The Other McCain

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

First, They Came for the Reese’s Pieces …

Posted on | February 3, 2012 | 17 Comments

When I worked at The Washington Times, there was a place in the office called the “discard table” where the book review editors — or anybody else — would leave the books they got for free from publishers but didn’t want to keep. My library has scores of volumes rescued from the discard table, among them a slender paperback novel called Generation S.L.U.T.

The titular acronym stands for Sexually Liberated Urban Teens, and the novel is a dark and twisted reflection on the unspeakable degeneracy of contemporary adolescents — and their parents, and their schools, and in fact, it is a jeremiad against the entire decadent post-Christian society which spawned these worthless spoiled brats.

Generation S.L.U.T. is full of dirty words and dirty actions, and it takes a discriminating mind to see that this novel, beneath its numerous  layers of putrid polymorphous filth, is an essentially conservative critique of 21st-century American culture. And as soon as I began reading it, I knew I had to meet the twisted mind that produced this Dante’s Inferno of teen novels, Marty Beckerman.

Were there any justice in the world, young Beckerman would have already seen his perverse novel turned into a major motion picture, or perhaps even an HBO series, but Hollywood evidently lacks the kind of discriminating minds who can see the genius that I saw in Generation S.L.U.T. Or perhaps, they are daunted by fear of what holy unshirted hell would be unleashed on anyone who dared to turn such a wicked story into a movie. Merely to get it down to an R rating would require very careful work by the screenwriter and director. And honestly, what would the critics say about a movie whose climactic scene involves gang-rape, recorded on video for commercial purposes by a suburban teenage drug kingpin?

After reading the book, I quickly got in touch with Marty Beckerman via e-mail and eventually we met in person. It was Beckerman who sat with me, one night at a Reason magazine happy hour gathering, as we plied Christopher Hitchens with Johnny Walker Black, merely for the pleasure of hearing Hitch tell stories. Marty and I have occasionally crossed paths since then, and I have come to admire — and more importantly, to fear — his bizarre sense of humor. If you ever invite Beckerman to a party, rest assured that at least one of your guests will be grossly offended by Beckerman’s outrageous sarcasm, which is all the more dangerous because of his deadpan delivery.

All of which is a necessary disclaimer — you have been warned! — to Marty Beckerman’s latest blog post:

Your Peanut-Allergic Kid is a Little G-ddamn Sissy

Click that link at your peril.

Category: humor

Gingrich, Romney, Trump Monopolize Media; Santorum Keeps Campaigning

Posted on | February 3, 2012 | 39 Comments

“[Obama] made the claim that his policies of taxing the rich is authorized by the Bible. That he is doing what is biblically called for by taxing the rich, by having the government tax the rich. Now, I’ve read the Bible, and I must have missed that passage. . . . This is an administration that attacks religion, and then tries to cloak itself in religion in order to take your money.”
— Rick Santorum, Thursday in Fallon, Nevada

“Sincerity is the important thing on TV. A presidential candidate should at least seem to believe what he’s saying — even if it’s all stone crazy.”
— Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72

If you’ve been watching Fox News lately, you are perhaps aware that the “fair and balanced” network has jumped onto the same bandwagon as most of the rest of the major media: The GOP presidential campaign is now a two-man race between the frontrunners, Mitt and Newt.

This was evidently the narrative the media wanted back in December, before Rick Santorum shocked the world with his astonishing surge to victory in Iowa — a result that was immediately dismissed as a fluke by the media, so that they could get back to telling you about the two-man frontrunner race they had decided on weeks earlier.

That Fox is part of this media bandwagon is a fact I note in passing, while pointing out what was obvious to me long ago: Newt can’t beat Mitt.

It can’t happen and won’t happen, and those conservatives who believe they can make it happen are engaged in a type of behavior that Ace of Spades has called “wishcasting” — the idea that you can do anything you want to do, if only you wish and hope and believe in it enough.

There are many reasons why the seemingly possible dream of a Newt nomination is actually less practically feasible than the admittedly long-shot chance of an unexpected comeback by Rick Santorum. Most of these reasons have to do with Newt’s biography and character: His personal flaws and failings, which are well known even to his supporters, but which he (and they) suppose will be ignored by undecided voters who are less ideological than themselves because, doggone it, he has such great ideas!

You see a bit of this admiration for Newt’s ideas in Karl Rove’s campaign critique, where he faults Romney for relying too heavily on the “successful businesman” biographical narrative. But the problem for Newt is that, beyond his career as a leader of conservative Republicans, his biographical narrative is a major net negative. Even if Republican primary voters could overlook everything else, Gingrich’s two divorces are the kind of “baggage” that he can’t possibly carry to the White House.

Now, maybe you’ve got a divorce or two under your own belt and wish to believe that the American people would be willing to overlook this element of Gingrich’s biographical narrative — but this belief is only possible if you assume that most people share your own vehement opposition to Obama and would be willing to ignore the messy details of Newt’s narrative.

