The Other McCain

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

Early Start for #UnsustaintableBarTab at the #NRISummit: Beer and Loathing

Posted on | January 25, 2013 | 40 Comments

Rich Lowry gives a video interview at the NRI Summit

WASHINGTON, D.C.
No sooner had I walked into the lobby of the Omni Shoreham Hotel than I was accosted by John LaRosa, Republican campaign consultant and originator of the #UnsustainableBarTab. “What? Are you stalking me?” LaRosa said. “Did you follow me from the airport?”

We immediately went to the room where his fellow consultant Brad Marston was waiting. We then headed back down to the smoking area, on the way encountering National Review reporter Rob Costa, who’s prepared for the riot I’ve been trying to incite at this weekend’s summit. Costa’s not a smoker, so we bid him adieu and headed out to the front of the hotel where the snow was being whipped around by a cold wind.

“Hey, I just came from Boston,” Marston said. “This is balmy.”

We checked in and got our credentials, then went to the restaurant for a late lunch/early happy hour. While we waited for our sandwiches to arrive, National Review‘s Kevin Williamson walked in and was invited to join us. We started telling tales of the past campaign, including hilarious anecdotes about Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich that can only be repeated off the record, and then only if someone else is picking up the tab — which John and Brad were, of course: “Media relations” being a legitimate tax-deductible business expense.

We adjourned the convocation and I headed down to the ballroom where some 700 were gathered for the Summit. Ran into Joe Schoffstall, Bruce Carroll and Stephen Gutowski, all of whom are Rising New Media Superstars (and now owe me beers for the shout-out).

The first Controversial Moment of the evening occurred early:

What? Fawning praise for the loser? Is this what we’ve come down to? Praising the “splendid candidate” who lost? Well, I needed a smoke after that, and on my way back down, I ran into my friend Orit Sklar and got into a conversation about the retirement of Saxby Chambliss (for which Ali Akbar deserves much credit) and the likelihood of a multi-candidate primary. Tom Price will almost certainly run for the seat in 2014, but . . .

Well, obviously, this was all strictly off-the-record and not for attribution — just two friends talking privately. Hey, did I mention that some of my friends are Republican campaign consultants?

Category: Fear. Loathing.

How Long Can the ‘Dollar Bubble’ Last?

Posted on | January 25, 2013 | 18 Comments

If you think this is the solution, you are the problem

“Sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money. Something that can’t go on forever, won’t. Debt that can’t be repaid, won’t be. Promises that can’t be kept, won’t be.”
— Professor Glenn Reynolds

Everybody who knows anything about economics — that is to say, everybody who isn’t a liberal — is concerned about the Federal Reserve’s policy of deliberate inflation: Devaluing the dollar as a monetary solution to the nation’s underlying fiscal and economic problems. There is no real recovery, and no end in sight to deficits so, hey, let’s just print a lot of paper. It’s as logical as the Magic Trillion-Dollar Platinum Coin.

This unsustainable zero-interest policy began during the Bush administration and has been continued for nearly five years. How long before the inevitable Day of Reckoning? We don’t know. What will that monetary Day of Reckoning look like? Mike Rogers has a few thoughts:

It can’t happen here; We’re too big (to fail?); The whole world wants Dollars; We could never become The Weimar Republic/ Zimbabwe/ Greece/ 1960s Britain … After all, OUR financial wizards are too smart to let that happen!
Not so much! Just because Ron Paul has been telling us for a long time that the Federal Reserve was bad for us, doesn’t mean he’s wrong. Let’s check a few bullet points, and then I’ll explain why the warning signals are flashing a little more urgently these days . . .

Please read the whole thing. Don’t say you weren’t warned: Buy gold — a bargain today at $1,667 an ounce — and stockpile ammunition.

 

Category: Economics, Gold, Weimar America

Fear and Loathing at the #NRISummit: Can We Survive the Sarcasm Deficit?

Posted on | January 25, 2013 | 40 Comments

Perhaps National Review‘s famed cartoonist Roman Genn can do a savage caricature of the donnybrook brawl I’ve been trying to incite for this weekend’s National Review Institute “Future of Conservatism” Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Was it a smart career move to kick Jonah Goldberg in the knee? No, of course not, but there are a lot of things I’ve done over the years that could be characterized as the diametric opposite of “smart career moves.” I’ve always preferred the Eric Stratton Philosophy of Life:

Boon: I gotta work on my game.
Otter: No, no, no! Don’t think of it as work. The whole point is just to enjoy yourself.

