The Other McCain

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

Is There a Real ‘Elizabeth Reichert’?

Posted on | January 19, 2012 | 19 Comments

CHARLESTON, S.C.
Last night when we left the Pro-Life Presidential Forum in Greenville, the windshields of most of the cars in the parking lot were festooned with pink flyers attacking Rick Santorum and his wife, Karen. This propaganda was attributed to a self-proclaimed pro-life activist who signed herself “Elizabeth Reichert, Parker, S.C.”

As soon as I got online, I Googled the name and the only mention of this person I could find was at Will Folks’s “FITS News” blog.

This, I suggest, is mighty damned suspicious. Remember that Folks is the slimeball who claimed to have had an affair with Gov. Nikki Haley. How was it that Folks got the “news” of this flyer online — the full text of a two-sided flyer — so shortly after the flyers were (anonymously) distributed at this pro-life event?

And who is Elizabeth Reichert? If she was a well-known pro-life activist, don’t you think there would have been some reference to her online beyond the Folks instant transcription of her flyer? But either there is no such person, or else this phenomenally Web-savvy pro-life activist — who managed to search out the cheap smear on Karen Santorum — has left no trace of her existence online.

Strangely enough, Rick Santorum responded to a BuzzFeed reporter’s question about the flyer. But when I saw Santorum’s communications director Hogan Gidley the other day, Hogan refused to comment. So you see how this alleged “Elizabeth Reichert” and her flyer, publicized by the slimeball Will Folks, managed to make the attack on Santorum’s wife a sufficiently legitimate story that the candidate felt the need to respond to it.

Category: Uncategorized

Perry Campaign Post Mortem:
Doomed From the Start

Posted on | January 19, 2012 | 25 Comments

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.
Several years ago I picked up a book called The Black Box: All-New Cockpit Voice Recorder Accounts Of In-flight Accidents, which is a major reason why, whenever I travel by air, I always pray before takeoff.

Because what you will learn from studying air disasters is that takeoff is the most dangerous part of any flight and, in many cases, the people who died were doomed from the time they boarded the plane. An undetected mechanical malfunction or a bungle by the maintenance crew and, from the time that jet rolls away from the gate, there is no hope for anyone aboard that doomed plane. They bought their ticket, and they are going to die.

Which brings us to Rick Perry’s presidential campaign. First the headlines:

Perry quits race, backs Gingrich
— The State (Columbia, S.C.)

Perry’s Speech, Dropping Out, Endorsing Newt
— Ace of Spades

Perry’s Voters May Not Flock to Gingrich
— New York Times

Rick Perry Announces End to His Presidential Bid
— Time

I was there at the Hyatt Park for today’s press conference, along with Dave Weigel of Slate, Byron York of the Washington Examiner, Dan Balz of the Washington Post, Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times, Willie Geist of MSNBC and dozens of other reporters. When Perry said, “I’ve always believed the mission is more important than the man,” I remembered that Perry was an Air Force pilot, and thought about The Black Box, because Perry’s campaign was doomed from the moment it began.

Rick Perry is a good man, and he deserved a better campaign than he got, but his political advisers — Dave Carney and those other guys — had all the wrong ideas, and thus Perry’s “mission” was destined to failure from the outset. Exactly how these men, so widely hailed as shrewd strategists, got so many things so badly wrong is a story that I’m sure will be the subject of many campaign post mortems, like Jennifer Jacobs’s excellent examination of what went wrong with Michele Bachmann’s campaign. But I have neither time nor inclination to offer a full analysis today.

What is important today is to realize that there was never really any hope that Rick Perry could win the presidency. All the hype generated about Perry’s candidacy last summer was mistaken, based on a flawed assumptions about the candidate, about his campaign staff, about the entire strategic conception of the Perry campaign.

It was all wrong, wrong, wrong, from the very beginning, an utter waste of time, money and effort, and everyone involved would have been better off if Perry had never run at all. Instead of asking, “What went wrong?” we should be asking simply, “Why?”

But that question is one that Perry’s most vocal supporters — who loudly and repeatedly proclaimed  their candidate the only viable alternative to Mitt Romney — do not wish to0 contemplate. And so I will simply link my American Spectator report on the Perry press conference, which ought to be the final word on this tragic folly.

It won’t, of course, because the campaign will continue, until it is at least recognized that Perry’s endorsement of Newt “Share Me” Gingrich, like everything else about the Perry campaign, has proved to be a mistake.

And then no one will give me credit for that prediction, either.

Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in South Carolina, Rick Perry, South Carolina

One Of The Best Pages On The Net

Posted on | January 19, 2012 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

The topic of deconstruction came up last night. Deconstruction is to art what Postmodernism is to Philosophy, and Progressivism is to our politics: a nihilistic effort to destroy reason, the Enlightenment, and our Constitution. Hence the record here on the blog that I regularly pump as many metaphorical shotgun shells into the whole zombie effort against Western civilization as I possibly can.

Around 20 years ago and $10 trillion dollars ago, when the threat was less apparent, Chip Morningstar served up a humdinger of an essay:

Randy and I were scheduled to speak on the second day of the conference. This was fortunate because it gave us the opportunity to recalibrate our presentation based on the first day’s proceedings, during which we discovered that we had grossly mischaracterized the audience by assuming that it would be like the crowd from the first conference. I spent most of that first day furiously scribbling notes. People kept saying the most remarkable things using the most remarkable language, which I found I needed to put down in writing because the words would disappear from my brain within seconds if I didn’t. Are you familiar with the experience of having memories of your dreams fade within a few minutes of waking? It was like that, and I think for much the same reason. Dreams have a logic and structure all their own, falling apart into unmemorable pieces that make no sense when subjected to the scrutiny of the conscious mind. So it was with many of the academics who got up to speak. The things they said were largely incomprehensible. There was much talk about deconstruction and signifiers and arguments about whether cyberspace was or was not “narrative”. There was much quotation from Baudrillard, Derrida, Lacan, Lyotard, Saussure, and the like, every single word of which was impenetrable. I’d never before had the experience of being quite this baffled by things other people were saying. I’ve attended lectures on quantum physics, group theory, cardiology, and contract law, all fields about which I know nothing and all of which have their own specialized jargon and notational conventions. None of those lectures were as opaque as anything these academics said. But I captured on my notepad an astonishing collection of phrases and a sense of the overall tone of the event.

We retreated back to Palo Alto that evening for a quick rewrite. The first order of business was to excise various little bits of phraseology that we now realized were likely to be perceived as Politically Incorrect. Mind you, the fundamental thesis of our presentation was Politically Incorrect, but we wanted people to get upset about the actual content rather than the form in which it was presented. Then we set about attempting to add something that would be an adequate response to the postmodern lit crit-speak we had been inundated with that day. Since we had no idea what any of it meant (or even if it actually meant anything at all), I simply cut-and-pasted from my notes. The next day I stood up in front of the room and opened our presentation with the following:

The essential paradigm of cyberspace is creating partially situated identities out of actual or potential social reality in terms of canonical forms of human contact, thus renormalizing the phenomenology of narrative space and requiring the naturalization of the intersubjective cognitive strategy, and thereby resolving the dialectics of metaphorical thoughts, each problematic to the other, collectively redefining and reifying the paradigm of the parable of the model of the metaphor.

After this encounter, Morningstar goes back and tries to puzzle out what, if anything, Deconstruction means. He offers, as an example of the form, “John F. Kennedy was not a homosexual.”

It’s a bit lengthy, but humorous and well worth your time. Read it, and join the fight against these nihilistic zombies.

Category: humor, Progressivism

Fear & Loathing: Breakfast of Champions UPDATE: Rick Santorum Wins Iowa; Perry Will Quit and Endorse Gingrich

Posted on | January 19, 2012 | 40 Comments

The National Affairs Desk at McDonald’s in Greenville, S.C.,
11:10 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2012

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.
My 13-year-old son Jefferson and I got back here at 2:30 a.m, and woke up Ali Akbar, in whose hotel room we’re crashing through Saturday. The topics of discussion were (a) the Republican primary and (b) why Tabitha Hale hates me. But we didn’t talk long, because I was so dead tired that despite a day spent guzzling coffee I soon fell asleep.

Wednesday was one of those days when I wish I’d stuck with that forklift-driving job I had before I got into the news business. We set out early for the scheduled Newt Gingrich press conference in Columbia that didn’t happen.

After blogging about that debacle, we headed back on the road to Rock Hill, where Mitt Romney was scheduled for a 3:15 p.m. rally at Winthrop University. We got there in time, but Mitt was late — it was 3:44 p.m. before they finally introduced the singer who would perform the national anthem. We didn’t stick around to hear Mitt because we were due in Spartanburg for a Rick Santorum town-hall event at 5 p.m.

Do a Google Map search for directions from Rock Hill to Spartanburg and imagine, dear reader, what feats of vehicular prowess were required to drive that route in barely an hour. Somewhere between McConnells and Jonesville, we were just one special-effects stunt away from remaking Smokey and the Bandit.

