The Other McCain

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

The Other Democrats Wonder: Is Failure Linked To Being The Other Democrats?

Posted on | January 23, 2013 | 16 Comments

by Smitty

Byron York:

The bottom line is that RNC members know something is terribly wrong. Some point out that chairman Reince Priebus — who is expected to be re-elected in an uncontested ballot Friday — cannot come before the committee and say, “We were out-spent” or “We couldn’t match the resources of the other side.” The party’s problem is more fundamental than that — simply put, Republicans have either a basic identity problem or an equally basic competence problem — and demands more fundamental answers.

Read the whole thing, as the RNC gathers in Charlotte for navel gazing, and, one hopes, repentance.

If anybody down there reads this post, please relay to the homies that Hispanic outreach is great. More solid get-out-the-vote efforts are fine. But they are peripheral to the ongoing collapse of our Republic into a failed state.

The GOP can’t out-spendthrift the Democrats, and has no business playing that game any more.

It’s also time to quit with the equestrian nice-nice, and answer the Democrat propaganda with firm, unflinching directness. Step into Twitter for smaller examples of telling these Lefties what’s what, while keeping it family friendly. It can be done, but it takes some thought to engage without veering into f-bomb territory. This GOP is about one Dole/McCain/Romney aristocratic milquetoast away from ceasing to function, as far as I can tell.

Speaker Boehner’s “No Budget No Pay” act is a step in the right direction.

Delivering remarks on the House floor today, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) urged support for the No Budget, No Pay Act (H.R. 325) that will force Senate Democrats to finally pass a budget, which they have refused to do in almost four years. In his remarks, Speaker Boehner reiterated that the No Budget, No Pay Act is just a first step toward a long-term plan that balances the budget over the next 10 years, and addresses the fiscal crisis that threatens our economy and future generations.

Can you guys cut a little YouTube clip and explain why we can’t do that in five years? A sober little “No Speaker, No Cry” video would really help.

Balancing the budget over the next 10 years means that we save the future for our kids and our grandkids. It also means that we strengthen programs like Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid that can’t continue to exist in their current form without some kind of controls.

Fortunately, the sunrise is not dependent upon our Congress, or the future truly would be in jeopardy. How about a more long-term plan to privatize these vote-buying schemes? This would help the GOP not sound so much like The Other Democrats.

Category: Uncategorized

SWAT Hoax? Moody Air Force Base Locked Down After Fake 911 Call

Posted on | January 23, 2013 | 3 Comments

Moody Air Force Base was put on security lockdown today after an apparent hoax call sent sheriff’s deputies to investigate a false report of an armed threat at the base near the south Georgia town of Valdosta.

According to WCTV-TV, the report of “a situation involving an active shooter” resulted in a lockdown at the base that lasted for nearly two hours. Deputies from the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department were “dispatched to Moody AFB after a 911 call, they were told there was a supposed active shooter on the base,” WCTV reported, but the report turned out to be “unfounded.” The lockdown ended before 3 p.m. ET.

A sergeant in the office of public affairs at Moody told me in a brief telephone interview that “a threat was reported that never existed” — which sounds like SWATting, a potentially deadly kind of hoax in which false 911 calls are used to intimidate or harass individuals.

Several celebrities, most recently Kim Kardashian, have been targeted by SWATtings. Members of Congress last year called on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the use of SWATting as a terrorist tactic against political bloggers.

Category: Crime

Liberal Blogger: ‘How Dare You Smear Hillary by Quoting Her Accurately!’

Posted on | January 23, 2013 | 68 Comments

Sen. Ron Johnson asked a question about Benghazi and Hillary Clinton said this: “What difference, at this point, does it make?”

I’m not making this up. You can check the transcript or watch the video. She said it. But it is so wrong for anyone to quote that sentence:

But, of course, the ripped-from-context quote is “What difference, at this point, does it make?” It’s already being seized on by National Review and Fox News and The Wall Street Journal and The Weekly Standard and Glenn Beck’s Blaze and Michelle Malkin’s Twitchy and the Free Beacon and, of course, Breitbart. There’s already a popular hashtag, #whatdifferencedoesitmake. . . .
Will the wingers be able to turn this decontextualized soundbite into a deceptive sign of Secretary Clinton’s indifference?
This is an Andrew Breitbart/James O’Keefe tactic, but its use is not limited to O’Keefe and the carriers of the Breitbart torch — this is a mainstream GOP tactic.

