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: Sic Transit Jacksonville Airport

Posted on | February 1, 2012 | 4 Comments

JACKSONVILLE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Fla.
Dan Balz drifted out of the Champions sports bar adjacent to the Tampa Marriott last night just as I was heading in to order a cheeseburger.

“Whaddya think?” I said.

“Good night for Romney,” he said.

And that was really all that could be said. There was no drama, no suspense, no surprise in Tuesday’s result, and yet I had to deliver a column about this tedious Florida primary for The American Spectator.

We were standing there discussing this when a man recognized Balz. “Hey, you look familiar,” the guy said. “Where do I know you from?”

Dan Balz, Washington Post, semi-famous, because he occasionally shows up on TV shows talking about politics. Whereas, by contrast, I’m kind of an obscure cult figure, known by a comparative handful of right-wing political junkies on the Internet. Less notorious than Charles Manson, but perhaps slightly better known than whoever plays center field for the Houston Astros, unless you’re from Houston or a baseball fan.

There was no time to think about such stuff last night. I got my burger and a Corona and went out to the patio of the Marriott — next to the canal, underneath the palms in the warm Florida breeze — to finish my column.  There was very little in the way of Final Wisdom:

Mitt Romney scored an impressive victory in Tuesday’s Florida primary, winning by such a decisive margin that the networks called the race as soon as the polls closed. And his choice of this city as the site of his celebration was not accidental.
‘When we gather back here seven months from now here in Tampa for our convention, we will be a united party with a winning ticket for America,” the former Massachusetts governor said in his victory speech at the Convention Center downtown. Saying that Democrats believed the tough fight for the GOP nomination would leave Republicans “divided and weak,” Romney said, “A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us.”
Romney’s appeals to party unity surely rang hollow to supporters of Newt Gingrich, who was on the receiving end of a weeklong barrage of attack ads from Romney’s campaign and the Florida winner’s so-called “super PAC,” Restore Our Future. Between the two entities, Team Romney spent something like $17 million on TV and radio ads in Florida, compared to about $5 million spent by Gingrich and the pro-Gingrich “super PAC,” Winning Our Future. The vast majority of the ads by both camps were of the attack variety, and media analyst Ken Goldstein pronounced it “the most negative campaign ever.” . . .

Read the whole thing. There is lots more I could say about this trip, but they’ve just called final boarding and, as usual, there simply isn’t enough time to do what I would like to do. Because I’m still “Not Good Enough for BlogCon.” And probably never will be.





Category: Fear and Loathing in the Sunshine State

LIVE AT FIVE – 02.01.12

Posted on | February 1, 2012 | 12 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Romney Takes Florida Primary

Mitt Romney and wife Ann celebrate his win in the Florida GOP primary

Romney 46%, Gingrich 32%, Santorum 13%, Paul 7%
Gingrich undaunted; says “people power will beat money power”
Santorum looks beyond Florida to next week’s caucuses and primaries
Ron Paul sets sights on Nevada caucuses



Israel To Deport South Sudanese
Refugees protected status expired when new nation formed

Arab, Western Nations Push For UN Action On Syria
Russians obdurate in blocking action; PRC, India diffident





POLITICS
Court Rules DC Occupods Must Obey Camping Regulations
Occupy DC camp at McPherson Square
Judge also requires 24 hours’ notice of eviction from Park Service

CBO Says Keeping Existing Laws Would Erode Deficit




Bonamici Defeats Cornilles To Keep Oregon Seat For Democrats

TSA Under Scrutiny As Complaints And Expense Mount

11 Oakland Occupods Ordered To Avoid City Hall Plaza

Obama Hopes To Ride Auto Bailout To Re-Election



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
IRS Cracks Down On Fraud As Tax Season Begins
Wall Street Ends Strong January On Flat Note
Amazon Tanks After Earnings
Housing Prices Continue Long Slide
Germany Insists On EU Oversight For Greece
Nonprofit To Help Megaupload Users Retrieve Legal Files
Petition Tells Apple “Ethical” iPhone 5 Wanted
Neil Young Wants Digital Music To Die



SPORTS
Peyton Manning: I Have No Plans To Retire

Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning

Rehab progressing well; will talk to Colts about returning after the Super Bowl

Illinois Edges #10 Michigan State 42-41

Knicks Stop Skid With 113-86 Mauling Of Pistons


Pens Rally For 5-4 Shootout Win Over Leafs

Imran Khan Calls For Resumption Of Indo-Pak Cricket

Astros Sign Former Nationals Starter Livan Hernandez To Minor League Deal



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Simon Cowell: I’m Not Done With Paula Abdul

