The Other McCain

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

BlogCon 2012: Learn Podcasting With @FingersMalloy and @EdMorrissey!

Posted on | March 28, 2012 | 28 Comments

That’s right, folks: BlogCon 2012 — April 20-21 at the fabulous Hilton Center City in Charlotte, N.C. — will feature a lunchtime podcasting seminar with my close personal friends Fingers Malloy and Ed Morrissey!

All of your favorite bloggers will be in Charlotte for this once-in-a-lifetime New Media extravaganza. RSVP now to make sure you don’t miss it.

Meanwhile, there seems to be some misunderstanding . . .

What can I say? I checked the list and my name’s not on it. Three weeks ago, when I tried to mend fences with Tabitha at the Breitbart memorial event in D.C., she chewed me out and made it clear that she resented the fact that I would even dare speak to her.

It appears that Tabitha and I agree on exactly two things:

  1. She has always hated my guts; and
  2. It’s all my fault.

Which might make an interesting seminar topic — “Effective Methods for Humiliating Bloggers You Hate” — but that’s more of a general theme, really, and Tabitha’s unexplained three-year vendetta against me is something I’ll probably never be able to figure out.

At any rate, my persona non grata status is entirely my fault. Smitty will be at BlogCon, along with many more of my close personal friends, who will all have fun laughing at me behind my back.

BlogCon 2012: Don’t miss it!

Category: Blogging

‘Cashiered Over Creative Differences’

Posted on | March 28, 2012 | 14 Comments

Thus does Dan Collins explain his departure from Team Twitchy, saying that he “was let go for not grokking the comprehensive vision.”

OK, it happens. Sometimes things don’t work out, and the fault is neither the employer’s nor the employee’s, but simply a mismatch or disagreement for which no one is really to blame.

A free economy permits this trial-and-error approach to employment. Just as the employee reserves the right to seek employment where he wishes — to quit a job with which he is unhappy and seek employment elsewhere — so too does the employer reserve the right to hire or fire at will.

What makes people many people miserable at work is the entitlement mentality, the concept of worker “rights” whereby an implicit demand is made of the employer: “Make me happy or I’ll sue you!”

Conservatives should never think that way and, in whatever sense Dan’s departure from Team Twitchy is unfortunate, it’s good that when they got to the point where things obviously weren’t working out, they recognized the intractable mismatch and cut bait.

This reminds me of when I finally quit The Washington Times after more than 10 years. Had I stayed just another four months, I would have received a gold watch in recognition of my decade of service, but when they replaced Wes Pruden with John Solomon, it was as if God said, “Go” — and I went.

All that has transpired since then, for good or ill, has convinced me I did what was right. Just yesterday I was telling one of my former bosses about my campaign-trail adventures — including my Louisiana adventure with Lisa Graas — and remarked that I never would have gotten to do stuff like that if I had stayed at The Washington Times. I’d been pigeonholed as a section editor and news/feature writer and, no matter how often I asked for other jobs, my value in my assigned role was alway considered greater than whatever I might have added in whatever other assignment I sought.

It was a mismatch. The company’s needs were at odds with my own interests and ambitions, so that ultimately I was faced with a choice: Either make myself miserable by continuing in a job I didn’t want to do anymore, or else walk away and do what I wanted.

At any rate, Dan’s just gone through a similar experience, and you should go hit the tip jar at The Conservatory to cheer him up, even while continuing to follow Twitchy, which is awesome.

Category: Dan Collins, Twitchy

Rick Santorum: It’s About a Movement

Posted on | March 28, 2012 | 74 Comments

“When Allahpundit first asked, ‘Second look at Gingrich?’ on Oct. 18, my visceral reaction was, ‘Are you freaking kidding me?’ Nothing astonishes me more than poll numbers . . . suggesting that people are taking Newt seriously as a presidential candidate. And of all the prognotications I’ve ever made, of none have I been more confident than in predicting this: It won’t last.”
— Robert Stacy McCain, Nov. 14, 2011

Bill Quick is for Newt. Now that his candidate’s implausible posture of “viability” has collapsed, The Guy Who Named the Blogosphere shrugs:

You know, now that it’s pretty much guaranteed that we’ve got a Romneycare versus Obamacare race this year, I’m actually looking forward to voting for Newt in the California primary. At least I’ll get to vote for one candidate I actually want to vote for this year.

No regrets for Bill. He never had a problem with Gingrich’s narcissistic grandiosity, but Rick Santorum’s opposition to porn? Unacceptable!

My temperament and instincts are simply different than Daily Pundit’s, and this long-running friendly electoral flame-war between Bill and I (with Smitty throwing in the occasional volley) reflects those differences.

