The Other McCain

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

The Jennifer Stefano Summit Will Convene Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Posted on | August 1, 2012 | 11 Comments

Breeding victory: Jennifer Stefano, pregnant in 2010

It’s officially called the “Defending the American Dream” Summit, but I’ve decided to re-name the three-day event that begins Thursday because Jennifer Stefano, who leads the Pennsylvania chapter of Americans for Prosperity (along with her friend Katy Abram) is just so awesome. Here is Stefano on Sean Hannity’s show last week talking about the media’s rush to blame the Aurora massacre on the Tea Party:

“Well, obviously, this is such a lesser issue than the actual tragedy of the victims, which all of us — and I really think, for all the Tea Party, for all the Tea Party — we’re focused on, as every American was, thinking about the victims as we are, as mothers and fathers, what was happening there.
“But what it does, the effect of that kind of bias, that left-wing media bias has long-term effects on people on the center-right. We’re consistently — two things happen: Number One, when we are demonized as mass-murderers and racists, it undercuts our political voice. No one wants to listen to our legitimate points about debt reduction when they think we’re just a bunch of right-wing gun-toting monsters. . . .
“That media bias, that constant left-wing bias, it has an effect on people’s lives, as individuals. . . . We are treated poorly, our children are attacked, our family members.”

This is an important point: Why should one side of a political controversy be demonized this way? Who were the people at major news organizations who made that decision, to treat the Tea Party movement as a collection of dangerous extremists? Where did they get that idea? Was it from the bogus Department of Homeland Security report that was coincidentally released immediately before Tax Day 2009?

Why are major media institutions like ABC News — where George Stephanopoulos and Brian Ross falsely blamed an innocent 52-year-old Colorado Tea Party activist for the rampage committed by a deranged 24-year-old grad-school dropout — incapable of examining their own biases? Why is there never even a thought like, “Hey, maybe we should at least get a token right-winger on the news production team, to help us avoid such blatantly one-sided coverage”?

It is wrong, as I have previously explained, to look at the problem of liberal media bias with an attitude of hopeless pessimism. Journalists are human beings — they are individuals — and if we can get past the collective concept of “the media,” to focus on the individual decision-makers who are personally responsible for what Jennifer Stefano calls “constant left-wing bias,” then there is hope to make a difference.

There will be a lot of big names at this year’s AFP Defending the American Dream Summit — including Gov. Scott Walker, Rep. Paul Ryan, Mark Levin, Michelle Malkin, Anita Montcrief, Brent Bozell, Katie Pavlich, Jim Hoft, Tony Katz and Andrew Marcus — but I have just made an executive decision that this is The Jennifer Stefano Summit.

Because I am The Decider, that’s why.

Category: Celebrities, Colorado, Fear and Loathing at the Defending the American Dream Summit, Media Bias, Pennsylvania, Tea Party

I Love The Smell Of #ChickFilA At Noon. It Smells Like. . .Liberty

Posted on | August 1, 2012 | 29 Comments

by Smitty

I saw the Mike Huckabee support call, and, given I work a couple blocks from a store, was hungry, and cannot abide the Orwellian hijinks of these disgusting Lefty activist bozos, I trundled over for a bite:

So, take that, you degenerates who’d attack a restaurant for an opinion held by the company President! You’ve managed to unite Americans so much, this blog has to offer props to Lindsey Graham! Some in DC are enjoying the Chick-Fil-A to the point it blows their drawers off. (This blog reaffirms its commitment to safety consciousness while partaking of Chick-Fil-A.)

Speaking of events that could blow your knickers away, what the Left really needs to do is start planning. When Barack Obama has significantly more free time, commencing next January, he’d make a swell spokesman for “Dog-Fil-A”. Being head of his own private sector company would give Barack Obama his first chance in life to do something to earn his wage and #Occupy his time.

Think about it.

More at Legal Insurrection.

Update: Linked by Jackie Wellfonder.

Update II: Katz scratch fever=>

Update III: More at Nice Deb.

Update IV: Also partaking: Daria Anne.

Update V: The Lonely Conservative links. Ace is kinda shy.

Update VI: Linked at SWAC Girl, and Paco.

