Steve Schmidt, John McCain & What I Know You Likely Don't - Part I

Just when you think you're out, they pull ya back in! I haven't thought/talked much about my book, The Real McCain (2008), in a while. But w/ John & Meghan McCain and Steve Schmidt dominating social media w/ Schmidt deciding it was time to tell truths about both McCains...I had things to add about the, let's call it, complicated legacy of John McCain vs the myth that's been sold (I couldn't even get to Meghan there was so much on the Senator, so perhaps a Part II's coming on that). I give you the breakdown and the takedown.

Where I got my info

Schmidt on The McCains

**transcript generated by third-party transcription software, please excuse any typos**

well guys the uh proverbial shiznit sure hit the fan this weekend when uh megan mccain decided one more time to step into that briar patch and attack former mccain advisor lincoln project former lincoln project guy steve schmidt um and attack him in you know a utterly dishonest way implying he's a pedophile and man did she open up like pandora's box um schmidt not only hit back with attacks on her he hit back with attacks he finally spoke the truth about john mccain which some of us have been waiting for for a lot of years we've spoken the truth but um because i come from the left side of the aisle um people tend not to believe it it's going to be a long one i'm going to do my best to get through this but as some of you may know i wrote a book on john mccain in 2008 called the real mccain actually an amazon bestseller go get yourself a copy if you'd like um and really what the crux of it was about was how this man who portrayed himself as this maverick as this sort of you know this guy who would do what was right even when everything was up against him um you know when he was in the toughest of situations you could count on him it just wasn't true about his political career um it was very true unlike the swift voters i gave him full credit and the swift voters were the people attacking him from the bush campaign lying about him who eventually did the same to kerry and saying he was a manchurian candidate uh listen the man did something that i don't think almost any other human alive could do he chose to stay in captivity and be tortured until they agreed to release all of his men with him um and i always gave him full credit for that but as a politician what his pattern was a combination of anger a lot of anger um having political courage and moments almost to make up for his mistakes as a way of cleaning his slate and that of a gambler um and you know those are dangerous traits in uh a president of the united states the truth of the matter is that again i look back at him now i mean compared to most of the goons that the republican party puts out there today of course he would have been far better than them he had a conscience um he was human he often eventually would seek reconciliation with those who fought with and attacked he wasn't rand paul or ted cruz or donald trump he wasn't an evil grifty um you know completely self-involved ideologically right-wing nut but he had a lot of issues and and the myth that was created around him the straight talk express um and that he was this guy who stood up to his party was simply not true and this is what my book was about and the truth is that everything i'm going to tell you right now people like you kind of tell us the truth i told you that um but i'll tell you again because it's been a long time i'm not sure everybody read the book and um you know the fact of the matter was was that you know during the 80s when he was first elected to congress from arizona after marrying an heiress cindy mccain or cindy i don't remember her name then he'd been there two years and he ran for congress he ran on his background this incredible sacrifice as a war hero and that's why he won but he got himself involved in the keating five scandal a big scandal um you have to go back and look with savings and loans and deregulation and payoffs and that was the reason he responded with his huge almost like i mean like a mission like um i'm trying to take a crusade to get campaign finance before best it was to cleanse himself that was good for all the rest of us he fought for it too was the right thing to do but that was the crux behind it because that's who he was um you know i had numerous stories and schmidt tells some of these stories of of the abusive way in which he treated some of the folk some of the people around him um the lie that he made schmidt get up and tell for him about an affair he was having with a lobbyist now these things came out later my book came out may 1st 2008 schmidt didn't get there until july i was no longer reporting on him and so that's not even stuff that i'm privy to and if you're all hoping you're going to find out about the secret