The Other McCain

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

Cherokee Tribune Endorses Romney

Posted on | October 14, 2012 | 3 Comments

You’re thinking, “Cherokee? You mean, like Elizabeth Warren?” No, this is an editorial in the newspaper in Cherokee County, Georgia:

During his first two years Obama had a Democratic-controlled House and Senate to pass any plan or idea to help the tattered economy. Instead, he made his overriding priority not job creation but the radical transformation of this country’s health care system, which though far from perfect is the best in the world for a country so large. That government takeover of health care, if left in place, will deprive millions of Americans of their present health insurance and degrade the quality of care provided for all of us. His preferred model is socialized medicine along the lines of Great Britain and other European countries.
That’s fitting, because his economic policies have this country following Greece and Spain toward bankruptcy.
This is a president who seems fundamentally out of touch with most mainstream Americans and sees Main Street America as something to be scolded. He routinely villanizes the private sector and pushes policies that punish profit. As he chided successful Americans this summer, “You didn’t build that!” . . .

Read the whole thing.

Category: Election 2012

VIDEO: Somebody’s Serious About Fiscal Discipline (Hint: It’s Not Joe Biden)

Posted on | October 14, 2012 | Comments Off on VIDEO: Somebody’s Serious About Fiscal Discipline (Hint: It’s Not Joe Biden)

The Romney-Ryan campaign’s latest ad:

“We can’t keep spending and borrowing like this. We can’t just keep spending money we don’t have. . . . Did they come in and inherit a tough situation? Absolutely. But we’re going in the wrong direction! Look at where we are. The economy is barely limping along. . . . Don’t raise taxes on small businesses, because they’re our job creators. . . . Leaders run to problems to fix problems . . . Mitt Romney is uniquely qualified to fix these problems.”
— Paul Ryan, vice presidential debate, Danville, Kentucky, Oct. 11

Category: Debates, Election 2012, Joe Biden, Paul Ryan, Video

‘Media Credibility Day Is Coming’

Posted on | October 14, 2012 | 23 Comments

When the Associated Press finally took notice of “surging” crowds at Romney-Ryan rallies, Da Tech Guy laughed — like me, he’s covered multiple Romney campaign events and had seen big, enthusiastic crowds all along. Now Sam Youngman of Reuters takes notice:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is recovering ground in the critical swing state of Ohio as he rises in the polls and crowd numbers swell after his strong debate performance last week against President Barack Obama.
Despite pundits and pollsters dismissing Romney’s chances in the state in late September, the Republican is now either tied or just barely trailing Obama in Ohio ahead of the next presidential debate on Tuesday night.
At an event with thousands of Ohioans on Friday night, Romney boasted of “a growing crescendo of enthusiasm.” He has spoken to several large audiences in Ohio this week.
“(Obama’s) campaign is about smaller and smaller things, and our campaign is about bigger and bigger crowds fighting for a bright future,” he said on Saturday.

Polls are lagging indicators, and it is the trend that matters. The RCP average for Ohio has Obama leading 1.7 points, whereas the lead was 5.5 points on Oct. 3. The latest poll from the Democrat firm PPP has Obama still leading Ohio by 5 points, which goes to show you: Don’t let polls freak you out.

 

Category: Da Tech Guy, Election 2012, Ohio, Polls

Another Hate Hoax? Democrat Worker Attacked Denver Campaign Office UPDATED With Important Correction

Posted on | October 13, 2012 | 10 Comments

Sometimes, when news breaks, you just wait for the expected sequel, so I didn’t jump when I saw this yesterday via Memeorandum:

Shot fired at Obama campaign field office in Denver

Oh, really? 3, 2, 1 . . . FAKE!

One of two people suspected of shattering 11 windows Tuesday morning at the state Democratic Party headquarters has an arrest record and a history of helping a Democratic political candidate, public records show.
Police said that about 2:20 a.m., 24-year-old Maurice Schwenkler, now in custody, and an at-large accomplice took a hammer to the picture windows displaying posters touting President Barack Obama and his health care reform efforts . . .
Schwenkler is charged with criminal mischief and is to make his first appearance in Denver County Court today.
He is accused of doing an estimated $11,000 in damage and could face a felony conviction.
On the last day of the 2008 Republican National Convention, he was charged with misdemeanor unlawful assembly in St. Paul, Minn.
Court records provided through the St. Paul Pioneer Press show he was jailed about 2 a.m.
Schwenkler received $500 in November 2008 to walk door-to-door in support of Democrat Mollie Cullom, who lost her race to Republican state Rep. David Balmer of Centennial. . . .
Schwenkler was one of dozens of paid canvassers bankrolled by the Colorado Citizens’ Coalition, a political 527 committee funded by labor groups and well-known, wealthy liberal donors.
In those disclosures, Schwenkler’s address is listed as Derailer Bicycle Cooperative, a free community bicycle collective that operates just around the corner from the Democratic headquarters. . . .
Balmer said he suspects the vandalism might have been aimed at making the GOP look bad.
“This sounds like the type of Democratic tactic from the left fringe trying to make Republicans look mean-spirited,” Balmer said. “In this case, it blew up in their face. He was caught red-handed.”

(Via Coalition of the Swilling.) Such desperate gestures are expected when “Democrats are in ‘Last Days of Pompeii’ mode.”

UPDATE: Oops. Didn’t check the date. The Democrat worker attacking the Democrat HQ story is from 2009. In the current investigation, silence prevails:

Neither Democrats, Republicans nor police wanted to speculate whether the assault was random vandalism, or an attack related somehow to the heated presidential campaign. Multiple national media outlets picked up on the story.

Sorry about the false alarm.

Category: Colorado, Crime, Democrats, Election 2012

Resting Place For Mainstream Media

Posted on | October 13, 2012 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

Slashdot links the MOMA announcing an exhibit: ‘Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop‘

…the first major exhibition devoted to the history of manipulated photography before the digital age. Featuring some 200 visually captivating photographs created between the 1840s and 1990s in the service of art, politics, news, entertainment, and commerce, the exhibition offers a provocative new perspective on the history of photography as it traces the medium’s complex and changing relationship to visual truth.

After this election, I expect to see a serious book or three in the specifics of how media has been manipulated, first in TV Age, and now in the Internet Age. [Aside: aren’t these Ages getting younger as we go?]

I don’t see much value in getting angry about this. The real feedback loop that will minimize the shenanigans, and drive people toward honesty is laughter. You can’t make dishonesty illegal through a court of law. You can only minimize dishonesty through the court of public opinion. The likely penalty in lost power has got to exceed whatever transient value gained by, for example, claiming some random pile of trip on YouTube triggered a demonstration that led to the death of an Ambassador and three others.

But that’s just the extreme example. Far less overt examples of spinning in the media, like the Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin, or the infamous edit of a man carrying a rifle at a Tea Party event, beckon. As we forge a post-Progressive future in the United States, I think the realization will dawn that escaping total collapse was a near-run thing. It’s certainly too early to rule out a partial collapse.

Stacy McCain really should set about compiling a hefty list of examples of media bias.

Category: Uncategorized

False-Flag Troll, IRL

Posted on | October 13, 2012 | 58 Comments

I can pretty much guarantee that this man photographed at a Romney rally in Lancaster, Ohio, is not in fact a Republican, but rather is a plant sent out by the Democrats as a dirty trick.

  • Clue #1: Wearing a “Romney/Ryan” sticker on the back of his T-shirt. Nobody does this. Nobody.
  • Clue #2: It’s kind of chilly in Ohio this time of year, and the guy’s wearing only a T-shirt, while those around him are wearing coats.

My guess is that this guy also wore a coat when he entered the rally, then stationed himself toward the back of the crowd (in front of the riser where the press photographers are stationed) and then removed his coat to expose the T-shirt, with the explicit purpose of having it photographed.

. . . aaanndd, Clue #3: No name? A press photographer is going to take a picture like this and make no effort to ID the guy? Nuh-uh.

Speaking of which: I decided to go over to the American Spectator blog last night and write a lengthy explanation of exactly why the vicious creep James Pogue can go straight to hell.

Finally: We had an unfortunate incident in which a commenter got smacked by Wombat’s Troll Hammer for some things the commenter was saying about Mormonism. This was an unfortunate incident, I say, because the commenter was in fact a tip-jar hitter, who generously contributed to the Shoe Leather Fund to support last month’s Ohio trip. And so I’ve urged Wombat to restore the commenter’s privileges, after making a polite explanation of the problem.

This is as good a place as any, perhaps, to reiterate the policy: I have neither the time nor interest to monitor comments for off-topic or offensive content. Thus, Wombat is the designated Troll-Smasher, and the policy is whatever Wombat says it is. So if you’re in the comments having an argument and Wombat says to knock it off, please comply.

We are at the GAME FACES stage of the campaign, folks. Election Day is barely three weeks away, and we can expect the Leftists to be out in force with all sorts of false-flag/concern-troll antics, so Wombat is apt to on hair-trigger alert, ready to smash the hell out of anything that looks even vaguely trollish. Ergo, Wombat’s warnings should be taken quite seriously, lest we have any further unfortunate incidents.

Also, at some point this upcoming week, my plan is to go off on a long campaign-trail trip that might go all the way to Election Day, so now would be a good time to contribute to the Shoe Leather Fund, as it usually takes three or four business days for the cash to get from the tip jar to my bank account. Thanks for your patience and generosity.

Polls are quite encouraging for Romney (Nate Silver continues his slo-mo walkback with the Forecasting Model) which means that the end of our Long National Nightmare may now be within sight.

 

Once we get to Nov. 7, we can go back to snarking at celebrity meltdowns and all the other fun stuff that makes America great. But meantime . . .

GAME FACES.




 

UPDATE: Speaking of game faces, I got so distracted yesterday I forgot to link Friday’s column at The American Spectator:

Vice President Joe Biden took Americans on a one-way trip to Malarkey-ville [Thursday] night, with a weirdly aggressive debate performance in which, according to one count, he interrupted his Republican rival 86 times. Even many of those who generally approved of what Democrat spinners referred to as Biden’s “happy warrior” act expressed concern that the vice president was, to quote CNN’s Gloria Borger, “condescending at times” toward Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan.
Make that “condescending at all times,” and you may have a consensus that would include even the debate’s liberal moderator, Martha Raddatz of ABC News. Biden’s behavior resembled the hypomanic phase of bipolar disorder, as he grinned incongruously or faked laughter in reaction to Ryan’s answers, rudely scoffed at the Republican’s policy proposals as “bluster” and “loose talk,” and bulldozed past whatever feeble attempts Raddatz made to halt his repeated filibusters.
Arrogant? Overbearing? Angry? If those are your ideal qualities in a vice president, Biden’s your man. . . .

Please read the whole thing.

UPDATE II: Welcome, Instapundit readers! And the professor is right:

Whenever the Dems are in trouble, they start this sort of thing. They’re in trouble now. Expect the bylined Democratic operatives formerly known as journalists to help as much as they can.

UPDATE III: Thanks to the commenter who pointed this out:

Another Hate Hoax? Democrat Worker
Attacked Denver Campaign Office


Category: Election 2012, Shoe Leather Fund

FMJRA 2.0: From The Jaws Of Victory

Posted on | October 13, 2012 | 8 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Having recovered from last night’s abrupt departure of the Nationals from the post-season, on with the return of linky-love to those who loved us this past week.

Liberals Beginning to Realize They’ve Overestimated Obama’s Popularity?

PAUL RYAN SCORES CRUSHING VICTORY OVER BIDEN IN DEBATE

A Different Spin On Obama’s Denver Clock-Cleaning

@hardball_chris ‘Pecksniff’ Matthews Goes After Welch’s Calling BS On BLS

Epistemic Closure Redux: The Campaign, the Debate and the Jobs Report

Why Do Democrats Like Elizabeth Warren Hate Science?

Obama Meltdown Beginning? Plus: Romney Campaign on ‘$5 Trillion’ Lie

Is ‘Full-Figured’ an Insult?

Another Republican Lie!

New Shotgun Shells Found To Pump Into Zombie ObamaCare?

FMJRA 2.0: Columbus Day Warmup Edition

Clownish Nobel Economist Tries To Defend Warmongering Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Stomped By Girl

As Predicted: Now That Obama Is Losing, Democrats Play the Mormon Card

‘THE MANTLE OF LEADERSHIP’ —
Text of Mitt Romney’s Speech at VMI

Movie Rated ‘R’ for Scene in Which Breitbart Rapes the Media Narrative

The Tears of Unfathomable Sadness

@Gabby_Hoffman Wonders Whether Her Brain Also Counts as a ‘Lady Part’

Expect the Unexpected: Why Liberals Suddenly Melted Down After the Debate

Mini-Jobs Blow

LIVE AT FIVE: 10.10.12

Will Ryan Hold Biden Accountable?

Obama Official on Vote-Fraud Scheme: ‘This Is So Funny. It’s Cool Though.’

The Libya Question: What Did Obama Know and When Did He Know It?

The ‘Dilbert’ Factor in Libya

Administration ‘Completely Wrong’ About Libya, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz Admits, But ‘That Doesn’t Mean It Was False’

Sex and Sammiches

That Winning Combination

Benghazi Breakdown: Team Obama, Liberals Now in Full Freak-Out Mode

‘All Is Proceeding as I Have Foreseen’

LIVE AT FIVE: 10.12.12

Further Proof That Chicks Dig Mitt UPDATE: @Tawny_Kitaen, Too? OMG!

Four Score And Five Interruptions Ago. . .

Top linkers this week:

  1. (tied) Hogewash, Lonely Conservative, and Daley Gator (8)
  2. The Camp of the Saints (7)
  3. GayPatriot (6)
  4. DailyPundit (5)

There were a number of folks who just missed the cutoff by one or two posts. Maybe next week?

Speaking of next week, if you’re using Blogger or some other platform WordPress hates, please e-mail me your links no later than Friday, October 19th for inclusion in next week’s FMJRA. Thanks to everyone for the linkagery!

Category: FMJRA Award

The Obama-Clinton “Prisoner’s Dilemma”

Posted on | October 13, 2012 | 56 Comments

by Smitty

While they have a senior-subordinate relationship, at that altitude, Obama and Clinton are more like peers, especially in the broader scope of the Democrat Party, where Barack is hoping Bill will loan enough luster to Obama to somehow win re-election. Thus, Benghazi-quiddick (we should limit the -gate suffix on scandals lacking a death toll) resembles the classic game theory example The Prisoner’s Dilemma:

Two men are arrested, but the police do not have enough information for a conviction. The police separate the two men, and offer both the same deal: if one testifies against his partner (defects/betrays), and the other remains silent (cooperates with/assists his partner), the betrayer goes free and the one that remains silent gets a one-year sentence. If both remain silent, both are sentenced to only one month in jail on a minor charge. If each ‘rats out’ the other, each receives a three-month sentence. Each prisoner must choose either to betray or remain silent; the decision of each is kept secret from his partner. What should they do? If it is assumed that each player is only concerned with lessening his own time in jail, the game becomes a non-zero sum game where the two players may either assist or betray the other. The sole concern of the prisoners seems to be increasing his own reward. The interesting symmetry of this problem is that the optimal decision for each is to betray the other, even though they would be better off if they both cooperated.

Here, we have two public figures who both look negligent over a tragedy. And they hold grudges against each other going back. They can both get hammered together, or can try to minimize their damage by pinning blame on the other.

Clinton absorbs Obama accuses
Clinton accuses In this variant, Clinton steps up and takes responsibility for failures as Secretary of State, scuttling her 2016 hopes, with the idea of saving Obama’s re-election.
I’ll point you to Kevin DuJan at HillBuzz for that analysis.		 If they both escalates the accusatory posturing, then the bleeding may not stop until both are completely ruined.
Yet, accusations are their stock in trade. They just have to do it subtly.
Obama absorbs They both stand there and take the hit. Re-election now, and possible election in 2016 for Hillary only happens if the electorate enjoys some truly raging outburst of amnesia.
Unlikely in Internet Age, thank you, Al Gore.
Taking responsibility is something you make your opposition do. Never apologize, never explain. Which outs both of them as lousy leaders.		 Obama steps up and admits how badly he tubed Benghazi-quiddick, in order to save Hillary’s 2016 presidential hopes.

The bad news about this ‘game’ is that the price of admission is four human sacrifices. Those deaths were tragic for the four, and their families. The shame for the United States, and the increased boldness of our enemies, is far worse. Then there is the damage done to the validity, the basic confidence the people have in our government, brought on by the shameless deceits of the Obama Administration.

No good can come of the Obama-Clinton game. Beyond the entertainment value, the best we can hope for is minimal collateral damage.

More at Granite Grok, and Roger Simon analyzes the electoral impact and the general pulse of the Left.

via Breitbart

Update: thank you for linking, Instapundit, Hogewash, Victory Girls, and Dinocrat.

Update II: linked at God’s Own Crunk. Also, for those who dislike the labeling in the table, please feel free to offer an improved version somewhere on this vast internet. Otherwise, my guess is you’re firing for effect. In the wrong direction.

Update III: more at Daily Pundit:

Some people think Barack Obama is cold and calculating. I don’t. I think he’s a tangled ball of twisted emotions, primary among which are fear and hatred. Some part of him might understand that he’ll damage himself by trying to damage the Clintons, but I just don’t think he’ll be able to help himself.

Getting inside that noggin isn’t the least bit interesting to me. I just want to see BHO distanced from levers of power.

Category: Barack Obama, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Uncategorized
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