Quoting what a Democrat says is a tactic! An Andrew Breitbart/James O’Keefe tactic! A mainstream GOP tactic!

The point seems to be: Anything that is bad for Democrats is wrong. These unfair “tactics” include (a) direct quotes, (b) facts and (c) math.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

 


Category: Hillary Clinton

Hillary Gets Bitchy on Benghazi: ‘What Difference, at This Point, Does It Make?’

Posted on | January 23, 2013 | 20 Comments

Kinda half-watched this morning’s Senate Benghazi hearings, mainly wondering what was up with those big ugly glasses Hillary was wearing. My favorite part was when she got irritated with Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who was trying to pin her down on why the administration spent so long pushing the bogus “protest” talking points:

SEN. JOHNSON: Yeah. The point I’m making is a very simple phone call to these individuals I think would have ascertained immediately that there was no protest prior to this. I mean, this attack started at 9:40 p.m., Benghazi time, and it was an assault . . . Why wasn’t that known? And again, I appreciate the fact of the transparency of this — of this hearing, but why weren’t we transparent at that point in time?
SEC. CLINTON: Well, first of all, Senator, I would say that once the assault happened and once we got our people rescued and out, our most immediate concern was, number one, taking care of their injuries . .. getting them into Frankfurt, Ramstein . . . to get taken care of, the FBI going over immediately to start talking to them — we did not think it was appropriate for us to talk to them before the FBI conducted their interviews, so — and we did not — I think this is accurate, sir — I certainly did not know of any reports that contradicted the IC talking points at the time that Ambassador Rice went on the TV shows.
And, you know, I just want to say that, you know, people have accused Ambassador Rice and the administration of, you know, misleading Americans. I can say, trying to be in the middle of this and understanding what was going on, nothing could be further from the truth. Was information developing? Was the situation fluid? Would we reach conclusions later that weren’t reached initially? And I appreciate the –
SEN. JOHNSON: But Madam Secretary, do you disagree with me that a simple phone call to those evacuees to determine what happened wouldn’t have — wouldn’t have ascertained immediately that there was no protest?
I mean, that was — that was a piece of information that could have been easily, easily obtained –
SEC. CLINTON: Well, but Senator, again –
SEN. JOHNSON: — within hours, if not days.
SEC. CLINTON: Senator, I — you know, when you’re in these positions, the last thing you want to do is interfere with any other process going on. . . . Now, we have no doubt they were terrorists, they were militants, they attacked us, they killed our people, but what was going on and why they were doing what they were doing is still — is still unknown.
SEN. JOHNSON: No, no, no, no, I’m — I — again, we were misled that there were supposedly protests and then something sprang out of that, an assault sprang out of that. And that was easily ascertained that that was not the fact –
SEC. CLINTON: But could — but, you know –
SEN. JOHNSON: — and the American people could have known that within days, and they didn’t know that.
SEC. CLINTON: And — with all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans.
SEN. JOHNSON: I understand.
SEC. CLINTON: Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator.

Ed Morrissey retorts:

Well, gosh, I can think of a few reasons why it matters. First, it mattered enough for the Obama administration to send Susan Rice to five different Sunday talk shows to insist that the sacking was a spontaneous demonstration of anger over a months-old YouTube video, while saying that there was “no evidence” that it was a terrorist attack. On one of those appearances, the president of Libya told US audiences the exact opposite — that it was the work of terrorists and that they had a pretty good idea of who they were. If it didn’t matter, what was Susan Rice doing when she tried pushing that meme, which the White House had to abandon within days as leaks within State and CIA made plain that there was no demonstration?
It also matters because Barack Obama at the time had been bragging about crippling al-Qaeda while on the campaign trail. That false narrative made it seem as though State and our intel community couldn’t have possibly known that the sacking would have occurred, and got blindsided by a grassroots reaction to the video. Instead, it turned out to be a planned terrorist action about which the US embassy in Libya had warned State for months, repeatedly requesting more security.