Alas, there were no open drawbridges to jump. Read more

Category: Election, Fear and Loathing in South Carolina, Shoe Leather Fund, South Carolina

Couple Of Points On The Race Card

Posted on | January 19, 2012 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Da Tech Guy wonders why the race card went unplayed in the case of Herman Cain.
If you flip it over, the Race Card says “Property of the National Socialist Democrat Workers Party”.
Conservatives, therefore, cannot play the card.
If conservatives try to play the card, cast as, say, a ‘hi tech lynching‘, they quickly get shouted down.
If the conservative under attack is rich, he is assumed guilty anyway: calls for, you know, trial by jury, facing accusers, and innocence until proven guilty merely underscore the evil of the rich conservative. Those are Constitutional notions. Besides, as the Central Scrutinizer noted, the Constitution is being modified in order to accomodate the future. Or at least Ezra Klein.

Category: Da Tech Guy, Herman Cain

LIVE AT FIVESEVEN – 01.18.12

Posted on | January 19, 2012 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Lawmakers Withdraw Support Of Anti-Piracy Bills

Home page of minecraft.net yesterday

Online protest strips away Congressional support for SOPA, PIPA

Poll: Majority Of Independent Voters Soured On Obama



Hanford Nuke Site Faces Cleanup Challenges, Delays
Treatment plant for fifty years’ radioactive sludge behind schedule, over budget, and may not work



POLITICS
NBC Poll: Gingrich Closes In On Romney In S.C.

Mitt connecting with S.C. voters

Mitt 37. Newt 30, RON PAUL! 11, Santorum 10

Obama Caves To Greens, Rejects Pipeline; GOP Says They’ll Press The Issue




Former Dane County Exec To Challenge Walker

Jerry Brown’s State Of State Speech Puts Emphasis On Big Projects

House Votes Against Raise in Debt Limit

Is Ron Paul Losing Voters To Stephen Colbert?



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Kodak Files For Chapter 11
European Shares Up On Technicals, Greek Bond Talks
Japan Would Consider Supporting IMF On Europe
Harvard Business Grads Express Doubt Over U.S. Economy
Oil Up On Economic News, Natural Gas Down On Warm Weather
More Sharing Comes To Facebook With New Apps
AT&T’s New Pricing: More Data For More Money
iPhone Wins Back Android Losses
Lightsquared Claims GPS Tests Were Rigged



SPORTS
Billups’ Last-Second 3-Pointer Lifts Clippers Over Mavericks

Billups shoots - he scores!

Last-second shot gives Clippers fourth win in five games

Rangers, Darvish Sign: Six Years, Sixty Million

Knicks In Crisis After Falling To Suns 91-88



Toews Scores Two As Hawks Stomp Sabres 6-2

Nick Young Scores 22 In Second Half As Wizards Stun Thunder 105-102

Ovechkin Nets 19th, Caps Blank Habs

Strauss Dismissal Leaves England Reeling Against Pakistan

Nationals Get Two Early Games On ESPN



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Mark Wahlberg, Cover Boy

Mark Wahlberg

Profiling the two-time Oscar nominee

It’s Official – Angelina Jolie’s Pregnant!

Cindy Crawford’s Daughter Kaia Makes Modeling Debut

Emily Maynard Is The New Bachelorette

Snooki Without Makeup


Moviegoers Complain Silent Movie Has No Dialogue

Ryan Seacrest Launching TV Network With Mark Cuban

Rooney Mara Dating Charlie McDowell

“Wives” Was A Train Wreck



FOREIGNERS
Cruise Ship Search Resumes, 21 Still Missing
Iran Warns Region About “Dangerous” Stance On Hormuz Strait
In Syria, World Inaction Fuels Civil War
Pakistani Court Postpones Gilani Case To Hear Immunity Argument
Egypt’s Military Government Suppresses Revolutionaries (Audio)
Hungary Disagrees With EU Concerns On Judges
Putin Berates Billionaires, U.S. On Campaign Trail
Falklands Oil Could Triple U.K. Reserves



BLOGS & STUFF
WyBlog: Barry’s Going To Disney World!
Dana Loesch: ABC Lands Gingrich Ex-Wife Interview, Civil War Erupts Over Air Date
Pat Dollard: Newt’s Daughters Push Back At ABC Interview
Legal Insurrection: Who Was “Undisciplined” In 1994?
Weasel Zippers: Jimmy Carter – Newt Has That Subtlety Of Racism
AmSpecBlog: The SOPA/PIPA Fight
Atlas Shrugs: Geller Endorses Gingrich
Big Hollywood: Hollywood Moguls Shut Off Cash Spigot Over White House SOPA Stance
Daily Caller: Obama Pollstar Calls Herman Cain Racist On Camera, Then Denies He Did It
Don Surber: Police Charge Occupod With Lynhcing