Paula and Simon last season on "X Factor"

Effusive thanks from Cowell to all three departing judges; looking forward to working with Paula again

11 Thoroughly Modern Actresses

Trace Cyrus Not Rushing Down The Aisle



Stephen Arnell Is Green Arrow In CW’s “Arrow”

Raven Symone To Star In “Sister Act” On Broadway

Duke & Duchess Of Cambridge Get Four-Legged Friend

Adam Sandler To Star In Movie Version of Hasbro’s “Candy Land” Game



FOREIGNERS
Pakistan Rejects Taliban Support Allegations
PRC Workers Seized In Egypt Freed
Egyptian Protesters Claim Muslim Brotherhood In Cahoots With Ruling Military
Argentina Protests British Naval Exercises Off Falklands
French Court To Review Genocide Bill
Netanyahu Declares Victory In Likud Primary
PRC Blames Tibetan Separatists For Violence In Sichuan



BLOGS & STUFF
Gateway Pundit: Palin Says Romney’s $17 Million In Ads Bought “Some False Narrative” In Florida
Flopping Aces: The Most Negative Primary Campaign in History
K-Lo: Taking Back The Pink – Komen Ends Partnership With Planned Parenthood
Doug Ross: Six Charts From the CBO That Spell Trouble For The U.S.
Pat Dollard: CBO Predicts Unemployment Over 9% In 2013
Marginal Revolution: David Brooks On The New Charles Murray Book
Pirate’s Cove: Democrat Report Clears Democrats From “Fast & Furious” Fallout
Weasel Zippers: Darrell Issa Threatens To Hold AG Holder In Contempt Over Fast & Furious; Contends DOJ Actively Engaged In Coverup
Moe Lane: More Shakeups In Florida House Races
American Glob: California to Run Out Of Cash In March
Jawa Report: Iran May Plan More Attacks On U.S. Soil


SOTD: Jackson, Mississippi

Category: Live at Five

Dana Loesch And Rick Santorum? Tea And A Scone, In My Humble

Posted on | January 31, 2012 | 14 Comments

by Smitty


Keep listening. It’s boilerplate for the first five minutes, after which the exchange picks up significantly.

via Insty

Category: Dana Loesch, Rick Santorum

BREAKING NEWS: MITT ROMNEY WINS FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRIMARY

Posted on | January 31, 2012 | 75 Comments

TAMPA, Fla.
Polls just closed in the western panhandle of Florida, and there is no need for suspense regarding the result. It has been pretty much a universal certainty for the past week that Romney was going to win this thing pretty easily, and the only question is the final margin of victory.

In fact, I’m writing this post in Naples at 4 o’clock in the afternoon — four hours before the polls close — because I’ve got a three-hour drive to reach the Mitt Romney RINO-tastic™ Florida Primary Victory Celebration at the Tampa Convention Center, and wasn’t sure if traffic might delay my arrival, preventing me from being the first to report this URGENT BREAKING NEWS.

Anyway, it is not true that the only people who support Mitt are sold-out gutless RINOs. “Sunshine State Sarah” explains why she voted for Romney. You Newt people can go unload all your hate on Sarah. Here’s a headline:

Newt Gingrich Robocall: Mitt Romney Forced
Holocaust Survivors To Eat Non-Kosher Food

Desperate much? And here’s another headline:

Santorum says Gingrich should stop
pressuring GOP rivals to drop out

Ditto that. Newt should drop out and endorse Santorum. Otherwise, he should stop blaming his failures on other people.

UPDATE: Now on the scene at the Press Filing Center at the Tampa Convention Center, where the TVs are on CNN, which called the election for Romney as soon as the polls closed in the Panhandle, by which time nearly 60% of the precincts were already reporting:

Romney …….. 47%
Gingrich …….. 31%
Santorum ….. 13%
Paul ………….. 7%

That 16-point gap is likely to narrow as the Panhandle precincts report.

UPDATE II: Mitt sends out his wife, Ann, to give thanks to their supporters and to introduce Mitt.

UPDATE III: Very much a general-election speech from Mitt, taking aim at Obama, promising an America “where hope is a new job and a paycheck, not a word on a fading bumper sticker.”

Romney also said: “A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us and we will win. When we gather back here seven months from now here in Tampa for our convention, we will be a united party with a winning ticket.”

It is reported that Gingrich won’t even spend the night in Florida, and won’t do the morning talk shows tomorrow, but will fly tonight to Nevada, where the caucuses are Saturday. Lots of Mormons in Nevada.

