The Other McCain

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

When Blog Wars Go Bad

Posted on | April 18, 2012 | 5 Comments

Frequent commenter T.R. sent me this item:

Lehigh Valley blogger Bernie O’Hare is making good on a promise to sue a woman who sought a restraining order against him last week.
O’Hare filed a defamation suit against Tricia Mezzacappa, of West Easton, in Northampton County Court on Monday afternoon. He is seeking more than $50,000 in damages.
Last Wednesday, Mezzacappa filed a petition for a temporary restraining order against O’Hare, and requested protection from stalking and cyber-stalking. . . .
In Mezzacappa’s request, she claimed O’Hare sexually assaulted her in her home last Aug. 26; tried to use his blog, Lehigh Valley Ramblings, to ruin her reputation as a professional nurse and politician; regularly accosted her while she was walking in Hugh Moore Park; tried to poison her pet pot-bellied pig, and told police that O’Hare may have been involved in a burglary at her home last Nov. 10.

You think that’s bad? Just wait until Bernie O’Hare finds out Tabitha Hale didn’t invite him to BlogCon.

Category: Blogging

LIVE AT FIVE – 04.18.12

Posted on | April 18, 2012 | 4 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Warren Buffett Announces Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

Warren Buffett

And here I was thinking his problem was at the other end. Recto-cranial inversion, maybe?

Romney: Return Of The Foreign Policy Hawk
No more leading from behind


Bin Laden’s Family To Be Deported From Pakistan
Widows and children headed for Saudi Arabia



POLITICS
Ted Nugent Has A Date With The Secret Service

Ted Nugent addresses a seminar at the 2011 NRA convention

To be questioned over statement he’d be “dead or in jail” within a year if Obama’s re-elected

Obama Signals For 2012:It’s All About The Economy

Day 2 Of GSA Hearings Show Lavish Spending Went Beyond Vegas

Iraq Vet Jesse Kelly Leads GOP For Giffords Seat

Thousands Housed In Trailers After Katrina May Get Payments

Political Class Wants Ann Romney To Shut Up Already

ALEC In The Cross-hairs After Trayvon Martin’s Death



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Prices Mixed In Asian Trade; NYMEX $104, Brent $119
Citigroup Shareholders Revolt Over Executive Pay Plan
Argentina’s Oil Grab Draws Fire
Eurozone Debt Fears Ease, German Bond Sale Eyed
Strong Sales See Coke Profits Up 8%
IBM Reports Higher 1Q Earnings, Flat Revenue
California Bill May Put Utilities On Verge Of Green Goal
Subsidies For “Clean Energy” Get New Look
Tesco To Spend $1.6 Billion To Revive UK Business
Wireless Market Seen Contracting After iPhone Binge
Google, Oracle Battle Over Android Future
Windows 8 Coming In Four Editions
Apple Fights Greenpeace Over Dirty iCloud Power Report
White House Questions CISPA Cybersecurity Bill
Microsoft Confirms HALO 4 For November 6



SPORTS
Moyer Fends Off Father Time, Padres For Win

Jamie Moyer of the Rockies

Becomes oldest pitcher to win a game at 49, beating out Jack Quinn in 1932

Boedker Goal Gives Coyotes OT Win

Knicks Drop Bombs On Celtics, Win 118-110

Spurs Rout Lakers, 112-91

Red Sox Unravel In Rangers’ 18-3 Thrashing

Predators Top Wings 3-1, Take 3-1 Series Lead

Twins Lose To Umpire, Yankees

Reimold Homers To Lead O’s Over White Sox

Capitals, Bruins Trade Accusations After Game 3

Gonzalez Dazzles Again At Nats Park, Earns 1-0 Win Over Astros



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Amanda Bynes: Don’t Compare Me To Lindsay Lohan!

Amanda Bynes & Lindsay Lohan: two of a kind?

Source tells RADAR: “Comparisons between the two are just ridiculous as Amanda has never been arrested for drug possession or for stealing anything.”

