I know most of you have heard about the pissing contest between Steve Schmidt and Meghan McCain. Schmidt is more than spot on with his criticism’s of the obnoxious, spoiled, privileged bully that is Meghan McCain. But what I want to point out is how John McCain got away with lying in public about an affair he was having with a lobbyist, and how McCain looked the other way with the corruption involving his long time aide and campaign manager Rick Davis. These were the other points that Schmidt was raising with his spilling of the tea on John McCain.
While we might take a quick look at and eye roll toward anything dealing with Meghan McCain, her father once again proved that image beats substance, at least when it comes to our damn corrupt Media.
John McCain got an undeserved reputation as a “straight shooter” with the Media. This image was cultivated by John McCain after he got involved with pressuring federal regulators to lay off savings and loan crook Charles Keating, Jr. McCain became very accessible to the national Media reporters and columnists. And the Media loved it and his “Straight Talk Express” campaign bus.
Too bad that McCain continued to have a bad reputation with Arizona reporters.
But this “straight talking” bs line was in direct response to the fallout from the Keating Five Affair. McCain had ambition, and he didn’t want to end up on the dung heap with some of the other Keating Five senators. And the Media just loves when they get access to a politician.
Well, it turns out that John McCain was having an affair with a lobbyist by the name of Vicki Iseman. This information came out in a NYT’s article in 2008, and well, I will turn this over to Schmidt:
The answer can be found in this New York Times article from February 21, 2008, written by Jim Rutenberg, Marilyn W. Thompson, David D. Kirkpatrick and Stephen Labaton. I had the opportunity to privately apologize to Jim Rutenberg several years ago. Before continuing, I would like to apologize to the journalists whose bylines appear on the story. Their credibility, integrity and professionalism were unfairly attacked by the McCain campaign of which I was a part of. I got it wrong. These journalists, like many others, were also victims of this lie. Today, I would like to publicly apologize to all of the journalists: Jim Rutenberg, Marilyn W. Thompson, David D. Kirkpatrick and Stephen Labaton. I am sorry.
Immediately following the story’s publication, John and Cindy McCain both lied to the American people at a news conference that I prepared them for on that same day.
Both denied the story to me personally, as did the lobbyist at the center of the story. They also lied to the American people…
Senator McCain denied his long relationship with the lobbyist – to whom he was credibly accused of providing special favors – dozens of times to my face. After the New York Times story – which accurately detailed that relationship – was attacked and successfully discredited by the campaign under my direction, John McCain told me the truth backstage at an event in Ohio. Understandably, he was very concerned about this potentially campaign-ending issue. He kept saying, “The campaign is over.” I reassured him that it was behind us.
However, John McCain was convinced it would soon be over. Similar accusations and relationships had ended campaigns in the recent past. In fact, John McCain looked at me and said he did not understand how he could go on with his presidential run by saying, “Boy, I had a long relationship with her.” I was livid, and flew home to California. After he obsessively called for days afterwards, I (foolishly) returned to the campaign trail.
For the next several months, there was not a single night that passed that I did not spend hours on the phone with a broken, distraught and profoundly unstable lobbyist. She screamed at me incoherently for hours every night. I became the shock absorber for her rage, anger and humiliation. I did this to protect John McCain and the campaign.
According to Schmidt, Iseman tried to commit suicide over her affair with John McCain. But McCain and his staff knew how to slam the NYT, and while Iseman sued the NYT, the two parties settled with no money changind hands. The NYT had to put in a part that said they never intended to imply their was a sexual affair between John McCain Vicki Iseman.
But Schmidt says the reporters got it right the first time.
Normally, I don’t give a shit if a politician is cheating on a spouse. It has no real correlation in how they will perform their official duties. But the chaos in McCain’s personal life was reflected in his campaign. And it was Rick Davis’s job to smooth all that over and make it look like no big deal to the Media.
And because Rick Davis helped John McCain, it turns out that McCain would willfully turn a blind eye toward Davis’s corruption with the Russians. In fact, Davis arranged a meeting between Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. It turns outs that Deripaska was Rick Davis’s client. Schmidt indicates this was probably the start of Russian penetration into the Republican Party. And Mr. Patriot John McCain allowed his top aide to do all kinds of dirty deals with the Russian.
I suggest you all read what Schmidt has written.