Category: Fear and Loathing in New Hampshire

Departing from Logan: Live Free or …

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“There was never enough time. Every deadline was a crisis. All around me were experienced professional journalists meeting deadlines far more frequent than mine, but I was never able to learn from their example.”
– Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72

BOSTON LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Pete Da Tech Guy woke me up about 9 o’clock this morning: “We both overslept! We’ve got to hurry!” But first he had to figure out how to connect the computer to the printer to print my boarding pass. Pete did some excellent driving to get me to the airport on time, and we listened to Boston talk radio on the way. with the question of the day being, “Is Mitt Romney inevitable? Is it all over but the shouting? Have all efforts to stop Mitt been a vain and futile waste of time? Should we jump off a bridge now, or wait until after the Florida primary?” (I paraphrase slightly.)

For conservatives, Tuesday was “A Cruel Night in New Hampshire“:

MANCHESTER, N.H. — About 40 percent of voters in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary cast their ballots for either Texas Rep. Ron Paul or former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who finished second and third behind the “It’s His Turn” Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Adding in Romney’s 39 percent, the top three finishers in the Granite State got nearly 80 percent of the vote — even though none of them can credibly claim to represent the mainstream of GOP conservatism that has developed over the past three decades. Romney, of course, has been on both sides of every important issue during his political career, having even denied any fealty to “Reagan-Bush” during his unsuccessful 1994 Senate race. Ron Paul’s foreign policy views are not merely at odds with mainstream Republicanism, but arguably put him to the left of President Obama. And Huntsman has not only embraced same-sex civil unions and global-warming theory, but has praised the Democratic president who appointed him ambassador to China.
Thus in New Hampshire, a state where independents are eligible to vote in the GOP primary, barely 20 percent of voters chose either of the conservative candidates — former House Speaker Newt Gingrich or former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum — who competed here. Gingrich and Santorum each got less than 10 percent of the vote, providing the only real suspense of the night with their see-saw battle for fourth place. Texas Gov. Rick Perry didn’t even bother to campaign in the Granite State, and got about 1,500 votes. And so the first-in-the-nation primary ends with the fight for the Republican nomination exactly where it was when the campaign started, with Romney as the pre-emptive favorite. . . .

That’s from my American Spectator column today and you should read the whole thing, in case you aren’t yet sufficiently depressed. Last night at the Radisson Hotel, I came to the conclusion that Republicans are on the verge of nominating their own John Kerry: A candidate whose supposed strength — for Kerry, his military service; for Romney, his business background — proves to be a dangerous weakness.

The Gingrich “super PAC” is about to unload $5 million worth of attack ads on Romney in South Carolina, and as weird as it seems for a Republican to be attacking “ruthless” capitalism . . . Well, Newt was always kind of weird anyway, so this only confirms what we already knew about him.

In New Hampshire, they still have only 98% of precincts reporting, with both Gingrich (23,271 votes) and Rick Santorum (23,118) at 9.4 percent. Michele Bachmann, who quit the race a week ago, got 349 votes Tuesday, which is more than twice the margin between Gingrich and Santorum. Take that as proof that New Hampshire voters are extraordinarly stupid. Top headline this morning at Memeorandum:

Ron Paul To Everyone But Mitt: Drop Out

Which is not the craziest thing Ron Paul has said in the past 24 hours. Hell, he probably said a half-dozen crazier things before breakfast today. But that’s how this campaign has been: Non-stop insanity from start to finish. It’s like being assigned to cover a psychotic breakdown, so that the challenge as a journalist is to report accurately all the paranoid gibberish, the bizarre hallucinations and delusions of grandeur.

And there is never enough time to report it all. I’m flying home today for a couple of days of rest, before it drives me nuts. Time to board that flight. Hit the freaking tip jar!

