Of course. It's Greenwald's job.

[Hortensis]

53. Self employed or otherwise, he's very industrious.

Of course many assets contribute happily for nothing, some "gotta be me" thing. The difference would be irrelevant to my concerns. Which are always the next election.

[yardwork]

55. This one is making bank, I think.

[in2herbs]

6. I read her book only sold 300 copies. nt

[niyad]

8. If you read the OP yesterday about Steve and the entitled one, there is a photo

of her standing at mccain's grave, with a copy of her book propped in front of his tombstone.

[FoxNewsSucks]

9. NOt surprised.

She is a near-tRump-level grifter.

[area51]

22. I saw that pic,

and it made me want to

[GoCubsGo]

32. She wishes it was 300.

More like 244, last I read. Half of those were probably her shitstain husband's purchases.

[ProfessorGAC]

66. Who, At The Publisher...

...was fired?
A book that sells only 250 copies is a corporate embarrassment.
Anyone who thought giving her a book deal was a good idea is obviously incompetent.

[GoCubsGo]

67. Apparently, she wrote another book in 2010 that sold fairly well.

I can see the decision being based on that, rather than on recent realities, some of which occurred after the book deal.

[Carlitos Brigante]

10. If what this guy is alleging is true. And I admit part of me wants it to be true, just

to confirm my own biases. John McCain is not the "honorable man" I keep reading about here. But just another opportunist, self absorbed ego maniac. Who in turn raised another one.

[niyad]

11. read the Nation artitcle from 2020 that Steve linked in the OP yesterday. Long

and jaw-dropping. Not just mccain but dole as well.

[OneGrassRoot]

13. Would you mind posting the link here? Thanks. n/t

[niyad]

16. My computer won't let me link. But if you google "mccain's kremlin ties the nation"

should get you there. or find the OP from here yesterday.

[OneGrassRoot]

17. Got it - thanks!

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/mccains-kremlin-ties/

[Carlitos Brigante]

15. Now I gotta go read that! TY. nt

[PatSeg]

40. The article ends with:

When McCain’s campaign proclaims “country first,” one has to wonder, Which country? The one with the highest bidder?

Damn...........

[PatSeg]

14. Yeah, it certainly sounds like it

[plimsoll]

20. It's a continuum.

John McCain compared to Donald Trump. Honorable tips to McCain.

We are well past the "lesser of to evils" period of American politics, can't stand John McCain, but would he have been better than Trump? As it's been said many places, slime molds would have been better than Trump.

Besides the piece I actually changed a GOP voters opinion of McCain on wasn't any of these ties, but on his connection to the savings and loan debacle. He wasn't a big player in the Keating situation, but Keating got him back on board by challenging his "manliness." From that point on you could see him change direction whenever someone questioned his manliness. He wasn't a maverick, he was easy to manipulate. I don't think that ever changed until he was terminal with his cancer.

[niyad]

23. Thank you for the reminder about keating. And I always remember the way

he divorced his first wife. Plus all the stories about his incompetence and arrogance and temper while in the Navy. Oh, and calling wife #2 the c-word on an open mic at a campaign event.

[tishaLA]

63. The c-word thing has always stuck with me

The story I read, I think, had him saying it to her before a rally when his hair needed to be combed. He was a disgusting misogynist, which is probably why Meghan adored him so much.

[niyad]

64. The entitled little princess definitely has some issues.

[jaxexpat]

38. McCain was always just another Reaganesque style buffoon.

That he could hobnob amiably with the worst of international criminals, blissfully(sanctimoniously?) ignoring the impropriety and confident in his own legal and social unassailability, is all very easy to picture.

Maverick or "American Aristocrat" nitwit? History IS telling.

[Carlitos Brigante]

48. Pretty much. He went through some horrific shit. But seemed to have learned the

wrong lessons from it. And almost milked it all the way to the WH.

[niyad]

60. From a number of reports I saw during the campaignn, including here on DU,

he was an arrogant, entitled, conceited, tempermental prick. He only got into, and graduated from, Annapolis because of daddy and granddaddy's ranks (don't forget that he graduated third from the bottom. Could not have a mccain being the Naval Academy's "tail end charlie".). Beyond arrogant as a pilot, crashed several planes. Linked to the fire aboard the Forrestal (some questions there). Was flying an unauthorized
mission when shot down. Divorced first wife in tacky way. Called heiress wife #2 the c-word on an open mic during a campaign event. Could not remember how many homes they had. And on and on.

And all of that without knowing anything about his kremlin ties.

[calimary]

49. Just another Republican I would never vote for.

Period. That’s what it boils down to.

[thomski64]

47. Keating five.

..survivor

[PatSeg]

12. Wow, Meghan pissed off the wrong guy

Sounds like he's been bottling up a whole lot of crap for a long time.

Sarah Palin "was vetted by Paul Manafort's partner and a top adviser to Oleg Deripaska and Victor Yanukovych."
Also McCain picked Sarah, not Steve Schmidt.