The point of yesterday’s political psychotherapy session was to put into perspective the emotional reactions to which political junkies are prone. My combative temperament and populist instincts — to hell with these elitist insiders and their shabby self-serving ways! — are not universally admired by my fellow conservatives, some of whom don’t share my view that the Republican Party keeps losing fights because it is run by people who are more interested in advancing their own narrow ambitions than in accomplishing anything meaningful toward the defeat of liberalism.

In that basic sense, nothing has changed since 2009: The GOP Establishment is still an arrogant bunch of clueless dilberts collecting paychecks for running their phony sham opposition to liberalism.

My support for the Santorum campaign is a continuation of my support for the Tea Party, for the “Not One Cent” Rebellion (Marco Rubio vs. the NRSC), and for Doug Hoffman vs. Dede Scozzafava in NY-23.

What I would like to see is for Rick Santorum to emerge from this fight with the scalp of the allegedly “inevitable” Mitt Romney on his belt — a savage warrior, red in tooth and claw, and ready to lead a howling bloodthirsty tribe of right-wing barbarians against a Democratic Party stricken with fear at the prospect of contending against a genuine grassroots conservative movement.

This goes back to something my friend Stephen Gordon said to me a few years ago. Gordo was the Alabama state director for the 2008 Ron Paul campaign and, when I remarked on the ferocious dedication of the Paulistas, Gordo said: “The Ron Paul movement is not about Ron Paul, it’s about a movement.”

Exactly. Which is why I am perturbed by those who have viewed the 2012 presidential campaign as merely a matter of personalities.

To hell with that. It’s about building a grassroots conservative movement powerful enough to overwhelm all opposition. Newt Gingrich failed to do that, and why? Because Newt was always all about that 10-car motorcade and the big media entourage.

And the Tiffany’s account.

And the Aegean luxury cruise with his third wife.

Whatever anyone’s disagreement with Rick Santorum about “issues,” the point is that he has organized an actual movement, one which has exceeded all expectations, whereas Newt Gingrich . . .

Well, some guys actually like big fake boobs. I’m just not one of them.

 

RICK SANTORUM for PRESIDENT
He’s Real — And He’s Spectacular!

Category: Bill Quick, Election 2012, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum

Making ObamaCare Constitutional

Posted on | March 28, 2012 | 5 Comments

by Smitty

Here is a short clip, via Breitbart, of two modern Liberal sophists trying to dance around the un-Constitutionality of their puropse:

What is the proper way for them to achieve the aim?

Article 5 – Amendment
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

We’ve had the bulk of FDR’s Second Bill of Rights as a slow-motion suppository over the last four score years. It has, perversely, proven unaffordable. The real aim of the SCOTUS, I predict, will prove to be rejecting ObamaCare, while leaving as little opportunity for further restoration of liberty through rejection of the rest of the New Deal/Great Society/Bogus Idea parade of the last century.

The only correct way to pull off an idea of the scope of this Second Bill of Rights is to have a Constitutional convention. The last 80 years in this country, and the cratering of the Social Democratic state in Europe, are evidence that these ideas are too big and to complex to be rammed through over a weekend in the form of unread legislation, or shenanigans such as FDR’s infamous court packing scheme. When your cause is just, you don’t have to resort to tomfoolery. Conversely, the kind of circumlocution we see with all of these shiny Progressive ideas, their enactment, and their subsequent economic fallout is a clear indicator that the Progressives are full of hooey.

Also, nice Jonathan Edwards reference by Erickson, “Sinners In the Hands of Anthony Kennedy“.

Category: Health Care, Supreme Court

Rubio Unqualified For VP?

Posted on | March 28, 2012 | 5 Comments

by Smitty

Allahpundit giving it the Full Eeyore. Senator Marco Rubio appears to be staffing up for some sort of promotion; there are books and rumors of books, and rumors of a past a flirtation with. . .psst: Mormonism, in his dim dark past! Oh Nos! Allahpundit hits a crescendo about the whisper campaign against Rubio somewhere around:

If the economy grows the next two months and unemployment drops, would Rubio want to be on a ticket that suddenly looks like it’s a longshot against The One?

Seriously? Understood, there is the usual caveat that the GOP couldn’t lead two nuns in one minute of silent prayer, for all it produces some stirring concession speeches.

But, really: through what method does this economy recover? Zimbabwe Ben* in the basement with the printing press, easing himself quantitatively for a third time? War with Iran, to jack up the Dow-Jones? More race war baiting? #OccupyResoluteDesk himself is reduced to hawking hoodies on his website, as though the Presidency of the United States is little different from a heavy metal band.

