The Other McCain

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

Sweet, Sweet Gratuitous Cartoon Violence

Posted on | October 5, 2012 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

Your completely unnecessary nearly-guilty-but-just-at-the-last-second-OH-YEAH pleasure, via the Tatler:

Next week the question will be whether Paul Ryan can show the masterful restraint Romney did, when confronted with Uncle Choo-Choo. Hopefully they’re coaching Ryan to throw back his head and laugh, rather than come across the stage and deliver the flogging that Biden may secretly crave.
And then the 16 October event:

In the Oct. 16 town hall at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., “citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues,” the Commission on Presidential Debates announced today. “Candidates each will have two minutes to respond and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion.”

Candy Crowley has the moderation chores. Will she do a credible job of appearing dry while parked in the tank for Obama?

Troglopundit expects some sort of ‘comeback kid’ narrative. But wouldn’t you need more than just a sack of crap to build that narrative? I just don’t see any way that Obama delivers credibility to support whatever line of hooey Crowley and crew can spin.

Via Daily Pundit, beware: the unfair chair is in the air:

HotAir brings some delicious self-abuse:

Category: Barack Obama, humor, Mitt Romney

Fire-Code Capacity: INCREDIBLE Crowd for Romney-Ryan Rally in Virginia

Posted on | October 5, 2012 | 22 Comments

Mitt Romney speaks Thursday at campaign rally in Fisherville, Virginia
(Associated Press photo by Charles Dharapak, via Ken Gardner.)

Last night’s rally in Fisherville, Virginia, was so crowded, I couldn’t even get inside with media credentials, and really was lucky to get there at all. When I turned off the ramp from I-81 onto I-64, I was confronted by an absolutely gridlocked traffic jam, backed up all the way to Exit 91, more than four miles away. There was a similar backup toward Charlottesville to the east of the exit, as well as on both of the state highways leading to the event site.

It took nearly an hour to get from I-81 to Exit 91 and, seeing the long line of cars headed up the mile-long road to the venue, I decided to park at the McDonald’s right next to the exit and walk the rest of the way. It was past 7 p.m. at that point, and I could hear the music playing in the distance — good news, as it meant that country music star Trace Adkins was still onstage and they hadn’t started the speaking program yet. As I headed down the road to the venue, I found myself walking alongside some others who had parked their cars on the other side of the expressway.

Nearing the rally, we encountered a crowd of thousands — yes, thousands — standing on a hillside across from the open-air arena, where a speaker for the National Rifle Association was talking about Second Amendment rights. I went up to the gate entrance and the cops said no admission, not even to the press, citing orders from the fire marshal. Another reporter was there, likewise shut out, and said he was waiting on someone with the campaign staff whom he’d contacted to try to get in, but he wasn’t hopeful.

Well, this was the story, you see.

The speeches of the candidates are just speeches — anybody could find the videos and transcripts online later — whereas this massive crowd was something you really had to see to believe, and something that the national press was unlikely to report.

While we were standing beside the entrance, a group of young men in white military uniforms arrived and got the same “no admission” response from the cops.

“Not even for VMI cadets?” they asked, but the head cop replied, “Don’t even try to pull that with me.” He had his orders from the fire marshal, and there were Republicans with VIP tickets who, arriving late, were similarly locked out.

So I asked one of the cops about the arena capacity, and he said officially it seats 5,000, but I could see there were easily another thousand people standing, inside the security perimeter, but outside the seating area. A Secret Service agent said she’d been told the campaign had issued 10,000 tickets online. Walking back out to the road, where the crowd was standing on the hillside, I estimated at least another 2,000, and the cars were still lined up bumper to bumper coming in.

And these people were totally fired-up. The Shenandoah Valley is the absolute bedrock of Republican strength in Virginia. A statewide GOP candidate has to get maximum turnout in the Valley (and in the Southside, below Richmond toward the North Carolina border) in order to offset Democrat votes in Richmond and the close-in D.C. suburbs. So the big turnout in Fisherville (in the heart of the Valley, near Harrisonburg and Staunton) was a very encouraging sign for the Romney campaign. Read more

Category: Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Virginia

LIVE AT FIVE: 10.05.12

Posted on | October 5, 2012 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

TOP NEWS
Romney, Ryan Rally In Virginia To Build On Debate Mittmentum

Thousands turn out to see Romney & Ryan

Fishersville rally features NRA endorsement, Trace Adkins mini-concert
Attacks sharpen after debate

UNSC Condemns Syrian Mortar Attack
Russians, as usual, being obstructive
Parliamentary approval of further strikes triggers anti-war protests in Turkey

Border Patrol Agent Killed By Friendly Fire?
Investigators not ruling it out



POLITICS
Romney Walks Back 47% Comment On Hannity

Sean Hannity

“In this case, I said something that’s just completely wrong.”