Anna Paquin And Stephen Moyer Expecting

Miley Cyrus Cuts Finger, Everybody Panic

Kanye West: I Never Said K-Dash Was My Beyonce

Heidi Montag Flashes Major Cleavage On EP

Katy Perry Keeps Coachella Partying Going Until 4 AM

Sharon Osbourne Hits Out at Simon Cowell’s World Of Debauchery

ABC’s “The Bachelor” To Be Sued For Racial Discrimination



FOREIGNERS
Assads Volunteer At Homs Aid Center
UN Sees Need For More Observers, Aircraft
Suu Kyi To Leave Burma For First Time In 24 Years
False Start: Israeli-Palestinian Talks Collapse
Bo Xilai May Face Criminal Charges For Blocking Murder Probe
Angry Norks Threaten Retaliation; Nuke Test Expected
Poll Shows Hollande Maintaining Lead Over Sarkozy
Egyptian Electoral Commission Upholds Ban On Ten Presidential Candidates



BLOGS & STUFF
American Power: “Stranglehold”
Just One Minute: Ted Nugent Wants To Kill Obama?
Examiner: White House Lets Romney Off The Hook For Nugent Comments, Debbie Wassermann-Schultz Hardest Hit
Jim Treacher: Obama Bites Dog
Power Line: Delusional Democrats
Doug Ross: Kewl – Memeorandum Helps Visualize Political Spin
NRO Corner: Kobach No Longer Advising Romney?
Jihad Watch: Taliban Commander Turns Himself In For $100 Reward
Weekly Standard: Senate Committee Won’t Vote On Budget Today After All
Legal Insurrection: Today Was A Great Day For Voter Fraud And Criminals – ALEC Surrenders
Pat Dollard: ALEC Disbands Non-Economic Task Force
Michelle Malkin: The Real GSA Scandal – Job-Killing Big Labor Payoffs
Cafe Hayek: A Banana Republic, Unless You Can Avoid It
Melissa Clouthier: War On Women Wisconsin Edition – Slut-Shaming Is Okay When Liberals Do It
Conservatives For Palin: Quote Of The Day

Category: Live at Five

Working the Refs: Axelrod Attacks Gallup; Romney Slams Pro-Obama Media Bias

Posted on | April 17, 2012 | 67 Comments

Joel Gehrke at the Washington Examiner reports:

“Gallup is saddled with some methodological problems,” [Obama adviser David] Axelrod tweeted today. He also directed Twitterati to a National Journal piece arguing that Gallup polls showing Romney in the lead “has a sample that looks much more like the electorate in 2010 than the voting population that is likely to turn out in 2012.”

Mitt Romney was interviewed by Larry O’Connor, who mentioned that outfits like ThinkProgress and Media Matters are coordinating messages in the mainstream media:

“There will be an effort by the, quote, vast left-wing conspiracy to work together to put out their message and to attack me. They’re going to do everything they can to divert from the message people care about, which is a growing economy that creates more jobs and rising incomes. That’s what people care about. . . .
“Many in the media are inclined to do the president’s bidding and I know that’s an uphill battle we fight with the media generally.”

Here’s video of the interview:

Also, heres’s the RNC’s latest anti-Obama ad:

Category: Barack Obama, Election 2012, Media Bias, Mitt Romney, Polls

FaceBook Love: ‘Gentleman’ Jim Moran

Posted on | April 17, 2012 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

Moran is a tool, a tool’s tool, and a precision tool for the calibration of other tools. It was fun to see someone else share the love on FaceBook for his crotchetiness:
Read more

Category: Jim Moran

Why Political Parties Suck

Posted on | April 17, 2012 | 17 Comments

by Smitty

Krauthammer:

On whether escalated violence in Afghanistan will accelerate US withdrawal:
No. The [liberal] base [of the Democratic Party] is loyal and cynical. It will not attack its own president in the run-up to an election — no matter what. It stands on principle only if the Republicans are in office.

