Discussion: Three Prominent 2008 McCain Campaign Officials Not Invited To Funeral

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This is just gross. Really gross. There are no two people in the media who’ve shown more love and respect for McCain than Wallace and Schmidt. Not inviting those two is just petty as hell.

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Frankly, I doubt I could care less about who did or did not get invited to a funeral.

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Is it me or is there a little too much sanctimony about McCain just because he opposed Trump in the end
He did unleash Sarah and there’s shit like this .
Before you get all teary eyed and emotional
Party Before Country
Always

Donald Trump endorses Paul Ryan, John McCain

And
John McCain Backs Donald Trump, Says GOP Must Abide Voters’ Wishes

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This is the saddest thing I have read this week. Steve and Nicole are certainly not perfect, but I believe they are two of those rare conservatives who have scruples and do care about the country. I also have no doubt of their love and respect for McCain.

McCain could have said no to taking on Palin, this smacks of not taking responsibility. I am also pretty sure I have heard both Schmidt and Wallace express their deep regrets for foisting Palin on an unwitting public.

I think this is very petty and mean to not allow them at his funeral. I wondered why they haven’t been on MSNBC this week, this answers it.

ETA: And now both Nicole and Steve have become amazingly sharp critics of EVERYTHING individual-1 does, unlike McCain who voted with trump’s hellish agenda the vast majority of the time.

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Being an airman, I thought McCain was never a petty officer; I was mistaken.

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Agreed. Anyone who has watched them understands how cruel this decision is. It’s really not about who does or doesn’t get invited to a funeral. It’s just really sad to see two people who obviously adored McCain being ostracized by their decision to speak up for their country and admit their mistakes. That either McCain or his family still held any hostility toward Schmidt and Wallace says much more about McCain and his family than Schmidt and Wallace.

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It’s OK. Schmidt and Wallace can get even by not inviting McCain to their funerals.

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There are so many tv shows that have characters who know what the right thing is, but then make the opposite decision for expediency, selfishness, or simply out of fear of losing power or control. In some shows involving powerful families or groups, the individual makes the decision in favor of the tribe instead of what is right. He/she is racked with guilt afterwards but the point is they did it anyway.

McCain was one of those guys in 2008. He knew what he was doing, what he was unleashing. The right wing in AZ is about as nutty as it gets and has been for a long time, long before the tea party, Trump or even the Contract for America. Barry Goldwater was considered the pre-cursor for Reagan and a right wing nut in his day. McCain knew who these folks were and knew that Palin would play with them. He knew he would likely lose in either scenario but chose to take his shot, no matter the cost to the country, because there might just be enough white people who react to tribal instinct to get him over the line in key battleground states to pull off the type of win that Trump later did.

He knew what would play well with the tribe and he gave in to tribal loyalty. All 3 of them did and all 3 couldn’t even speak to each other about what they had done. They are decent people, and decent people feel the weight of morally wrong decisions more so than one with no shame or conscience like Trump. While Game Change was a great HBO movie, it was a confessional on the part of Schmidt and Wallace that threw McCain under the bus. That’s why he was pissed at them. They were all part of the same corrupt and malicious bargain.

As much as I like listening to Schmidt and Wallace, they’re still part of the GOP tribe to me and I don’t trust them. Wallace was out there defending the odious and obviously corrupt and unqualified Kavanaugh the day his nomination was put forward. If you know what Kavanaugh would do to gut women’s rights and voting rights and yet you still support him, you’re not a Democrat and you’re not really a liberal leaning independent or an ally. There is no world in which a growing left-leaning and diverse America can co-exist with far right nuts on the SCOTUS imposing an American brand of sharia law on us. People like her should know better. In fact, she does know better. The reality is that the tribal urge still exists in Wallace.

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You know, I don’t really think Game Change threw McCain under the bus. It just showed that he got desperate deep in his campaign and was talked into bringing on a woman who spoke for the soccer moms, middle class and evangelicals. She was, after all, on record for going after the Repub machine in her state.

I really think that no member of this trio would have agreed to Palin if all of her Alaska-crazy crap had been fully researched and brought to light. At least, I’d like to think so. Call me a romantic.

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Knowing McCain as I’ve known him through following his career, he would’ve viewed that portrayal very negatively. He had a big ego, was prickly and petty.

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…but…but…HERO! Because…er…he was tortured for America…or something.

So…does that make all of the POWs in American custody that have been tortured and held for far longer them McCain was held heroes as well?

Yes, I’ve really have come to loathe military hero worship especially when the person is slime.

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I think it shows that McCain was a company man all the way until Trump got too nutty for him. After his treatment by the Bush campaign in 2000, he still came onboard and pledged fealty to Bush, now even having him speak at his funeral. He could forgive that, but not the aides who wrote some pretty uncomfortable truths in their book.

Disappointing. I was actually surprised to read this. Nicolle has been off most of this week, and I thought it was because of the funeral. Guess not.

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Don’t kid yourself, McCain was fully onboard with 99% of what Trump has done.

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You want to see petty and mean? Two children wrote this obit about their departed mother. It appeared in the the Redwood Falls Gazette early this summer here in Minnesota:

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Well, 81% anyway., but a bit more country over party than most of the other ones.

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Since we’re talking about pettiness, let me indulge in some myself.
Look at this photo of Trump. Given how fat he appears while golfing, don’t you think he is wearing some heavy duty support undergarment here?

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There is no requirement to lionize a person when they die, and without more context, it’s just as easy to say that her children were being kind with their words.

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That seems pretty mild if you read between the lines.

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I think that you make a valid point. I suspect no one in the campaign fully understood how unfit Palin was. She had a good bio and, while there were some signs that she was a real lightweight and incapable of learning what was necessary to potentially act as President, those signs were only there if one did real digging. The McCain campaign can best be faulted for not vetting her carefully and thoroughly.

I’ve always felt that it was to McCain’s credit that he never criticized Palin after the fact or faulted her; I’ve assumed that this is the military leader in him–accepting the blame silently. But Schmidt and Wallace weren’t at all wrong in criticizing Palin and the choice of her as VP candidate. That McCain held that against them was wrong on his part.

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