San Francisco’s New Archbishop Takes Over
Gays predictably butthurt

LA Police Chief Proposes Leniency For Some Jailed Illegals

Former Illinois Power Broker Given Year In Jail For Shakedown


Hospitals, Nursing Homes Brace For Medicare Cuts

The Return Of Simpson-Bowles?

Debate Thrusts Big Bird Into Presidential Campaign



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Surges On Syro-Turkish Fighting, Weaker Dollar; NYMEX $91.71, Brent $112.58
Bank Of Japan Holds Off On New Stimulus Despite Mounting Political Pressure
Samsung Sees Record High 3Q Earnings
Fed’s Bullard Warns US Can’t Inflate Its Way Out Of Debt
Zynga Plummets 19% After Cutting 2012 Outlook
Weak Labor Market Looms Ahead Of Elections
Facebook Investor IPO Lawsuits Consolidated Under NY Judge
Google Settles Book-Scanning Battle With Publishers
Map Apps To Bypass Apple/Google Rivalry
Scareware Scammer Hit With $163 Million Fine
Facebook Shutters “The Cool Hunter” Page Over Copyright Issues



SPORTS
NHL Cancels First Part Of Regular Season

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and some flunky

82 regular-season games cancelled through October 24

Rams Get Nine Sacks To Break Cards’ Winning Streak

Red Sox Reconstruction Needs To Go Beyond Firing Valentine

Shaq Names Two Top Centers; One Of Them Is A Nyet

TCU QB Casey Pachall Suspended After DWI Arrest

Rockets Rookie Misses Camp, Dealing With Anxiety Disorder

MLB Hitting Coaches Hitting The Bricks In Droves

Curt Schilling Lists Bloody Sock As Bankruptcy Collateral



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Jennifer Lawrence Makes Vogue Cover Debut

Jennifer Lawrence

Hardcopy due out Saturday

Carey/Minaj Feud Heats Up With Gun Reports

Paramount Taps Sacha Baron Cohen For Reality-Based Comedy “The Lesbian”

More Than $127,000 In Jewelry Burgled From Julianne Moore’s Apartment


Nicole Kidman Finally Talks About Her Divorce From Tom Cruise

Just Don’t Call Christina Hendricks Full-Figured

Nicole Scherzinger Claims She Sang 95% Of Pussycat Dolls’ Songs On Her Own

Suspicious Package Targeted Bristol Palin



FOREIGNERS
US Dismisses Iran’s Plan To Defuse Nuke Crisis
Venezuela’s Election Season Closes With Massive Rallies
Jordan’s King Abdullah Dissolves Parliament, Calls Early Elections
Russia Condemns Drone Strikes In Pak Tribal Areas
Dutch Abortion Ship Turned Away From Moroccan Port
Former Philippine President Arroyo Served Arrest Warrant In Hospital
Karzai Accuses US Of Duplicity In Fighting Afghan Rebels



BLOGS & STUFF
WyBlog: The Cleveland Clinic, Cited As A Model By Obama, Is Actually Illegal Under Obamacare
Riehl World News: Obama Campaign Realizes They Were Badly Hurt By Debate Performance
Neo-neocon: Today’s Spin – Obama Just Too Nice A Guy
Legal Insurrection: A New Cloak For Media Bias
Weekly Standard Blog: Biden Admits “Yes, We Do Want To Raise Taxes By A Trillion Dollars”
American Power: Stunned Leftists Look To “Fact-Checkers” To Rescue President From Epic Debate Debacle
Gateway Pundit: Sununu slams Obama – “When You’re Not That Bright, You Can’t Get Better Prepared”
Weasel Zippers: Was Obama Rattled BY Looming Donor Scandal?
Hit & Run: Presidential Debate Ratings Up Over 2008. No, Really.
Protein Wisdom: NAACP Official Alleges Threats From Obama Campaign Staffer
NewsBusters: PBS Strikes Back
Megan McArdle: Iran On The Verge Of Hyperinflation
Hot Air: Jon Stewart Notices The President Isn’t Looking Quite As Brilliant As He Used To
Jammie Wearing Fools: International Media – You Know, This Obama Chap Is Pretty Incompetent
GayPatriot: Must Be George W. Bush’s Fault
Jihad Watch: Arabs Riot For Third Day On Temple Mount
Vodkapundit: Charles Blow Rides The Obama Debate Sit N’Spin

Category: Live at Five

Happy Birthday To Us!

Posted on | October 4, 2012 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

Stacy, Wombat and I have birthdays within a for or five day span. So I got this ‘Tequila Terry’ card, which I can’t seem to locate online. Time for the World’s Youngest Blogger (whose birthday is actually in July) and me to do a little happy dance:

The WYB is all: “Will the humiliations never cease?”

Update: heh!