Category: Barack Obama, Culture

Meet Lana Wachowski

Posted on | August 1, 2012 | 28 Comments

Lana used to be Larry Wachowski, who married his college sweetheart Thea Bloom in 1993. Larry directed the 1999 box-office hit The Matrix. In 2002, Thea Bloom filed for divorce, alleging that Larry had “been extremely dishonest with me in our personal life” and that their separation was “based on very intimate circumstances concerning which I do not elaborate at this time for the reasons of his personal privacy.”

[Wachoswki’s] date at the [2003] Cannes Film Festival went on to tell British tabloids that Wachowski was a cross-dresser, and he raised eyebrows at L.A. premiere of The Matrix Reloaded by showing up with a woman who purportedly was a dominatrix who used to run an S&M Web site.

Yep. So now, on the eve of the release of his/her new film, Cloud Atlas, Larry has officially become Lana:

Lana Wachowski revealed she has transitioned while promoting her new film, the New York Post reported.
Lana has been transitioning for years now, the Post also reported. This new clip for “Cloud Atlas,” starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, appears to be her first public appearance since transitioning.
In the trailer, Lana introduces the film with her brother, Andy Wachowski, and director Tom Tykwer.
“Hi, I’m Lana,” she says with her hair styled in pink dreadlocks.

The New York Post headline, of course: “Director’s Cut.” Ouch.

Category: Hollywood

Hurrah for Texas! Ted Cruz Wins!

Posted on | August 1, 2012 | 10 Comments

Erik Eckholm of the New York Times reports:

Ted Cruz, an insurgent backed by the Tea Party, easily defeated the candidate favored by Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday in a runoff election for the Republican Senate nomination that revealed a wide rift in Texas between the party establishment and restless anti-incumbent activists on the right.
With the come-from-behind victory over Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Mr. Cruz is heavily favored to win the Senate seat being vacated in November by Kay Bailey Hutchison and appears likely to become a star of the national conservative movement. . . .
Mr. Cruz, 41, is the latest conservative rebel to bring down an established party leader, tapping into frustration within the Republican ranks nationwide. These dissident triumphs include, in this year’s primaries, the defeat of Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana by Richard E. Mourdock and Deb Fischer’s win over a veteran Republican for the Senate nomination in Nebraska. They also echo Marco Rubio’s Senate victory in 2010 over a Republican governor, Charlie Crist of Florida.

Remember that I interviewed “the Marco Rubio of Texas” last year. Somebody you may remember sends her regards:

Congratulations to Ted Cruz! This is a victory both for Ted and for the grassroots Tea Party movement. This primary race has always been about the kind of leadership we need in D.C. Our goal is not just about changing the majority in the Senate. It is about the kind of leadership we want. Ted Cruz represents the kind of strong conservative leadership we want in D.C. Go-along to get-along career politicians who hew the path of least resistance are no longer acceptable at a time when our country is drowning in debt and our children’s futures are at stake. The message of this race couldn’t be clearer for the political establishment: the Tea Party is alive and well and we will not settle for business as usual. Now, it’s on to November!
– Sarah Palin

Here’s a press release from someone else you may remember:

Rick Santorum, former Republican Presidential candidate and Chairman of Patriot Voices, congratulated U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX) on his victory this evening in the Texas Republican Senate run-off.
Rick Santorum said, “On behalf of Patriot Voices, I am proud to congratulate Ted on his terrific victory this evening. The people of Texas resoundingly responded to Ted’s strong conservative values and his message of limited government, the power of free markets, and the importance of traditional American values.  We look forward to working with Ted in the general election to help elect him the next Senator from the great state of Texas.”
Rick Santorum and Patriot Voices endorsed Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate in May. Since that time, Patriot Voices has operated a national call-from-home program for Cruz, and Santorum has traveled to Texas to campaign on Cruz’s behalf.

