The Other McCain

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

Memo From the National Affairs Desk:
‘If I Could Walk That Way …’

Posted on | February 29, 2012 | 44 Comments

Chris Moody and Steven Crowder with Crowder’s haawwtt fianceé, Hillary,
at the Santorum event in Grand Rapids, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012

“Another Wednesday morning, another hotel room, another grim bout with the TV Morning News . . . These goddamn Wednesday mornings are ruining my health.”
– Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72

OBERLIN, Ohio
When I woke up in an interstate highway rest area somewhere west of Lansing, Michigan, this morning, it was half-past seven, and a four-hour nap in my car had scarcely touched the surface of the overwhelming fatigue that had forced me to pull over about 3 a.m. and conk out.

After getting a cup of “Premium Roast Coffee” from the vending machine — yeah, right — I cranked up the car and began driving back toward the hotel in Troy. The GPS told me I’d be there before 9:30, so I envisioned a quick shower, then napping an hour or two in an actual bed before I had to pack up and leave by noon. By 3 p.m., I’d be at my sister-in-law’s house in Ohio, ready to sling together another column from a state that is sure to be a key battleground in next week’s Super Tuesday contests.

Once I was on the road, I called my wife, and the call completely scrambled my plans. My wife informed me of a family emergency (never mind the details) which obviously required my presence at home. News of this sudden personal misfortune, following so closely on the heels of political misfortune, only aggravated the sense of gloom that had seized me as I watched the vote totals being updated at Rick Santorum’s Tuesday night party at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids. You may get a sense of my mood from my American Spectator column today:

Rick Santorum lost Tuesday’s primary here in Michigan. All the spin in the world can’t change that fact, and if Mitt Romney goes on to win the Republican presidential nomination, political historians will point to Feb. 28 as his watershed moment. Exactly how Santorum or any other GOP rival can beat Romney now is an increasingly difficult scenario to describe.
The best way to understand the significance of Mitt’s win in Michigan is to imagine the opposite result: Had Santorum won here in Romney’s home state, it would have been a shattering blow to the aura of “inevitability” and “electability” that has always been Romney’s strongest argument as the “It’s His Turn” candidate whom the Republican Party traditionally nominates. A win on Romney’s home turf would have sent Santorum surfing a tidal wave of momentum going into next week’s Super Tuesday contests in 10 states. Had Santorum won Michigan, it would have set off panic in the ranks of the GOP establishment, stirring new talk of a brokered convention to anoint a “respectable” candidate like Jeb Bush or Mitch Daniels — someone, anyone! — as the nominee.
Instead, after an all-out battle that lasted three weeks since Santorum’s Feb. 7 triple wins in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri, Romney scored a narrow victory in Michigan that will enable the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign to boast of a “comeback” that ratifies his claim to legitimacy as the rightful heir to the nomination. . . .

Read the whole thing. It didn’t help my mood, of course, that WiFi problems kept me offline until 11 p.m. Tuesday night, so that I had to write my column in a blazing hurry just to file it at 1 a.m. Furthermore, the attempt of some Santorum supporters to sugar-coat the Michigan disaster — to pretend that it was something other than a disaster — only made my mood worse.

I hate losing and second place is not a victory. It is defeat, a failure, and while I understand the need of a presidential campaign to put the best possible public spin on a lost primary, I don’t like being spun. If you lost the vote by 3 points, don’t talk to me about delegate counts.

I don’t want to hear that crap. You lost. Read more

Category: Election 2012, Fear. Loathing., Michigan, Ohio

I Am Joe

Posted on | February 29, 2012 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher continues to be the everyman who gets roped into he limelight. Joe, like this blog, was on the Cain train, and has fallen short of endorsing anyone else for the GOP nomination. But Joe was somewhat conspicuous at a Rick Santorum event. . .

Go, Joe! You’re an inspiration to us all, sir.

Category: Tea Party

Rule 5 Wednesday

Posted on | February 29, 2012 | 22 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


I’m never getting another flu shot again. That’s all I’m going to say about that. Now, on with the hotness!


The Regular Guy sent me a link to a Rick Santorum post, but it was lacking in beefcake or cheesecake. So, no link for you, sir! The Laughing Conservative, on the other hand, delivers with a Candice Swanepoel video. The POH Diaries inaugurates a new series of “Hot And Dumb” posts with Danica Patrick, while Eye of Polyphemus settles on Dana Delaney. Randy’s Roundtable features a midweek break with Josie Maran and Georgia Salpa, while Daily Irony chips in some Taiwanese gym babes and Waveya.