 





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NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY HQ UPDATE: Romney Wins; Ron Paul Second; Huntsman Third; Gingrich, Santorum Fight for Fourth Place

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MANCHESTER, N.H.
UPDATE 10:30 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum concluded his speech here by shouting, “On to South Carolina!” Indeed. But first, I’ve got a deadline for The American Spectator, and then there are friends awaiting my arrival at the bar at the Radisson Hotel.

After that, I’ve got a 12:30 p.m. Wednesday flight out of Boston’s Logan Airport, going home for a couple of days to see my wife and kids, rest up and eat home cooking. Hit the freaking tip jar!

UPDATE 9:43 p.m. ET: In a press gaggle just now, Rick Santorum campaign manager said they are prepared to spend $1 million for TV and radio advertising in South Carolina. They are also about to announce the addition of paid staff in Florida.

With 56% of precincts reporting, Santorum just moved ahead of Newt Gingrich for 4th place.

UPDATE 9:35 p.m. ET: Jon Huntsman: “Third place is a ticket to ride! … We got it done!” He talks about doing it “the old-fashioned way,” i.e. spending Daddy’s money. No campaign is going to be more damaged than Huntsman’s by the release this weekend of the FEC reports for the fourth quarter of 2011. And yet he’s going to go on to chew up more TV debate time and collect some percentage of the vote in South Carolina and Florida.

UPDATE 9:30 p.m. ET: We’re going to have to wait for Jon Huntsman to give his third-place “victory” speech before Rick Santorum speaks here. Journalists are finding ways to fill their time:

Reporters compulsively check their Twitter feeds on their 4G phones. The lady in the black-and-white coat is Shushana Walshe of ABC News.

Danny Yadron of the Wall Street Journal interviews Santorum supporters.

UPDATE 9:14 p.m. ET: Results with 39% of precincts reporting:

Mitt Romney ….. 27,980 (37%)
Ron Paul ………… 17,953 (24%)
Jon Huntsman … 12,797 (17%)
Newt Gingrich …. 7,576 (11%)
Rick Santorum …. 7,522 (11%)
Rick Perry ………… 551 (1%)
Buddy Roemer ……… 292 (0%)
Michele Bachmann ….. 105 (0%)
Herman Cain ………. 57 (0%)

The margin between Gingrich and Santorum is less than the vote for Herman Cain, who quit the race more than a month ago.

UPDATE 9:03 p.m. ET: Ron Paul in his speech: “I want to thank the Union Leader for not endorsing me” — a shot at Newt Gingrich.

UPDATE 8:57 p.m. ET: Associated Press headline:

Romney wins in NH,
cements front-runner position

We expect Rick Santorum’s speech here within 10 minutes.

Don Surber is evidently ready to roll over for the RINO.

UPDATE 8:40 p.m. ET: At 8:26 p.m., Romney pre-empted all his rivals’ concession speeches by giving one of the earliest victory speeches I can recall. He took a shot at Gingrich and Perry — unnamed “desperate Republicans” — and slammed Obama repeatedly. We are still awaiting the arrival of Rick Santorum here at his primary night celebration. He’s within 70 votes of Gingrich for fourth place with 23% of precincts reporting.

Santorum supporters sport their $100 sweater vests.

UPDATE 8:10 p.m. ET: Results updating fast and furious now. With 11% of precincts reporting:

Mitt Romney ….. 8,856, (36%)
Ron Paul ………… 6,126 (25%)
Jon Huntsman … 4,207 (17%)
Newt Gingrich …. 2,658 (11%)
Rick Santorum …. 2,419 (10%)
Rick Perry ………… 167 (1%)
Buddy Roemer ……… 108 (0%)

UPDATE 8:25 p.m. ET: Da Tech Guy is here doing his own coverage. CNN just declared Romney the winner — obviously — and is interviewing Jon Huntsman, who’s running a weak third in the state where he’s been campaigning non-stop for six months. Ron Paul is running a strong second. Roxeanne de Luca just showed up to vex me. Bryan Preston of PJ Tatler fame is here, and we’re thinking of making a run to Romneyland later this evening.