Gosh, this whole “Tea Party” thing is so 2009, eh? Didn’t the media tell us it was over? Guess somebody forgot to tell the Tea Party:

Tea Party Express Chairman Amy Kremer said, “We could not be more proud of this historic tea party victory tonight against the Texas establishment. This is probably the most significant upset Texas has seen since Perry defeated Hightower in 1990, and it comes at the hands of the tea party.
“What we saw in Ted Cruz and this Senate race was threefold: we saw an unquestionably strong and bold tea party conservative in Cruz; we saw Dewhurst as the anointed Austin politician that was exactly what we have been working to rid Washington of; and finally we saw the passion in the Texas tea party activists that could set the stage for this historic victory. . . .
“Tonight we sent a message that should shake Obama’s Chicago headquarters: Texas not only is going to be staying a red state, but the tea party is alive and ready to own 2012,” Kremer concluded.

“Hurrah for Texas! Texans always move them!”

Category: Election 2012, Senate, Tea Party, Texas

… And the Pulitzer Prize for Recycling Second-Hand Rumors From HuffPo …

Posted on | August 1, 2012 | 32 Comments

. . . goes to the Washington Post:

Mind you the Washington Post isn’t citing an unnamed source that has talked to them, they are reporting that someone else (Harry Reid) claims that an unnamed source said something.
I don’t claim to have been in this business all that many years, but I know enough that I can’t report hearsay.

Here’s the WaPo headline:

Harry Reid: Mitt Romney didn’t pay taxes for 10 years

The article is just Ed O’Keefe recycling the interview that Sam Stein and Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post did with Reid. Ed can’t be bothered to pick up the phone and ask Reid’s office how in the name of hell the Senate Majority Leader justifies this kind of reckless smear:

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. “But obviously he can’t release those tax returns. How would it look?
“You guys have said his wealth is $250 million,” Reid went on. “Not a chance in the world. It’s a lot more than that. I mean, you do pretty well if you don’t pay taxes for 10 years when you’re making millions and millions of dollars.”

Instead of doing some, y’know, reporting on this remarkable claim, the WaPo’s Ed O’Keefe lets it go with this bland acknowledgement:

Neither Reid nor his aides would identify the alleged investor, HuffPo reported.

Grant that Reid’s wild accusation — “financial McCarthyism,” you might call it — is newsworthy even if it is absolutely false. And it almost certainly is false, Dan Primack of Fortune says. But is it now an accepted practice at the Washington Post just to repeat whatever politicians say (in interviews with reporters for other publications) without bothering to do any independent reporting at all?

This is one of those “too-good-to-check” situations, and there are obvious problems with Reid’s claim. Isn’t the provenance of the claim intrinsically suspicious? How the hell would an investor in Bain Capital know how much taxes Mitt Romney paid? (Phil Klein made this point.) And why would a Bain investor call Harry Reid to make this claim? Who is this mysterious investor who’s got Harry Reid on speed-dial? Do they talk regularly? What else has he told Harry?

These questions — who, what, when, where, why, how? — are obvious, as I say, and reporters are supposed to ask them. However, if it is now the practice of the WaPo to repeat anything said by anybody on the Internet, why isn’t Ed O’Keefe quoting Allahpundit?

By the way, some random guy on the Internet told me Obama was born in Kenya. Now, do I know that’s true? Well, I’m not certain. But let me just toss it out there.

Maybe arrange a midnight meeting in a parking garage or something.

UPDATE: Breaking news that Harry Reid shtupped Nancy Pelosi “in the Senate cloakroom”? Now, do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain. But I’m obligated under The Ed O’Keefe Rule of Journalism to repeat every crazy thing I find on the Internet.

Category: Election 2012, Harry Reid, Media Bias, Mitt Romney, Taxes

LIVE AT FIVE: 08.01.12

Posted on | August 1, 2012 | 5 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Ted Cruz Wins Big In GOP Upset

Ted Cruz thanks his fired-up supporters on election night

Thrashes establishment candidate, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, by 13 points after placing second in primary

Obama Spends Heavily In Swing States
GOP spending on the rise as the MittStar enters firing range


WaPo’s Cilizza Calls For Portman To Be Romney’s VP
Kiss of death?



POLITICS
California’s Proposition 8 Defenders Take Their Case To SCOTUS

Recently retired district judge Vaughn Williams, who wrote the opinion striking down Proposition 8

Will Supremes grant cert on amendment defining marriage traditionally?

