The Other McCain

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

Mitt Reveals What ‘It’ Is

Posted on | July 27, 2012 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

I admit to having been confused by a certain cryptic utterance for the longest time. Here, for CNN, Mitt lays it out plainly: Success.

Prior to this moment, we only had this to go on:

If you have it, you don’t need it.
If you need it, you don’t have it.
If you have it, you need more of it.
If you have more of it, you don’t need less of it.
You need it. . .to get it.
And you certainly need it to get more of it.
But if you don’t already have any of it to begin with, you can’t get any of it to get started, which means you really have no idea how to get it in the first place. Do you?
You can share it. Sure. You can even stockpile it if you like. But you can’t fake it.
Wanting it. . .needing it. . .wishing for it.
The point is: if you’ve never had any of it. . .ever. . .people just seem to know.

And, considering the economy currently parked in the toilet, we finally know who is in the second-person receiving posture of this soliloquy: #OccupyResoluteDesk.

You sort of knew all along

Remember, the #Occupation ends next January, Choomly.

I suppose you could argue that being President, itself, is a form of success. Is it fair to quote the Philosopher-King who said “You didn’t do that?”

Category: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

‘Abysmal Failure’

Posted on | July 27, 2012 | 22 Comments

That’s how the 2008 TARP bailout is described by Neal Barofsky, the former special inspector general (“SIGTARP”) who was responsible for investigating how the funds were spent.

Did you know, for example, that the Treasury Department still owns 61% of the “too-big-to-fail” insurance giant AIG, and that bailout recipients still owe taxpayers more than $100 billion?

Those are a few of the unpleasant facts Barofsky details in his new book, Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street.

Before TARP failed as policy, it first failed as politics, with John McCain’s panicky announcement — Sept. 24, 2008 — that he would fly back to Washington to push for passage of the bailout. As I explained two weeks later, this was the decision that ensured Obama’s election:

An L.A. Times poll found 55 percent opposed a taxpayer-funded financial bailout; an Associated Press poll found only 30 percent supporting the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Why such widespread opposition? According to a CNN poll, 77 percent believed the bailout would benefit those who had caused the financial problems in the first place.
As with immigration reform in 2006 and 2007, McCain’s pro-bailout stance made him the most prominent advocate of an unpopular proposal. His attempt to push for quick passage of the measure was rebuffed. A Sept. 25 White House conference reportedly turned into a “contentious shouting match,” and the bailout bill was defeated Sept. 29 in the House, with most Republicans voting against it. . . .
[B]y siding with [Bush] on an issue that voters identified as favoritism toward Wall Street, the Republican cemented in the public mind a message that Team Obama had been promoting for months: A vote for McCain would mean a third term for George W. Bush. . . .
It was McCain’s outspoken support for the unpopular bailout — a big-government intervention incompatible with conservative economic philosophy — that handed the election to Obama.

Michelle Malkin was among the most outspoken conservative opponents of the bailout, and deserves credit for having been right when so many Republicans — not just John McCain — were wrong.

Obama also supported the TARP bailout, and every other bailout and “stimulus” that Democrats could come up with, and what did taxpayers get for all those billions? Not a recovery. (Hat-tips: Instapundit, Memeorandum.) Reacting to today’s bad economic news, Mitt Romney’s policy director Lahnee Chen issued this memo:

This Sunday marks 100 days until Election Day. Poll after poll shows us that jobs and the economy are the most important issues on the minds of the American people. Voters will be asking themselves a simple question: Which candidate is best equipped to finally get our economy back on the right track?
Under President Obama, the economy continues to weaken. Today’s GDP estimate, which revealed that our economy grew by a paltry 1.5% last quarter, is only the latest sign that we are moving in the wrong direction. Some economists have expressed fears that we are heading toward a period of zero growth — or worse. America’s jobless rate has been over 8% for 41 straight months and is likely to remain chronically high for the foreseeable future. The number of Americans living in poverty is at record levels. China has overtaken the United States in manufacturing for the first time ever. All the while, our national debt climbs higher and higher, leaving a multi-trillion dollar unpaid bill for future generations.
President Obama has no one but himself to blame for the state of our economy. Shortly after taking office, he promised to turn things around in three years or he’d be looking at a “one-term proposition.” He said he welcomed the responsibility of solving the serious problems our country faces. But he has not solved them. Now, instead of solutions and substance, the Obama campaign will offer little more than diversions and distractions over the next 100 days. Since the President can’t run on his record, this is all his campaign can do.
Americans are too smart — and too tired of politics as usual — to be fooled by this. They know President Obama has had enough time to live up to the promise of his last campaign. They know they aren’t better off than they were four years ago. Most importantly, they know they have the final say — and a clear choice.
In Mitt Romney, the American people will find someone who has the kind of personal strengths and professional experience they are looking for. As a businessman, and later as governor, he compiled a record of promoting innovative solutions, turning around struggling enterprises, and creating jobs. Unlike President Obama, he has a comprehensive plan to unleash the potential of the American economy and give hope to middle-class families that are struggling. He knows the power of free enterprise and free people — and he believes small-business owners and entrepreneurs deserve every last bit of credit for serving as the backbone of America’s economy.
From Day One of his presidency, Mitt Romney will be focused on job creation and economic growth. He will lead where President Obama has not, and he will succeed where President Obama has failed. Just over 100 days from now, the change we need will finally arrive.