Next to Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich looks a serious, sober politician. Or at least has something going for him, to judge by the spouse.

Full circle, then: an anti-Rubio campaign stands to be as effective as the anti-Rush Limbaugh campaign, and a welcome form of advertising.

Marco Rubio for Vice President

* via Drudge

Category: Barack Obama, Marco Rubio

When Did Newt’s Campaign Become Unsustainable? And What Was the Result?

Posted on | March 28, 2012 | 7 Comments

In reporting on the financial collapse of Newt Gingrich’s campaign — which I described last night — Michael Shear of the New York Times writes:

Mr. Gingrich has struggled to raise money for weeks as he failed to win states outside of Georgia.

Look, the Georgia primary was Super Tuesday, March 6, but Newt “struggled to raise money” for more than a month before then. Here’s what happened:

  • During the final three months of 2011, Gingrich’s campaign raised $9.8 million. He began January with $2.1 million cash on hand, with debt of $1.2 million, for a net balance (cash on hand minus debt) of $900,000.
  • In January, Newt raised $5.6 million and spent $5.9 million. He ended January with $1.79 million cash on hand, with debt of $1.76 million. So his spending exceeded his revenue by $300,000 and he also added $560,000 to his debts. His net balance entering February was therefore only $30,000.
  • The wheels fell off in February, when Newt raised only $2.6 million — a 54% month-to-month decrease — while spending $2.9 million, some of which must have gone to pay off debts, which decreased to $1.5 million, but his month ending cash-on-hand was less than his debt, so that his net balance was negative as of Feb. 29, six days before the Georgia primary on Super Tuesday.

My guess is that Newt’s fundraising peaked in mid-to-late January, between the first South Carolina debate (Jan. 16 at Myrtle Beach) and the second Florida debate (Jan. 26 at Jacksonville). The Myrtle Beach debate was widely hailed as a triumph for Gingrich, while the Jacksonville debate was one of his worst performances of the entire campaign.

Live by the debate, die by the debate. Four weeks transpired between the Jan. 26 Jacksonville debate and the final debate, Feb. 22 in Arizona. After beating Mitt Romney in South Carolina by 12 points on Jan. 21, Newt lost Florida by 14 points on Jan. 31, then lost Nevada by 29 points on Feb. 4 and never recovered.

Also: Live by the poll, die by the poll. If you’ll look at the Real Clear Politics summary of national polls, you’ll see that in the week Jan. 8-15 (from the back-to-back New Hampshire debates until the first South Carolina debate), Romney led by 16 to 25 points in four consecutive polls (Gallup, CNN, Fox and ABC), but Romney’s lead was just 3 points in a Rasmussen poll taken the day after the first South Carolina debate. Between Jan. 22-26, three polls (NBC, Rasmussen, Gallup) showed Gingrich leading by 7 to 9 points.

After Newt lost Florida, however, the bottom fell out: Having led the RCP national average Jan. 27 by 4.3 points (31.3% to Romney’s 27%), Gingrich lost more than 15 points in less than two weeks, falling to third place at 16.2% by Feb. 14. That was three weeks before the Georgia primary.

While Newt’s fundraising might have bounced up a bit between Feb. 22 (the Arizona debate) and Super Tuesday on March 6, it likely never equalled the $106,000 per day Gingrich averaged in the last three months of 2011, and certainly not his January fundraising, which averaged $180,000 per day. And there’s no telling how far Newt’s daily fundraising has fallen in the two weeks since he lost Alabama and Mississippi.

But the point — correcting the New York Times — is that things started going downhill for Newt long before the Georgia primary on March 6, and his campaign’s finances were shaky even during his best month of fundraising. His “burn rate” was over 100% in January and he actually added debt while his cash-on-hand declined. On Feb. 21, the day after the FEC reports for January were published, I said Newt’s “burn rate” was unsustainable, and it took another month before the February FEC report proved this to be true.

Three weeks from now, after we see Gingrich’s March FEC report, we’ll know exactly how deep in the red his campaign is. It is already obvious, however, that Newt ceased to be financially viable sometime in February, but managed to conceal his bankruptcy for at least three weeks. Those proved to be three crucial weeks during which Gingrich effectively delayed the consolidation of the “Anybody But Mitt” vote behind Santorum, permitting Romney to score a key win in Ohio, by less than 1 point.

Even after he lost Alabama and Mississippi on March 13, however, Gingrich spent another two weeks pretending that everything was hunky-dory — “all the way to Tampa!” — before he finally quit trying to maintain the illusion and cut his campaign staff, which was still rolling in a 10-car motorcade last week in Louisiana.

