The Other McCain

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

The Huffington Post Lies About Steven Crowder’s CPAC Monologue

Posted on | March 17, 2013 | 78 Comments

by Smitty

I happened to be in the ballroom for the remarks made by Crowder, as mis-reported by the Puffington Host:
Screen Shot 2013-03-17 at 8.38.53 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steven reports:

So HuffingtonPost is outright lying and trying to slander me, and I could really use support.
As you know, Ashley Judd has recently been heard equating both mining and purchasing Apple Products to “rape.” So my commentary at CPAC on her stupid, and insensitive comparisons was exactly this
“This just in, Ashley Judd just tweeted that purchasing apple products is akin to rape… from her iPhone”
I followed it up with “Rape? Really, now she knows what my mind felt like after Divine Secrets of YaYaSisterhood”
Clearly taking aim at Ashley Judd for her stupid rape comments. Instead, HuffPo says that I made a “rape joke” about Ashley Judd. Obviously this narrative is important, and I would reeeaaally welcome some any support in resetting it.

Steven is one of the good guys, as evidenced by this foul assault. Maybe somebody at the Puffington Host thinks it’s funny or something, but this is precisely the sort of nonsense propaganda that feeds into the even uglier #WarOnWomen meme.

Fall off the planet, Puffington Host. Let’s rally all of the blogs to support Steven and point out that these liars lie.

Update: welcome, Instapundit readers!

Update II: Ed Driscoll introduces the important Lefty verb “Laphamize,” which is achieved by deciding upon a narrative for an opposition event, writing an anachronous review, and then passing it off as reporting.

Update III: Counterargument from Screed of Momus, more support from the Lonely Conservative.

UPDATE IV (RSM): Yeah, I unloaded a few hundred words — including “hired liars” — about HuffPo & Co.

Category: Blogging, CPAC, Huffington Post, Media Bias

Two Teens Found Guilty in Steubenville Rape Case; Media Malpractice Exposed

Posted on | March 17, 2013 | 43 Comments

‘Occupy’ protesters in Steubenville, Ohio, in January.

Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16, were found guilty Sunday in a juvenile court after a four-day trial on charges that they sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl during an all-night drinking binge last August. Lee Stranahan, who exposed the media malpractice and online lynch-mob atmosphere ginned up by the Anonymous hackers, examines the reality of the Steubenville case:

In a bizarre story with a cast of characters that includes the New York Times, a fugitive anarchist and Roseanne Barr, massive media malpractice led to the Ohio town being terrorized in real life by elements of the hackivist group Anonymous. After the major mainstream media and left-wing blogosphere got the story completely wrong by spreading wild rumors that the trial revealed to be totally false, the self proclaimed media watchdogs are nowhere to be found.
The Steubenville rape case is a prime example of the mainstream press botching basic facts, violating all principles of fair reporting and getting away with it. . . .

Please read the whole thing at Breitbart.com.

With an eager assist from Anonymous and a handful of smearmongering blogs, the media allowed this crime committed by two teenagers to metastasize into a bogus narrative that impugned the entire town of Steubenville and even the tradition of high school football, per se. The effort to turn this one incident into a symbol — something about “rape culture” or whatever — is typical of how the media get it wrong with their “make a difference” social-justice crusader mentality.

People who can think for themselves value reporting that gets the facts right, without any What It Means sermonettes.

However, you will find that when you start challenging the media’s politicized narratives, you will be accused of bad motives — mala fides — simply because liberals are more interested in dictating the meaning of events than in getting the facts right.

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Crime, Media Bias, Ohio

FMJRA 2.0: You Belong To The City

Posted on | March 17, 2013 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Detroit: What Democrats Do

Truth in Humor: Ashley Judd Edition

Rule 5 Sunday: This Time It’s For Real

You Stay Classy, Bill Schmalfeldt!

Sen. McCain Fears Crazy Birds Dumping Whitewash On TSA Security Theater

Barrett Brown Trial Pushed Back to September, at His Lawyer’s Request

FMJRA 2.0: Venus, The Bringer Of Peace

Alexis C. Madrigal, Harvard ’04

LIVE AT FIVE: 03.11.13

Obama Administration’s Top Legal ‘Experts’ Pwned by Blogger in Australia

GOP: Don’t Defend ObamaCare. Defund.

British Left’s War on ‘Page Three Girls’

Is ‘Senator Bruce Carroll, (R-SC)’
The New Hotness?

Does Brett Kimberlin Really Need Another Lesson in ‘The Streisand Effect’?

LIVE AT FIVE: 03.12.13

But … It’s Science!

Cannibal Cop Convicted

Whittle Lays It Down On Voter Fraud

Future Kentucky Sen. Puffy Face: Everything She Doesn’t Like Is Rape

LIVE AT FIVE: 03.13.13

#OccupyResoluteDesk: ‘I Take A Balanced Approach To Imbalanced Budgets’

Heh: ‘Organizing For Access’

So … This Is Now News

Props To Pope Francis!