** PREVIOUSLY (6:58 p.m. ET) **

Television network satellite trucks parked outside
Rick Santorum primary night party, Manchester, N.H.

We are here at the Derryfield Restaurant for the Rick Santorum Victory Maybe Fourth Place Celebration and, conveniently enough, the Media Filing Center is located right next to the bar. It’s gonna take a lot of beverages for me to be able to avoid profound depression — and perhaps an episode of “arctic hysteria” — when the votes come rolling in tonight.

Mitt Romney, the sadistic RINO flipflopper who gets his jollies by firing guys like me, is the overwhelming favorite to win here, with The Ron Paul Survival Newsletter a distant second. According to the liberal media, however, the “Hunstman Surge” might challenge Paul’s hold on second place, which would mean that the best Rick Santorum can do is to beat Newt Gingrich for fifth place.

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET, but I figure I’d better start drinking early, if I hope to withstand my Greenlandic Innuit urge to go running around naked.

The National Affairs Desk, 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012

UPDATE: This exit poll data might be significant:

The polling showed undeclared voters made up a significant 44 percent of voters in the Granite State on Tuesday — that’s nearly twice the number of independents that showed up in Iowa last week. In that group, 30 percent said they were supporting Romney, while 29 percent were supporting Ron Paul and 27 percent were supporting Jon Huntsman.
Among late deciders, the line-up was slightly different. The exit polls showed 29 percent breaking for Romney, while 24 percent were backing Huntsman and 20 percent were backing Rick Santorum, who finished second in the Iowa caucuses.

Hmmm. If “late deciders” among independents are breaking slightly toward Santorum, does that mean that he’s locked down fourth place and Newt Gingrich will finish no better than fifth here?

UPDATE II: Linked at Fire Andrew Mitchell and by Bob Belvedere at Camp of the Saints — thanks! Meanwhile, although Ed Morrissey is right here in Santorum HQ, Allahpundit has the big “election results open thread” at Hot Air, this being The Squishy Night of RINO Joy.


Maybe This Explains My Problem

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“Anyone who follows psychiatry has noticed that the field is now in the midst of a debate that galvanizes its members every 10 to 20 years. At the center of the hubbub is psychiatry’s most sacred text: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. . . .
“If you turn to page 898 of the current edition — past the glossary and the alphabetical index of diagnoses — you’ll find a list of 25 little-known illnesses. These are the ‘culture-bound syndromes’: mental illnesses that psychiatrists officially acknowledge occur only within a particular society. Take, for instance . . . pibloktoq, also known as ‘arctic hysteria,’ in which Greenlandic Inuit strip off all their clothes and run out into the subzero Arctic tundra.”
— Latif Nasser, Boston Globe, “Do some cultures have their own ways of going mad?”

HOLLIS, N.H.
When I left home the day after Christmas, leaving before dawn to fly off to Iowa, I was in a cheerful mood, and I remained optimistic even when I was forced to return the black Mustang to the rental agency.

But the past few days in New Hampshire, I’ve begun feeling increasingly glum, and uncharacteristic mood-swing that I at first attributed to being forced to take the Jon Huntsman campaign seriously. Later, I thought maybe I was bummed out by hanging around with those squishy RINOs from National Review during Saturday night’s debate.

It wasn’t until I picked up Sunday’s Boston Globe and saw that story about “arctic hysteria” that I realized I must be suffering from the same problem that affects the Greenlandic Inuit.

Perhaps this “culture-bound syndrome” known as pibloktoq has seized hold of me here in this gloomy northern climate. Perhaps there was an overlooked Inuit somewhere in my family tree whose hereditary influence is now causing me to suffer bizarre mood swings involving strange impulses.

All of this is to explain that I’m now about to hit the road to Manchester, where I’ll be covering the Primary Night excitement in New Hampshire. And if anyone sees me running around Manchester naked . . .

Well, that’s just the Inuit in me.

