The Other McCain

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

Very Well Put

Posted on | April 25, 2012 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

The entire “progressive” edifice is a Potemkin village, a Hollywood set, that looks formidable from the exterior. But in reality, there’s no there there, except the liberal fascists’ standard naked will to power by any means necessary. Because their tactics are always the same (smear, bully, intimidate, whine, and complain), they’re something of a humorless bore, really, although a dangerous humorless bore — a fanatic constantly in search of force majeure.

Reached for quote by Sissypuss the Blog Kitty, Debby Wasserman-Schultz, asked about the Potemkin village metaphor, explained: “Shut up.”
I don’t see how the Progressive Titanic remains afloat until November, at this progressive flooding rate.

via Insty

Update: linked by The Lonely Conservative

Category: Progressivism

BREAKING: Newt Gingrich Will End Pathetic Shuffling Zombie Campaign

Posted on | April 25, 2012 | 30 Comments

Seems like just the other day “sources close to the campaign” were saying Newt would go all the way to Tampa, but now — probably just about the time their paychecks started bouncing — “two sources close to Gingrich tell CNN” otherwise.

UPDATE: While everybody’s busy scripting their Downfall video parodies, here are more details from inside the bunker:

Newt Gingrich plans to formally leave the Republican presidential race next Tuesday, senior campaign aides told Fox News, after struggling for months to turn around his sagging bid for the White House. . . .
Gingrich’s exit is a stark turnaround from his public posture just a few months back, when in December he confidently declared following his rise in national polls that [he was] “going to be the nominee.”

Oct. 18: “Second look at Gingrich?” Yeah, that was brilliant. Also, “campaign insiders” talking about a “road forward” with a campaign that was more than $4 million in debt? Genuises!

UPDATE II: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

Last night provided a moment to Newt Gingrich that Rick Santorum managed to avoid. Santorum withdrew before a potentially embarrassing loss in Pennsylvania, keeping his credibility intact after a surprisingly successful run . . . Gingrich couldn’t take the hint and insisted that the race would change now that he had Romney all to himself.

Am I the only one who remembers the Feb. 4 Vegas press conference?

Gingrich then explained that his senior staff had “frankly spent the last four days laying out a campaign for the next four months” — the strategy, Gingrich said, would net him an equal amount of delegates as Mitt Romney by the April 3 Texas primary.

Unfortunately, the overpaid idiots on Gingrich’s “senior staff” had failed to check the date: Because of court hassles over a redistricting fight, everybody in Texas already knew their primary would be postponed. Nevertheless, according to his own campaign’s delegate calculus — which they rolled out with a flourish after Gingrich’s debacle in the Nevada caucuses — Newt’s “path to the nomination” became null and void on Super Tuesday, March 6, when he lost Tennessee and Oklahoma.

After Gingrich lost Alabama and Mississippi on March 13, anybody with an IQ above room temperature could see it was over. Yet even on the eve of the March 24 Louisiana primary, Gingrich and his campaign entourage were still rolling around in a 10-car motorcade.

What part of “stayed too long at the dance” was not already obvious? And when Newt himself admitted April 8 that his campaign was in debt to the tune of $4 million . . . Hell, who could take seriously any talk of a “road forward” from there?

UPDATE III: Since we’re strolling down Memory Lane here, let’s remember that Gingrich’s campaign imploded on the launch pad back in June, after it was discovered that the candidate and his third wife were cruising the Aegean.

That luxury vacation was one Newt and Calista “insisted upon taking against the advice of his top political staff,” a move that followed “one of the most diastrous campaign launches in recent memory,” as the Washington Post put it. That came after the horrible embarrassment over Gingrich’s line of credit at Tiffany:

Gingrich misunderstood the financial disclosure rules for presidential candidates and mistakenly believed it would never have to become public, according to three current and former campaign advisers.

How the hell can a campaign expect hard-working people to donate $25 or $50 or to do volunteer work when the candidate is living large like that? And when it was subsequently revealed that Gingrich had collected big money from Freddie Mac — one of the major villains in the mortgage bubble — you might have thought people would have wised up to the bogusness of Newt’s rhetoric. Yet he managed to keep the hustle going all the way to April, because some folks refused to admit that they’d been scammed.