UPDATE IV: A couple of photos:

TV satellite trucks parked under the palm trees outside the convention center.

Inside the press filing center.

UPDATE V: At Newt’s speech, they’re holding up signs that say, “46 States to Go.” Just ran in to top Romney advisor Eric Ferhnstrom, who said, “He’s not even on the ballot in 46 more states.”

Ferhnstrom said they expect Ron Paul to be Romney’s chief opponent in the Nevada caucuses, and said Missouri (which holds a non-binding primary on Tuesday) will be a two-man race between Romney and Santorum, because Gingrich isn’t on the ballot there.

In case you’re wondering, the next debate is Feb. 22 in Arizona.

UPDATE VI: Citing polls showing Rick Santorum leading Romney in Missouri and Ohio, the Santorum campaign says in a press release: “Santorum is a stronger long term threat to Romney than Gingrich because he has less baggage and is simply much better liked.”

Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in the Sunshine State, Florida, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum

Interesting Online Data Point–No One Has Much Command In The GOP Scramble

Posted on | January 31, 2012 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

This means little more than the fact that Drudge’s server is working, but it may blunt some of the triumphal noises from Romney-land:
For a third of a million Drudge readers, I would expect the prohibitive favorite to at least pull one in three, if not two in five. But, like a mortally wounded SNL season, the blow must go on.

Category: Election 2012, Republicans

‘Why Do Younger Men Shorten Women’s Lifespans?’

Posted on | January 31, 2012 | 23 Comments

by Smitty

Roxanne de Luca poses the subject question. First off, I think that the Progressive notion that women=men is as much garbage as global warming. Neither gender is superior, in my estimation. I will note in Genesis 3, when the politics hit the fan, that a man is more immediately culpable.

Cutting right to the chase, are the traditional sociological arguments for gender roles really all that moot in our Postmodern age? Are men still in some sort of leadership role, where age, experience and financial resources buy nubile young brides in a cozy arrangement designed to propagate the species?

Roxanne’s link points to a study claiming to show that cougars, or “Demi Moore arrangements”, lead to shorter lifespans for women. But how common is the cougar case, really? And does the cougar case point to enough other hard-living factors to be more incidental to these women’s lives than causal?

I’m landing somewhere around the opinion that the toy boy is peripheral to the broader philosophical question: is decadence sustainable?

Category: Culture

Newt Gingrich: Graceless in Defeat?

Posted on | January 31, 2012 | 48 Comments

Newt Gingrich in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday Jan. 30, 2012

NAPLES, Fla.
This will be my last day here in the posh condo which Dan Collins has so generously made available as the Florida headquarters of the National Affairs Desk. Tonight I head up to Tampa to cover RINO Fest 2012 Mitt Romney’s victory celebration, and then I must find someplace else to get a few hours sleep before leaving out from Jacksonville on Wednesday afternoon.

Before I do all that, however, I must contemplate the scapegoating, blame-shifting and excuse-making by which Newt Gingrich is attempting to provide a pre-emptive explanation of his looming defeat here in Florida. Among other things, Newt is once again pointing the finger at Rick Santorum:

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says rival Rick Santorum should take a look at the poll numbers, which show Gingrich beating him, and drop out.
“The longer conservatives stay split, the harder it’s going to be for us to [beat Romney],” Gingrich said on FOX and Friends on Tuesday. “And I think that we risk not being able to beat Obama unless we get a conservative. I have to win the nomination.”
Santorum is sapping conservative votes from Gingrich, the former House speaker said.

Ed Morrissey slaps down that pathetic excuse:

Oddly, Gingrich didn’t appear as principled on the subject of conservative consolidation when Santorum won Iowa and Gingrich finished fourth, nor when Santorum narrowly edged Gingrich for fourth place in New Hampshire. If he was concerned about a conservative sacrificing to make sure a conservative alternative had the strength to beat Mitt Romney at that time, Gingrich didn’t pull a muscle leaping out of his chair to volunteer.

One of the basic traits of narcissism is an ability to accept blame for one’s own failures, which leads to scapegoating, the attempt to externalize blame in order to protect the narcissist’s glorified mental self-image.

Newt came into Florida riding a wave of momentum from South Carolina and, if it is true that the Romney machine poured out an unprecedented onslaught of attack ads here, it is also true that Gingrich himself reacted badly. Gingrich had his worst two debates of the entire yearlong campaign, and seemed cranky and irritable all week. But he can’t admit his own complicity in his problems — as if Freddie Mac forced him to take that money — and so what went wrong must always be blamed on somebody else, even if that somebody is Rick Santorum, who barely campaigned in Florida.