Ron Paul and the ‘Not Romneys’

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“There are many mysteries to the phenomenon that is Ron Paul. How is it, for example, that a 76-year-old with a reedy voice — his appearance and manner not remotely “presidential” by the usual standards of the TV age — is an idol to so many youth? Polls in Iowa showed that Paul got 48 percent among caucus voters under 30, which might suggest that his libertarian-tinged anti-war message represents the future of the Republican Party. But that youth vote was only good enough for 21.4 percent of the total, because fully 60 percent of Iowa GOP caucus-goers were 50 or older. So the oldest candidate in the race, dismissed as a crackpot by most mainstream Republicans, is almost uniquely capable of attracting young voters to a party dominated by the gray-hair-and-bifocals set. However one attempts to explain this situation, it does not bode well for the GOP. And perhaps it doesn’t bode well for America, either.”
— Robert Stacy McCain, “Ron Paul Haunts New Hampshire,” The American Spectator, Jan.  10, 2012″

HOLLIS, N.H.
After spending a couple of hours among the Paulistas yesterday, I felt obligated to write my Spectator column about this phenomenon, and I think that difficult experience explains a lot of my bleak mood today.

It wasn’t just that I was distracted by the Alabama football game or trying to file a story in a hotel bar. No, I kept thinking about what the Ron Paul phenomenon, and what “the abysmal incompetence of the non-Romneys,” signifies for the future of the GOP and the future of the country.

Contrast the pathetic joke that is the Rick Perry campaign — which now has exactly as many supporters as it can afford to hire — with the amazing grassroots enthusiasm exhibited by the young supporterfs of Ron Paul. Just to remind you, here is the video of them packed inside an aircraft hanger in Nashua on Friday:

Are we ever going to see any such display of genuine excitement for Romney, Gingrich, Huntsman or Perry? I still dare hope that Santorum’s underdog crusade might eventually inspire something similar, although there have been only glimmers of it so far.

Where are the Christian youth who say they believe in the right to life? Why aren’t conservative Christians showing up at Santorum’s campaign headquarters in such overwhelming numbers that the campaign staff is shocked by the influx of volunteers? Why aren’t pro-life, pro-family evangelical ministers and Catholic clergy urging their congregations to board the next flight to South Carolina and start doing everything they can to help Rick Santorum win on Jan. 21?

“Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh?”

Many of my conservative friends are so busy denouncing Ron Paul and his supporters that they can’t be bothered to ask themselves, “Why don’t we have that kind of wild-eyed fanaticism among our supporters?”

And I fear that the answer would be, selfishness.

But I don’t have time or patience to explain that remark now, and I suspect any attempt to explain it would annoy and offend people. So I’ll leave it there for the time being, rather that bother you with my depressing contemplations. A few discouraging headlines may suffice:

Majority of Conservatives
See Romney as “Acceptable”
— Gallup

New Hampshire polls open
in Dixville Notch — with nine votes
— Washington Post

Perry: Mitt’s company ‘just vultures’
who ‘eat the carcass’ of companies
— Politico

And as the final insult, there’s this:

Crowd boos mentioning
of McCain’s name at Santorum event
— The Hill

Oh, wait, they weren’t booing the mention of my name. It was that other guy. But it’s still depressing to think about how Cousin Maverick has disgraced the family name. Hit the freaking tip jar.

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Rick Santorum Dodges an Issue?

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HOLLIS, N.H.
Last night was probably the toughest night for me since I’ve been on the campaign trail. Why? Because I was on deadline in Manchester, while my four sons were at home watching our beloved University of Alabama Crimson Tide play for the national championship against . . .

Well, some inferior third-rate trade school from Baton Rouge whose name escapes me.

At home, Mrs. Other McCain was serving snacks, and my sons — 19-year-old twins Bob and Jim, 13-year-old Jefferson and 11-year-old Emerson — were reveling in the Glorious Triumph of the Tide. I should have been there with them and, although we occasionally exchanged phone and text greetings of “Roll Tide,” the mental weight of my looming deadline was a distraction, and as the evening went on, I became more and more depressed. Not even Alabama’s 21-0 shutout of the Inferior Third-Rate Trade School From Baton Rouge — the mighty Crimson Tide defense held them to a mere 92 yards — could lift my despairing spirit.