House GOP Won’t Extend Farm Bill

Chick-Fil-A Controversy Comes With A Side Order Of Passionate Opinion

Academics Pore Over Predictive Models For Presidential Election

Poll Finds Partisan Split On Gay Marriage

Potential Defense Cuts Would Spare Personnel

Metro Atlanta Voters Reject Transportation Tax

Obama Campaign Team Sees Hope In Third Party Candidates

Moderate GOP Congressman LaTourette To Retire



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Crude Extends Losses, Weak PRC Data Weigh; NYMEX $87.97, Brent $104.69
US Raises Pressure For Eurozone Crisis Action
Fannie, Freddie: No Principal Reductions
Power Restored In Most Of India After Historic Failure
SEC Urges Reforms Of Muni Bond Market
Microsoft Shifts E-Mail Crown From Hotmail To Outlook.com
Dropbox Confirms It Was Hacked, Offers Users Help
Verizon No Longer Allowed To Block Tethering Apps, Gets $1.25 Million Fine For Trying
Apple TV Adds Hulu Plus
Digg Reboots With Added Twitter, Facebook Integration
“Star Wars” MMO Expands Free-To-Play Option This Fall
Square Enix Backs Kickstarter-Funded Console Ouya
Years Late, Millions Over Budget, FBI’s Sentinel System Finally On Line



SPORTS
Deadline Moves

Shane Victorino: now a Dodger


Dempster to Rangers, Pence to Giants, Victorino to Dodgers, Broxton to Reds

NHL Labor Proposal Under Review

O’s Wipe Out Yankees’ 5-0 Lead With 11-Run Rally

Miley Shuts Down Dodgers, Snakes Win 8-2

Tejada’s Error Sinks Harvey, Mets Lose To Giants

…And Then Some Stuff Happened At The Olympics

Strasburg Blasted In 8-0 Loss To Depleted Phillies



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Taylor Swift, Conor Kennedy Dating?

Taylor Swift, Conor Kennedy


NO, TAYLOR, NOOOOOOO!!! DON’T GET IN THE CAR!

CBS Developing “Brady Bunch” Reboot With Vince Vaughn

“Kate The Great” Tops Vanity Fair’s 2012 Best Dressed List

Will Emma Watson Be Suiting Up For Some Time In The “Red Room Of Pain”?
Related: Angelina Jolie Wants Role In “Fifty Shades Of Grey”

Snoop Dogg Now Snoop Lion

Lindsay Lohan’s Bizarre Sex Scene Demand

Suri Dresses As “Little Mermaid” Ariel During Trip To Disneyland With Dad

More Slop About The Kristen Stewart Cheating “Scandal”



FOREIGNERS
Blackout Fuels Doubts About India’s Economic Ambitions
Fighting In Damascus Nears Christian Quarter Of City
Human Rights Group Cites “Atrocities” In Burma
Anti-Putin Activist Charged With Stealing Timber
Philippines, Cambodia In Diplomatic Row Over Latter’s South China Sea Remarks
Panetta Upbeat On Egypt’s Future
Related: The Muslim Brotherhood’s patient jihad
Turkish FM To Meet With Barzani On Kurdish Rebel Activities In Syria
Taiwan, PRC On Alert As Typhoons Approach
Cuba Charges Spaniard In Dissident Paya’s Death



BLOGS & STUFF
Da Tech Guy: Can We Stop Calling The Washington Post A “Newspaper” Now?
Moe Lane: Is Harry Reid Losing It?
Weekly Standard Blog: Ted Cruz Wins Runoff For Senate In Texas
Conservatives4Palin: Who’s Up For An Exciting Mitt Romney Bus Tour?
American power: latest Obama Campaign Ad Defames Romney As A “Felon”
Reihl World View: Breaking – Romney Kicks Obama’s App
Rush Limbaugh: Romney’s Trip So Successful Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Endorses Obama
Mitt Romney: Culture Does Matter
Michelle Malkin: Lying Obama PR Flack Apologizes To Krauthammer Over Churchill Bust Story
American Thinker: Romney’s Jerusalem Doctrine
Wizbang: Wall Photo Of Mitt Romney Gets Woman A Beatdown From BF
Right-Wing News: Black Pastors To Turn Against Obama Over Gay Marriage


SOTD: Postcard Love

Category: Live at Five

Golden Boy Jesse Angelo Lays Off Daily Staffers, Keeps $23 Million House

Posted on | July 31, 2012 | 7 Comments

Being the Harvard roommate of Rupert Murdoch’s son is a great way to get ahead at NewsCorp. Murdoch agreed to invest $30 million in The Daily, with golden boy Jesse Angelo as editor.