Ed, remember (a) it’s only a “scandal” if Republicans do it, and (b) only “humorless, angry opponents of the President” care about Benghazi.

Category: Hillary Clinton, Libya

How to Avoid Journalistic Hindenburgs

Posted on | January 23, 2013 | 17 Comments

“I’m the managing editor of Culture11 (www.culture11.com), a new online magazine/social network that was started by Bill Bennett, David Kuo, Steve Forbes, et al. Today is our first day and rather than trying to get attention using traditional media, we’ve decided to announce our launch by reaching out to our friends.
“With your help, we can make Culture11 something truly extraordinary — an online destination that has the editorial excellence of a great magazine, the thrill of a terrific conversation, and the comfort of a supportive community all rolled into one.”
— Joe Carter, e-mail, August 2008

“Ponder the yawning chasm between David Kuo and ‘the next Cameron Crowes and Hunter Thompsons.’ It’s as if one day Kenny G announced he was looking for ‘the next Ramones.’
“Personnel is policy. Imagine Hunter S. Thompson walking into the offices of Culture11, wearing his Acapulco shirt and aviator shades, reeking of gin, with a head full of mescaline and a satchel full of felonies. David Kuo would call the cops.”
— Robert Stacy McCain, “Good-bye, Culture11,” Jan. 30, 2009

Some people go unscathed from disaster to disaster. Perhaps the most eminent survivor of the Culture11 catastrophe was Conor Friedersdorf, now employed at a Scientology-funded magazine called The Atlantic, bashing Rush Limbaugh and arguing for legalized marijuana.

Joe Carter, the former Mike Huckabee campaign staffer who bought into David Kuo’s lunatic idea that Culture11 would be like “Rolling Stone in the ’70s,” ended up at First Things. Peter Suderman is a senior editor at Reason. James Poulos went on to Ricochet.

Others were not so lucky: Kuo, the Republican hack who burned through a reported million dollars of start-up capital in six months at Culture11, has disappeared from public view. Although I had been solicited to write for Culture11 — originally named “Liberty Wire” — I avoided that Hindenburg-at-Lakehurst trip after reading a New Republic item:

David Kuo . . . a former Special Assistant to President Bush and author of tell-all Bush indictment Tempting Faith, is going to be the CEO.

As soon as I learned Kuo was involved, I e-mailed back to the young staffer who had solicited my contribution, telling her:

  1. Under no circumstance would I ever consent to write for any project connected to David Kuo; and
  2. She’d be smart to get the hell out of there immediately.

Personnel is policy. Kuo has never been associated with anything but failure. He couldn’t make a profit on the snow-cone concession in Hell.

Memories of the Cutlture11 debacle are fresh in my mind today because part of the start-up money Kuo pissed away on his doomed vanity project (the smoldering digital crater is a “404,” so that not even the archives remain) was an investment by Steve Forbes. And another Forbes-funded venture is making news, not in a good way:

Over the weekend, professional golfer Phil Mickelson complained about tax increases (including state income taxes in California) that he said had pushed his marginal rate to 63 percent: “I’ve got to make some decisions on what to do.” That incited a scolding from Syracuse University professor Len Burman, who said Mickelson should “stop whining” because he was so “lucky” to be one of the world’s highest-earning athletes.
What is perhaps surprising is that Burman published his attack on Mickelson’s “whining” at Forbes.
Forbes was once a leading advocate of free-market economic policy . . .
Yet in recent years, the online version of Forbes has become increasingly notorious as a hive of strident left-wing opinion. . . .
What happened to Forbes? Two words: Lewis Dvorkin.
A former AOL executive, Dvorkin got funding from Forbes in 2009 to start a Web site, True/Slant, that lasted a little more than a year before it was taken over by Forbes in a deal that brought Dvorkin into the company with the title of Chief Product Officer. . . . Dvorkin’s July 2010 deal also brought under the Forbes online umbrella several of True/Slant’s left-wing staff and contributors, including [Steve] Zwick, [Rick] Ungar and, apparently, Professor Len Burman.
My friend Jim Lakely at the Heartland Institute is dismayed that Phil Mickelson apologized after his scolding from Burman. I’m more dismayed that Dvorkin’s left-wing takeover at Forbes has proven the truth of O’Sullivan’s First Law, formulated by former National Review editor John O’Sullivan: “All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.”