Monday, after getting back from Louisiana, I warned: “Expect to see more stories in coming days about Newt’s final meltdown.”

That was a fairly safe prediction, and didn’t take long to be fulfilled. Pretty soon, we’ll have the typical “sources close to the campaign” telling tales to reporters about the wretched excesses inside Team Newt, and not long after that (by Sunday at the latest, I’d guess), you’ll see at least one of those long, in-depth retrospective What-Went-Wrong features about the Gingrich debacle:

“It began one night in October when, after a debate in Las Vegas, the blogger Allahpundit at HotAir.com said, ‘Second look at Newt?’ . . .”

Category: Election 2012, Newt Gingrich

LIVE AT FIVE – 03.28.12

Posted on | March 28, 2012 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Justices Question Obamacare

President Obama signs the "affordable health care" act as Marcelas Owens looks on

Conservative justices have sharp questions for the Solicitor General

Gingrich Lays Off Staff, Replaces Manager
Cash flow fail affecting campaign and strategy


Former Army Chief Mofaz Takes Charge Of Kadima
Ousts Tzipi Livni as head of moderate Israeli party



POLITICS
California Democratic Treasurer Perpetrated $7 Million Fraud

Accused Democratic treasurer Kinde Durkee

Swindled over 50 pols and orgs out of millions over a decade, now being prosecuted by DOJ

Elderly Sanford Couple Forced From Home After Erroneous Spike Lee Tweet

Romney, Obama Battle For Women Voters

Judge Shreds Case Against Hutaree Militia

Romney Says He’d Be Happy To Have Santorum As VP

Bipartisan Group Offers Alternative To Ryan Budget

“Joe The Plumber” Loses Privacy Suit

Religious Freedom Rally Shakes Missouri Capitol



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Falls Below $107 As US Supplies Rise, Indicating Weak Demand
Stock Futures Edge Lower Before Consumer Data
New EPA Rules Expected To Halt New Coal-Fired Power Plants
US Consumer Confidence Flat In March
Wells Fargo Face Investor Class-Action Suit
Grains Futures Mixed, Livestock Prices Rise
Apple To Offer Refund Over Aussie 4G iPad Claims
Kinect For Windows 1.5 coming In May
Netflix Facebook App Illegal In United States
AVG Nukes Stalking Ads At Press Of BIG SHINY BUTTON
XBox Preemptively Strikes At Apple TV With Comcast, HBO, MLB
Government Finds Block Of Frequencies For Wireless Broadband Use
Report: Amazon Planning Three New Fire Tablets



SPORTS
Magic Johnson Group Buys Dodgers For Record $2 Billion

Magic Johnson

Former Nationals president Stan Kasten also part of the group buying the Dodgers from Frank McCourt

Kentucky Women Fall To UConn In Regional Final, 80-65



Sabres Thump Capitals 5-1 To Take Final Playoff Slot

Kobe Scores 30, Ends Warriors’ Hopes Of Upsetting Lakers

Diggins Hits Triple-Double As Irish Rip Terps, End ACC Season

Healthy Brad Lidge Ready To Step In As Interim Closer For Nationals



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Olivia Munn Dating Joel Kinnaman From “The Killing”

Olivia Munn and Joel Kinnaman

She’s his arm candy for the second season premiere

Octomom Poses Nude For Rent Money

LiLo – Everyone’s On Board To End Formal Probation



Bush Frontman Gavin Rossdale Headed To Jail

Jennifer Lawrence To Play Bridget Jones

“Sopranos” Beauty Jamie-Lynn Sigler Dating Nationals Minor-League Infielder Cutter Dykstra

Madonna: “I Don’t Support Drug Use And Never Have”



FOREIGNERS
Assad Accepts Cease-Fire; Opponents Are Skeptical
Fidel To Meet Pope; No Reform On Cuban Agenda
ECOWAS Suspends Mali, Sends Military Delegation To Bamako
Border Violence Threatens Sudan Deal
Egyptian Junta To Jostle Islamists For Constitutional Privileges
Obama Makes Joke Of His Missile Defense Gaffe
Strauss-Kahn’s Lawyers To Argue For Immunity In Maid’s Civil Suit
Bankers Warn Of “No” Vote Risk As Irish EU Referendum Set