 

Category: Economics

St. Louis Post-Disgrace

Posted on | July 27, 2012 | 19 Comments

The World’s Worst Excuse for a Daily Newspaper today published an editorial of unimaginable wretchedness, comparing Republicans to Stalin — yes, Stalin — for their opposition to ObamaCare.

Republicans, according to this perverse analogy, are the moral equivalent of a genocidal mass murderer because a study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that a certain number of non-insured people would die if ObamaCare isn’t fully implemented:

So you’re OK with people suffering needlessly? And you’re OK with killing 17,000 people a year? Because if you are, admit it. Don’t hide behind “we can’t afford it.”

Voting against ObamaCare is therefore — according to the vicious dimwits who write editorials at The World’s Worst Excuse for a Daily Newspaper — the same thing as the Ukrainian terror-famine and the systematic liquidation of the kulaks.

Dan Riehl believes he has identified the author of this unsigned editorial, but in checking the staff listings, I don’t see that guy’s name.

At any rate, you can call 314-340-8000 and let the editors of The World’s Worst Excuse for a Daily Newspaper know that you don’t like being compared to a mass-murdering dictator.

(Hat-tip: Gateway Pundit.)

UPDATE: Apologies to Dan Riehl who, as usual, was right: Tony Messenger is indeed editorial page editor of the Post-Disgrace.

UPDATE II (Smitty): welcome, Instpundit readers!

Category: Uncategorized

NYMag Plays The Race Card On #YouDidntDoThat

Posted on | July 27, 2012 | 13 Comments

by Smitty

Raaaaacism, like flatus, is often closest to the emitter:

The key thing is that Obama is angry, and he’s talking not in his normal voice but in a “black dialect.” This strikes at the core of Obama’s entire political identity: a soft-spoken, reasonable African-American with a Kansas accent. From the moment he stepped onto the national stage, Obama’s deepest political fear was being seen as a “traditional” black politician, one who was demanding redistribution from white America on behalf of his fellow African-Americans.

Actually, President Obama’s voice is one of his better qualities. He consistently achieves a pleasant tone and cadence while serving a bunch of statist idiocy. To the tune of the Flintstones theme:

Race card. Meet the race card.
It’s the modern Commie’s favorite trope.
From the mouth of the Left,
It’s used like you’re a clueless dope.

Let’s ride with the family down the street.
The ACORN auto’s really sweet.

When you’re with the Flintstones
You’ll have a racially-guilted doo time.
A quota doo time.
You’ll have a gay old time*.

*In a future when all are legally required to co-star on an unspeakable 15 minute reality show to prove they’re not homophobic.

I realize that, to these flailing Lefties, playing the raaaaace card is the only way they can get electrolytes back into #OccupyResoluteDesk’s flagging campaign. It’s certainly easier than admitting the Progressive project is completely out of gas.

via The Corner

More at Ace.

Jonah Golberg:

Jonathan Chait’s entry into the “if it’s bad for Obama, it’s racist” games is a keeper. What I love about this stuff is that liberals tend to insist how racism is not only repugnant to them, but alien to them. And yet, they continually demonstrate a sensitivity and acuity for spotting it that even real racists seem to lack.

We really need Amanda Marcotte to spin some theory that buggy makers in Lancaster County, PA are driving all this racial tension, due to hatred of the internal combustion engine.

Still more at VodkaPundit, also, Memeorandum and His Mexi-badness:

Notice also that [Chait] inadvertently confirms the conservative criticism that it’s the liberals who are race-obsessed. In a melanino-centric politics, all events, people and ideas have to be translated through dark brown-colored glasses. Thus, conservatives criticize Obama for being essentially socialist, extremist, radical, and statist, which are all supposed “dog-whistles” for race. But when Chait expressly says that “the core of Obama’s entire political identity” is a political fear of being seen as a black politician, this is intellectual brilliance!

Or auto-moronic asphyxiation–you make the call.

Also, Breitbart:

Sorry, Jonathan, but the only one “blatantly lying” here is you. And your vile race-baiting is equal parts hilarious, maddening, unAmerican, and just plain pathetic.