Maybe Forbes should hire David Kuo. I’m sure he’s available.

 

Category: Journalism

LIVE AT FIVE: 01.23.13

Posted on | January 23, 2013 | 4 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Likud/Israel Beitanu List Wins; Let The Arithmetic Begin

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Coalition wins 31 seats in Knesset; maneuvers begin with invite to Shas
Final Israeli election results
Yeir Lapid Leaps From Obscurity to Power Broker As Head Of New Yesh Atid Party

Obama Won’t Oppose House GOP Plan To Suspend Debt Limit
Proposal removes limit through May 18

President’s Lofty Inaugural Ideals Run Smack Into Reality
White House struggles to explain how sweeping rhetoric on climate change, gay rights gets translated into specific action



POLITICS
GOP Insists Tying Members’ Pay To Budget Is Constitutional, Will Force Vote Today

Speaker John Boehner

Rep. Dave Camp’s bill would withhold pay from Senate until they pass a budget

New Documents Cast Shadow On Legacy Of LA’s Cardinal Mahony

Hasidic Counselor Gets 103 Years In Abuse Case

Mistakes Raise Questions On Texas’ Women’s Health Program

Marco Rubio Blasts Roe v. Wade As “Blatant Judicial Activism”

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk Quits

Senator Lautenberg Calls Mayor Booker “Misbehaving Child”

Cuomo Proposes $143 Billion Budget For New York

General Allen Cleared In Petraeus E-Mail Case



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Surges On Optimism About Global Economy: NYMEX $96.57, Brent $112.18
Asian Stocks Mostly Lower As Japan Skids
Banks, Commodity Stocks Boost S&P 500 To Five-Year High
Microsoft Joins Effort To Take Dell Private
Prosecutor Asks 50 Years For Peregrine’s Wasendorf
Software Growth Boosts IBM’s 4Q Earnings
Walmart Toughens Supplier Policies
Bethesda Opens Beta Signups For “Elder Scrolls” MMO
Apple’s iPhones Top-Selling Smartphones In 4Q 2012
DARPA Takes Aim At Space Junk
Samsung Confirms Galaxy Note 8 Tablet For Mobile World Conference
Keon And Peak: First Firefox OS Phones Revealed
AT&T Buys Alltel’s Retail Wireless Operations
Intel’s Desktop Motherboard Operation To Shut Down Within Five Years



SPORTS
Jerry Rice Sides With Tim Brown In Super Bowl Sabotage Claim

Brown and Rice during media day before Super Bowl XXXVII

Wide receivers claim Oakland’s coach Callahan threw the game for his old boss Gruden

Brodeur Notches 120th Shutout As Devils Sink Flyers 3-0

NFL Lifts Saints Coach Payton’s Suspension

Backstrom’s Turnover Leads To Wild’s First Loss

“Kyrie Irving Happened”: Celtics Fall To Cavs 95-90

Power Play Fizzles As Wings Lose 2-1 To Stars

Jets Turn Into Juggernauts Against Capitals, Win 4-2

Former Players Urge Hall Of Fame To Add Marvin Miller

Former Nationals OF Elijah Dukes Arrested For Failure To Appear In Court



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Beyonce Lip-Synched At The Inauguration

Beyonce Knowles pretending to sing at the Inaugural

Kelly Clarkson, on the other hand, sang.

Shakira: It’s A Boy!