Category: Blogging

I Have Previously Japed About The Mitt Romney/Bruce Campbell Connection. Unexpectedly, Travolta Is In Play.

Posted on | October 4, 2012 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Before, I was all on about how the Romney could do with a little Rule 5:

But who could anticipate this sort of development?

Romney channeling an inner John Travolta?

via Daily Pundit

Category: Mitt Romney, Rule 5

Sean Bielat Trifecta

Posted on | October 4, 2012 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Sean continues to rock MA-4, with this new TV spot:

and also with this debate with Joe Kennedy III in two installments:

finally:

Even the Boston Globe figures Joe Kennedy III is phoning it in just a tad too much.

Sean Bielat for Congress, MA-4?

Sorry, Joe: BHO used up this century’s No-Talent Hack quota in full.

Category: Massachusetts, Sean Bielat

It’s Morning in Vanuatu Again

Posted on | October 4, 2012 | 47 Comments

“How long, O Lord, how long? Where will it end?
“All I ever wanted out of this campaign was enough money to get out of the country and live for a year or two in peaceful squalor in a house with a big screen porch looking down on an empty white beach, with a good rich coral reef a few hundred yards out in the surf and no neighbors. . . .
“What worries me now . . . is the strong possibility that my involvement in politics has become so deep and twisted that I can no longer think rationally about that big screen porch above the beach except in terms of an appointment as Governor of American Samoa.”
– Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72

Savor the moment. I’ve been up all night doing the Snoopy dance in the Gloat Zone. Ace says we should worry: The MSM’s already preparing the “Obama Comeback” narrative.

But I’m too grateful and happy to worry now. There is deliciousness everywhere this morning. Byron York serves it up:

Just seconds after the presidential debate ended here at the University of Denver Wednesday night, Mitt Romney’s advisers and surrogates rushed to the press room to take reporters’ questions and tout their man’s performance. They were eager, happy, and ready to talk because they believed their man scored a clear win in his first face-off with President Obama.
After a few minutes of interviews, and the arrival of still more Romney surrogates, some reporters looked around and asked: Are there any Democrats here? Where are the Obama advisers and surrogates eager to speak for the president?
It took a while for them to show up. And when they arrived, they were on the defensive from the get-go about the president’s performance. . . .

Read the whole thing. Last time I saw Byron was in Toledo, when the polls had Obama up 10 points in Ohio and everybody was on the verge of abandoning hope. This evening, I expect to see him in Fisherville, Virginia — 6 p.m., doors open at 4 p.m. — and imagine what a complete change in mood we’ll see! Imagine how everybody will be laughing about how Chris Matthews melted down:

Nobody — and I mean, nobody — expected such a one-sided ass-whupping. And let’s sober up enough to say, “Answered prayer”:

Really, when you see this kind of unanticipated miracle, it’s necessary to consider the possibility that this was not coincidental. With 33 days to go until Nov. 6, suddenly the sun is shining. My American Spectator column today:

How decisively did Mitt Romney win Wednesday night’s debate? All you had to do was watch the most pro-Obama network to see it. “I personally do not know who won this debate,” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said as soon as the debate ended. She was obviously the only one who didn’t know.
When Maddow brought on her colleague Ed Schultz, he moaned that President Obama “created a problem for himself tonight on Social Security. He agreed with Mitt Romney.… I thought he was off his game.” Nor did the president’s performance send a thrill up the leg of Chris Matthews. “I don’t know what he was doing out there,” Matthews complained. “He had his head down. He was enduring the debate rather than fighting it.”
If ever there were a night when conservatives wanted to watch MSNBC, this was it — an all-you-can-eat buffet of schadenfreude, as one after another of the liberal network’s personalities tried to come to grips with what was perhaps the most one-sided presidential debate since JFK beat a shifty-looking Richard Nixon in 1960. “In terms of debate tactics, Romney was on the offense most of the night,” a glum Howard Fineman acknowledged, while a shell-shocked Chuck Todd admitted that the result “automatically elevates Romney as a credible alternative” and later added, in reference to the Obama camp’s post-debate mood: “They know they lost tonight.”
Everybody knew it. . . .

Please read the whole thing — and hit the freaking tip jar!

 





 

UPDATE: “Ride right through them, they’re demoralized as hell!”

 


Category: Barack Obama, Debates, Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Vanuatu

LIVE AT FIVE: 10.04.12 [DEBATE HANGOVER EDITION]

Posted on | October 4, 2012 | 5 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
ROMNEY ADMINISTERS EPIC BEATDOWN TO OBAMA ON NATIONAL TV

Candid shot of Obama after debate (props to Bob Owens for this)

MSM, Secret Service helpless to stop thrashing as President stumbles through first debate
Even MSDNC, Democrat Party leaders know it


Turkey Strikes Back After Syrian Mortar Attack Kills Five
Loyalist positions shelled by Turkish Army, NATO ministers meeting: is intervention in the offing?


