The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Dear Bill Kristol …

Posted on | September 24, 2011 | 75 Comments

PLEASE SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT CHRIS CHRISTIE!

Seriously, you’re starting to piss me off here, with your . . . idiotic assertion that the 37 percent of Florida straw-poll delegates who voted for Herman Cain were voting for “none of the above.”

Did you notice that little . . . pause, Bill?

Kind of a hint, buddy. Because any liberal would have said “racist assertion” instead of “idiotic assertion,” and I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt, knowing that your college roommate was Alan Keyes.

Trust me when I say that I understand perfectly well why the Beltway commentariat has a problem taking Herman seriously. To start with the obvious: His campaign is unprecedented. The man has never been elected to anything, and the last guy we elected president with no previous political experience was Ike. 

Being Supreme Allied Commander is probably better preparation for the presidency than being CEO of Godfather’s Pizza. I get that.

I’ve called Herman Cain “Steve Forbes with charisma,” and I think maybe part of the problem you pundit types have with Herman is that you don’t trust charisma. This is why you were willing to say polite things about that hopeless dud Pawlenty and have such warm praise for the charisma-deficient Mitch Daniels yet constantly low-rate Cain.

Also, as a successful businessman, Herman Cain has an instinctive distrust of know-it-all advisers — he wants to do things his way —  so his staff is noticeably lacking in well-known campaign operatives, speechwriters, etc.

I get that, too. And trust me when I say that, as someone who has followed the Cain campaign closely for nine months now, I’ve heard lots of complaints about opportunities missed because of subpar staff work by Team Herman. The phrase “amateur hour” has become sadly familiar, and has been often heard from people who enthusiastically support Cain, but grind their teeth at the unreturned phone calls, the haphazard advance work, etc., etc.

All of these caveats aside, however, Herman Cain has three things: A compelling rags-to-riches narrative, an optimistic pro-business message and more charisma than anyone else in the GOP field.

So how about, instead of pining for Chris Christie or some other “acceptable” candidate, you start trying to figure out what you can do to help Herman Cain win this thing? Because you are underestimating the risk of your own embarrassment if Christie is foolish enough to listen to your pleadings, gets in the race, and then Herman beats him, too.

Don’t laugh, Bill. All those guys who jumped on the Perry bandwagon last month probably would have laughed if I had told them Cain would stomp their guy to smithereens in the Florida straw poll.

They’re not laughing now, are they?

HERMAN CAIN FOR PRESIDENT
Because He Keeps Making Fools of
All the ‘Experts’ Who Say He Can’t Win

UPDATE: Et tu, Insty?

Category: Chris Christie, Election 2012, Florida, Herman Cain, Intellectuals

Comments

75 Responses to “Dear Bill Kristol …”

  1. ThePaganTemple
    September 25th, 2011 @ 12:05 pm

    Bill Krystal is, as somebody else pointed out, a Neocon. What that means, as I’ve come to understand it, is they were at one time liberal Democrats who were allegedly strong on national security, and so they changed parties once the far left pacifist wing of the Democrats became predominant. But they are still liberals on most matters not having to do with national security. You can spot one a mile away. Mention JFK and they’ll get all misty-eyed. So why would it come as a surprise that they would support somebody like Chubby?

    If you don’t like it, start flooding their publications with e-mails and links to other sources so they’ll know where you stand. They need to know. Let them know that they, not you, are the fringe of the party.

  2. rosalie
    September 25th, 2011 @ 12:15 pm

    Coulter and Ingraham are showing their true beltway, elitist snobbery.  They criticize Palin for not making a definitive decision, but it’s just fine and dandy for Christie to continue to say that he might jump in, as though everyone is just waiting for his announcement with bated breath. 

  3. Anonymous
    September 25th, 2011 @ 12:51 pm

    Amen, and amen!

  4. Joe
    September 25th, 2011 @ 1:35 pm

    Pagan, they are jokes.  If you go down through my comments, I do not attack Perry much at all.  I even say this is not the end for him, if he is a good candidate he will fight and recover from this.  Or he wont.  I have nothing really against Perry. 

    And the joke about Perry getting a D in economics is the hypocrisy and incompetency of the Obama administration.  I think Jay Leno and his writers wrote those jokes.  I put them up for two reasons:  They are funny.  They have a double edge to them if you think about them. 

  5. Mike F.
    September 25th, 2011 @ 1:36 pm

    I’m ready to put a ” Herman Cain / Alan West 2012″ sticker on my car.

  6. Joe
    September 25th, 2011 @ 1:38 pm

    I really have no idea why this is, other than Coulter and Ingraham buy that Palin is damaged goods, but that Christie is just amazing. 

    I love when Chris Christie engages in some witty exchange with some union audience member.  That is good stuff.  But Christie is not a conservative on most issues.  Not even close.  Yet Palin is a conservative.

    Perry is melting down for his liberal positions.  Christie is to the left of Perry on almost all of them. 

  7. Joe
    September 25th, 2011 @ 1:41 pm

    Ouch! 

  8. Joe
    September 25th, 2011 @ 1:46 pm

    Oh Pagan, sorry if you thought I was picking on Rick Perry.  Here is a joke you will like (thanks to Christy Waters below): 

    Calling Chris Christie a conservative is like calling Chaz Bono a man… even though they look very similar.     

    Now you have to admit that is funny. 

  9. rosalie
    September 25th, 2011 @ 2:44 pm

    You’re right.  It boggles my mind to see Coulter fawning over him since he’s just another RINO.  We would have a chance with Palin to really change things for the better in this country, and these so-called Conservatives are clinging to a RINO. 

  10. Zilla of the Resistance
    September 25th, 2011 @ 3:01 pm

    Bill Kristol is an islamoblow dhimwit, just like his idol Chris Christie. I wrote about both of these islamocoddlers in my post, “Conservative” Dhimmitude, over the winter. Nothing Kristol has to say about anything is of any relevance to me. Ditto for Christie. 

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    September 25th, 2011 @ 12:07 pm

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  13. Anonymous
    September 25th, 2011 @ 5:06 pm

    So what’s stopping Dan Collins?

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  15. Adjoran
    September 25th, 2011 @ 7:07 pm

    The Christie fever is pretty much the East Coast version of Perry fever:  people know a little about him, the well-publicized confrontations with unions and Democrats in the legislature where he made them back down, etc., so they assume he could be the Conservative Knight in Shining Armor to ride in and save America and the GOP from all that ails us.  Getting to know Christie more intimately would be the same as discovering Perry’s reality:  conservatives would find plenty not to like.

    These guys who are floated above the fray as some ethereal beings are always actually made of flesh and blood and usually feet of clay.  It’s like the early match-ups in polling when “generic Republican” out-polls all the specific candidates; people project the attributes they would want to see in a candidate onto those mysterious non-entities, and are then shocked – shocked! – to find they are as human and flawed as all the others.

  16. Bob Belvedere
    September 25th, 2011 @ 9:48 pm

    Rosalie and Joe: The Ingraham / Coulter situation is is why women should have the vote taken away from them.

  17. Bob Belvedere
    September 25th, 2011 @ 10:00 pm

    Ah!  Trying to double-cover your raaaaacism!

  18. Bob Belvedere
    September 25th, 2011 @ 10:01 pm

    Spot-on, Zilla, but I do wish you would open up and let us know what you really think.

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