SOTD: ME262

Category: Live at Five

Obama Forgets

Posted on | January 18, 2012 | 15 Comments

by Smitty

via email:

Dear [American],
In just one week, President Obama will deliver his State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress and the nation.
The President always seems to conveniently forget in his speeches that he has been president for the past three years. We can expect him to refuse to take responsibility for how his big spending policies have contributed to our economic woes. Instead, the President will promote class warfare to gain support for his tax increases and bigger government.
So in advance of the State of the Union speech, Americans for Prosperity is launching “Obama Forgets,” a 7-day effort that will highlight some of the Obama Administration’s worst offenses to the principles of limited government and free market enterprise.
“Obama Forgets” will lead up to President Obama’s State of the Union address, when AFP will host large watch parties throughout the country.

Americans for Prosperity:

President Obama Forgets he signaled a new corruption-free era in Washington. But AFP activists want to remind him of that he wasted taxpayer money on a green jobs scam at Solyndra, gave preferential health care exemptions to his political allies and funded an organization accused of voter fraud.
President Obama’s stimulus package set up a $535 million loan for a solar energy company, Solyndra . The solar energy company not only was facing bad financial prospects, but received heavy investment from one of Obama’s top campaign contributors: George Kaiser. Despite receiving signs the company was about to go under, Obama continued to funnel taxpayer money into the failing business and tried his administration’s ties to the company’s funders.
Health care reform is another area where Obama’s corruption is apparent. The President held closed-door meetings with interest groups like the AFL-CIO and other labor unions. Later, he issued waivers for a unions and unionized companies so they wouldn’t be adversely affected by his new health care law. As a result, companies like AT&T projected higher costs of doing business, while unions got a break. In other words, what’s good for taxpaying Americans isn’t necessarily good for Obama’s political base and he rewarded his friends.
Finally, Obama passed a stimulus spending bill that gave handouts to Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) , an organization repeatedly convicted of voter fraud . Instead of using his power to promote prosperity, Obama is choosing winners and losers in an already corrupted economy.

Just remember, no matter how many bloody noses there are in the primary scrum, anyone on the right is a friend.

Category: Barack Obama

Newt Gingrich Mysteriously Cancels Press Conference at S.C. State Capitol

Posted on | January 18, 2012 | 56 Comments

COLUMBIA, S.C.
This morning’s schedule showed that Newt Gingrich would have an 11:30 a.m. press conference here at the Statehouse, and I drove nearly 100 miles from Charleston to cover it but Newt was a no-show, and no one seems to know why. I’ll add more information as soon as I can find out what happened.

UPDATE: According to the British Guardian newspaper, the press conference was actually held at 10 a.m. But here’s what was on the Politico‘s campaign calendar:

And it wasn’t just me who got misled by this scheduling mixup. Ben Adler of The Nation was there, as were Dave Hogberg of Investors Business Daily, Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times, more than a dozen other reporters and multiple TV camera crews.

While I didn’t get to cover a press conference, I did find time to read the inscriptions on the famous Confederate monument at the Statehouse:

On the north side, it reads:

“This monument perpetuates the memory of those who true to the instincts of their birth, faithful to the teachings of their fathers, constant in their love for the state, died in the performance of their duty: who have glorified a fallen cause by the simple manhood of their lives, the patient endurance of suffering, and the heroism of death, and who, in the dark hours of imprisonment, in the hopelessness of the hospital, in the short, sharp agony of the field, found support and consolation in the belief that at home they would not be forgotten.”

On the south side:

“Let the stranger who may in future times read this inscription recognize that these were men whom power could not corrupt, whom death could not terrify, whom defeat could not dishonor, and let their virtues plead for just judgment of the cause in which they served. Let the South Carolinian of another generation remember that the state taught them how to live and how to die, and that from her broken fortunes she has preserved for her children the priceless treasure of their memories, teaching all who may claim the same birthright that truth, courage and patriotism endure forever.”

Some other reporters, desperate to get something useful from their dry run to the press conference we missed, decided to try the old campaign-coverage trick of interviewing a “typical” local voter:

Perhaps unknown to this camera crew, the man they’re interviewing is the infamous Will Folks, a disgraced Republican political consultant who once claimed to have had an affair with Gov. Nikki Haley.

So much for the “typical” voter, eh?

Category: Election 2012, Newt Gingrich, South Carolina
« go back — keep looking »

    About

    This is an area on your website where you can add text. This will serve as an informative location on your website, where you can talk about your site.

    Subscribe to our feed

    Search

    Admin