I blame Florida for this.

The vicious Romney-loving bastards in the Florida GOP who jumped up their primary to Jan. 31 not only ruined Christmas, they also prevented me from being home to watch ‘Bama with my boys.

“Why Does Florida Hate America?”

Distracted and depressed, I attempted to cheer myself up. At Rick Santorum’s final pre-primary rally, I asked him for a small favor:

RSM: Can I get a ‘Roll Tide’?
SANTORUM: No.
RSM: No. Not a ‘Roll Tide.’
SANTORUM: I learned something about taking no sides.
RSM: You need those LSU fans.
SANTORUM: I love Alabama —
UNKNOWN VOICE: He’s hurting after that Steelers loss.
SANTORUM: I loved my time in Alabama, but Louisiana has been very good to me.

What kind of squishy moderate Romney-esque flip-floppery is that? What happened to “The Courage to Fight”?

America leads bold leadership, Senator!

A depressing night all around on the campaign trail, when even a staunch conservative like Rick Santorum wouldn’t give me a “Roll Tide.” But tomorrow, I’ll be heading back home for a couple days of rest before I travel to South Carolina. And perhaps my loyal readers can take a bold stand to do something to cheer me up: Hit the freaking tip jar!

Among the Paulistas in New Hampshire

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HOLLIS, N.H.
The Only Man Who Can Save American Liberty™ — as he is regarded by his famously fanatical supporters — appeared today at the Lawrence Barn here, and I was pleased to discover that one of Lisa Graas‘s Twitter friends, “TradiCatholic,” was among the Paulistas in attendance. And I explained to her that, unlike some other conservatives in the blogosphere, I have sought to avoid the “urge to purge” attitude toward Ron Paul’s supporters.

We ought to distinguish, I believe, between the sincere, serious and well-meaning Paulistas, who will gladly close ranks with conservatives in opposition to Obama’s liberal agenda, and the relatively small number of insane hate-filled monsters who infest the dark corners of the Internet.

The scene inside the Lawrence Barn. This was an “invitation only” event that was originally planned for someone’s living room, but which outgrew the venue and had to be moved to a public facility. Among those on hand to support Ron Paul was this homeschooling family:

One of the highlights of the event for me was the performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” by these home-schooled girls:

Let those who wish to banish the Paulistas from the “Big Tent” explain: How is it in the interests of the conservative movement and/or the Republican Party to tell young people like this that their support and influence — their commitment, their energy, their enthusiasm — are unwelcome within our ranks? Here is Ron Paul being introduced at the Lawrence Barn:

Here is Paul answering a supporter’s question about the American “empire” during his appearance in Hollis:

Now, you may disagree with the congressman about these matters, and that’s OK. And certainly the vast majority of Republican voters (more than 80 percent, according to the Iowa caucus results) do not support Ron Paul as a presidential candidate. But why do so many conservatives go beyond mere opposition to Paul, and engage in demonization of him and his supporters?

Here is a brief interview with Dr. Lee Button of the National Heritage Center for Constitutional Studies, a New Hampshire home-schooling leader:

Perhaps I am exceptionally sensitive to the need for conservatives to include Paulistas in their ranks because I am an ex-Democrat. Unlike so many of my peers in conservative New Media, I was born and raised a Democrat and did not wise up to that inherited folly until I was in my 30s. Whatever errors of ideology or rhetoric you may attribute to Ron Paul’s supporters, I doubt many of them were ever so foolish as I was in 1984, when I voted for Walter Mondale.

Mea culpa. Mea magna culpa.

Therefore, my conservative friends, let us be civil and reasonable, and seek common ground with those of Ron Paul’s supporters who are also civil and reasonable, striving together to form a common front among those patriotic Americans who seek an end to the dreadful misrule of the Obama administration. And really, how can you not love this kind of enthusiasm for liberty?