Some readers misunderstood my purpose in subjecting Jonah Goldberg to the kind of blunt sarcasm I habitually aim at liberals. Do I want a fight with Jonah? Oh, hell, no — he’s the size of a linebacker, and I’m not enough of a journalistic celebrity to rely on the “David Gregory Loophole” in D.C.’s strict gun-control policy. So I’ll be unarmed and defenseless when I show up at the National Review Summit this afternoon.

Although I understand they’ve hired heavy security at the Omni Shoreham to deal with any troublemakers, what’s to stop Jonah Goldberg from slipping the guards $100 to look the other way while he pounds my head up against a brick wall?

No, I don’t want to go mano a mano with that savage giant. My point in depicting the NRI Summit as a conclave of effete snobs was to incite grassroots resentment, to inspire a populist mob to pay their $250 and show up at the Omni Shoreham howling for blood: Stir up some kind of controversy — “fireworks” as the headline-writers say — that will provide an approximation of actual news for me to report.

Readers who contribute to the Shoe Leather Fund aren’t paying me to go down to D.C. so I can write up the tedious proceedings of a series of panel discussions. No, the tip-jar hitters want some real news: At least a couple of angry shouting matches, if not indeed a brutal mob beatdown on Joe Scarborough. It was a smart idea to invite America’s Least Popular “Republican” TV Personality™ to this event, if only on the basis on the venerable principle that there is no such thing as bad publicity, except your own obituary. Speaking of obituaries . . .

When I told a certain investigative journalist friend of mine I was coming to town for the NRI Summit, he said, “You mean the one with the panel on ‘what’s wrong with the Right,’ where the answer to the question is, ‘The people on stage’?”

Panel: What is Wrong with the Right?
Moderator: Reihan Salam, National Review Online
Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard
Yuval Levin, National Affairs
John Podhoretz, Commentary Magazine
Joe Scarborough, MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’
Ross Douthat, New York Times

Notice — and I hate to be the one to point this out — that there isn’t a single female or Latino on that panel? So there’s one answer to your question: “Intellectuals who are clueless about optics.” This is not to endorse a tokenistic system of affirmative action among the rightward intelligentsia, but when you exclude key demographics and the closest thing to a “youth” presence you can offer is 33-year-old Harvard classmates Reihan Salam and Ross Douthat . . .

Finish that sentence however you want.

If the proprietors of Conservatism, Inc., want to run their operation as an Old Boys Club for Ivy Leaguers, who am I to object? It’s a free country. My advice was never solicited, and it’s unlikely the heirs of the Buckley Legacy would listen if I offered unsolicited advice. So I kick ’em in the knee, give ’em free publicity, and hope maybe some of our readers will pay $250 for the right to ask a few pointed questions.

And, honestly, it won’t be a totally lame snobfest. A few of the participants in this weekend’s NRI Summit proceedings:

Mark Steyn, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, Charles Krauthammer, Laura Ingraham, Michael Barone, Kathryn Lopez, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Mona Charen, Mia Love, Peter Thiel, Mark Krikorian, James Pethokoukis, Amity Shlaes, Kevin Williamson, Robert Costa, Jay Nordlinger, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, John O’Sullivan, Larry Kudlow, Ed Whelan, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, John Fund, Tim Phillips, Heather Higgins, Kellyanne Conway, Cleta Mitchell, Jim Geraghty, Jim DeMint, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, Arthur Brooks, Maggie Gallagher, Brad Wilcox and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal

Maybe you think all of those people are part of the problem, and you can pay $250 to get in their face and tell ’em so. But surely any conservative could look at that list and see at least a few names that might be part of the solution, and you can pay $250 to show up and cheer them.

The point is that I’m not anti-NRI Summit. I am anti-boredom, however, and even if the angry dissent and controversy — “fireworks”! — are as dramatically phony as professional wrestling, we need some infighting and bloodletting and perhaps even random violence among the panelists, if only to justify my spending a weekend in D.C.