LIVE AT FIVE: 03.14.13

Seven Years In The Valley

CPAC Update: Finally Connected

Senator Marco Rubio At CPAC Liveblog

Senator Rand Paul At CPAC Live Blog #StandWithRand

Shark Tank Catches A ‘Racial’ Altercation In Real Time

LIVE AT FIVESEVEN: 03.15.13

To Allen West At CPAC2013: ‘Is The Base Too Strident In Criticism Of Boehner?’

FINE SPEECH: Sen. Jim DeMint Remarks At #CPAC2013 President’s Dinner

Top linkers this week:

  1. Rick’s Rants (19 the hard way)
  2. DaleyGator (7)

Lots of folks who just missed the cutoff, probably because of CPAC; that’s my theory, and I’m sticking to it. Thanks to everyone for the linkagery! Dealine to submit links for next week’s FMJRA will be Friday, March 23.

 

Category: FMJRA Award

The Fight Begins Now: Mid-Term 2014

Posted on | March 17, 2013 | 12 Comments

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland
The big headlines out of CPAC this year, as usual, were focused on main-stage speeches by potential Republican presidential candidates for 2016, but that’s still three years away and conservatives cannot afford to look past next year’s mid-term election. So, to me, one of the most important events of this week’s conference was this:

Utah’s 4th District — where Republican Mia Love came within 800 votes of unseating Democrat Rep. Jim Matheson last November — tops the list of more than 40 Democrat-held seats targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) in next year’s mid-term elections.
Mattheson held onto his seat last fall despite the fact Romney carried 67 percent of the vote in the 4th District. Love, who is mayor of Saratoga Springs, raised more than $2 million for her 2012 campaign and is seen as one of the most promising new faces in the conservative movement. Love received an enthusiastic welcome at this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
During a briefing for bloggers at CPAC this weekend, NRCC Chairman Greg Walden described the committee’s top list of targeted Democrat-held seats as the “slippery seven,” because they have so often eluded Republicans’ grasp. . . .

Please read the whole thing at Viral Read. The fight by Republicans to recapture the Senate will likely overshadow the GOP’s battle to hold onto — and perhaps expand — their House majority in 2014. Some readers may remember how hard it was to get attention for Republican challengers in 2010, which is why I want to start early trying to focus attention on these key races for next year. The 2016 beauty pageant must be viewed as a dangerous distraction from the real fight at hand.

The NRCC chairman seems like a solid, smart man with a business background who can be counted on to run an effective campaign for 2014. The NRCC’s digital coordinator Nick Martelli was savvy enough to arrange a blogger briefing at CPAC, and Walden said that online messaging will be an “integral” component of their plans for next year’s mid-terms. You can become part of that team by following @RepGregWalden, @NickMarcelli and @NRCC on Twitter.

And, oh, yeah: Mia Love’s already gearing up for 2014.

 


Category: Congress, Election, Republicans

Some People Like To Go To CPAC, But Other People Like Us We Gotta Work

Posted on | March 16, 2013 | 33 Comments

— by Wombat-socho


Even before it became public knowledge that Pam Geller and Robert Spencer had pointedly not been invited to CPAC, I had been leaning hard in the direction of not going this year due to the requirements of work. To be more specific, I am busy in the tax mines this time of year and can ill afford to miss eighteen hours of going mano a mano with the rapacious U.S. Tax Code. Still, I did make it briefly to BlogBash and tonight’s Viral Read party, even if I was really too ragged out to properly appreciate either of them. Well, there’s always next year, and in the meantime I have been reliably assured that under the New Dispensation my sequestered gruel ration will be restored and the inhumane practice of watering the grog ration will cease. I, for one, welcome our new Viral Read masters.


So…anyone read anything decent lately? Talk among yourselves, and keep it civil.


Category: CPAC

Sarah Palin, Phillis Schlafly, Mrs. Other Smitty, And #CPAC2013

Posted on | March 16, 2013 | 17 Comments

by Smitty

Taking in the afternoon at CPAC, I thought Sarah was rousing, and spot-on in her criticism:

While a great example of whipping up the crowd to a froth, the speech sounded a bit Ann Coulter-ish, NTTAWWT. In other words, and excellent outing from a media personality, and not from someone laying the foundation for serious campaigning in the near future.

Many would be daunted by the idea of following Sarah. Many are not Phyllis Schlafly.

Concurrent with the speeches above, Mrs. Other Smitty came by CPAC, and brought the World’s Youngest Blogger.

All this speechifying leaves a man parched.

As someone from Old Europe, Mrs. Other Smitty looks at CPAC through some different eyes. She saw a few vehicles like the ‘Arguably Most Raaaaacist Vehicle in the Country‘ (seen there in stock footage from #CPAC2012) over at National Harbor and found their ‘unrefined’ nature (and, by extension, the whole CPAC crowd) just a little off-putting.

I acknowledged that, the ‘raw, colonial feel’ of e.g. Ted Nugent. . .


. . .can be neither denied nor separated from the American experience, having been kicked out of Old Europe those centuries back. That unrefined nature of a Nugent (or even Sarah Palin) is closely associated with authenticity, whereas ‘excessive polish’ is viewed with some skepticism, and the stout patriotism of a Schlafly is increasingly unknown outside the movement.