Please see R. Emmett Tyrrell’s column last week on that subject. Furthermore, let’s quote Tyrrell’s column this week:

Ah, yes, Newt Gingrich did in the last days of the Florida primary precisely what I predicted he would do. He hurled wild charges at Mitt Romney that suggested Newt was losing his grip. He charged Romney with lying and falling into the hands of George Soros and Goldman Sachs, and he did this while seeking the Republican presidential nomination!
Newt quoted Soros as saying, “We think either Obama or Romney’s fine, but Gingrich, he would change things.” Citing Goldman Sachs’ profiting from the bailout, he linked the Wall Street firm to anti-Gingrich ads, filling in the dots: “Those ads,” he averred, “are your money recycled to attack me.” On Sunday, he suggested that Rick Santorum drop out of the race and support him. Santorum had left the campaign trail to be with his desperately ill daughter. That is the kind of grace we have come to expect from Gingrich, who, by the way, supplied no evidence of Goldman Sachs’ or of Soros’s aiding Romney.

The astute reader will perhaps perceive that the esteemed editor of The American Spectator relied on his shoe-leather man’s reporting from Newt’s Fort Myers “Fear and Loathing” rally, a service I was more than happy to provide, and which in turn involves a debt to the good readers who hit the tip jar for the Florida trip. Read more

Category: $10 to Win in 2010, Colorado, CPAC, Election 2012, Fox News, Media Bias, Minnesota, Missouri, Mitt Romney, Nevada, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Vanuatu

The Media Is The Gaff; That Romney Courts The Gaff Is The Worrisome Part

Posted on | February 3, 2012 | 13 Comments

by Smitty

As is so often the case, The Hill spouts piffle:

Congressional Republicans are worried Mitt Romney’s propensity for verbal gaffes will hurt him in the fall.
The former Massachusetts governor has had a series of foot-in-mouth moments that have set off alarm bells for the GOP and brought on gleeful attacks from Democrats.
The latest came the morning after his decisive win in Florida’s primary, when he told CNN he’s “not concerned about the very poor.”

What is so worrisome to me is not Romney’s words, which are relatively cogent to the rational audience. Rather, the indication that the media is so willing to distort an innocuous phrase to this extent, and the Romney campaign retreats.

It’s the appearance of spinelessness in the face of the the Postmodern media that moves the Not Mitt Romney crowd. Mitt has got to point out, loudly, this false propaganda mongering more or less daily, and not reprise John McCain’s complacency.

Category: Mitt Romney

I Present To The Instapundit The Following Dilemma: Zeeba, Or Roseanne?

Posted on | February 3, 2012 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

In case you can’t tell them apart, there are no known recordings of Zeeba trashing the National Anthem. But Roseanne Barr is running for POTUS.

Three cheers for democracy and hearing protection.

More at American Glob.

Category: Instapundit

Little Miss Attila Resurfaced

Posted on | February 3, 2012 | 3 Comments

by Smitty

Yay! It sounds like she may not make CPAC, though. Bummer.

Category: Little Miss Attila

I Repeat: The Bible Is Not A Political Tract

Posted on | February 3, 2012 | 22 Comments

by Smitty

“Who can take Alinsky,
mix him up with faith,
make them both sound rancid,
while he runs his POTUS race?

Obama man can,
Obama man can.
Obama man can,
’cause he takes a little Truth
and mixes it with crap
and makes you say: ‘Tastes good!’”

Emphasis mine on the BuzzFeed quote:

“And so when I talk about our financial institutions playing by the same rules as folks on Main Street, when I talk about making sure insurance companies aren’t discriminating against those who are already sick, or making sure that unscrupulous lenders aren’t taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us, I do so because I genuinely believe it will make the economy stronger for everybody. But I also do it because I know that far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years, and I believe in God’s command to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’“

How can we get federal politicians to stop with the hijacking of the Golden Rule?

  • It is offered in the context of inter-personal relationships: the State, as such, didn’t love you, doesn’t love you, and never will love you.

    Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

  • Maybe Obama can articulate why this neighbor love business doesn’t apply during political races. Can SuperPAC money restore the love? The tatters of Newt’s [redacted] suggest: no.
  • How can loving thy neighbor be accomplished by bankrupting his grandchildren? Sure, Buuuuuuuush tax cuts, but how far can that particular line of hooey stretch?
  • If sexual harassment is in the eye of the receiver, at what point do I have the legal standing to say ‘no’ to this line of Presidential affection?