If you’re not going to pay $250 to attend this event, it would be absurd for me to expect you to hit my tip jar for $10 or $20 just so I could write up a bunch of intellectual navel-gazing and tepid policy discussions. No, you want some real live action for me to report:

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Conservative journalist John Podoretz is “expected to recover” from the critical injuries he suffered during a savage fistfight that broke out Saturday afternoon during a panel discussion on immigration policy at the National Review Institute Summit.
Podhoretz was “conscious and responsive,” said a spokesman at George Washington University Hospital, where the Commentary magazine editor was rushed by paramedics after he charged the stage during a presentation by Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies.
“It was totally unexpected,” said Krikorian, who was questioned and released by Metropolitan Police. “All I did was defend myself.”
Stunned witnesses said Podhoretz seemed to become agitated when Krikorian made several sarcastic references to the “open borders lobby” and “gutless neocons” whom he blamed for recent political setbacks suffered by the Republican Party.
“John started trembling and then his face became contorted by rage,” said Jim Geraghty, a National Review staffer who was moderating the panel. Geraghty said that Podhoretz shouted “anti-Armenian slurs” before charging across the ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel and attempting to attack Krikorian, who responded by slamming Podhoretz into the floor. . . .

Could that really happen? We certainly can’t rule it out. Bad blood between Krikorian and the “gutless neocons” has been brewing for years. Everybody knows who he’s talking about. Podhoretz’s irrational Fear and Loathing of Armenians isn’t exactly a secret, either.

That’s why readers want to contribute to the Shoe Leather Fund and send me down to D.C. for the weekend: If there’s going to be trouble — and it’s at least an outside possibility these vicious internecine rivalries might lead to an all-out riot at the National Review Institute Summit — you’re gonna want me to provide an on-the-scene report of this epic battle. Because I’m strictly a Neutral Objective Journalist.





 

 


Category: Conservatism 101, Fear. Loathing., Intellectuals, Jonah Goldberg, Neutral Objective Journalism, Rule 4, Shoe Leather Fund

The Roe v. Wade Inversion

Posted on | January 25, 2013 | 13 Comments

by Smitty

The idea of ‘reproductive rights’ is as bad an inversion as ‘Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’. What, exactly, is ‘reproductive’ about murder? This is probably the most un-intentionally diabolical 1:40 worth of video ever cut:

The body language here is that the sexual means is its own end. All that matters is the sensual pleasure, we are told.

And yet, this is supposed to be about ‘reproductive rights’. There is absolutely nothing whatsoever going on here, past a passionate night. So it belies the notion of being about ‘reproductive rights’ straight away. Reproductive rights should include some notion of responsibilities beyond a protein donation.

Lord, have mercy on the fellow in this video, and lay a healthy load of wisdom on his head, so that he can grasp the total foulness of this video, repent of his folly, and set about repairing the societal damage to which he’s contributed.

Update: whoops! This was via ktcat, with more at Beers with Demo.

Update II: Great follow-up with Jackie Wellfonder.

Category: Abortion

This Blog Votes We Accept @DarleenClick’s Apology

Posted on | January 24, 2013 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

Darleen blogs at Protein Wisdom, by the way.

Category: Uncategorized

New Federal Charges Filed Against Anonymous Spokesman Barrett Brown

Posted on | January 24, 2013 | 11 Comments

September 2012: Barrett Brown threatens an FBI agent in video

For the third time in four months, a federal grand jury in Texas has returned indictments against Barrett Brown, the former spokesman for the hacking group Anonymous. Brown was arrested in September after a video rant in which he threatened to “destroy” an FBI agent.

Brown was indicted in October on charges stemming from those threats and indicted again in December on multiple charges related to the “LulzSec” hacking of Stratfor. Now, the grand jury has returned an indictment on two obstruction of justice charges, accusing Brown of concealing evidence in a March 6 raid (at the same time that the feds arrested several members of the “LulzSec” hacking group).

In an interview with Wired magazine, Brown’s former attorney Jay Leiderman portrayed the latest indictments in a conspiratorial light:

“Clearly they’re more worried about what they perceive as his egging people on to go after defense contractors and secret spy organizations. . . . Barrett believes in privacy for individuals and transparency for corporations and government. The government doesn’t like his belief system. And Barrett was effective in expressing that belief system.”