El Opinador Compulsivo kicks off this week’s contributions with Anna Torv of “Fringe” fame, seven high-res wallpapers, Rebecca DeMornay, Shania Twain, choice pix from Rio’s Carnaval, a staring contest with Kate Upton, and a test of EOC’s new, wider blog template.


Proof Positive’s Friday Night Babe was Cassidy Freeman, his vintage babe was Francis Octavia Smith (a/k/a Dale Evans) and Sex in Advertising encourages us to reach out and touch someone. (My Army background makes me think of artillery when I see that phrase.) AView From The Beach offers Rose McGowan, a hula cam video, something about necrophilia, beer, vodka, and Raquel Welch’s speculation that Mae West was actually a drag queen.


Jake Finnegan goes with the flow this week and chooses Danica Patrick as his Burkalesque Babe. Fishersville Mike, on the other hand, likes him some Taylor Swift. Three Beers Later passes on a Carly Foulkes link he claims he found at The Conservatory. Pish and tush, I say. Especially tush. Dustbury checks in with Karina Nose and Veronica Webb, while Maggie’s Notebook is all about the Danica Patrick this week. Black Sunday Society makes its debut with a well-armed, well-endowed Kari Byron, and Reaganite Resistance chips in with Miss Kosovo 2011, Aferdita Dreshaj.


Soylent Green starts off with some overnight nicety, followed by Monday Motivationer Raylene, a tip from Uncle Soylent for Fat Tuesday, some hot Brazilian action for humpday, something about Temecula, CA, Corset Friday with painted lingerie, overnight awesomeness, and a young lady with the fur side outside. Also, since I’m late doing this, Leap Day Hotness!


The Camp of the Saints last week had links for Tina Hobley, the ever-popular Rule 5 News, and Michelle Lombardo. American Power kicks in Kate Upton for my favorite airline, Jennifer Love Hewitt, more Kate Upton, the SI 2012 Swimsuit lineup, and British soap star Helen Flanagan.


The DaleyGator’s DaleyBabes this week were Tiffanie Damian, Claudia Verela, Melyssa Grace, Carissa Rosario, and Janet Jackson. Also, a hot girl on a Harley, random hotness, and Asian Babe Wednesday.


Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Submissions for Sunday’s Rule 5 roundup (which will actually be on Sunday, God willing) are due on Saturday, March 3; please remember that Rule 5 links go to Rule 5 Wombat and not my usual e-mail address.

Category: Rule 5

Is Matt Drudge Not A Mitt Romney Fan?

Posted on | February 29, 2012 | 18 Comments

by Smitty

Ouch:

Quite the triumph of the negative advertising will, Mitt’s 3% victory in Michigan. Alas for Romney,

Rick Santorum is the leading Republican presidential contender in Ohio, according to a new survey in the state.
The Quinnipiac University poll released Monday showed the former Pennsylvania senator with 36% support among likely Republican primary voters, followed by Mitt Romney at 29%, Newt Gingrich at 17% and Ron Paul at 11%.

Can Mitt’s squadrons of carpet bombers drop enough negative ordnance on Ohio to pull that out in time for Super Tuesday?

It remains to be seen. As Protein Wisdom noted yesterday,

Romney: “obviously, I want to make sure that we maintain the progressivity of the code”
Yes, obviously. Because that’s what “severely conservative” candidates do: maintain “progressivity” — or, to put a finer point on it, maintain one of the 10 planks in the Communist Manifesto, the graduated income tax.

I don’t know why Jeff G. has been unable to regain the happiness in slavery he seemed to be enjoying at Woodstock with the band. That tax code, which does not seem to have any point as far as funding a balanced federal budget goes, is really more of an iron rod by which We The People are punished, divided, and ruled.

Anything said by any candidate of any party has got to be given the litmus test of liberty. The ‘p’ word is anti-liberty at all points. I hope that Romney’s handlers are keeping an eye on this blog and noting that, in spite of whatever sort of Lefty dog-whistle is afforded by ‘progressivity’, usage of that term is an air-raid siren for conservatives that ol’ Willard is full of Mitt.