All this time we were led to believe it was Schmidt that picked Sarah Palin.

Here is the Threadreader version, easier to read:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1523165543691300866.html

[niyad]

19. veruka salt. I would not have understood that if I had not just finished a

book that referenced the entitled, horrid, demanding, greedy little girl in "Willy Wonka".

[padah513]

25. Thanks I was going to google it

[PatSeg]

33. You're welcome

It is so hard to read these long threads on Twitter. This should have been an article, but obviously Schmidt needed to respond to McCain, so doing so on Twitter was necessary.

I have to really admire Schmidt's integrity. He has gone all these years and never revealed so many things he knew about McCain, his family, and the 2008 campaign. So many republicans would have used such knowledge to write a tell-all book. Most of them tend to be opportunists first and foremost.

[PatSeg]

31. Yes, that is an apt comparison

Though I believe Meghan is a spoiled, entitled brat, I also think there is something psychologically wrong with her. From the clips I've seen of her on The View, her behavior goes beyond spoiled. She always looks like she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Her controlling right-wing husband probably doesn't help matters as well.

[themaguffin]

58. Veruca Salt has been my go to name for Trumpers who threw tantrums since the pandemic started

[niyad]

61. I only learned of this character last week, but thanks to you, I now have a

name for the puke scum that I can use in polite company!

[Sympthsical]

18. Not sure I want to hear from the man who gave us Alito

Seriously. Find a cave, man. You had a nice big hand in bringing us to this point. Grift can wait. Shame is forever.

Schmidt is literally the guy who got Alito on the Court.

He knew what he was doing.

[hlthe2b]

29. Yes. He's got a lot for which he will not be readily forgiven. This is first and foremost right now

[Sympthsical]

34. And the reason he's going after McCain so hard is to mask his own culpability

Not just with John McCain, but with the topic at hand.

He and Wilson both knew about their buddy predating on young men. They covered for it until it became untenable. Then we got a weepy "I was abused!" story apropos of nothing in a vein very similar to Kevin Spacey's "I'm gay!" statement. Ok, but doesn't really excuse your behavior, does it?

We need better standards than "Slams Republicans on social media!" for who we welcome onto our side. Not just welcome, but then actively promote in our spaces.

Sure, he played a fundamental role in undoing Roe v Wade, but he writes a good tweet!

Seriously.

[hlthe2b]

36. I have no problem listening to what he has to say, though. It is incumbent on all of us to do so

(with literally ANYONE in power or surrounding power) using appropriate skepticism and taking time to research their past history. Still, with the exception of the true sociopaths-- who I tend to ignore totally, the truth usually lies closer to the middle, in my experience. Reading and discussing what they write does not equate to embracing them, at least in my book.

[Ferrets are Cool]

42. Listening to anyone tear down those self-righteous asswipes on the right is

not the same as embracing them. Let them go at it.

[Sympthsical]

45. Tweets don't erase culpability

Promoting someone who had a direct hand in bringing us to the point of overturning Roe shouldn't happen on a Democratic site that is taking the issue seriously.

But some people think Tweets are the same as actually doing something, so I understand the confusion sometimes.

Anyone responsible for Alito should be actively shunned, not making millions from us.

[Puppyjive]

26. Twitter os stupid

It's just a bunch of high profile celebs and people who think their opinion matters. I finally got rid of it. It's a childish game. I don't care what they think.

[cilla4progress]

35. I did too and have reclaimed

A large portion of my time and life! Which is admittedly, on mr. I just couldn't limit myself.

I sure miss certain posters. But the blow by blow of humans' inhumanity to one another; the false reality - does it truly reflect what is "going on"? The crass and crudeness ....blah and blech.

Im so relieved and it really hasn't been that hard. Only a couple moments of feeling the urge.

There are lots of other worthy "news" sources! And for something like this juicy story I can come here!

[Puppyjive]

43. Yes

I too have found that I have more time because I am not looking at my phone for twitter notifications.

[cilla4progress]

46. Crazy,

isn't it?

I was rushing thru beloved activities to check it! And interrupting my work flow, etc.!

Now I just stop and check DU!!


🤣

[Puppyjive]

27. Twitter is stupid

It's just a bunch of high profile celebs and people who think their opinion matters. I finally got rid of it. It's a childish game. I don't care what they think.

[hlthe2b]

28. A bit like focusing on "the leak," rather than the ROE v WADE opinion itself, don't you think?

Twitter is Twitter with all is problems/issues, but the OP is about Steve Schmidt (who has written no books) spilling some of the beans vis-a-vis Palin, and McCain and a pro-Putin consultant's very heavy role in the campaign, while likewise taking on Meghan McCain's lies and idiocy. If he had had this running discourse elsewhere, that would have been the source linked. No one is lauding Schmidt sans criticism either. As someone upstream pointed out, he was instrumental in Alito's confirmation process and that alone gives many of us reason to be unforgiving.