BLOGS & STUFF
Weekly Standard: Obamacare On Trial – The Individual Mandate
Professor Bainbridge: Obamacare’s Supreme Court Disaster
NRO Bench Memos: Obamacare Oral Arguments A “Train Wreck”
Weasel Zippers: Harry Reid Attacks Jeffrey Toobin For Defeatism On Obamacare
Volokh Conspiracy: Justice Kennedy’s “Heavy Burden Of Justification” Approach
American Thinker: Maintaining Crisis Momentum
Jonah Goldberg: Is There A Black Upper Class Bubble?
Jammie Wearing Fools: Narrative Interrupted – George Zimmerman A Registered Democrat
Kerry Picket: Spike Lee Re-Tweets Incorrect Address Of Trayvon Martin Shooter
Nick Gillespie: Twelve Schools That Suck When It Comes To Free Speech
Don Surber: EPA Goes Bananas On Coal

Category: Live at Five

Big Fake Boobs

Posted on | March 27, 2012 | 49 Comments

“I have no talent. I have nothing to offer.”
— Kendra Wilkinson

“Look, clearly we’re gonna have to go on a fairly tight budget to get from here to Tampa.”
— Newt Gingrich

It would be terribly mean-spirited to use the phrase “big fake boobs” as a cheap excuse to make fun of Newt Gingrich again. According to the latest Wisconsin poll, however, Gingrich is on his way to yet another fourth-place finish, while refusing to admit that his campaign has lost whatever actual political rationale it had before he lost Tennessee, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.

So as long as Newt wants to keep pretending that he’s still a viable candidate, the ridiculousness of his make-believe campaign — as fake as a Bunny’s boobies — is legitimate news, just like the latest idiotic quotes from Hef’s ex-girlfriend Kendra are legitimate news. The Gingrich pseudo-campaign crossed a bold new frontier of hopeless desperation in Delaware yesterday:

Monday’s event, held in a state that doesn’t vote for another three weeks, also seemed to signal a new phase in the campaign. Event attendees were allowed to take pictures with the candidate for $50 per photo. Before tonight, supporters took photos with Gingrich for free.
Charging for photos, in addition to news that the campaign canceled a trip to North Carolina, contributes to the narrative that Gingrich is struggling to stay afloat financially.

Well, no duh. Team Newt burned through $5.9 million in January and $2.9 million in February, the campaign’s expenditures averaging more than $146,000 per day for the first two months of the year.

Despite its high-rolling ways, the Gingrich campaign recorded exactly one victory (South Carolina, Jan. 21) during that 60-day period, along with two second-place finishes in Florida (Jan. 31) and Nevada (Feb. 4), third place in Colorado (Feb. 7) and Arizona (Feb. 28), fourth-place finishes in Iowa (Jan. 3), Minnesota (Feb. 7), Maine (Feb. 11) and Michigan (Feb. 28), and fifth place in New Hampshire (Jan. 10).

Not exactly the kind of strong performance you might expect from a serious contender burning $146,000 a day, you see. When we learned on March 20 that Newt’s campaign was essentially bankrupt — with $1.5 million in debt, slightly more than its cash on hand as of the end of February — it was only a matter of time before the whole phony sham collapsed under the weight of its own expensive fraudulence.

“It is hard to identify a spot on the remaining primary map where Gingrich would be a stronger challenger than Santorum.”
— Walter Shapiro, The New Republic

“Gingrich’s status as a Republican primary candidate has slipped from longshot to sideshow.”
— Molly Ball, The Atlantic

“There is no path for Gingrich. . . . His strategy has come and gone and that’s the bottom line.”
— G. Terry Madonna, Franklin and Marshall College Poll

Yeah, I’m collecting quotes like that these days, because everybody can now see what I’ve been describing ever since Newt melted down at his Feb. 4 Las Vegas press conference: The Neutral Objective Fact that Gingrich’s campaign was falling apart right in front of our eyes, even while he was on TV every night telling everybody he was going “all the way to Tampa.” The Bernie Madoff approach to “viability,” as it were.

On March 19 — the day before his February FEC report exposed his bankruptcy — Gingrich published a Red State column attacking Rick Santorum and insisting that he, Newt Gingrich, was the “only . . . candidate in this race who can offer the change our country desperately needs.”

Now Newt’s hustling folks for $50 a photo.

If he can find about 2,900 people a day to pay that much, he can afford the kind of campaign he was running in January and February, when he won exactly one primary out 10 contests.

And good luck with that, huh?

UPDATE: Wow. Talk about timing. Latest news from Politico:

Newt Gingrich is cutting back his campaign schedule, will lay off about a third of his cash-strapped campaign’s full-time staff, and has replaced his manager as part of what aides are calling a “big-choice convention” strategy . . .

Which is to say, it’s over.

And as Allah says, any suggestion that Newt will get the nomination at a brokered convention is “pure fantasy.” If Republicans go looking for a candidate who can make the case for fiscal discipline, I’m sure they’ll pick the guy who spent his campaign into bankruptcy.


Category: Election 2012, Newt Gingrich
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