This Paulista apparently drove all the way from Pennsylvania.


Ron Paul Campaign Flyer Emphasizes Opposition to Gay Marriage, Abortion

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HOLLIS, N.H.
Ron Paul has won many converts in New Hampshire with his libertarian-influenced anti-war message, but a flyer circulated by the Texas congressman’s campaign here emphasizes Paul’s Christian faith, pro-life position and opposition to same-sex marriage.

“I believe marriage is between one man and one woman,” the flyer quotes Paul as saying, expressing his support for the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that would “ensure that no state would be forced to recognize a ‘same sex’ marriage license issued in another state.” The flyer also reminds voters that Paul “was an original co-sponsor of the Marriage Protection Act, HR 3313, that removes challenges to [DOMA] from federal courts’ jurisdiction.”

The Paul flyer (full image below) describes him as having “worked tirelessly to defend and restore” pro-life protections: “The right of an innocent, unborn child to life is at the heart of the American ideal of liberty.” Evidently aimed at wooing social conservative support for the congressman’s campaign, the flyer also includes these quotes from Paul:

  • “I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, and I endeavor every day to follow Him in all I do and in every position I advocate.”
  • “We must recognize that true national defense means defending our own borders and coastlines. … Borders should be the number one national priority, plain and simple.”

You can click on the image below to see it full-size:

UPDATE: What struck me about this flyer is that so many of Paul’s young supporters I’ve spoken with are in favor of gay marriage and they seem to assume that Paul is as well. Yet the Paul campaign is distributing this flyer to emphasize the candidate’s social conservatism. Meanwhile, another candidate has a slightly different problem here:

Mitt Romney Campaign Disavows
Pro-Gay Rights Flyer From 2002
— Huffington Post

On this issue, as on so many issues, Romney goes both ways. NTTAWWT.

Media Mayhem in the Granite State

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HOLLIS, N.H.
Saturday night in Manchester was a total media schmoozefest, and I had the opportunity to talk to Mickey Kaus, whose re-Tweet by Alyssa Milano inspired my own long quest for a similar honor. (“They Said It Couldn’t Be Done …”)

Just returned from a Ron Paul event here, the start of a long day of campaign coverage in the final day before Tuesday’s primary. Paul’s media coverage got out of control this morning in Manchester, a circus I heard about at breakfast from an Associated Press writer at the local diner in Hollis. Not much time to chat, but here’s my latest column at The American Spectator:

J.D.’s Tavern at the Radisson Inn in Manchester was crowded Saturday night with the elite of America’s political media. Famous faces from TV news mingled with less-famous but nevertheless influential writers from major publications. Waiters brought food and beverages — and still more beverages — as midnight passed in the hours after yet another nationally televised Republican presidential debate. One of the more famous bylines among the journalistic throng delivered a harshly negative verdict on the proceedings that had just aired on ABC.
“They were weak,” said the writer. “They didn’t bring it.”
By “they,” he meant the various challengers to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The pre-game forecast for Saturday night’s debate was that the non-Romney conservatives would rush to attack the man who is the overwhelming favorite to win Tuesday’s primary here in New Hampshire. But the promised assault on Romney — in a debate that had been hyped up like a professional wrestling match — never materialized, much to the disappointment of the journalist in J.D.’s Tavern.
“Look, I’m a reporter,” he said. “You know I’d love this thing to go all the way to the convention, but… C’mon.” …

Read the rest at The American Spectator. You’ll notice that I never name the reporter who said that. If people ever started quoting all the stuff I said in after-hours conversations . . . Well, it would be a horrible precedent.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! I’m rather depressed tonight. Some young Romney supporters just invited me to attend his victory party Tuesday night at Southern Hew Hampshire University. I’ll probably go, and hate myself for it Wednesday morning.

The walk of shame: Date-raped by RINOs.