The Other McCain

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

Slander on the Senate Floor: Harry Reid Repeats Romney Tax Accusation

Posted on | August 2, 2012 | 27 Comments

Ed Morrissey calls it “despicable and grossly irresponsible,” while Jeff Goldstein predicts there will be a harsh backlash against Reid’s tactics:

The arrogance of power can be truly astonishing to watch. Harry Reid hasn’t passed a budget in nearly four years, and has obstructed every meaningful effort to reduce the out-of-control federal deficit. For Reid — a man who has notoriously benefitted from corrupt land deals in his home state of Nevada — to be lecturing Mitt Romney on financial propriety is every bit as outrageous as Obama’s “you didn’t build that.”

UPDATE: People are wondering why I haven’t said anything about the “Harry Reid pederasty” scandal. A month or so ago, a person who had blogged at Ace of Spades HQ called my office and said, “Harry Reid is the Jerry Sandusky of Nevada!”

Now, do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain. But I mean, gee whiz, that is a story you should be writing.

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Uncategorized

Olympic Boob Shot? USA! USA! USA!

Posted on | August 2, 2012 | 12 Comments

My prescient news judgment is vindicated: While guys were drooling over those lanky beach volleyball chicks — or even getting twisted thrills watching jailbait gymnasts, you sick freaks — who told you that women’s water polo is the sport to watch for real Rule 5 Olympic action?

Now, via Deadspin and Mediaite, we learn that NBC briefly showed a live glimpse of NSFW nudity during yesterday’s Spain-USA match:

Water polo can be a rough sport, with athletes lunging through the water for control of the ball. And sometimes, lycra swimsuits get pulled and breasts are exposed.
Such was the case Wednesday during the Olympic match between Spain and the U.S. A player’s suit was pulled to the side and her bare breast was broadcast live, via NBC’s underwater camera.

No word on whether our favorite player, Melissa Seidemann, was involved in this incident. Here is the underwater catfight video footage:

Not much to see, really — a fleeting glimpse, nothing remotely erotic, probably not even enough to earn an “R” rating if it were a movie.

Still, it proves my point that women’s water polo is actually the best sport to watch for the Rule 5 gold-medal competition. And in a completely unrelated incident, federal employees have once more been told to stop surfing porn on the taxpayer’s dime:

The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency warned its employees and contractors last week to stop using their government computers to surf the Internet for pornographic sites, according to the agency’s executive director.

Does that ban include NSFW Olympic competition?

Category: Rule 5, Sports

Harry Reid’s Financial McCarthyism: ‘I Don’t Think the Burden Should Be on Me’

Posted on | August 2, 2012 | 64 Comments

The top Senate Democrat evidently believes he can make outrageous accusations based on anonymous secondhand “sources” and then require the accused to disprove his accusations:

Earlier this week, Harry Reid revealed why Mitt Romney is refusing to release more tax returns: He didn’t pay taxes for an entire decade! It almost sounds too crazy to be true, and in fact, Reid is “not certain” that it isn’t a total lie. However, he is sure of one thing: “I am not basing this on some figment of my imagination,” Reid told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I have had a number of people tell me that.” So we aren’t talking about just one anonymous Bain investor, but several people who have seemingly only shared this story with Reid.
In an interview with Nevada reporters on Wednesday, Reid refused to name his sources or back down on his accusation. “I don’t think the burden should be on me,” he said. “The burden should be on him. He’s the one I’ve alleged has not paid any taxes. Why didn’t he release his tax returns?”

This is preposterous and I feel compelled to offer an apology for using the term “McCarthyism” to describe Reid’s tactics, given that Sen. Joe McCarthy was an American patriot who never wrongly accused anyone of being Communist. (See M. Stanton Evans, Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies.) The comparison, however, is quite instructive: One of the reasons McCarthy’s critics were able to destroy him was because McCarthy’s investigations — like the investigations of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, with which they are often confused in popular legend — were often based on sources whose secrecy was a matter of national security.