RECENTLY:

Category: Election 2012, Newt Gingrich

NYC Investigators Raid Fox News ‘Mole’

Posted on | April 25, 2012 | 14 Comments

For some reason, I never got around to blogging about Joe Muto, who was earning $60,000 a year as an associate producer for “The O’Reilly Factor” when he agreed — for the reported sum of $5,000 — to become a “mole” inside Fox News for Nick Denton’s Gawker blog. Among other things, Muto described the network’s Fox Nation blog as “an unholy mashup of the Drudge Report, the Huffington Post and a Klan meeting.”

It took every bit of 24 hours from the time of his first Gawker “mole” post for Fox executives to discover Muto’s identity and fire him. And now Muto may be facing criminal charges:

A “polite” crew from the District Attorney’s office served Fox Mole Joe Muto with a search warrant at 6:30 this morning, Mr. Muto said on Twitter.
Officers took his iPhone, laptop and old notebooks, he wrote, adding that, according to the warrant, he is being investigated for charges including grand larceny.

Muto used the occasion to to sling more snark at Fox, which prompted some helpful advice from FishbowlNY’s Chris O’Shea:

Uh, maybe — and we could be wrong here — the time to shut-up is after police raid your apartment.

No point trying to teach a punk like Joe Muto. In my experience, gossipy backstabbing malcontents who think they’re smarter than everyone else aren’t nearly as smart as they think they are, because no one could possibly be as smart as they think they are.

 

Category: Crime, Fox News, New York

International Intrigue Surrounds Harvard University Graduate Student Bo Guagua

Posted on | April 25, 2012 | 1 Comment

Livin’ La Vida Guagua: Son of ChiCom official partied down in England

In February, 41-year-old British businessman Neil Heywood died in China. Gu Kailai, wife of provincial Communist Party official Bo Xilai, reportedly confessed to Heywood’s murder:

According to Mr Wang, Mr Heywood, a fixer with decades of experience in China and a family friend of Mr Bo and his wife, was held down in a hotel room in Chongqing and forced to drink cyanide. Subsequently, Mrs Gu allegedly confessed to the crime. “Gu said ‘I did it’ three times to Wang,” a diplomatic source with knowledge of Wang’s account said. “It was a gruesome scene, Heywood spat the cyanide out and they had to give him more.”
In recent weeks, a series of allegations about the alleged crime have begun circulating freely, an odd phenomenon in a country as closed and censored as China, prompting speculation that the Communist Party was trying to smear Mr Bo and his wife ahead of the announcement of the findings of an investigation.
Mr Heywood, Mrs Gu and her son, Bo Guagua, are said to have had a close relationship until a quarrel over an “economic” matter, according to the Chinese government. At the time of his death, Mr Heywood was thought to be raising money for an £80 million shopping centre dedicated to British luxury goods.

Following this so far? OK, so the son of the Gu Kailai and Bo Xilai is a graduate student at Harvard’s Kennedy School. Bo Guagua has been the subject of much gossip. The New York Times reported last week:

After a pampered childhood in the walled compounds of the Chinese capital, he was sent off for schooling in England, where he developed a reputation as an academically indifferent bon vivant with a weakness for European sports cars, first-class air travel, equestrian sports and the tango. . . .
“If you’re discreet, they look the other way,” the former government employee said. “But Guagua’s behavior was striking by the standards; urinating against a fence at Oxford, kissing foreign girls — it all goes down bad in China.” . . .
American officials say he arrived in a red Ferrari last year to pick up the American ambassador to China’s daughter for a date. Classmates at Harvard say they have seen him driving around in a Porsche.

Hmmm. OK, so now the alleged ChiCom party boy has seen fit to issue a statement to the Harvard Crimson:

Recently, there has been increasing attention from the press on my private life. As a result of these speculations, I feel responsible to the public to provide an account of the facts. I am deeply concerned about the events surrounding my family, but I have no comments to make regarding the ongoing investigation. . . .
My tuition and living expenses at Harrow School, University of Oxford and Harvard University were funded exclusively by two sources — scholarships earned independently, and my mother’s generosity from the savings she earned from her years as a successful lawyer and writer. . . .
During my time at Oxford, it is true that I participated in ‘Bops,’ a type of common Oxford social event, many of which are themed. These events are a regular feature of social life at Oxford and most students take part in these college-wide activities. . . .
I have never driven a Ferrari. I have also not been to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing since 1998 (when I obtained a previous U.S. Visa), nor have I ever been to the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in China.