Political parties are a special case of Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy. The GOP and the Dems put on an occasionally interesting bit of theater while beggaring the crowd.

You’re not going to get rid of them. Therefore, the question moves to what we can do to minimize their negative impact on We The People.

Category: Politics

Romney Booster Jen Rubin Getting Worried About ‘Mormon Mitt’ Meme?

Posted on | April 17, 2012 | 44 Comments

Resisting the urge to call this “Ain’t I Done Told Ya So? Part IV,” we find Rubin horribly flustered that McKay Coppins wrote this:

Ann Romney was already fully immersed in stay-at-home motherhood — raising five sons, ages six to 16, in her Belmont home — when Mormon prophet Ezra Taft Benson took to a pulpit on February 22, 1987 and delivered a definitive sermon on gender roles in the church titled, “To the Mothers of Zion.”

Rubin notices that Coppins is doing the “media Mormon expert” gig and accurately recognizes the insinuation that the LDS “creed has ominous political implications” — just like I done told ya! — but other than abhor the insinuation, what can you do?

Jen, seriously: Have you bothered to investigate the history, beliefs and practices of LDS? Because there is a metric buttload of this stuff just laying around out there, and those tolerant and enlightened liberals in the press corps are gonna unload it all.

Do you really think they’ll stint to use the dirtiest tricks in the book? Remember how your liberal friends learned to sling around “neocon” as an epithet (nudge, nudge) during the Bush years?

Whatever you do, don’t say nobody warned you.

UPDATE: Da Tech Guy’s been warning since February.

UPDATE II: Alec MacGillis at The New Republic shows that there’s no winning this game with liberals. In an article that dismisses concerns about anti-Mormon bias as “crying wolf,” MacGillis manages to squeeze in a jab at Romney’s “secrecy-minded religion”:

Ann Romney’s own parents were barred from attending the Mormon service for her wedding.

So, if you see an article that strikes you as gratuitously raising Romney’s religion as an issue, and complain about it, your complaint will then be used as an excuse to write more articles making gratuitous reference to Romney’s religion.

Heads liberals win, tails Romney loses.

UPDATE III: Full text of Ezra Taft Benson’s 1987 sermon, “To the Mothers in Zion,” which cites Brigham Young as an authority. So ask yourself, “What do liberal journalists know about Brigham Young? Is he the kind of guy liberals would endorse and praise as an authority on ‘family values’?”

Magic 8-Ball says, “Outlook not so good.”

 

 

RECENTLY:


Category: Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Religion

Boortz Blames ‘Rabid Shrew’ Tea Party Mom for Bob Beckel’s F-Bomb Eruption UPDATE: Boortz Says ‘I Was Wrong’

Posted on | April 17, 2012 | 51 Comments

If you are familiar with the Tea Party movement, you almost certainly know that Jennifer Stefano of AFP Pennsylvania is one of the movement’s most feisty, outspoken leaders.

Last night on Hannity, veteran Democratic Party operative Bob Beckel blew up at Stefano and shouted — live, on the air — “You don’t know what the f–k you’re talking about!”

The third member of Hannity’s “Great American” panel, Neal Boortz, took to Twitter to explain:

OK. Look — truth is the blond lady was on Beckel like a rabid shrew during the break.  He reacted. I might have done the same thing.

More:

Breaks are not a time to continue the assault. Time to sit back, take a breather, and plan your attack when the red light comes back on.

More:

Guess I’m not Jennifer’s fave right now. But relentless and shrill attack on @RobertGBeckel during break was unnecessary.

More:

@katyabram Not trying to make enemies here … but she bored in on Bob and would NOT let go.  Not even during a break.

More:

@katyabram Reminded me of female attorneys in the late ’70s when I starter practicing.  Relentless … giving no quarter.

Hmmmm. Is there some kind of “boys club” thing going on here? Grant that going after an antagonist during the commercial break is probably considered “unprofessional” among TV commentators. But the protective circle-the-wagons defense of Beckel would seem to be rather — what’s that fancy word the feminists use? — gendered.