Narcissism is a pathology closely connected to paranoia, and the spooky vibes of yesterday’s Gingrich rally in Fort Myers were enough to put me in mind of Richard Hofstadter’s The Paranoid Style in American Politics. Watch this video in which Gingrich promotes the belief that both he and his listeners are victims of “money power”:

“We’re in a very simple campaign. We are pitting people power against money power. No question — you look at the list of top ten donors to Mitt Romney, that’s money power. That is the establishment. Those are the people who would be happy, as George Soros said, with either Obama or Romney, and they do not want a conservative. Those are the people who have led the assault on me over the last couple of weeks, by all sorts of folks whose number-one goal is to keep power in Washington the way it is now. I want you to know, I do not believe it is legitimate for the current establishment to preside over the decay as long as they’re doing well. I think we have an obligation to our children, to our grandchildren, to fundamentally change Washington and, frankly, to fundamentally change New York. We deserve to know the truth about the last four years. We deserve to know what happened to our money.”

The idea of usurpation of authority by an illegitimate, selfish, decadent plutocracy — who strive to conceal the truth about their malign manipulations — is a very familiar theme in populist demagoguery. Without denying the possibility that there are elements of truth in such a claim, the implications of this rhetoric are scary, and there is nothing Reaganesque about this kind of embittered rant against “money power,” promoting the sense of victimhood at the hands of an all-powerful “establishment.” Yesterday’s rally was the subject of my American Spectator column today:

FORT MYERS, Fla. — George Soros, Goldman Sachs, and other forces of the “establishment” are conspiring to support Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, Newt Gingrich warned Republicans here Monday, as Floridians prepared to go to the polls in their state’s crucial GOP primary.
Referring to an interview that Soros — a billionaire notorious for his funding of left-wing causes — gave to Reuters last week in Davos, Switzerland, Gingrich summarized Soros as saying, “We think either Obama or Romney’s fine, but Gingrich, he would change things.” The anti-Gingrich cabal, said the former House Speaker, also includes investment banking giant Goldman Sachs, which backed President Obama four years ago and now — having profited from taxpayer-funded Wall Street bailouts — is bankrolling Romney’s campaign attack ads. “Those ads are your money recycled to attack me,” Gingrich told the hundreds gathered outside Page Field airport here.
He cited no evidence that Goldman Sachs was in cahoots with Romney, and the opacity of the “super PACs” which are pumping millions into this Republican primary campaign makes it impossible either to prove or disprove Gingrich’s depiction of the malevolent forces arrayed against him. Yet he repeated similar accusations in different forums throughout the day — on ABC in the morning, on Fox News in the afternoon, and at each of the five stops on his final whirlwind tour of the Sunshine State — as if endeavoring to convince his supporters that they are victims of a vast conspiracy. Newt seemed to be providing a pre-emptive excuse for what polls indicate will be a decisive defeat for him in Tuesday’s winner-take-all primary. . . .

Read the whole thing. It is impossible for me to think that the American people will be fooled by Gingrich’s playing of the victim card, or that they will accept Gingrich’s absurd claim that he lost Florida because Rick Santorum refused to “consolidate” behind Newt’s candidacy.

I’ve got to tidy up this condo before I leave today. That could take a while, considering the deplorable conditions at the National Affairs Desk:

Don’t blame me. It was the “money power”!




PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in the Sunshine State, Florida, Newt Gingrich

Global Warming Is Dead. Will ManBearPig Campaign For ‘Gentleman’ Jim Moran Again In 2012?

Posted on | January 31, 2012 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Red Alexandria trots out the tiny violins for global warming, and showed what a tool VA State Senator Adam Ebbin is.
Ebbin, however, is but a jeweler’s screwdriver compared to the breaker bar that is ‘Gentleman’ Jim; but neither can hold an incandescent bulb to the uber-tool that is ManBearPig, seen here campaigning for Jim Moran in 2010:
I’ve taken the liberty of re-posting the video to YouTube, just in case the sheer idiocy on display becomes an embarrassment, and they kill the original. Transcript here.

One is embarrassed, in the light of Schweitzers revelations, to consider that Moran might have done a few things that were perfectly legal, yet not savory in the court of public opinion, to curry such favor with ManBearPig. Speculation, but not a real suspension of disbelief.

Moran Delenda Est.

Patrick Murray for Congress

Previous/More Antics:

Category: Democrats, Jim Moran, ManBearPig
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