The Other McCain

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

Attention, Bandwagon Jumpers: All Aboard the Fatty McAwesome Express!

Posted on | October 3, 2011 | 110 Comments

The biggest news today? The Florida poll showing Rick Perry in a distant fourth place (!) behind Newt Gingrich (!!), while Herman Cain has surged to within 4 points of Mitt Romney in the Sunshine Evil State.

And in the unscientific (but not insignificant) Hot Air Straw Poll, it’s Herman Cain 39%, Sarah Palin 32%, Rick Perry 12%, Mitt Romney 5% (hat-tip Gary Jackson).

The Hindenburg-at-Lakehurst implosion of the once-vaunted Perry juggernaut explains two things:

  1. Erick Erickson’s first baby steps toward a walk-back of Red State’s “Perry über alles” totalitarian solidarity motif; and
  2. Rumors that Perry allies are planning a scorched-earth smear campaign against Herman Cain.

Remember you heard that rumor here first and, when the hit-piece on Cain comes out, remember that Perry’s supporters are behind it.

Meanwhile, Matt Lewis hears that Chris Christie’s supporters have been told to gather in Trenton for a Thursday announcement, which would match Steve Forbes saying a Christie announcement is expected within 72 hours. (Both via AOSHQ Headlines.)

Those of you who’ve been jumping from bandwagon to bandwagon — T-Paw or Bachmann or Perry — this might just be the last bandwagon leaving the 2012 GOP station. And if you like ’em large, loud and kinda Romney-like, Christie’s your man.

You might want to wait until Thursday, however, before jumping aboard the Fatty McAwesome Express, because his announcement may be “no.” He’s said “no” over and over again, and I have no idea why he’s letting himself be talked into a “maybe,” but if he says “yes,” then you can expect him to become this year’s Giuliani, sucking up lots of MSM attention and getting praise from the Peggy Noonan types. And then he’ll lose badly, but only after providing three or four months of employment for Republican campaign operatives who couldn’t get hired by Romney.

I’ve got nothing against Christie, per se. He seems affable and smart and about as conservative as any New Jersey Republican can be, but that’s not going to win him any primaries, The upside? By becoming the MSM favorite, Christie could finally push Huntsman off the debate stage, which is long overdue.

The shake-out? If Christie gets in, I expect Bachmann finally to quit, with many of her Iowa supporters going to Rick Santorum. Depending on how bad the Perry hit on Cain is — and I’m told they expect to hurt him bad — there could be a lot of flux between now and the end of the month. There are many variables in play (some people say Sarah Palin might still jump in), but by Sunday we’ll know whether or not Christie’s in the race, and by Oct. 13 or 14, we’ll have some polls to measure the impact.

The next debate is Oct. 18 in Las Vegas. We’re planning to be there and by “we,” of course, I mean me, Smitty and Wombat. He’s been doing good work; he deserves the trip; hit the freaking tip jar.

UPDATE: After about three hours sleep, I wake up, check the comments and see some of y’all going after each other with knives down there. People need to chill with the accusations of bad faith against, e.g., Pagan Temple, who’s been commenting here forever. I mean, I’m not offering to co-sign a loan for PT or anything, I just don’t think attacking him personally helps anyone’s cause.

Furthermore, the reason I tipped y’all to the rumor that an anti-Cain attack was coming — and that Perry supporters were behind it — is that I’ve seen campaigns do oppo-research dumps in the “no fingerprints” way, so that when bad stuff comes out on a candidate, you don’t know where it came from. The tip I got was both vague and specific: While I wasn’t told what they were going to hit Cain with, or where it would be published, I was told that a hit was coming, and that it was Perry’s supporters who were pushing it. Notice I said Perry’s supporters, not Perry’s campaign, because I don’t know whether there was that kind of official involvement.

And let’s face it: That “N–rhead” rock story had to come from somewhere. Your natural instinct would be to blame the Romney people for it, of course. But then I remember that many key people on Perry’s team dumped all over Newt on their way out the door of Newt’s campaign, so this could be payback for that. On the other hand, maybe this was Texas enemies of Perry getting their own revenge for whatever reason.

We should look on the bright side of all this, however: This is what’s called “vetting,” and a hyper-competitive primary where the candidates are all cutting each other to ribbons is sure to produce a battle-hardened nominee when it’s finished. If the Democrats try to bring up something ugly during the general election campaign, let’s hope it’s something that has already come out during the primnary campaign, so even the liberal media will say, “Old news!”