But maybe those handlers are paying attention:

What precisely am I deciding here? The contents of Romney’s core convictions? The presence of those convictions? Scroll down the page to the public figure Tea Party endorsements at the bottom: when this toss-off of a web site puts itself alongside some un-named “Sen. Demint Adviser”, and hasn’t even been updated to include Gov. Jan Brewer’s “OK, sure” endorsement of Mitt, you know it’s a joke. One is tempted to speculate that the Left is fronting this site more as a poke at Mitt’s lack of Tea Party support.

However, I don’t wish to sound all Bill Quick in my tepid attitude toward Romney. There really is too much at stake not to support Mitt, should his megatonnage of negative advertising result in the GOP nomination amidst the rubble. Mitt shall have bought the nomination fair and square, in that case. I also respect Mitt’s unwillingness to ‘set his hair on fire‘ while commanding the bombastic advertising campaign. I suppose that means Mitt won’t give us the Full Klinger, in his quest for the Resolute Desk. Fine. Some level of restraint is good in a Presidential candidate, insofar as his megalomania is concerned.

However, we all need to be relentless, hair aflame, and as serious as lung cancer about liberty. About turning the Information Age into something that means less government. About holding public figures accountable. About blowing the face off of the zombie of Progress, and, metaphorically, every sad little tool who preaches this false progressive gospel.

Let us soldier on and ensure that Mitt at least respects the actual Tea Parties, for all he probably hates them. ODERINT DUM METUANT.

Category: Mitt Romney, Protein Wisdom, Rick Santorum

Lefties Lack Perspective, Hence Their Gloom

Posted on | February 29, 2012 | Comments Off on Lefties Lack Perspective, Hence Their Gloom

by Smitty

To clarify, when I said ‘my tepid attitude‘, the scope of ‘my’ was me. I suppose that I can see where, in referring to Bill, he might have thought I was attempting to characterize his apparent severe disdain for Willard Mitt. Such was never my intent. I think Bill may be daft in his position, but the gorgeous thing about traditional America is that we don’t have to agree.

One area where I’m not in agreement with the bulk of conservatives is the whole gloom thing. Legal Insurrection’s little mood ring of a poll isn’t all that meaningful, but one does glean that, if conservatives were any more bummed out, they’d be Progressives:

What can I say to try to perk everyone up? My experience is that standing too close to the problem leads to despair. Fallible humans are going to tube almost everything, most of the time. But giving in to despair about it is a choice. Also a choice: the realization that the per-capita suckage of humanity is constant over time. That is, despite the internet and the seeming avalanche of death porn on the news, humanity is existentially no worse off than it ever was. I know, Progress was supposed to give birth to Utopia, but Progress, while sexual in nature, wasn’t really the kind that actually bears fruit, IYKWIMAITYD.

The angst that radiates from #OccupyResoluteDesk is just another sign of what a joke he is. Irrespective of the legal wrangling over the papers, BHO simply lacks an American spirit. The grey cloud of doom that sad little 3rd world dictator radiates is really what we’re managing here. That grey cloud can devour us, or we can blow it away in November.

Sure, you can hate on the candidates, for negative SuperPAC ads, for robo-calls, for finding plutocrat patrons to keep them afloat past bedtime, for looking like a grizzled Pinocchio. But that’s useless. They all suck. Get past that. Be passionate about principle, not candidates, people. Sure, the suckage may intensify, but, as long as we’re on about reason, capitalism, and liberty, everything else will follow naturally.

Category: Politics

The World’s Youngest Blogger Now Has More Teeth Than Barack’s Foreign Policy

Posted on | February 29, 2012 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

The dark bit to the left of the image is his first incisor. Which explains his Obama-esque attitude these last few days.

Category: Barack Obama, World's Youngest Blogger

I Guess Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer Is A Democrat?

Posted on | February 29, 2012 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

When you’ve been this craven and this biased for this long, the default assumption is that any public figure experiencing ‘life difficulties’ must be a Democrat. Bill Lockyer is listed as a Democrat on Wikipedia. I guess the picture caption on SF Gate mentions them at a DP fundraiser. Then again, this is ‘Frisco, so the point that Nadia and hubby are Democrats is somewhere beyond no-brainer, clocking in around “brain in formaldehyde jar on some union boss’s desk”.

Now, if Nadia was evangelical, Tea Party, or otherwise a brain-toting conservative, this story:

We’re told that a sex tape of Nadia Lockyer and the man was given to her husband, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, about six weeks before the Newark incident. The treasurer believed that the man, who has a history of arrests for alleged methamphetamine use, might make the tape public if forced to break off a romantic relationship with the supervisor.

