Category: American Spectator

A Flock of Ravens

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Residents of Washington, D.C., report that the city has lately been plagued by flocks of ravens. The spooky black birds have been making quite a nuisance of themselves in the vicinity of 425 2nd Street NE, headquarters of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Jeffrey Lord of the American Spectator had a couple of interesting exchanges Thursday with a spokesman for the NRSC. Lord asked the spokesman if Christine O’Donnell’s criticism of the NRSC was accurate, and got a lengthy response from the spokesman.

Well, we remember how NRSC Chairman John Cornyn tried to fix the Florida primary for his buddy Charlie Crist. We also remember how Cornyn was singing the praises of Arlen Specter right up until the moment when Specter declared he was a Democrat. We remember many other things that have occurred during Cornyn’s tenure at the NRSC.

Ah, but there is the problem of that raven infestation at the NRSC’s offices. There are reportedly hundreds of them flocking around the place night and day, frightening passersby with their eerie croakiing cries.

Some report that it sounds like the ravens are saying, “Cornyn.” Others say the ravens are croaking, “Nevermore.”

Barney Frank’s Self-Created Problem

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BOSTON — Scapegoating other people for your problems is a psychological defense mechanism that allows the narcissist to resolve his cognitive dissonance, to wit: “I think I’m wonderful, but not everyone seems to share this perception and I need to distract them (and myself) from evidence that I’m not as wonderful as I’d like everyone to think I am. Therefore, someone else must be blamed for my errors, and anyone who calls attention to my flaws must be ignored or shouted down.”

Such is the psychodrama being played out in the 4th Congressional District. My latest article at The American Spectator:

Debbie still remembers the moment more than a year ago when she decided to devote herself to defeating Barney Frank.
“The way he talked to his constituents, it just turned my stomach,” Debbie said, talking about an August 2009 town-hall event in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, attended by some 500 citizens who overwhelmingly opposed the health-care bill that was then working its way through Congress. “I said to my husband, ‘I don’t care who’s running against him, I’ll work for them — and I’ll work my heart out.'”
True to her vow, Debbie was working her heart out Tuesday afternoon at a phone bank in the Norton, Massachusetts office of the Republican challenger who is giving the 14-term incumbent the biggest fight of his career.
Sean Bielat has first-hand knowledge of Barney Frank’s stomach-turning arrogance. Bielat debated Frank three times in the past two days, although “debate” is perhaps not the correct word. Frank does not debate, he lectures, and no matter what outrageous claims he makes, his opponent cannot be permitted to object.
“Mr. Bielat, please stop interrupting me,” Frank said during a Monday debate on Boston’s WRKO radio, after the Republican had objected to one of Frank’s numerous distortions. Before the debate was over, as Jonathan Strong of the Daily Caller noted, Frank complained eight time about being interrupted. It was as if Frank thought he was back at Harvard — where he taught undergraduate course in the 1960s — and his GOP opponent was an impertinent sophomore.
Bielat yesterday summed up Frank’s attitude: “‘Don’t talk. I’m talking. I’m the congressman. You’re here to listen to me.’ That’s the way he’s approached his constituents. That’s the way he’s approaching this race. And that’s the way he was approaching me [Monday].” . . .

Please read the whole thing. Barney Frank perceives, correctly, that he has enemies. What he cannot admit — certainly not in public, and perhaps not even to himself — is that these are enemies of his own making.

Barney made his own choices, including the choice he made when he “took a free private jet to the Virgin Islands courtesy of a Maine congresswoman’s billionaire fiance — whose company received a $200 million federal bailout.” 

Now that he is being called to account for those choices, he is seeking to externalize blame, portraying himself as the victim of his enemies. It won’t wor

SEAN BIELAT for U.S. CONGRESS

Did Murkowski’s Mystery Man ‘Mike’ Tamper With Alaska Senate Vote?

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Dan Riehl scored a huge scoop late Sunday night with a letter that Joe Miller’s lawyers sent to Alasksa’s lieutenant governor and the chief of the Division of Elections, regarding the activities of a Murkowski campaign operative on Election Day:

Murkowski observer Mike insisted that he had the right to access the Division of Elections computer database and “check voter records.” Over the Miller campaign’s objections, Mike was allowed to use the state computer for 20 minutes before Division Director Gail Fenumial fortunately ordered him off the state computer.

Shenanigans?  Quite possibly, yet when the Miller campaign complains about this kind of stuff, Murkowski accuses them of being “paranoid.” That’s a point I address in my latest report at The American Spectator:

Of course, it’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you, and Miller’s supporters already had solid reasons to suspect that Murkowski would stop at nothing to retain her Senate seat. Chief among these reasons was the fact that Anchorage political consultant Andrew Halcro placed a call first thing Wednesday morning to Scott Kohlhaas, chairman of the Alaska Libertarian Party. Halcro was asking whether the Libertarians would be open to having Murkowski replace their Senate nominee, Dave Haase. Halcro is a former Republican state legislator best known for his boundless hatred of Sarah Palin. After Palin won the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2006, Halcro waged a third-party campaign aimed principally at attacking the Republican and earned him the nickname Mr. Nine Percent, that being his share of the vote. Since being chosen as John McCain’s running mate two years ago, of course, Palin has become world-famous and Halcro’s bitterness toward her has only increased.
It was Palin’s early endorsement of Joe Miller that was widely credited with launching the underdog to victory, and thus the intrusion of ex-Republican Halcro into the post-primary phase of the Senate campaign is scarcely surprising. Certainly Miller’s supporters could be forgiven for wondering if Halcro would be reaching out to the Libertarians on Murkowski’s behalf without the senator’s permission, especially after he disclosed to the Anchorage Daily News that he had spoken by phone with Murkowski. . . .

Please read the whole thing. Trying to summarize six days of craziness in 1,000 words proved to be enormously challenging, perhaps as difficult as replacing the valve head on a 2004 KIA Optima:

That’s my 17-year-old son Jim working on the car Sunday. He and our buddy Carlos expect to have it running tomorrow evening.

Let me be clear: I am not blaming shady Murkowski campaign operatives for this expensive repair, but who knows what other shenanigans will be afoot by the time I make it to Anchorage?

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Holy Crap! The American Spectator Offers Gift Subscriptions for Just $29

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Well, no wonder I always have such a hassle trying to get Al Regnery to pay my travel expenses!

Give the gift that keeps giving throughout the year. That, of course, would be THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR. As a subscriber, you already know the value and enjoyment that only THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR offers. Now you can give a one year subscription to family and friends for the low price of $29.
Your family and friends will think of you every month (what could be better) they receive AMERICAN SPECTATOR. That is a pleasant thought every month for the next year! We think it’s better than those flower-of-the-month clubs. And less expensive and non-allergic, too!
Remember, we are the leading political magazine that is not afraid to give every liberal a kick in the pants. So, give one, two, or more subscriptions today!

Wow — only $29! That’s more than half off the regular subscription price — it’s $30 for Canadians, what I like to call the “Neil Young penalty” — and certainly the lowest price you’ll ever see for this fine magazine, featuring such excellent writers as . . . well, me, for example. But there’s also Ben Stein, R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., James Bowman, Phillip Klein, Jim Antle, Roger Scruton and more.

Give your friends (or yourself) a subscription to The Americani Spectator today.

Maybe if I sell enough of these subscriptions, I can even get Al Regnery to cover my CPAC expenses. How’s an Old School reporter supposed to work without ice-cold Coronas and Parliament Lights?