Commonwealth Edison Threatens To Pull Plug On Smart Grid
Fight with Illinois Commerce Commission threatens thousands of jobs, badly needed electrical upgrades



POLITICS
Romney Barrels Out Of First Debate On Offense

Obama and Romney meet for the first time at debate

Romney & Ryan heading for Virginia today, Florida later

House Panel: State Department Confirmed Libya Threats
Sensitive US Files Abandoned In Libya

Induction Of San Francisco’s New Catholic Archbishop Draws Cheers, Rebukes

FBI Using Social Media To Seek Massachusetts Terror Suspect

Is Joe Biden The GOP’s New Secret Weapon?

Detroit’s Top Cop Suspended Over Sex Scandal, Expected To Resign

Woman Busted For Riding Manatee In Florida

Military Absentee Ballot Requests Plummet From 2008

Miffed At Brown, Black Ministers Back Warren



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Brent Lurches Toward $109 After Steep Fall; Global Economy Still Crappy: NYMEX $88.37, Brent $108.57
3M Abandons Office Supplies Deal, Leaving Avery Looking For Buyer
Wall Street Edges Up Over ADP Job Numbers
HP Tanks As Whitman Sees More Pain Ahead
Draghi Awaits Call From Spain As Brinksmanship Keeps ECB Guessing
Houston Man Arrested, Charged With Selling Electronics To Russians
Monsanto Posts 4Q Loss On Reduced Seed Sales
Facebook To Charge For Promoting User Posts
Global Action Takes Down Tech Support Scam
Google Buying Face Recognition Firm Viewdle
Samsung Galaxy S III Sales Helped By iPhone 5, Patent Trial News
DIY Gun Project Misfires After 3D Printer Seized
Oracle On Track To Become Apple Of The Enterprise
Big Data Skills Gap Needs Filling, Says Tech Industry Commission



SPORTS
Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera Wins Triple Crown

Miguel Cabrera

First man to lead AL in batting average, home runs, and RBI since Red Sox’ Carl Yazstrzemski in 1967

A’s Trump Rangers To Win AL West

Gritty Yanks Avoid Collapse, Hang On To Win AL East

NBA Sets Anti-Flopping Rules, Union To File Grievance

Red Sox GM Cherington Plays Blame Game

Orioles Settle For Wild Card After Losing To Rays

Schumacher To Retire From Formula 1 Racing

Teddy Finally Wins, Ending 538-Game Losing Streak; Oh Yeah, Nats Beat Phillies 5-1



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Cruise/Holmes Divorce Details Leaked

Tom and Katie in happier days

Marriage was apparently over six months before the split

No Blood Today On “American Idol” Set

Lark Voorhies’ Mom Says She’s Battling Bipolar Disorder

Heidi Montag Headlining At Strip Club For $25K

Richard Belzer’s Trainwreck Interview: Molestation, Sodomy And Hitler

Jennie Garth: This Year Has Been A Rebirth

Kate Gosselin Says Her Marriage Would Have Ended Even Without The Reality Show

Reband Of Brothers: Jonas Brothers Reunite



FOREIGNERS
Iran Cracks Down On Moneychangers As Rial Continues To Fall
Riot Police Clash With Protesters As Iranians’ Discontent Grows
Landslide Buries 19 In PRC’s Yunnan Province
Top UK Universities Fall In Rankings
Brazilian MP Claims On Visit That Iranian Ties Don’t Mean Brazil Is Enemy To Israel
Nigerian Police Make Arrests In Mubi Student Massacre
Philippine Court Orders Arrest Of Former President Arroyo
Kayani Backs Any Baluchistan Solution “Within Constitution”
Activists Claim New Philippine Law Gags Netizens



BLOGS & STUFF
WyBlog: Why Does Obama Need His Own Illinois Lubyanka?
Power Line: It’s Over
Lonely Conservative: Presidential Debate 1 Wrapup – Romney Won
Legal Insurrection: Best Tweets Of The First Presidential Debate
Jim Geraghty: B.O. K-O’d
Allahpundit: Romney Wins – CBS, CNN Instapolls Show Crushing Obama Defeat
Breitbart: Politico Says Romney Up 4 In Tossup States
Twitchy: Undecided Voters In Focus Group Swing Sharply Toward Romney
AmSpecBlog: Stephanie Cutter Says Romney Must Apologize For Obama Race Tape
Villainous Company: In Libya, Press Doing Job “Too Hazardous” For Obama Administration
Weasel Zippers: Philadelphia Teacher Compares Romney T-Shirt To KKK White Sheet
Atlas Shrugs: Arson Jihad – Muslim Group Setting Europe’s Forests Ablaze
The Daily: Chipotle Manager Wide-Eyed For Mitt


SOTD: U Can’t Touch This

Category: Live at Five
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