"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty
Thaddeus McCotter is heroic. He starts off with an “simple country lawyer” reference, going back to Anatomy of a Murder, and continues through a rousing speech with punchline sufficiently arid for Steven Wright.
Thaddeus McCotter: because not all rhetoric has to be served in ALL CAPS with a shot of adrenaline.
Update: Moelanche!
Allahpundit notes that New Orleans police have denied telling blogger Pat Dollard that they suspect a political motive in the brutal April 9 beating of Alexandra “Allee” Bautsch and her boyfriend, Joseph Brown, after they left a fundraiser for Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal. Michelle Malkin says:
It doesn’t help to insist on making this a partisan cause celebre and reducing the victims to political pawns when the evidence remains murky — and especially when one of the victims himself heard no politically-motivated taunts.
OK, I don’t want to make it a partisan cause celebre, but I’ll be very interested in seeing who (if anyone) gets arrested for this crime. Bautsch, who works for Jindal, had her leg broken and Brown suffered a broken nose and broken jaw.
The fundraiser they had attended had drawn a crowd of anti-GOP protesters. According to the police report, the man who beat Brown was a “white male, late 20s” with a ponytail. And the crime itself was rather bizarre: The couple walked out of the French Quarter restaurant where the fundraiser was held, and were evidently pursued by a group of people shouting things like “little blonde bitch,” “f—ing faggot,” etc., before the attack occurred.
So if there was no political motive for the attack, what other possible motive could there be? There was no robbery or sexual assault. Under what imaginable circumstance would this couple have been randomly targeted for such abusive treatment?
Crazy things happen in New Orleans all the time, but when two Republicans leave a GOP fundraising event that has been targeted by protesters, when they are followed down the street and then attacked a few blocks away– well, kind of a strange coincidence, isn’t it?
Just askin’ questions . . .
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — I’m blogging from the studios of WTKI 1490 AM, where today I was a guest on the Film Ladd radio show, a fantastic multimedia experience — radio, chatroom, live video camera. The host, Ladd Ehlinger, is a brilliant independent film director and all-around virtuoso.
Ladd called me Sunday morning while I was on my way to breakfast in the French Quarter of New Orleans and invited me to be his guest in-studio, and then to attend tonight’s Republican 5th District congressional debate at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. So I had to hit deadline quickly for my American Spectator column about the Southern Republican Leadership Conference:
Far from the main stage, away from the television cameras and unnoticed by reporters covering the speeches by famous names, other stories were developing, stories of potentially greater importance — and certainly more urgent than the question of who will carry the Republican banner in a presidential election more than two years in the future.
For hundreds of GOP congressional candidates, the only date that matters is not 2012, but Nov. 2 — now less than seven months away — and for many of those candidates, their campaigns will end sooner, as multi-candidate primaries have become the rule rather than the exception in a mid-term free-for-all perhaps destined to be known as the Year of Republican Hope. . . .
Please read the whole thing. I’ll be back to update later with more news, photos and video, as well as the explanation for my 18-hour absence from blogging. The New Orleans voodoo ate my WiFi . . .
“Best photo ever!” Lyndsey Fifield exclaimed after seeing this photo of a conversation at Friday’s New Orleans blogger bash off Chartres Street near the levee:
Lyndsey reacts to Breitbart’s remark — a Tulane alumnus, Breitbart was confirming that New Orleans voodoo is a reality — as Dave Weigel of the Washington Post and political operative Zach Oldham stare in stunned amazement. The conversation continued as Breitbart made several bizarre gestures, their symbolism only understood by the Tulane voodoo cult:
Because I didn’t take notes of the conversation, I cannot confirm that Breitbart was actually performing a voodoo ritual meant to endow cult inductees with online mojo.
Breitbart, Lyndsey and GOP New Media strategist Ali Akbar, who seriously covets the Tulane voodoo secrets. Of course, I don’t believe in voodoo and laughed when Breitbart told me that the mojo has been known to perform strange transformations on Bourbon Street — even in broad daylight.