But that’s part of the nature of representative democracy. That ‘refinement’ has some correlation to age, income, and education. Mrs. Other Smitty is more drawn to the straightforward intellectual appeal of a Schlafly than the folksy tones of a Palin.

For my part, I like the whole, broad spectrum of appeal from high- to low-brow. Leadership cannot be talking over, or down to people. Rather, leadership must strive to pick up the audience and elevate it. That kind of virtuous agitation grows people, helping them to rise to whatever optimal level Destiny has ordained for them.

Then again, I’ve always been just riff-raff sneaking in to hang out with the Cool Kids, so what do I know?

Category: CPAC, Sarah Palin, World's Youngest Blogger

In Defense Of BlogBash And CPAC

Posted on | March 16, 2013 | 39 Comments

by Smitty

Noting Jerry Wilson’s disdain for BlogBash, “An event such as BlogBash could prove valuable if it led to greater networking, encouragement and support for all bloggers, not solely those in attendance,” I don’t think Jerry is fully briefed on the goals of The National Blogger’s Club, which really aren’t bad at all.

I had gone to the President’s Dinner with Allen West, and then popped in to Blog Bash for about an hour with Da Tech Guy. Then it was time to get home, as  (a) really loud music and (b) heavy partying (I drank an O’Doull’s) are done for me in that time. I did catch the awards portion. It was jolly good and quick.

An even more strident criticism, of CPAC in general, is from Richard Mgrdechian:

I have one simple question for the organizers (and the profiteers) of this political farce: how does anything being done at this event help promote American values of hard work, integrity and gratitude in any way? The answer is, it doesn’t. There is no take away whatsoever.

Two points, gents:
Failure doesn’t age well. Forty years of steady growth in CPAC attendance belie the notion that it is a ‘farce’. BlogBash/The National Bloggers Club is an order of magnitude younger, but it’s still a growing concern, as noted by the increasing harassment received.
People don’t scale. With growth and success come the critics. And I’ll point you to the Man in the Arena speech and suggest that, in a capitalist society, competition is the ultimate rebuttal. That is, I’m not sure any of the proffered criticisms don’t apply to many large gatherings of people, but I’d sure like to see a rounder wheel if you can spin one.

Ronald Reagan’s mug dominates the wall behind the main CPAC stage, not that hero-worship excites me. What does excite me is having a concentrated place for the ideas that Reagan embraced and promoted, in that one eight year pause amidst our Progressive decline, to get transmitted from the establishment fogies decried by Wilson and Mgrdechian, to the college generation.

Is CPAC enough? Let’s call it necessary, but not sufficient. The ditch on the other side of the road is say “They should just let CPAC die because they haven’t done enough to fix. . .” which forms a non-falsifiable, moving goal line. The more criticism heads that way, the less constructive it is.

I like going to CPAC and trying to make the speeches a little more accessible than just a 20 minute shot of YouTube. I guess that’s my criticism of it. The bandwidth at National Harbor is also wretched, though, I guess if I was sponsoring the event I may have better joy. That many people at once is always just a drain for me.

As a suggestion, guys, why not organize a Christian music concert nearby, for one of the CPAC evenings? National Harbor is crawling with dogs & cats, goldfish & clownfish from all over. CPAC has gathered a great audience for you. You could leverage that for a jolly good, edifying outing of your own. Just sayin’.

Category: CPAC, Goldfish & Clowns

FINE SPEECH: Sen. Jim DeMint Remarks At #CPAC2013 President’s Dinner

Posted on | March 15, 2013 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

“We can’t wait for Republicans to advance the conservative cause.”

If you only have time for one segment, pick the second one, where he celebrates Paul’s filibuster, and contrasts conservatives with the Republican Party.

He starts off with a reference to the Marco Rubio Water Bottle Incident Of 2013. He says people wonder why he’s leave “the most debilitated body in the world” to lead Heritage:

DeMint goes on to describe Rand Paul’s filibuster, and how that Heritage has to translate the leadership on display by those who joined the filibuster into inspiration for the base. A boxing analogy follows:

The birth of the Tea Party was the opportunity for the Republican Party to embrace the movement, but the GOP hardly misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity to match word with deed. The Heritage TODO list:

  1. Build on successes of 2010. Republicans didn’t lead; conservatives did.
  2. Permanent, ground-up grass roots organization, e.g. Heritage Action.
  3. Figure out the communications, and speak conservative policies to all Americans.
  4. Tell the stories, and broadcast the positive life transformations brought by conservative policies.
  5. Reinvigorate state-on-state competition.

The good news is that conservativism is winning at the state level. DeMint draws contrasts, and says that conservatives have the Progressives right where we want them. But we have to show up and engage.

What do do:

  1. ObamaCare gets the death panel.
  2. Nothing we do about immigration can reward people for lawbreaking.
  3. Conservatives must lead with plan to balance the budget in the next decade, without a tax increase.
  4. We must stand for core societal institutions, and must bolster federalism against judicial activism.

Conservative foreign policy can be summarized in two words: strength and focus.

Update: linked at Daily Pundit. Thanks, Bill!

Category: CPAC
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