Leiderman compared Brown to Aaron Swarz, the Reddit co-founder who committed suicide after being prosecuted for hacking an MIT database:

“I would have thought in the wake of Aaron Swartz that the government might have learned something and might have thought twice about bringing the weight of the entire [United States] down upon someone when it wasn’t warranted,” says Leiderman.

The Dallas Observer reports:

Brown is due in court again next Wednesday, in the case related to his alleged FBI agent-threatening. At that time, U.S. District Judge Sam Linday will rule on a prison psychologist’s recommendation that Brown be founded mentally competent to stand trial.

The video rant that led to Barrett Brown’s September arrest:

PREVIOUSLY:

 

Category: Barrett Brown

Gregory Kane Opines That Colin Powell Could Be A Latent Democrat

Posted on | January 24, 2013 | 19 Comments

by Smitty

I still recall with fondness then-JCS Chairman General Powell around 20 years ago speaking to us in a college setting. At the time, his sheer command presence had me thinking that he could well be our first black POTUS. And now he’s reduce to taking pot shots at women who are not (at the moment) even in any political spotlight:

There are two Republican Latino governors, and Republican governors in Louisiana and South Carolina whose parents came from India. This is the party that Powell claims “still looks down on the minority.”
To “prove” his assertion that Republicans are a bunch of intolerant rednecks, Powell dredged up exactly two examples.
When President Obama was trying to hoodwink the American public into believing that the terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was something other than what it was, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said, “President Obama’s shuck and jive shtick with these Benghazi lies must end.”
Powell objected to Palin’s use of the term “shuck and jive.” “That’s a racial-era slave term,” he said. Now if I really wanted to be testy about this, I could ask Powell, “And your point would be what, exactly?” But I’ll just use this rejoinder instead: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was New York state attorney general in 2008, used precisely the same term, about the same guy.
Referring to then-presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, Cuomo said, “You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference.”
So you see, Gen. Powell, there is bipartisan recognition of Obama’s “shucking and jiving.”

Read the whole thing. Great punch line.

Powell himself is kind of old news, but Gregory Kane is a great columnist, and well worth your attention.

Category: Uncategorized

Living Inside Your Head, Rent-Free

Posted on | January 24, 2013 | 16 Comments

Patterico has been cyberstalked since June 2011 by Neal Rauhauser, and Rauhauser’s use of psy-ops tactics (including “accuse the accusers” and “conflict cupid”) has the effect of casting a shadow of suspicion around his targets, creating confusion that prevents law enforcement from identifying Rauhauser as the source of malicious actions.

Go read Mike Stack’s account of Rauhauser’s interactions with New Jersey police. Stack, the first target of SWATting in the WeinerGate saga (with which Neal became obsessed), filed a harassment complaint against Rauhauser. Stack says Neal then contacted New Jersey police, seeking to convince them that somehow Stack was at fault. By sowing hostility between the cops and Stack (“conflict cupid”), Rauhauser avoided serious criminal sanctions for his harassing behavior.

Patterico sees Rauhauser as part of Brett Kimberlin’s operation:

What if you could recruit a whole team of cyberstalkers — all to aid you in a purely personal dispute?

It’s worth reading. The overlap between Kimberlin and Rauhauser remains a subject of much mystery. If Neal and others are actually being paid to cyberstalk Brett’s enemies, this would explain a lot. The other (and more likely) explanation is that they’re all just bat-shit crazy.

Politically motivated stalking is never actually politically motivated. It’s about the personality defects of the stalkers. It’s perhaps most useful to compare Neal Rauhauser to John Tiessen — these are psychologically damaged people whose interest in politics is about the Moment of Glory fantasy: By destroying the hated political enemy, they will vindicate themselves as Winners and (they imagine) be celebrated by their allies.

Is Neal Rauhauser part of Brett Kimberlin’s army of hired stalkers? Or is Neal just an obsessed loser chasing the Moment of Glory fantasy? Obviously, this is not an entirely moot question for Patterico or others they have tried to destroy, but we must be pretty doggone important — Winners! — if we’re living rent-free inside their heads.

P.S.: I’d like to tell you this is all a Koch-funded conspiracy, but unfortunately the check hasn’t shown up yet, so please hit the freaking tip jar!

 


Category: Uncategorized
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