McCarthy had access to information derived from FBI investigations, from CIA espionage and from the “Venona” decryptions of Soviet messages. He could not reveal the sources of this information (indeed, he was in most cases unaware of how the FBI and CIA got their information) without compromising the intelligence-gathering ability of these agencies. So when his critics accused McCarthy of making unsubstatiated accusations, McCarthy’s inability to say, “Here is the FBI report that supports the charge” made him look irresponsible.

What ultimately destroyed McCarthy was when he turned against the Eisenhower administration, and vice-versa. McCarthy knew that administration officials were aware of the factual basis of his investigations, and so when the White House showed, at best, lukewarm support for McCarthy, he began to suspect that they were “in on it,” complicit in a cover-up of Soviet subversion. The downfall of McCarthy was brought about by his fellow Republicans, and this produced a lingering suspicion that gave rise to the conspiracy theories promulgated by the John Birch Society (an organization that, whatever its errors, has been as unfairly maligned as McCarthy himself).

Compare this to Harry Reid’s claim that he has been told, by persons whom he will not name, that Mitt Romney didn’t pay taxes for 10 years. Romney has committed no crime. If Romney has illegally evaded taxes all this time, why hasn’t Romney been prosecuted?

Is Harry Reid claiming that Eric Holder’s Justice Department failed to do its duty? Or does Reid believe there was some gigantic loophole in the tax code that permitted Romney — who by all accounts made a lot of money during those years — to avoid paying taxes legally?

I think it is neither of these. I think Harry Reid knows doggone well that Romney paid taxes, and if anyone has actually told him otherwise — if Reid is not lying about having “a number of people” tell him that Romney didn’t pay taxes — he knows better than to believe them.

How could they possibly know what’s in Romney’s IRS file?

That’s the real question, you see.  John Heilemann of New York magazine suspects that the real reason Democrats are demanding to see all of Romney’s tax returns is because it would show that he has contributed millions to the Mormon church over the years. And I believe the Obama administration, in Nixonian fashion, has actually provided Romney’s IRS information to the president’s re-election campaign.

Therefore, let us look at how Harry Reid originally made this accusation in his interview with Sam Stein and Ryan Grim:

A month or so ago, he said, a person who had invested with Bain Capital called his office. “Harry, he didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years,” Reid recounted the person as saying. “He didn’t pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain,” said Reid.

Hmmm. The obvious question, as Phil Klein of the Washington Examiner immediately pointed out, was how someone who was merely an investor in Bain Capital would know what was in Romney’s personal tax returns. The provenance is suspicious and, while I don’t think Harry Reid is as smart as Phil Klein, surely Harry isn’t so stupid as to believe that hhis mysterious source had access to such information.

When challenged on this claim, Reid doubled down, asserting that he’s talked to lots of people who say Romney paid zero taxes for ten years, and implied that reporters have been negligent:

Asked to elaborate on his sources, Reid declined. “No, that’s the best you’re going to get from me.” . . .
Reid challenged the media to be more aggressive in digging into Romney’s finances.
“What if he has paid no taxes, like I am saying he hasn’t,” Reid said. “What if he has all these moneys as we already know … in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Swiss banks. I mean, gee whiz, rather than ask me why I should do this, that is a story you should be writing.”

Hmmm. Harry wants to dictate to journalists what is a story (i.e., Romney’s finances) and what is not a story (i.e., the basis for Harry’s claims).

What if reporters refuse to play along? What if, instead, reporters bulldog Harry Reid and demand that he explain his accusations?

Now that Harry has claimed that he had multiple sources for his accusations, shouldn’t he provide some specific descriptions of his contacts with these informants? Shouldn’t reporters ask why Harry Reid was so confident that his sources were knowledgeable of Romney’s taxes?

Because frankly, I don’t believe this crap. I do not believe that Harry Reid’s interest in Mitt Romney’s tax forms is based on any phone calls or casual conversations with Bain investors or anyone else outside the world of Democrat Party politics. Harry’s tale is implausible.

What I believe is this: Whatever Harry Reid knows about Mitt Romney’s taxes, he obtained from Democrat Party sources who, in turn, got it via the leaking of this confidential information from IRS officials to individuals affiliated with the Obama campaign.

Reid is lying — mischaracterizing his sources — to conceal the fact that the Obama campaign has illegally obtained Romney’s IRS forms.