Ultimately, loving individuals is not a federal task. Romney is right not to care about the very poor. Such economic discrimination is not a Presidential task.
And I see I lose the whole internet to Cassandra.
More at Left Coast Rebel.

via Insty

Category: Barack Obama

Very Nicely Played By The Gipper

Posted on | February 3, 2012 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

via Adrienne’s Corner

Category: Republicans

LIVE AT FIVE – 02.03.12

Posted on | February 3, 2012 | 4 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
House Republicans Rip Into Attorney General

Attorney General Holder

Panelists slam Holder for lack of cooperation on “Fast & Furious” probe; some panelists demand resignation as Democrats spin hearings as partisan attacks

Related: Family of slain Border Patrol agent sues government




Police Kill Two As Egyptian Rioting Continues
Second day of soccer riot sees violence spread to Suez

U.S. Fears Iran’s Links To Al Qaeda
Teheran may have provided aid to terrorist group



POLITICS
Surprise: The Donald Endorses Romney

Donald Trump and the Romneys in Vegas

Unpleasant surprise for Gingrich, but how much impact will it have?

Komen CEO Denies Partisanship Involved In Planned Parenthood Defunding



Senate Passes Insider-Trading Ban

Inoculating Against Religious Freedom

Detroit May Avoid State Takeover With Bing’s Union Deal

Obama’s New Jobs Plan For Veterans: Bring Back The CCC

Roseanne Barr Running For Green Party Nomination



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Hovers Above $96 Ahead Of U.S. Jobs Report
PRC Premier Raises Prospect Of Aiding European Rescue After Meeting Chancellor Merkel
Swiss Probe Twelve Banks Over Manipulation Of Interbank Lending Rates
Treasury Proposal Would Widen 401K Options
Greece Seeks Second Rescue, Fights To Stay In Euro
Stocks Stall Ahead Of Jobs Report
Bernanke Says Fed Won’t Tolerate Inflation To Boost Employment
Gold Futures Retreat From 11-Week High
Verisign Admits Multiple Hacks In 2010, Mum On Details
Be Everywhere: Google’s Real Social Strategy
WinPhone 8 Details Reportedly Leak
Puffington Host To Launch Live Streaming This Summer
Nokia Still Leads Global Mobile Market, With Samsung Right Behind
Google Joins Twitter In Support For Local Censorship



SPORTS
Doctor Clears Peyton Manning To Return To NFL

Peyton Manning

Colts still concerned about QB’s health

Josh Hamilton Has A Drink In Dallas Bar

“They Use You Up”: Hall Of Famer Tony Dorsett (Among Others) Suing NFL



Gagner Ties Gretzky’s Record In Oilers’ 8-4 Thumping Of Blackhawks

Nuggets Halt Clippers’ Streak With 112-91 Rout

#7 Duke Beats Virginia Tech 75-60

Nationals Sign Edwin Jackson For One Year, $10 Million

Pakistan Looking For Sweep Of England In Third Test Game; 53 For 7 After First Innings



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Leslie Carter Dead Of Overdose, 25

Leslie Carter, 1986-2012 RIP

Pop singer sister of Aaron and Nick Carter under treatment for depression at the time

Demi Gets Visits From Bruce And Ashton

Beyonce Offered Judge Spot On “X Factor”

Gwen Stefani Discusses Split Rumors


How The Duchess Of Cambridge Is Spending Valentine’s Day While The Duke’s In The Falklands

Brad Pitt Kick-starts His Kids With Coke


Will “Back To The Future” Find Its Way To Broadway?

“Hunger Games” To Get One-Week IMAX Run

No Manscaping For Daniel Radcliffe – Also, Ladies, He Prefers You Without The Wax



FOREIGNERS
UK Defense Secretary Denies Duke’s Tour In Falklands Is Provocation
UNSC Reaches Wobbly Consensus On Syria
NATO Defense Ministers See Afghanistan Combat Beyond 2014
Iran Trying To Hit Israeli Targets In Retaliation For Scientists’ Deaths
Khmer Rouge Chief Jailer Gets Life Sentence
Prokhorov Plans $17 Billion Charity Giveaway If He Beats Putin
164 Dead As Cold Snap Grips Europe
Nork Leader Backs Natural Gas Pipeline To ROK, Russia Says
Aussie PM Gillard Comes Under Pressure



BLOGS & STUFF
Big Journalism: NPR Bitterly Disappointed As Komen Divorces Planned Parenthood
Pat Dollard: Twenty Democrat Senators Demand Komen Reinstate Planned Parenthood Funding
AmSpecBlog: Romney’s Moronic Indulgence Of Trump
Sister Toldjah: Former Congressman Bob Etheridge Running To Replace Perdue; Heath Shuler Retiring From Congress
CatholicVote.Org: Why Does Obama Do what He Does? Jesus Is The Answer!
Lonely Conservative: Obama Only Wants To Tax The Rich Because It’s What Jesus Would Do
PowerLine: Respecting Eric Holder
Weasel Zippers: Carney On Why Obama’s Forcing Catholic Employers To Pay For Contraception: People Of Faith Need Rubbers Too
Allahpundit: Panetta Says We’re Pulling Out Of Afghanistan A Year Early
Ed Morrissey: Rasmussen In Arizona – Romney 48, Gingrich 24, Santorum 13
Mickey Kaus: What Does Obama Do All Day?


SOTD: Wasting Time

Category: Live at Five
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