We've had countless threads about Twitter, FB, and other social media where I'd say the majority would agree with your comments. But that isn't the subject here. And in case you wonder, I've never registered on any of them (and I don't think I'm in the minority on DU for this), but it is possible to read an individual's stream from the internet website link.

[Grasswire2]

56. well said

Twitter as a platform for news/discussion too often becomes the topic.

It's not for everyone. But it IS the national conversation now, or for now.

Let's concentrate on the news that comes straight and unfiltered from newsmaker to us. No editor, no pundit, no "host" or interpreter.

Schmidt wrote, late last night. I read it moments later.

That's kewl.

[cilla4progress]

37. Schmidt's thread brings to mind the Ezra Klein podcast series

I'm listening to (only 1 ep so far) on the history of the R party since WWII based on a book by Matthew Continetti.

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS84MkZJMzVQeA/episode/YmZhODgwMTEtZmFlMS00ZWNkLTg2OTktYWM4NDgzMTYyZjk5?ep=14

Recommend!

[smb]

41. Simple

What is this new bullshit with republicans throwing the pedophile accusation at the wall like a plate of spaghetti?

Well, there's a well-established pattern that every GQP accusation is actually a confession....

[Budi]

44. After Palin.. then Manafort & his Ukrainian/RU meddling, I'd like to hear SSchmidt address DeVine ..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-bernie-sanders-ad-man-who-played-paul-manaforts-game/2018/08/01/0df78c18-95c7-11e8-a679-b09212fb69c2_story.html?noredirect=on

Snip
..
Democracy Dies in Darkness
FROM 2018

Tad Devine, during his run as chief strategist for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, railed against the corrupting influence of money in politics.

He repeatedly echoed the Sanders message that “our economy is rigged,” that “special interests” buy politicians, that “all of the new wealth is going to the top of America,” that there is a “corrupt system of campaign finance” of which Hillary Clinton offered an “egregious” example. Sanders, by contrast, “supported the little guy.”

Those who heard Devine’s interviews and watched his Sanders TV ads therefore may be surprised to know that, in the years and months leading up to the Sanders presidential campaign, Devine was making gobs of money to secure the election of one of the world’s most corrupt political figures and then his allies.

Thanks to Robert S. Mueller III’s prosecution of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman and sometime business associate of Devine, we now have an unusual glimpse into the role the Democratic ad man had in electing and preserving the power of Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovych, a crooked pro-Putin autocrat. Though American political consultants routinely rake in cash from foreign leaders — even shady ones — Devine’s seamless pivot from advocate for antidemocratic thug to champion of a principled democratic reformer shows extraordinary flexibility.

The spectacular rise and fall of Paul Manafort
Before he joined the Trump campaign, Paul Manafort made a name for himself in the D.C. lobbying world, but his past caught up with him.
Yanukovych’s fraudulent election in 2004 as Ukraine’s president was invalidated, but not before his opponent was poisoned by dioxin. Yet testimony in the Manafort trial and documents released by Manafort’s lawyers show Devine helped Manafort on Yanukovych’s comeback as prime minister in 2006 and successful presidential run in 2010. Devine produced a memo of advice for Yanukovych’s party in 2012, even though by then Yanukovych had thrown the leading opposition politician in jail and had built a $100 million mansion — complete with zoo, helipad, golf course and replica galleon on an artificial lake — while his people were, in Devine’s own words, struggling with “joblessness, hunger and the general despair.”

Yanukovych was ousted in 2014 after he halted Ukraine’s movement toward the European Union, yet Devine offered to help Manafort’s efforts in the 2014 Ukraine election — for a price. “We are ready to take on this project,” he wrote to Manafort partner Rick Gates, for $100,000 per month (payable in advance), $25,000 per week of runoff, a $50,000 “success fee” and expenses including first-class airfare. In June 2014 — even as talks about the Sanders presidential run were getting underway — Devine went to Ukraine to help remnants of Yanukovych’s party reforming under a new name. “My rate for something like this would be $10,000/day, including travel days,” he wrote to Gates.

Tad DeVine was engineering Yanukovych’s campaign along with is long time friend Manafort, the same yrs he was getting Sanders elected.

Steve Schmidt would certainly know as much of Tad DeVine as he does Manafort & the RU connections in the corrupt electioneering for Putin's choice of Yanukovych in Ukraine.

The connections are all tied with the same thread of corruption & dark money.

None of this is a secret, it has been known for years yet again, media chose to never bring it up.

[dchill]

52. "None of this is a secret..."

"... it has been known for years yet again, media chose to never bring it up."

Your last sentence, yet it's the real headline of this whole story.

[Wingus Dingus]

57. I never thought much about Meghan McCain in any sense, other than

she traded on her dad's name and legacy. Now I know she's a complete shitbag, and the Russia shit started longer ago and swept up more GOPers than I had known. So, there's that. Thanks, Mr. Schmidt.