What’s the truth here? Dunno.

Just saw the story via Memeorandum and found it intriguing. Wish I could find the “higher education bubble” angle, or maybe land a screenplay deal for what would certainly make a blockbuster movie.

 

Category: China, Corruption, Education, Great Britain, Scandal

When Brevity Breeds Ambiguity

Posted on | April 25, 2012 | 11 Comments

by Smitty

It’s 0220. Mrs. Other Smitty just returned from a trip, and we’re trying to get settled. Here is a message on Twitter from somebody whose initials are DM:

Now, I’ve met the lady in question, and so I’m relatively less creeped out by DM, than, say, DWS.

Let me be clear:

  • RSM and I are not swapping love notes.
  • The non-swappable, non-existent love notes will not be delivered to Debbie M.
  • Initials and acronyms can and will be used to comic effect.

That is all.

Category: Blogging, humor

Obama’s Problem? ‘Being So Bipartisan’!

Posted on | April 25, 2012 | 10 Comments

Last night, as for nearly every night in recent months, I was struggling to find an answer to the question that has been haunting so many Americans: Where did President Obama go wrong?

I mean, Peggy Joseph said he was going to make her mortage payments and everything, and David Brooks promised — based on a careful examination of Obama’s pants creases — that this man had the perfect temperament for the job. Some had said he ranked up there with the greatest of all time. And yet, strangely enough, so many of my fellow Americans seem to have been disappointed in his presidency.

This has perplexed me for weeks on end, until last night, when I saw this quote at The Lonely Conservative: 

“[P]art of the problem with the president was by being so bipartisan and trying to not, you know, try to be one country about everything, he let his opponents set him up.”

Yes! That’s it exactly! And if there is anyone in America who knows all about being bipartisan, it’s Van Jones:

Category: Barack Obama, The Lonely Conservative

LIVE AT FIVE – 04.25.12

Posted on | April 25, 2012 | 4 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Romney: “A Better America Begins Tonight”

Mitt Romney and his wife Ann wave to cheering supporters at an election night victory party in New Hampshire

Sweeps all five primary elections; “It’s still about the economy, and we’re not stupid.”

MarsSecret Service Needs Women
Too much testosterone in the Secret Service, whine WaPo columnist, Democratic congresswomen



Mad Cow Case Confirmed In California
Public health officials say extremely low risk to food supply; not related to above story – OR IS IT?



POLITICS
Ex-Aide Testifies Against Edwards

John Edwards

Aide testifies Edwards’ first reaction to Rielle Hunter’s pregnancy was: “That crazy slut!”

Obama Stresses Own Experience With Student Loans On Youth-Oriented Tour

Blue Dog Tim Holden (D-PA) Loses Primary

Detroit Firefighters Overwhelmed By City’s Decline

Senate Bill Would Make Post Offices Harder To Close; GOP Fails To Block Bill

California Judge Rules State Controller Can’t Block Legislators’ Pay

Interior Secretary Salazar Says GOP Critics Living In “Fairy-Tale World”



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Up Slightly As US Stockpiles Decline: NYMEX $103.68, Brent $118.25
Apple Profits Soar On iPad, iPhone Sales
US Stocks Mostly Higher After Blue-Chip Earnings; NASDAQ Slumps
Two Dozen Arrested For Protesting Inside, Outside Wells Shareholder Meeting
Ex-BP Engineer Arrested By Feds In Gulf Spill
Ford Bets Billions It Can Overcome Also-Ran Status In PRC
House Prices Still In Free Fall
Intel Buys Technology From Supercomputer Maker Cray for $140 Million
Google Opens Foray Into Cloud With Drive
Apple Could Lose iPad Trademark, PRC Official Warns
HP Unveils Six New Ivy Bridge Desktops
Google’s Schmidt Testifies Android Did Not Use Sun’s IP
New, Sneakier Flashback Malware Afflicts Macs
Skype Arrives On The Playstation Vita
Macmillan Subsidiary Tor/Forge To Sell E-Books Without DRM In July