Category: Chris Christie, Election 2012, Polls

Comments

110 Responses to “Attention, Bandwagon Jumpers: All Aboard the Fatty McAwesome Express!”

  1. Finrod Felagund
    October 4th, 2011 @ 1:20 pm

     I could see Palin being VP to another Tea Party type, like Cain for example.  He’s 65, would be 67 by the time he took office, whereas she’s 47 and would be in her mid-50s and definitely ready to be President after 2 terms as Cain’s VP.

  2. Zilla of the Resistance
    October 4th, 2011 @ 1:27 pm

    Cris Christie is an even bigger islamoblow than Rick Perry, he is second only to Caliph Obama in his islamocoddling. Screw him. 

  3. Garym
    October 4th, 2011 @ 1:50 pm

    That would have been awkward. The wife was just finishing her third Chemo treatment and she would not have been in the mood for a fivesome. Damn her! ; )

  4. Perry Supporters to Mount Attack on Herman Cain? | Herman Cain PAC
    October 4th, 2011 @ 9:57 am

    […] the rumor heard by The Other McCain, and there are also a few predictions. “The shake-out? If Christie gets in, I expect Bachmann […]

  5. ThePaganTemple
    October 4th, 2011 @ 2:04 pm

    RSM, I might be wrong but you might be over-thinking the “Niggerhead rock” story. This smells like a media driven story to me. They love to be in charge of things, and set the pace. All they care about is the horse race, and any kind of controversy they can gin up. Well, that and knocking any real conservative out of the race they can. They would love to see the Republican field going at each others throats, because that gives them something to report on and talk about. They don’t really care anything about substantive debate about the real issues, for the simple fact as far as they’re concerned there is only one valid side to almost every issue, so why bother with it?

  6. ThePaganTemple
    October 4th, 2011 @ 2:12 pm

    RSM, also thanks for sticking up for me. CPAGuy and Casey George seem to be the Cainiac equivalent of your basic Paultard. People like them are the excuse Bill O’Reilly uses for not including Cain in his polls. According to him, they use the same tactics for Cain the Paultards use for Paul. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s the rap.

    Actually I have fun with it, even a lot of the time when I seem like I’m pissed off. As for bad faith, as you know Palin has always been my first choice, but I’ll vote for almost any Republican. But Christie? That’s just going too damn far. Like I said before, even Huntsman is strong on the 2nd Amendment, and that’s my litmus test. Anything else, we can work with getting them on the right path if we absolutely have to, but if a candidate has so little regard for the Constitution and Bill of Rights as to support gun control, they are in my opinion what we here in KY call “no-counts”.

  7. CHRISTIE SAYS ‘NO’ (AGAIN) : The Other McCain
    October 4th, 2011 @ 12:41 pm

    […] waiting and praying for her to say “yes.”EXPECT FURTHER UPDATES . . .PREVIOUSLY:Oct. 3: Attention, Bandwagon Jumpers: All Aboard the Fatty McAwesome Express!Sept. 28: Like Chris Crocker and BritneySept. 24: Dear Bill Kristol …Category: Chris Christie, […]

  8. Dave
    October 5th, 2011 @ 12:14 am

    Sure, it’s the chemo that makes her not inclined for a fivesome. Riiiiight.

    Joke done, hoping and praying that your wife is in remission and kicking ass (yours if you bring up that stupid fivesome idea again).

  9. Garym
    October 5th, 2011 @ 1:25 am

    Dave, She finished her final chemo 2 weeks ago. Hormone therapy and reconstruction comes next. Its all looking good for remission.
    I’ll never stop bugging her about a threesome, fivesom, sextet. If I did, she’ll think there is something wrong with me.

  10. Anonymous
    October 5th, 2011 @ 5:12 am

    I know the majority still get their news that way.  But I think the percent of us who don’t has reached a critical mass.  We who distrust the Make-Believe Media are having major influence in elections now–as seen in 2010, and every special election since then.

    Add to that their falling sales, closed bureaus, and layoffs, and it’s a brave new world for the narrative-pushing Democrat-Media Complex.  Including Fox, apparently.

    I have stopped watching Fox, in general, as have many of us.  I only turn it on when I see somewhere online that breaking news of major significance is happening.

    Sadly, Holder-GunWalker isn’t in high rotation, as it should be.  I read at FR that Breitbart had Holder caught in a flat-out lie, so I ran to the TV, and nothing on Fox news for over an hour-and-a-half.  I gave up on it.  Rupert Murdoch or his son is killing Fox in the hopes it becomes the CBS of the virtual age. May as well give the keys to ol’ Shep and start decommissioning the place.