. . .would have the prurient Lefty media discussing the incident with faux-Puritanical disgust. Or maybe actual disgust; the whole thing sounds bizarre.

And yet, I really don’t care. I’ve never watched a single one of these celebrity sex tapes. The only mildly interesting point is the media double-standard on reporting them.

via Insty

Category: California

LIVE AT FIVE – 02.29.12

Posted on | February 29, 2012 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Romney Avoids Disaster In Michigan

Mitt Romney

Narrowly edges Rick Santorum in overall vote and delegate count in home state; coasts to victory in Arizona

U.N. Presses Syria To Call Cease-Fire
Death toll estimate raised to 7500

Snowe’s Retirement Leaves Senate Race Wide Open
A flock of candidates contends to replace RINO



POLITICS
Santorum Retools For Ohio

Rick Santorum

Needs to focus on the economy in Ohio, strategist says

Main Military Mortuary Fails Again: 9/11 Remains Consigned To Landfill




Obama Champions Auto Bailout In UAW Speech

Feds Take Down NYC Comptroller’s Campaign Treasurer

Supremes Wary Of Torture Cases; Return Of The Alien Tort Statute

Obama Orders Waivers To Terrorist Detention Laws



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Brent Crude Tops $122; ECB Loan May Spur Buying
Gold Futures Edge Higher In Electronic Trade
Greece Feels Collateral Damage From ECB
Investor Caution Urged As Dow Tops 13K Again
Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs May Face SEC Charges Over Mortgage Bonds
J.P. Morgan’s Dimon Fires Back At Newspapers Over Pay
Bernanke To Face Pressure On Fed Interest Policy
NY Fed Sells $6 Billion In Mortgage Bonds To Credit Suisse, Posts Gain On Sale Of Last AIG Assets
Photos On iPhone At Risk Of Security Breach?
Google’s New Privacy Policy May Violate EU Law
HP’s WebOS Purge Continues; 275 Sacked
Raspberry Pi $35 Computer Goes On Sale
Higher PRC Court Hears Apple’s Appeal Of iPad Decision
The Mounting Minuses At Google Plus



SPORTS
Dwayne Wade Says He Apologized To Bryant

Kobe Bryant drives by Dwayne Wade during the All-Star Game

Heat star apologized for accidental nose-breaking foul in game, afterward

Braun Sample Collector Says He Followed Protocol

Clippers Can’t Stop The Timbermutts, Fall 109-97

Lopez Scores 38 As Nyets Top Mavs

Caps Beat Islanders 3-2 In OT

Always Valentine’s Day In Red Sox Nation?

Missouri, Aggies To Pay Millions In Big 12 Exit Fees

Vanderbilt Upsets #16 Florida

Davey Johnson: Nationals Can Fire Me If We Don’t Make The Playoffs



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Jen & Ben Welcome Baby #3!

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner

Older sisters full of suggestions for little brother’s name

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Millepied

Julia Roberts: Waiting For The Smile

Source: Whitney Houston’s Death To Be Ruled Accident

Lindsay: I’m Going Through The Process Of Proving Myself


“Dancing With The Stars” Avoids Conflict With New Cast

Joan Rivers: Angelina Jolie “Looked Like A Fool” At Oscars

Ryan Murphy Plans “One Hit Wonders” With Paltrow, Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz, Andy Samberg

Paula Deen Boasts Of Weight Loss After Diabetes Diagnosis



FOREIGNERS
Tunisia Offers Asylum To Assad
U.S. Officials See Iranian Attacks Likely In Wake Of Israeli Strike
Chavez Recovering From Pelvic Tumor Surgery, Say Venezuelan Officials
Serbia Accession Talks Encounter Objections
Israeli Soldiers Raid Private Palestinian TV Station
EU Nations Recall Ambassadors From Belarus As Sanctions Dispute Escalates
French Socialist Candidate Pledges 75% Tax Rate



BLOGS & STUFF
Powerline: A Big Night For Mitt Romney
NRO Corner: Inside Santorum World
Hillary Chabot: John McCain Calls For End To GOP’s “Greek Tragedy”
Michelle Malkin: Olympia Snowe Not Seeking Re-Election
Lonely Conservative: Georgetown Coed Testifies Students Going Broke Paying For Protected Sex
Legal Insurrection: Another Unintended Consequence Of The Higher Education Bubble
Washington Free Beacon: Fisker Cronyism Redux
Sense Of Events: First, We Kill All The Newborns

Category: Live at Five
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