SPORTS
Devils Force Game 7 With OT Win Against Panthers

Ilya Kovachuk celebrates his goal

3-2 OT win keeps hope alive

Darvish Dominates: 10 Ks, No Runs In Defeat Of Yankees

Reyes Hitless In Return, Fish Fall To Mets 2-1


Hawks Stay Hot, Rip Clippers 109-102

Pavlovic Rallies Celtics’ Reserves To Beat Depleted Heat

Colts Confirm They’ll Draft Luck First

Feisty Beckett Fuels Red Sox Rout Of Twins



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
“Talentless Failure” Claims Lohan Not Up To Playing Liz Taylor

Rosie O'Donnell & Lindsay Lohan

Lifetime doesn’t care what she thinks, but Michael Lohan’s not pleased

Scarlett Johansson Worries About Her Body, Too

Heidi Klum, Dressed Only In Body Paint

Kutcher & Kunis Spend The Weekend Together

Ryan Seacrest Inks Two-Year Deal To Stay With “American Idol”

Mel Gibson To Join “Machete Kills” Mayhem

Deion Sanders’ Estranged Wife Accused Of Assault

Beyonce Goes Dancing In NYC



FOREIGNERS
Annan Calls Syria Situation “Bleak”
White House Warns Norks To Refrain From Hostile Acts
PRC Presses Oil-Rich Sudans To Cooperate
Dutch Caretaker PM Seeks Consensus On Budget Cuts
Turkey Expresses “Deep Regrets” Over Obama’s Armenian Remarks; Armenians Angry As Well
Jailed Ex-Premier Goes On Hunger Strike In Ukraine
EU Suspension Of Sanctions Angers Burma Exiles; US Urged To Go Slow



BLOGS & STUFF
The People’s Cube: Another Cubist Starts Own Blog – The Fine Report
The Conservatory: Under The Fedora – The Con, The Doctor, And The Apple
Jim Treacher: And Now It’s Time To Play “How Deep Did They Bury The Lede?”
NRO Corner: In 2007, Obama Was No-Show On Student Loan Bill
AmSpecBlog: Newt Crosses The Delaware
Power Line: Senate Votes To Abandon Budget Control Act
Moe Lane: “But I Voted For The Guy!” (Audio, NSFW)
Consumerist: Debt Collectors Work Hospital ERs, Demand Payment Before Patients Receive Care
Ed Morrissey: What Happens When A News Anchor Holds Obama Responsible?
NYPost: America’s False Autism Epidemic
NewsBusters: WaPo Devotes Front Page Article To McMansion Spat Involving Rich White Liberal Journalist

Category: Live at Five

Gingrich Gets Stomped by 30 Points in Delaware; Fourth in Pennsylvania

Posted on | April 24, 2012 | 42 Comments

As predicted, the talk of Newt Gingrich winning Delaware turned out to have been delusional: Mitt Romney got 57% to Gingrich’s 27% in the state where Newt had campaigned heavily in recent weeks.

We have known since April 8 that Gingrich’s campaign was more than $4 million in debt. By continuing his campaign another 16 days, Newt appears to have placed third in Rhode Island and also third in Connecticut. He may finish within 40 points of Mitt in New York.

In his native Pennsylvania (many people forget Gingrich was born in Harrisburg), Newt appears to be on his way to a fourth-place finish behind Rick Santorum, who ended his campaign April 10.

Thanks to CAC at Ace of Spades HQ. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney is going to give a speech tonight in New Hampshire, a state where Mitt (a) won the primary and (b) trails Obama in the most recent poll.

Gonna be a lot of states like that. I’m just sayin’ . . .

UPDATE: Excerpts of Romney’s speech. You know who I personally blame for Newt’s pathetic shuffling zombie campaign? Here’s a four-word clue: “Second look at Gingrich?” It’s like he didn’t take The Boss seriously: “Newt for 2012? No, thanks.”

Anyway, Allahpundit wants to see Gingrich keep going until Newt’s humiliation and embarrassment are complete, I guess.

Exit question: Are the “campaign insiders” still getting paid?

UPDATE II: Guess the checks started bouncing: It’s finally over.

Category: Connecticut, Delaware, Election 2012, Mitt Romney, New York, Newt Gingrich, Pennsylvania, Polls, Rhode Island, Rick Santorum
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