Category: Neutral Objective Journalism, The Flemish Menace

CNN President Jim Walton Resigns; Network Stuck in Third Place

Posted on | July 27, 2012 | 22 Comments

Associated Press:

CNN chief Jim Walton said Friday he is quitting, saying the company needs new leadership at a time its flagship U.S. network is suffering through some of its poorest ratings ever.
Walton built the company into a profitable international news organization in his 10 years as president of CNN Worldwide, and said it is on track for record profits this year. But the U.S. network is the most visible part of the business and is now entrenched in third place behind rivals Fox News Channel and MSNBC in prime time

Let’s see if we can’t locate your problem, OK, Jim?

Your idea of a morning anchor is Soledad O’Brien, and Nielsen ratings indicate she’s slightly more popular than syphilis.

Your primetime anchor is so obviously gay that when he finally “came out,” no one cared. He’s the Liberace of network anchors. NTTAWWT, except that Anderson Cooper’s getting out-gayed (not to mention out-machoed) by Rachel Maddow.

Seriously: Maddow’s Nielsen ratings at 9 p.m. ET on MSNBC (997,000 viewers, 294,000 in the key 25-54 demographic) are better than Cooper’s CNN ratings at 8 p.m. (507K/147K).

In general, Jim — with the exception of hiring Erin Burnett — your eye for on-air talent hasn’t been impressive. There has been a horrible inertia problem at CNN, which has accumulated a bunch of unexciting dead-weight personalities that nobody else wants to hire. I mean, the last time you negotiated Wolf Blitzer’s contract, did you ever get any indication that you were bidding against some other network for his services? If CNN cut Wolf loose next week, is it possible that he might land at NBC or Fox or even Current TV?

In consideration of the facts, Jim, I was rather amused by the self-congratulatory tone of your farewell note:

I am proud of what we have accomplished together over these last 10 years – innovative programming, the development of great talent in front of and behind the cameras, expansion in digital and mobile, significant investment and expansion in international coverage, financial success and, most importantly, great and trusted journalism.  Thank you for the role you have played in our successes.

“Our successes”! If CNN can continue your 10-year record of “successes,” they’ll be lucky to beat Home Shopping Network in the Nielsens.

Category: CNN

Ungrateful Limeys!

Posted on | July 27, 2012 | 18 Comments

The British press and politicians are having an Olympic field day at Mitt Romney’s expense, with assistance of U.S. media.

Never mind that we twice bailed them out against the Huns, eh? Maybe they’re still pissed off about us sending them Madonna.

Category: Great Britain

Didn’t A Horse Pull The Cart With The Stones That Built The Appian Way?

Posted on | July 27, 2012 | 12 Comments

by Smitty


So much of our current political challenge seems to be overcoming the cart-horse reversal that is Progressivism:
People aren’t necessarily that stupid; we’ve just been giving the benefit of the doubt to these self-proclaimed ‘experts’ for too long.

Category: Uncategorized

#YouDidntDoThat Because You Were Buried In Jacked-Up Regulations

Posted on | July 27, 2012 | 15 Comments

by Smitty

Representative Mike Kelly on the topic of HR 4078:

To provide that no agency may take any significant regulatory action until the unemployment rate is equal to or less than 6.0 percent.

In fairness to #OccupyResoluteDesk, enacting this would severely limit the amount of kickbacks, graft, carve-outs, chiseling, thuggery, corruption, patronage, favors, handouts, grease, vigorish, and influencing that the administration could engage in.

Who is turbulent Congressman, and how dare he limit the administration to doing its job?

via The Blaze and NVAPatriot

Update: oh and here is Gerry Connolly, doing Virginia proud:

House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Darrell Issa asked Connolly if he would object to the typo being fixed, since the Republicans unanimously requested it. Connolly chortled triumphantly, “This member will reserve the right to object at the appropriate time.”
Genuinely pissed off, Issa retorted, “Nothing could be more insincere than to pick on professional staff on a typographical error. If we have to … go to the Rules Committee, I guess we will, but I’m really sorry to see that kind of an attitude on what the gentleman and all of us know was simply a typographical error.”
Connolly then played ball like a girl, whimpering to the chair, “Did this member hear … the distinguished chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee characterize a member as insincere?”

Chris Perkins for Congress

Sad embarrassments like Gerry Connolly must go!

Update: Hogewash is onboard.

Update II: Red Alexandria makes a good point, although whether or not Connolly actually read the bill by his very own self would be an interesting question to ask of the man.

Update III: Not sure I agree with Bill Quick, but that too is an interesting point. Ah, the joys of enforcing perfectionism against the opponent. . .

Update IV: Jackie Wellfonder brings it: #YouDidntDoThat Because You’re Betting on Government, Not We the People.

Category: GOP
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