But don’t expect me to prove that accusation. I don’t think the burden should be on me. The burden should be on Harry Reid. He’s the one I’ve alleged is part of a Nixonian conspiracy at the White House. Why didn’t Harry identify his sources?

Also, somebody called me last month and said, “Harry Reid is a communist!” Now, do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain. But I mean, gee whiz, that is a story you should be writing.

 





 

 

PREVIOUSLY:


Category: Barack Obama, Conspiracy Theories, Election 2012, Harry Reid, Mitt Romney, Taxes

If Whores Are ‘Sex Workers’. . .

Posted on | August 2, 2012 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

. . .and Barack Obama’s policies screw us relentlessly, then: can he claim 0% unemployment?

Just a random thought triggered by this. Terms like ‘expert’, ‘industry’, ‘job’, and ‘worker’ really are watered down these days. Just ask Jeff Goldstein.

Category: Instapundit, Protein Wisdom

Massively Indebted, Budgetless Government Decides To Let The Taxes Ride With The Spending

Posted on | August 2, 2012 | 17 Comments

by Smitty

I’m not asking to have my taxes raised, or to watch the stake go through the heart of the economy. But Congress just kicked the fiscal can down the road again:

Yet, in a sign that Wednesday’s vote was more about message than substance, the House made no move to launch a formal House-Senate conference committee to resolve the differences between the bills, and there is little expectation that serious negotiations will take place before the election. The rates expire at the end of the year.

I don’t know how many senior GOP heads read this blog, but the message had better get through:

If the GOP holds Congress in January, the junk has got to stop.

If there is any GOP control, it shall have been a result of the Tea Parties. And if I have any feel at all for the pulse of the Tea Parties through blogging, &c, the Tea Parties are going to slice like a hammer on the GOP if the Ruling Class, beltway shenanigans continue. All the weight of the derision currently poured on #OccupyResoluteDesk and the rest in the blogs, on Twitter, at protests, and so forth is going to get trained on the GOP if there is not a total come-to-Beavis moment for the GOP. The GOP shall have played a populist fiddle to be returned to power. Said fiddle shall make a most ‘unexpected’ suppository if the people don’t see, as a going-in position:

  • Significant federal government agency amputations, and corresponding budget cuts. Two words: enumerated powers.
  • A budget.
  • A tax code that doesn’t make the complexity of the theory behind the Higgs Boson look like a haiku by comparison.
  • An admission that the entitlements really are only exceeded in sheer fantasy by the Global Warming crap, but not by much. Dust off the Bush reform plan for Social Security, and make it happen.
  • An amnesty plan for the Federal Reserve staff, followed by a thorough air-clearing. Let the thieves retain their lives, in exchange for the truth about what a wretched failure the Federal Reserve is. Then some sane reform.
  • In general, an honest, sober take on government.

It took a century to dig this hole, and there is no reasonable way out within a Congress; a Presidential term; a decade. But you guys are on notice that if we’re not at least on a different course, pronto, you’re toast.

Update: more at Reason via Insty.

Update II: linked at WyBlog.

Category: GOP

LIVE AT FIVE: 08.02.12 (MOUNTAIN TIME EDITION)

Posted on | August 2, 2012 | 13 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Chick-Fil-A Day

Folks stand up, line up across the country


Shocker – WaPo does balanced article on nationwide “eat-in” to support embattled fast-food chain

Obama Signs “Secret” Order To Support Syrian Rebels
News promptly leaks to media

Holmes’ Shrink Reported Him To Colleagues
BETA team did nothing since shooter was in process of dropping out of college



POLITICS
Berdoo Bankrupt

A boarded-up storefront on Fourth Street in San Bernardino


City seeks Chapter 9 protection with over $1 billion in liabilities, 25K creditors

House To Take Up Livestock Disaster Relief Bill

NJ’s MetLife Stadium Site Of Talmud Celebration

Profiling Lawsuit Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio Has High Bar To Clear, Experts Say

Internet Security Bill Supporters Scramble To Overcome GOP Opposition Before Congress Recesses