We’ll let the feminists decide whether the token Democrat on Fox News is guilty of being a MISOGYNISTIC PATRIARCHAL OPPRESSOR, and just give props to our favorite “rabid shrew.”

Everybody follow Jennifer Stefano on Twitter!

UPDATE: Frances Martel at Mediaite:

Bob Beckel didn’t realize when the commercial break ended during tonight’s final segment of Hannity, caught in a heated off-camera argument with fellow panelist Jennifer Stefano. . . .
In a blooper that is as hilarious as it increasingly becomes painful, it slowly dawns on Beckel what actually happened, as Hannity insists he apologize and Beckel, after saying he won’t several times, finally realizes the cameras are actually rolling. When he finally figured it out, he told Hannity to “run your show better,” then covered his head in shame and refused to speak, other than to say “I’m going to be fired.”

P.S.: Stefano says she actually likes Beckel. Scary to imagine what it would be like with someone she didn’t like. (Note to self: Avoid arguments with “rabid shrew.”)

UPDATE II: Boortz apologizes on Twitter:

I was wrong to use the word “shrew”. She’s a patriot, and she was relentless. Whole episode was unfortunate.

“Unfortunate,” and also kinda hilarious.

Category: Fox News, Tea Party

Narrative Arc: Second-Guessing Palin, Santorum’s Story and Romney’s Doom

Posted on | April 17, 2012 | 71 Comments

Sarah Palin speaks in Manchester, N.H., Sept. 5, 2011

Yesterday, Ross Douthat engaged in a “counterfactual” what-if about the 2012 primary campaign: Could Sarah Palin have won?

Speculation unmoored from actual facts is one of those games intellectuals love to play. It’s light work for brainy people to imagine what might have been in an alternative universe. By contrast, the business of reporting — trying to get sources to return your calls, for example — is often enormously frustrating and the labor-to-output ratio sometimes makes you wonder if it’s worth it.

Why bother picking up the phone, when you can just speculate?

Successful politics involves telling stories — “narrative arc,” as the intellectuals say. In 2008, Sarah Palin had an awesome narrative arc: Feisty mother of five, husband an oil worker and snowmobile race champ, she fought the odds, beat the Republican establishment, became governor of Alaska, and was plucked from (relative) obscurity as the surprise choice for vice-presidential running mate.

Then her enemies went to work on her, and messed up that story, so she was scapegoated for John McCain’s 2008 loss and was made a symbol of everything anybody might hate about the Republican Party: A religious fanatic. A negligent mother. A tacky, selfish, scheming manipulator. An unsophisticated airhead lacking basic knowledge about major policy matters, who quit before her first term ended under a cloud of ethics allegations, and then cashed in with a book deal, a reality show, and a contract with Fox News.

A 2012 Palin for President campaign would have been about repudiating that negative version of her story, recapturing the narrative arc of the feisty Alaska hockey mom that had made her a heroine to so many people in 2008. And I would have loved to cover that campaign.

Peter Singleton and Michelle McCormick had me half-convinced at one point it might actually happen. (See, “Still Waiting for Sarah,” The American Spectator, Aug. 22.) I traveled to New Hampshire over Labor Day weekend to cover a Palin rally (“The People’s Palin,” The American Spectator, Sept. 6) where she drew a bigger crowd — and vastly more media coverage — than Mitt Romney had the day before. By the time she finally bowed out (“Sarah Says No,” The American Spectator, Oct. 6) Palin’s supporters had endured two months of agony, only to have their hearts broken, and were exposed to sadistic mockery from Erick Erickson merely for having hoped at all.

Perhaps you understand why I don’t particularly relish watching Ross Douthat, Allahpundit and Philip Klein (none of whom were ever prominently pro-Palin) do a leisurely re-hash of the hypothetical counterfactuals of a Palin campaign that didn’t happen. Read more

Category: Doomed Beyond All Hope of Redemption, Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Sarah Palin
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