Oldham snapped this photo Sunday morning in the French Quarter, and claims that it shows a well-known voodoo victim. But you can’t believe that kind of crazy stuff on the Internet . . .
NEW ORLEANS — As Smitty noted yesterday, Da Tech Guy continues his standing offer to travel anywhere to cover a story for $1,000 a week plus expenses. He was kind enough to extend the loan of his casual fedora — my favorite from the Scott Brown campaign we covered together — which has made several guest appearances here at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.
Andrew Breitbart and the fedora.
Herman Cain and the fedora.
Please, help Da Tech Guy find the story that will allow him to travel as widely as his fedora has been traveling lately. Other assignments beckon me soon, but I sure wish y’all would send Da Tech Guy down to Savannah to cover the Ray McKinney campaign. It just so happens that the campaign has been making news lately, and Ray has two Republican primary opponents who might like to be interviewed by the founder of the Fedora Brotherhood.
NEW ORLEANS — When everybody’s going for the Big Story in the pack-journalism scrum — Romney wins SRLC straw poll! Ron Paul says wacky stuff! — my counter-intuitive instinct is to look for offbeat angles that nobody else reports.
What an amazing coincidence, huh? And ladies, there’s good news:
So even though conservative heart-throbs like Marco Rubio, Scott Brown and myself are all happily married, there’s still hope for you lonely right-wing gals looking for the Republican man of your dreams (and Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s worst nightmares). He’s a successful entrepreneur — IYKWIMAITYD — and his name is Brian Reilly for Congress.
Kind of weird how so many of these random man-on-the-street types down here in New Orleans all have the same last name, “for Congress.” Quaint local custom, I suppose . . .
NEW ORLEANS — “Honey, I’ve got good news,” I told my wife in a phone conversation a few minutes ago. “I’m still alive.”
The news wasn’t so good for two people four blocks away from where I was having dinner Saturday night:
The New Orleans Police Department is investigating a 9:15 p.m. shooting in the 700 block of Canal Street, near the corner of Royal Street, according to authorities.
There are reportedly multiple victims.
The French Quarter Festival, parts of which went on Saturday not far from the scene of the shooting, was scheduled to wrap up at 9 p.m. It is not yet known who the victims are, and no other details are immediately available. . . .
The only detail that is immediately available is that I’m alive and well. And my wife is happy about that. Because she has reserved the exclusive right to shoot me dead, a right that she has not yet chosen to exercise. And that’s also good news.
UPDATE: CNN reports:
Two gunmen remain on the loose after a shooting in New Orleans, Louisiana that left seven people wounded, authorities said.
The shootings took place Saturday night, right after the French Quarter festival, which featured weekend musical performances on different stages.
Six of the victims were bystanders, police said.
A 17-year-old man was the intended target and suffered chest injuries, a spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department said. He was one of two teens injured.
Obviously, this crime was committed by enraged Tea Party activists who had been watching Glenn Beck and were incited to murder by Sarah Palin’s SRLC speech. Or at least that’s Andrew Sullivan’s theory, pending an FBI investigation.
by Smitty
I was talking to Stacy on my way home, and he was quite enthusiastic about a Herman Cain speech down at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. In particular, Stacy said, a passage on the Constitution was extremely well received.
OK, I didn’t know who the gentleman was, either, but I do like what he has to say as of three weeks ago to Megyn Kelly:
A quick Wikipedia glance reveals that the man has a clue, and then some. Here is his web page. A West/Cain ticket in 2012? Far worse things have happened, and recently.
At any rate, Stacy was off to a certain location in the hotel to score an interview with Mr. Cain, so watch this post for exclusive video, or Stacy is a Charles Johnson fan.
While awaiting the exclusive video, The Right Scoop has the speech Stacy was on about, with much thanks to Jill: