The Other McCain

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

Monday Night Allen Vs. Kaine Debate

Posted on | October 7, 2012 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

The Washington Examiner has details:

Virginia Senate debate
When: 8 p.m. Monday
Where: Richmond
Host: AARP, League of Women Voters Virginia, WVCE-radio and WTVR-TV
The debate will be televised statewide, including by C-SPAN. Check local listings for coverage or go to wtvr.com for a livestream.

George Allen is a seasoned politician. Many might wish for someone more dramatic:

Consider, though, how stoically Allen handled the 2006 propaganda onslaught, led by the WaPo. Long before Cleaver and Clyburn smeared the Tea Party, George Allen was on the receiving end of 107 articles prior to that election with ‘macaca’ in the title. Lest you think this is a nit-pick, Jim Webb was an ObamaCare vote. (Hopefully Webb didn’t spend all 30 pieces of silver in one place.)

And thus he returns, cheerful, to face another former governor, who was proudly the first figure outside of Illinois to endorse Barach Obama.

I look to George Allen for the sort of leadership that is going to be essential, in support of Mitt Romney’s, to help get this country through the reckoning that will follow the Barack Obama’s final official ‘Uhhhhh…’ While we have some notion of the financial wrecking ball that Obama has been, my gut is that a sober, adult review is going to show that we’ve been Quantitatively Eased farther down the road to perdition than we realize. George Allen’s exactly the sort of fellow who will offer leadership for the country, whether or not my Eeyore prediction is borne out.

George Allen for Senate

Send Timmy back to the Commie farm team with Terry McAuliffe.

Category: Democrats, Republicans, Virginia

Another Republican Lie!

Posted on | October 7, 2012 | 11 Comments

In a ludicrously shameless attempt to lower expectations for Thursday’s vice-presidential debate beatdown, RNC chairman Reince Priebus calls Joe Biden “a gifted orator”:

“I think people realize that Joe Biden is a gifted orator. He’s very good at rhetoric. And I think he’s very relatable,” Priebus said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Reince — and everybody else on the planet — knows that Biden is a gaffe-prone dimwit who is likely to be humiliated by Paul Ryan.

Reince’s poor-mouthing of Ryan and risible praise of Biden reminds me of how University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley used to talk about upcoming games against lightly-regarded opponents: “Gosh, Larry, Vanderbilt has a really strong special teams unit and we can’t afford to take anything for granted against them.”

Then the Bulldogs would go out on Saturday and whomp Vandy 49-3, with Georgia’s third string playing the entire fourth quarter.

Same deal here: Reince is obligated, as a matter of professional courtesy, to pretend that Thursday’s debate is going to be competitive, but nobody believes it for a minute.

‘STATE OF THE UNION’ TRANSCRIPT (VIA CNN):

CROWLEY: I’m Candy Crowley. And this is State of the Union .
It was not unanimous, but there was overwhelming consensus among viewers and pundits that Mitt Romney shined in Denver ‘s debate season opener and the president did not. The New Yorker magazine summed it up with a cover cartoon of Romney debating an empty chair, the captain “Mitt Stands Alone.”
Campaigns are only as good as their last news cycle, so on to Danville , Kentucky , and Thursday night’s battle of the number twos.
Joining me now are Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter, a long-time friend of Joe Biden, and Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus, a confidant of Paul Ryan and a fellow cheese head. Mayor Nutter, stand by with me a minute, and I want to get to the party chairman, and we’ll be back with you.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for joining us. I want to talk about the great burden of great expectations. There was a CNN/ORC poll, and we said who is going to win the vice presidential debate? And the answer was Biden, 39 percent, Ryan, 55 percent. So in many ways this mirrors what happened to the presidential debate. Everyone thought President Obama would win. So there’s great expectations here for Ryan.
How much of a microscope do you think there will be on him?
PRIEBUS: Well, I’m not so sure about that. I mean, I don’t dispute your polling there, but I think most people understand that Joe Biden has been debating for a long time, I mean, since the early 1900s he has been debating.
CROWLEY: This is a smart young man that he is debating. And he knows his stuff.
PRIEBUS: Right. Right. I think what you see, though, in some of that polling is that some of the, you know, Joe Biden as of late put his foot in his mouth a few times in very public ways. I mean, he said that the middle class was crushed under, you know, the policies of Obama and Biden, and he said some things that were problematic.
However, Paul is a smart guy. He has committed his life to understanding the problems of our economy, presenting a plan for the American people, so I think that Paul is going to do – he’s going to do a great job, but I also think it’s very important for people to understand, and I think people realize that Joe Biden is a gifted or orator. He is very good at rhetoric, and I think is he very relatable. So I think they are very two different people. And I think it’s going to be a great night.
CROWLEY: Have you talked to Ryan at all about his debate performance, what he needs to do, that kind of thing?
PRIEBUS: Well, sure.
I mean, Paul is one of my very good friends. I talk to Paul all the time about a lot of different things, But, you know, I think he is taking it very seriously. He’s prepared. But…
CROWLEY: Nervous?
PRIEBUS: Well, sure. I think people — you know, I think both parties should be nervous. I mean, it’s a big night. It’s a big — it’s always going to be a big night.
CROWLEY: Do you think it makes a difference? I mean, there are a lot of people who say, look, VP debates, they’re just – they’re a side show. It’s all about these top guys. Do you think that Ryan has to keep the momentum going from what was widely seen as a Mitt Romney win in Denver?
PRIEBUS: We had a good week last week. There’s no doubt about it. We have to have a good week this week and the week after. So I think we take it one day at a time.
You know, I don’t know, I think that the VP debates are very important. You saw in our presidential primary season, Candy. I mean, we had, what, 22 debates. And at every one of these debates, whether it was on CNN or on Fox or whatever the station, we had broken records for a primary debate. People enjoy these debates. I would expect a lot of people to be watching. And I think Paul is going to do a great job, but I also think that Joe Biden is incredibly gifted when it comes to debating and understanding policy. And he is a good orator.
CROWLEY: Let me ask you about — there’s a Colorado poll that came out — University of Denver poll that came out right after the debates, and it shows that Colorado is certainly a swing state, kind of shrinking. The lead of Barack Obama 47 percent, Mitt Romney, 43 percent. I want you to focus on this, someone else 4 percent.
How worried are you about the fact that Gary Johnson, as you know is a libertarian candidate, is probably going to be on all 50 ballots, and the conventional wisdom is he is going to draw from Mitt Romney. It makes a difference in Colorado . It makes a difference in Virginia. It will make a difference in North Carolina. Does that worry you?
PRIEBUS: No, it doesn’t worry me.
CROWLEY: Really?
PRIEBUS: Because I think people understand that they’re not going to throw their vote away when we have an election here that’s about the future of America . So I don’t see that happening, Candy.
You know, this was a widely debated thing in 1980 with John Anderson, Gary Johnson is nowhere where…
CROWLEY: Sure, but Ross Perot made a difference.
PRIEBUS: Sure.
CROWLEY: I think if you talk to the Bush campaign, they think that Ross Perot is why they lost.
PRIEBUS: Right. But we don’t have a third party candidate anywhere near the name recognition or the popularity of Ross Perot or John Anderson. I just don’t see that happening. In fact, I see that it’s almost a nonfactor, so I’m not worried about it.
CROWLEY: Let me ask you about the new economic figures that came out. Unemployment dipped below 8 percent, something I’m sure Republicans celebrate as well. But does it not undercut what has been the central theme of the Republican campaign which was that he has made the economy worse because we are right down looking at an unemployment rate after a really horrible year which you can’t blame President Obama for in totality, his first year when he sort of did inherit this big mess, now it’s down to 7.8%. Doesn’t that show that he is on the right trajectory and kind of undermine the central argument for you?
PRIEBUS: Oh, I don’t think so. You know, it’s like this, Candy, if you are getting blown out in a football game but you are scoring field goals once a quarter, you can’t point to the three points every quarter and say at least we’re scoring some points, you’re still getting clobbered.
I mean, the fact of the matter is the president and Joe Biden are getting clobbered on the policies that they put in place. They promised we’d be a heck of a lot better off than we are today. We’re nowhere close.
I was in Wisconsin yesterday. I’ve been in Ohio practically every other day. I’ll tell you what, people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Lanman (ph), Ohio don’t feel better off today than they were four years ago, and they don’t think this president has been very good at following through on his promises. That’s what this is going to come down to. And I’ll tell you what, last week you saw the difference, an unfiltered Mitt Romney and an unfiltered Barack Obama. You saw inspiration, heart, preparedness from Mitt Romney, and you saw a president that came in unprepared, uninspiring.
You know what, maybe Clint Eastwood was right, and I think that’s what the American people saw last week.
CROWLEY: Let me ask you about the — we have some idea of the Democrat’s fundraising in September, the totality, the re-election campaign as well as the Democratic Committee, $181 million in September. That’s 1.8 million individual donors, 567,000, more than half a million first-time donors, average donation $53. That’s a pretty impressive number. Are you going to match it?
PRIEBUS: I don’t know if we’re going to match it, but it is an impressive number.
CROWLEY: Are you close?
PRIEBUS: I can’t tell you that right now. But I will say this I think we all understand that this race isn’t going to come down to money, because we’ve been very competitive. And by the way if you roll the tape, I have been calling — I have been saying that President Obama is going to raise $1 billion for a year and a half. Remember we called him the billion dollar president. Well — so it’s no surprise to us. And I think we’ve surprised them by how well we’ve done at fundraising.
But look this isn’t going to come down to money. This is going to come down to heart. This is going to come down to work on the ground, plans, and I think the fact that this president didn’t fulfill his promises, that will undo him. And we’ll beat them on the ground and we’ll have all the money we need to be competitive.
CROWLEY: Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus, thanks for joining us.
PRIEBUS: Thank you.

UPDATE: Speaking of football, a certain UGA alumna had an excellent analogy for the Bulldogs’ 35-7 loss to South Carolina:

Meanwhile, Auburn lost 24-7 to Arkansas, which had previously lost 52-0 to Alabama, so I guess the Tide should be 69-point favorites in this year’s Iron Bowl.

Category: CNN, Debates, Election 2012, Paul Ryan, Reince Priebus

Is ‘Full-Figured’ an Insult?

Posted on | October 7, 2012 | 55 Comments

As opposed to, for example, “Holy kamoley, look at the incredible size of the ginormous hooters on that redhead“?

Mad Men star Christina Hendricks has slammed a reporter for being rude after she was asked whether she has inspired other women with her ‘full figure’.
The 37-year-old TV star was offended when asked about her curvy shape, getting her publicist to ask the journalist to rephrase her question. . . .
Kate [Waterhouse, fashion editor for Sydney’s Sun-Herald newspaper] asked: ‘You have been an inspiration as a full-figured woman. What is the most inspiring story that you can remember where you’ve inspired someone?’
Seeming a little flustered at the question, Christina replied: ‘Um, I don’t know… I’m sorry.’ . . .
According to E! Online, Christina later said off-camera, ‘I think calling me full-figured is just rude.’

(Via WeSmirch.) Obviously, the fashion editor meant to praise the famously curvaceous Ms. Hendricks as having served as a sort of celebrity role model for women whose shape doesn’t match the usual skin-and-bones fashion-industry standard of beauty. 

Furthermore, I think “full-figured” is both reasonably accurate and far less rude than some terms that might have been used if any of Ms. Hendricks’s male fans — and c’mon, guys, we’re all fans, aren’t we? — were given a chance to interview her.

In other celebrity news Read more

Category: Celebrities, Culture, Hollywood, Marriage, Rule 5

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

Posted on | October 7, 2012 | 20 Comments

Ed Driscoll’s favorite Insta-phrase “preference cascade” (describing the sudden shifting of opinion) could be the best understanding of what we might — I emphasize, might — be beginning to see in the aftermath of Wednesday’s debate:

A new poll shows a slight change in the presidential race immediately following Wednesday night’s debate in Denver, with a 4-point lead for President Obama the day before the debate becoming a 1-point deficit the day after his uninspiring peformance.
On Tuesday, the Washington, D.C.-based Clarus Research Group surveyed 590 likely voters and found Obama leading Mitt Romney, 49 percent to 45 percent. On Thursday, Clarus found, in an identical number of interviews, that Romney had inched ahead by 1 point, 47 percent to 46 percent.

Caution is necessary for several reasons:

  1. Polls are a lagging indicator;
  2. Any one poll may be an anomalous outlier; and
  3. Presidential elections are fought on a state-by-state basis, and the ultimate key is not what any national poll shows, but rather how the battle shapes up in the dozen or so “swing states” where both campaigns are concentrating their efforts.

Having been skeptical about polls that showed implausibly bad results for Romney — who will certainly not lose Ohio by 10 points, no matter what numbers any damned pollster reports — I am not going to abandon skepticism now, just because the poll numbers are more in line with my beliefs or preferences.

Nevertheless, for several months, I had been saying that I thought the outcome of the election would hinge on the debates, and the one-sided ass-whupping Romney put on Obama may have triggered a decisive shift that the polls are already beginning to detect.

If you check the Real Clear Politics national average, you see that Sept. 26/Oct. 1, Obama held a lead of four or more points after having been tied with Romney just a month earlier. According to Gallup’s tracking poll, Obama had led by 6 points most of the way from Sept. 19/Oct. 2. Both of these key indicators now show a trend toward Romney, who has closed the gap to 3 points in Gallup and 1.6 points in the RCP, which is mirrored in recent state-by-state results for Florida, Ohio, Colorado and Wisconsin.

However, to emphasize again, polls are a lagging indicator. What is important in studying election polls is to follow the trendline, and we don’t yet have enough results from different firms to be able to say (on Oct. 7) that Romney’s looking like a definite winner for Nov. 6.

In the short term, however, Mitt has gained ground and, if we extrapolate the current trend another four days, by the time Joe Biden walks into Thursday’s debate with Paul Ryan, Biden will know that he and Obama are behind the eight ball: Already trailing in most national polls and no better than even in the key swing states.

C’mon, be honest: Does anyone in either party think Biden can win that debate with Ryan? The human gaffe machine versus the top Republican budget wonk? Word out of the Romney camp is that, leaving nothing to chance, Ryan is being debate-prepped within an inch of his life. Now imagine the cool, smart and well-prepared Ryan facing off against a Joe Biden who knows that the polls are already showing Romney pulling ahead.

Joe’s gonna be under heavy pressure, sweating like a pig, and if he cracks under the strain, a decisive Ryan win Thursday could add another two or three points to Romney’s poll bounce. Extrapolate that trend a bit further . . .

Well, best not to get too far ahead of ourselves, piling one hypothetical contingency atop another. But it is possible to imagine a scenario where Mitt Romney comes into the Oct. 16 debate sitting on a 4-point lead in the national polls with just three weeks to go before Election Day. And if I can envision such a scenario, you know that Democrats must be imagining the same possibility with a sense of Fear and Loathing. 

Complete panic may sweep through the Democrats and, as Pete Da Tech Guy likes to quote General Sheridan, “Ride Right Through Them — They’re Demoralized as Hell!”

Don’t get cocky, but here’s just a bit more encouragement from Ohio: Not a lot of love for Obama in Cleveland lately.

Finally, check out this campaign message sent out Saturday night by the Romney campaign:

MEMORANDUM

To: Interested Parties
From: Gail Gitcho, Communications Director
Date: October 6, 2012

Re: President Obama’s $5 Trillion Falsehood

There was wide agreement on Thursday morning that Mitt Romney won the first presidential debate of the general election. Why? Because he laid out the clear choice voters face this November between a real recovery or four more years like the last four years.
Middle-class families have been devastated in the Obama economy. Twenty-three million Americans are struggling for work. Median incomes have declined by more than $4,500 since President Obama took office. Today, nearly one in six Americans is living in poverty. That’s clearly not the real recovery our nation needs. And since President Obama has an indefensible record on the issue voters care about most – the economy – he’s been forced to resort to diversions, distractions, and outright deceptions about both his own record and Governor Romney’s proposals.
The most glaring example was his accusation that Mitt Romney is proposing a “$5 trillion tax cut.” But Jim Lehrer had barely thanked the audience for watching Wednesday’s debate before the fact checkers swooped in and declared President Obama’s claim to be false. By Thursday night, even the Obama campaign itself had to admit its charge was untrue. Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter admitted the falsehood saying, “Well, okay, stipulated, it won’t be near $5 trillion.” In fact, multiple independent studies confirm that Mitt Romney’s tax reform plan will stimulate economic growth. This growth together with a broader tax base – these studies conclude – mean we can lower tax rates without increasing the deficit.
But what is even worse than President Obama’s deception about Gov. Romney’s proposal is the truth about his own. To be clear: the President has already raised taxes 21 times during his first term in office. And his only plan for a second term is to raise even more taxes – $2 trillion worth, in fact. Middle-class families and small-business owners will suffer most as a result, since his tax plan will subject nearly one million business owners to higher taxes, threaten more than 700,000 jobs, and cost the United States $200 billion in economic output. A study conducted by the independent and nonpartisan American Enterprise Institute (AEI) calculated that the annual cost of the debt President Obama has already racked up and the new spending he has proposed would amount to $4,000 per year in higher taxes on the middle class. And nearly five million middle-class Americans will be subject to a tax hike once Obamacare’s individual mandate is fully implemented.
Clearly, the Obama campaign was in full damage control mode at the end of this past week. Given such a devastating record, it’s no surprise Barack Obama will say and do anything to avoid talking about his middle-class tax-hike plan. And with 31 days to go until Election Day, we fully anticipate Mitt Romney will be hit by many more baseless attacks in the weeks to come as President Obama continues to avoid talking about his failed policies.
All we can do is fight back with the truth, plain and simple: Our country can’t afford another four years like the last four years. Mitt Romney has a plan to create 12 million jobs and turn our economy around, and he is the candidate who will deliver meaningful reforms to achieve the real recovery Americans need and deserve.

– –


Category: Uncategorized

Why Do Democrats Like Elizabeth Warren Hate Science?

Posted on | October 6, 2012 | 11 Comments

by Smitty

William Jacobson relates Elizabeth Warren’s socially constructed approach to genealogy. Shorter Warren: “I felt Cherokee, and feeling is being.”

Look: they have DNA testing now. Put up or shut up. Find some Cherokee who are willing to provide cheek swabs, and get some lab tests going. Find out what, if any, genetic similarities exist between the Warren genome and that of some no-kidding Native Americans.

If one is not a lying sack of crap, who has manipulated various government-sponsored Affirmative Action raaaaacism schemes for personal benefit, this should be tantamount to an interlude with the TSA.

Aren’t modern liberals supposed to be proponents of science, or something? Hm. Maybe I stumbled upon the answer in a prior paragraph.

Category: Legal Insurrection

Elmer Williams Critiques Snoop Dogg’s Voting Rationale

Posted on | October 6, 2012 | 3 Comments

by Smitty

Following up on the Snoop Dogg post, here is the Elmer Williams review of Snoop’s motivations:

On the down-low may not be a familiar idiom to all readers.

Category: Barack Obama

Propaganda Known Is Propaganda Failed

Posted on | October 6, 2012 | 17 Comments

by Smitty

Really, now:
The casual browser, given only this image, is left to conclude that #OccupyResoluteDesk is a strong, statesmanlike fellow, who has become to the Democrats the giant that Reagan is to the Republicans.

Mitt Romney, in contrast, is some tiny cartoon character whose identity is bound up in a church for which your feelings may vary from nothing to negative, unless you happen to be Mormon.

Barack is a three-dimensional, molon labe kinda guy, whereas Romney couldn’t be more two-dimensional and cartoonish without crossing the Biden horizon.

Given the results of Wednesdays debates, these covers seem to have taken the two character profiles and flipped them 180 degrees. When you’re on the Left, and you’ve got nothing, which is your normal state, this is what you do.

Except that it’s not working. #OccupyResoluteDesk phoned in his debate appearance, just like the rest of his wretched administration. This propaganda has no traction, because the audience

  • Recognizes the inversion of the situation that these covers represent.
  • Has lost all hesitation about pointing at these tawdry gambits and laughing.

While I don’t wish harm on any individuals, Newsweek and Time can just die in a fire, for all I care.

via Tony Katz

Category: Media Bias

“He’ll Nail Those Debates”

Posted on | October 6, 2012 | 25 Comments

by Smitty

Althouse channeling Melinda Henneberger trying to figure out how BHO would stage a 2016 comeback.

Hahahahahahaha.

The only sense in which BHO would nail a debate in some future election cycle would be if he was giving someone a manicure in the little beauty shop he works in while the debates are on screen.

 

Category: Barack Obama
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