ABC Yanks “Apartment 23”, Doubles Up On “Happy Endings”

Lindsay Lohan Rejects Massive Offer From “Dancing With The Stars”

Daniel Gilles Set As Lead In “Vampire Diaries” Spinoff

Brandi Glanville Calls LeAnn Rimes “Insane”, Rimes Gets Nasty Right Back

New Kids On The Block Hit The Road With 98 Degrees, Boyz II Men

Bill Hader To Reprise David Hasselhoff Role In “Baywatch” Movie

“Boy Meets World” Spinoff Could Bring Back “Saved By The Bell”



FOREIGNERS
UN Security Council Slams Norks, Tightens Sanctions
Netanyahu Touts “Broadest Coalition Possible”
Start Of Something Big? Russia Pulls 100 Citizens From Syria
Nations Join Mali Effort To Reclaim Timbuktu
Algeria Defends Its Tough Response To Hostage Crisis
How “Le Pong” Engulfed Kent And Sussex
Polls Open In Jordanian Parliamentary Election
Cameron’s EU Referendum Pledge Is Testament To Power Of UKIP
India: It’s Time UN Observers Left Kashmir



BLOGS & STUFF
Weekly Standard Blog: Reid – Filibuster Rule Change Coming Later This Month
Ed Driscoll: This Is Going To End Well
Bryan Preston: Left Scolds Golfer Phil Mickelson – You’re Lucky To Pay So Much In Taxes!
Robert Tracinski: Barack Obama Is Boring
Gateway Pundit: Missouri Sheriffs Pledge Not To Enforce Obama’s Gun Laws
The Hill: Paul Ryan Accuses President Of Punting On Debt Crisis
Lonely Conservative: American F-16’s Headed For Muslim Brotherhood’s Egypt
NRO Media Blog: NBC/WSJ Poll Misleads On Roe V. Wade
American Thinker: Media Trumpets Poll That Shows Majority Wants To Keep Roe V. Wade – Whatever That Is
Weasel Zippers: More People Watched W’s Second Inauguration Than Obama’s
The Crawdad Hole: You Can’t Argue With A Bigot
The Lid: James Taylor On Guns – “Americans Need To Make Some Sacrifice[s] To Our Freedoms”
Legal Insurrection: Veteran Stands Up For Second Amendment At Chicago Anti-Gun Forum
Samizdata: Sir David Attenborough Would Like Us To Die Soon (Sort Of)
Protein Wisdom: In The Midst Of Texas School Shooting, CNN Reporter Trolls Twitter Users For Photos


Yesterday I misidentified Prince Harry as the Prince of Wales. This title is actually held by his dipstick father, Prince Charles. No doubt I was indulging in some unconscious wishful thinking. Carry on.

Category: Live at Five

Fake Singing, Real Tyranny

Posted on | January 22, 2013 | 13 Comments

Beyoncé lip-synched “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Obama’s inaugural. She’s as real as Manti Te’o’s dead girlfriend. Meanwhile, Harry Reid — who hasn’t passed a budget in four years — is threatening to turn the U.S. Senate into North Korea with himself as Dear Leader.

Isn’t this the part of the story where the barbarians storm the city gates while the emperor is having an orgy with his decadent courtiers?

Category: Barack Obama, Celebrities, Harry Reid

WE BACK MACK!

Posted on | January 22, 2013 | 12 Comments

Just when you were feeling down in the dumps — still 1,460 days remaining in Obama’s second term — Amanda Read brings you reason to hope: Say hello to Stanley Mack, a U.S. Navy veteran who is running for Congress in Alabama’s 7th District in 2014.

It’s a 3-to-1 Democrat district, but there is reason to hope: Alabama has a strong statewide Republican Party. The GOP finally captured the state legislature after the 2010 mid-terms, and the incumbent Democrat is a no-name you never heard of — a perfect target for one of those grassroots-backed underdog challengers we love.

Most incumbent Republicans in Alabama will coast to victory by 2-to-1 margins in 2014, so the statewide party apparatus could help lend support to promising challengers like Stanley Mack, potentially knocking off an incumbent even in a strong Democrat district. If the online grassroots can help drive fundraising and publicity for a good candidate like Stanley Mack, he could really change some hearts and minds.

STANLEY MACK for U.S. CONGRESS
Let’s Back the Mack Attack!

Category: Alabama, Election
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