GOP: Obama Aides Evading Transparency Rules



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude In Tight Range Ahead of ECB Meeting: NYMEX $88.95, Brent $106.00
Treasuries Extend Losses As Fed Defers Action
Illegals Big Business For Private Prison Firms
ADP Says US Companies Added 163,000 Jobs In July
ECB Has Reasons To Ease, Fed Has None
US Manufacturing Sector Shrinks For Second Month
FTC seeks Tighter Rules On Web Sites For Kids
More Zuckerbergs Work At Google Than Facebook
Google Wallet Now Supports All Major Credit, Debit Cards
Software Helps Print Videogame Characters In 3D
Microsoft Releases Windows 8 To PC Makers



SPORTS
Andrus Caps Big 10th Inning Rally For Rangers

Elvis Andrus celebrates with teammates after hitting the game-winning RBI single


Pujols’ twin dingers not enough to save Angels from 11-10 loss

Suspended Allmendinger Released By Penske

Flyers Extend Coach Laviolette’s Contract


Pence’s Debut Disappoints, Giants Lose To Mets Again, 2-1

Call-up Patrick Corbin Pitches Snakes To Sweep Of Dodgers, 4-0

Inconsistent Tigers Hoping To Repeat Last Year’s Strong Finish

…And Then Some Stuff Happened At The Olympics

Nationals Left Scratching Their Heads At Latest Loss To Phillies



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Macaulay Culkin A Smack Addict?

Macauley Culkin


Former child star allegedly blowing kilobucks on heroin, oxycodone…
…or maybe not.

J-Lo & Casper: Legal Threats Over Gay Sex Club Reports

Taylor Swift Gets Warm Welcome From Kennedy Family
🙁



Sources Say Adrienne Maloof’s Split From Husband Not A Surprise

Summer’s Studio Smackdown: Which Franchises Will Get Another Chapter?

Drew Barrymore Set To Direct “The End” For Warner Brothers

First Pictures Of Michael Douglas As Liberace In “Behind The Candelabra”



FOREIGNERS
Chen Guangcheng Enlists Congress As He Criticizes PRC
Netanyahu Publicly Challenges US On Iran
Top British Rockers Seek Release Of Pussy Riot As Putin Visits London
New Egyptian Cabinet Has Few Holdovers Or Islamists
Taiwan Downgrades Saola To Tropical Storm; 1 Dead
Pune Blasts probe Faces Hurdle; CCTV Cameras Found Nonfunctional
Somali Leaders Approve New Constitution As Suicide Bombers Stopped
Turkish Military Exercises On Syrian Border Seen As Warning To Kurds
Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Lose Draft Exemption



BLOGS & STUFF
WyBlog: The DNC Comes Out Of The Closet
Allahpundit: According To Rick Warren, Chick-Fil-A’s Owner Said Chain Set New World Record In Sales
Legal Insurrection: Chicagoans Hungry To Flip The Bird To Rahm, Nicely
Twitchy: Boycott Fail Redux – Citizens, Santa Unite For Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day
Michelle Malkin: Chick-Fil-A Day – Massive Nationwide Protest For Free Enterprise, First Amendment
James Rosen: With Cruz Victory In Texas, is Tea Party The New Establishment?
Greta Van Susteren: Palin Fires Back At Cheney – “The Mistake Would Have Been Not Answering The Call” to Be VP
Washnigton Free Beacon: Senor 1, Mitchell 0
Lonely Conservative: Mitt Romney Says Culture Matters
Fire Andrea Mitchell: Warmonger Obama’s “Secret” Plan Revealed
Power Line: The Obama Campaign – Like Demagoguery, Only Dumber
Weasel Zippers: Media Slams Ann romney For $990 Blouse, Praises Michelle Obama For $6800 Jacket
Daily Caller: Michelle Bachmann Says Gore Vidal’s “Snotty, Mocking Attitude” Made Her A Conservative
Jihad Watch: Six Palestinians Arrested, Jailed For Eating In Public During Ramadan
Gateway Pundit: Zawahiri Says Arab Spring Byproduct Of Anti-US Jihad

Category: Live at Five

Just Another Random Coincidence: Bomb Threat Shuts Down W. Va. Chick-fil-A

Posted on | August 1, 2012 | 32 Comments

Maybe somebody just hates chicken sandwiches:

Police and fire crews closed down the Chick-fil-A on Foxcroft Avenue in Martinsburg for nearly three hours following a bomb threat that was called in just before 1 p.m. today.
The caller mentioned that a “device” had been placed within the restaurant. The building was evacuated, but was deemed safe at about 3:45 p.m. after no bomb or any other type of device was discovered.
Martinsburg City Police and the Martinsburg Fire Department personnel investigated the scene, along with Berkeley County Sheriff Kenny Lemaster. A National Park Ranger with a canine unit arrived at the scene at approximately 2:45 p.m. to assist, and a second from the West Virginia State Police arrived later as well.

Let me ask you: Of all the Chick-fil-A’s in America to be targeted with a bomb threat, why this one? Is Berkeley County, W.Va., the kind of place where you would expect such a thing?

UPDATE: Fire Andrea Mitchell is also blogging about this random coincidence. Here’s another news report:

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Martinsburg was evacuated Wednesday after reportedly receiving a bomb threat, Berkeley County Sheriff Kenneth Lemaster Jr. confirmed.
Martinsburg Police Department officers were handling the threat and a U.S. National Park Service official was handling a K-9 that was inspecting the property Wednesday afternoon.
The reported threat happened while the restaurant was packed, customers said.

That’s from the Hagerstown (Md.) Herald-Mail. And remember that this is just another random coincidence.

UPDATE II: Coincidentally linked by The Lonely Conservative. Now a Memeorandum thread.

UPDATE III: Jeff Goldstein loves him some Chick-fil-A — because it’s homophobolicious!

UPDATE IV: Linked by Caught Him With a Corndog, Daley Gator and American Power — thanks!

Category: Terrorism, West Virginia

Question the Timing (and Sample): Poll Shows Obama Leading in Swing States

Posted on | August 1, 2012 | 15 Comments

You will remember that Democrats were panicking last month at the realization that Mitt Romney and the GOP outraised the DNC/Obama team in June, and that Obama’s unsustainable “burn rate” — pouring on a 2-to-1 ad blitz — had failed to move independent voters.

Everything the Dems had done was being sabotaged by Obama’s tone-deaf “you didn’t build that” gaffe, and so the mainstream media (eager to do their part to help undo Obama’s self-inflicted damage) decided to recycle their IRS mantra and turn everything Romney said during his foreign trip into a scandalous “controversy.”

Nevertheless, the needle didn’t really budge: It’s still basically neck-and-neck in the RCP national average. So what does the MSM do next? Come out with a poll showing (or at least claiming to show) that Obama is leading, with more than 50% support, in two key swing states — Ohio and Florida — plus Pennsylvania, which isn’t exactly a swing state (no Republican presidential candidate has carried it since 1988) but where Romney hopes to be competitive.

Can you say “f–ked-up sample,” boys and girls? The so called “internals” on the Quinnipiac/CBS/NY Times Florida poll show a partisan breakdown in the “weighted sample” of Democrat 36%, Republican 27%, Independent 32%. This is Florida, a state with a Republican governor, Republican control of both houses of the state legislature, and a House delegation that is 19 Republicans and 6 Democrats.

Despite such obvious facts, we are supposed to believe that Democrats enjoy a NINE POINT ADVANTAGE among “likely voters” in Florida?

NINE F–KING POINTS?

Less than six weeks ago, a Quinnipiac poll of Florida had a “weighted sample” of Democrat 31%, Republican 28%, Independent 35%. We are supposed to believe that, since late June, there has been 6-point net swing of partisan ID from D+3 to D+9  among likely voters in a state where, I repeat, the GOP dominates elected offices.

I’ll be back to expand and update this just as soon as I can get my blood pressure down below the apoplectic stroke level.

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey managed to avoid an apoplectic stroke this morning, which is encouraging. How can I describe this bizarre imbalance in the partisan ID of the “weighted sample”? How to put this improbable distortion in layman’s terms, as it were?

Let’s put it this way: According to a recent Quinnipiac survey, my penis is 15 inches long, with a 4-inch margin of error.

 


Category: Election 2012, Florida, Mitt Romney, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Polls
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