What could possibly go wrong, eh?

The Daily, News Corp.’s attempt to create a digital newspaper for the iPad age, is laying off nearly a third of its staff.
The publisher plans to tell its workers today that it will fire 50 of its 170 employees, according to people familiar with The Daily’s plans.
The move comes 18 months after the tablet newspaper’s high-profile launch . . .
while Daily executives say they now have more than 100,000 paying subscribers for its iOS and Android editions, the paper hasn’t been able to live up to Murdoch’s expectations, and the money-losing publication has been under scrutiny since launch.

Do you really need $30 million and a staff of 170 people to run a Web site? Does Jesse Angelo really need a $23 mllion Upper East Side house? The multimillionaire editor offers some Harvard-educated words for readers without mentioning his soon-to-be-laid-off employees:

The Daily was born of change. A changing technological landscape — the beginning of the tablet and smartphone revolution — made us want to rethink how we create media. And we believe that a healthy product and a healthy organization is one that continues to change. We try to innovate every day in the content we bring you — blending words, pictures, video, animation, design, code and touch interactivity in a way that no one else does.

Yadda, yadda. How much of that $30 million has Jesse Angelo pissed away in the past 18 months to “innovate” with “interactivity”?

UPDATE: The New York Observer names names of staffers laid off by the golden boy’s $30 million iPad boondoggle, including a sports staffer who Tweeted: “Yep, first found about my own layoff via Twitter. I feel just like an MLB player!”

UPDATE II: The plight of The Daily “raises questions about the viability of digital-only publications,” writes Jeff Bercovici of Forbes:

 If The Daily, which has consistently been among the top two or three apps in terms of gross revenue in the iTunes store since its launch, can’t make money, who can?

Oh, I dunno: Someone with fewer than 170 employees, maybe?

The New Media environment favors a lean-and-mean mode of operation, figuring out how to do more with less, maximizing the reader-value with an emphasis on flexibility and efficiency. More general-assignment writers, fewer specialized beats. Also, save a ton on “marketing” by hiring writers who understand the importance (and most effective means) of promoting their own work online.

UPDATE III: Vodkapundit figures The Daily’s high-concept project — a newspaper! on an iPad! — was a bad idea from the get-go. But nobody’s offering either or us $30 million to prove that that a bad idea is a bad idea, so we can be more objective, I suppose.

Category: Journalism

There Are Still 5 A’s in ‘RAAAAACISM!’

Posted on | July 31, 2012 | 7 Comments

At least in English. The Polish translation, I’m not sure:

Linda Wertheimer, National Public Radio: So today [Mitt Romney is in] Poland. Why is he stopping in Poland. What does he hope to accomplish with that?
Cokie Roberts: Well, I think part of it was a desire to portray President Obama as something of a wimp, and say he’s abandoned Eastern Europe. But look, you remember well the Reagan Democrats. Those ethnic white voters who had been Democrats for many years; turned out for Ronald Reagan, and have been fairly predictable Republicans since then. Now it’s a smaller percentage of the population — of the voting population — than it used to be, but white voters are still much more Republican than any other group in the electorate. They went for McCain in 2008 by 55%. And I think that getting those ethnic voters excited is really what Romney has in mind here. It’s more for the folks at home — the descendents of the people that he will be speaking to — in Poland.

This is how you know Polish-Americans are now perfectly assimilated: Liberals view them as just another bunch of racist Republicans.

UPDATE: According to liberals, everything Romney says is racist, including “America,” “free” and “working.”

Category: Election 2012, Media Bias, Mitt Romney, Poland, Racism
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