The Other McCain

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

‘Turning It Around’ Is 99% Turning It Around, And Only 1% Asking ‘Can We Turn It Around?’

Posted on | January 21, 2012 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

I got people wondering aloud regarding my optimism. The alternatives are simply navigational hazards: important to recognize, but only for the sake of avoidance.

Maybe I’m just stoked from watching Scott Ott lay out the problem clearly and concisely here and here. Progressivism has worked its evil slowly, while no on paid attention. It’s a con job, built on money and fear; the notion that the End Of Washington DC As We Know It means that the sun will not rise tomorrow is malarky. I refuse to live in fear that the money taken from me for the Social Security Ponzi scheme will not be there when it’s my “turn” to pass the economic abuse onto the grandkids.

The people in the hot seat are the presidential candidates, who have to hang ten on a narrow wave of calming the anxieties about the change that must come, while not sounding so squishy and moderate as to sound accepting of the debt servitude facing all of us. Patterson over at PJ Media asks “Can America Turn It Around?“, to which Yoda replies: “Do or do not. There is no ‘try’.”
Patterson ends his first of three installments:

By the end of the 1980s, the American economy was once again the envy of humanity, and the Free World’s existential adversary the Soviet Union was on its knees.
We can say from the example of Ronald Reagan that one person can make a tremendous difference and that economies can turn around, dramatically and for the better. However, two things must be remembered:

  1. Reagan was an exceptional leader, the kind that comes around once a century, if that. He uniquely combined an optimistic temperament with a deep understanding of the defining issue of his day (communism). His policies, both economic and military, were philosophically sound and competently executed.
    It would be an understatement to say that there is no one of such caliber among our political class today — left or right — nor does there appear to be one waiting in the wings.
  2. The American people were a different breed back in 1980. Since that time, three decades of liberal assault on American traditions — in our schools and media — combined with wave after wave of illegal immigration have eroded the common bonds of affection among our citizenry, what Thomas Jefferson referred to as “consanguinity” in the Declaration of Independence.

Can America turn it around? Yes. Does the nation possess the requisite will and unity of purpose that would allow an effective and sagacious leader to make the tough decisions necessary to pull us from the brink?

  1. Communism is a kissing cousin of the Progressive assault on the Enlightenment. It’s not worth a chicken/egg analysis, but the idea that the Commie threat ended with the Reagan administration may be incorrect. Also, there was nothing too magical about Reagan. He was simply an American, and exemplified the kind of common sense to which we should all aspire. Also, we should do a better job of passing common sense onto our children. Don’t bore me with backward looks at Reagan as an excuse for accepting a crappy President in November. Drive your leaders. Let them know what the will of the people is. They only offer screwy slices when teeing off in a vacuum.
  2. The crucial difference between Americans then and now is the internet. Progressivism is predicated upon the notion that people are sheep, that the mob is clay, and that the media can be used to make the mob do stupid human tricks. People may be sheepish, and have claylike properties in mass, but the Progressives absolutely Do Not have enough media control to extinguish American exceptionalism.

One hopes to see the level of peaceful participation in 2010 replicated this year. Let us show up on the Mall with an order of magnitude more people than #OccupyDC, and not cede the ground to a pack of infantile, Progressive hippies. Because turning this situation around is mostly about doing it.

Update: linked at TrogloPundit

Category: Progressivism

Iowa Republican Party Finally Admits That Rick Santorum Won Jan. 3 Caucuses

Posted on | January 21, 2012 | 20 Comments

CHARLESTON, S.C.
Few things in this long and frequently shabby campaign season have been more shabby than the Iowa GOP’s mishandling of the results of their first-in-the-nation caucuses. The state party mistakenly named Mitt Romney the winner on Jan. 3 and, when the final certified tally this week showed that Rick Santorum actually won, Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn refused to acknowledge Santorum’s victory, going on Fox News to claim the result was “inconclusive.”

Finally, late Friday night — after it was too late to make news in Saturday’s newspapers — the Iowa GOP released a brief e-mail statement affirming Santorum’s win. The long delay in this acknowledgement, in combination with the gross irregularities involved in the mistaken count on caucus night and Strawn’s subsequent attempt to discount Santorum’s win, have angered many Republicans in Iowa who feel that the state party leadership has embarrassed them.

Politico has more. There is a Memeorandum thread.

 

Category: Election 2012, Iowa, Rick Santorum

Front Page On The GOP Final Four

Posted on | January 21, 2012 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

It’s a good thing that PJTV is pushing Alan Barton to YouTube:

The Romney income tax question gets a lot of play here. It’s a stretch to believe that an otherwise carefully crafted campaign is, unexpectedly, getting wrecked on the income tax issue.

I highly doubt there is anything surprising in Mitt’s taxes. What is useful to Mitt about this is that it walks back the whole ‘fix is in’ argument, and keeps the rest of the primaries relevant.

What’s worrisome, in the face of the #Occupy movement, is that Romney’s taxes point toward a full year of political class warfare that is both hypocritical on its face, and a vast distraction from the actual issues on which we should focus. Thanks for nothing, #OccupyResoluteDesk.

The actual Everyman candidate is Rick Santorum.

Category: Election 2012, Republicans

Rick Santorum Crashes Blog Bash, Impresses Conservative New Media

Posted on | January 21, 2012 | 8 Comments

Rick Santorum answers questions at Blog Bash party Friday in Charleston, S.C.
At left is Alice Linahan, who arranged his attendance at the event.

CHARLESTON, S.C.
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum made a surprise appearance Friday night at an invitation-only party for conservative New Media, drinking beer, eating pizza and taking questions from bloggers and talk radio hosts.

Santorum answered on-the-record questions from many of the party attendees, including Tony Katz of All Patriots Media, Craig Robinson of TheIowaRepublican.com, Caleb Howe of Red State and Javier Manjarres of the Shark Tank, who asked Santorum about the controversy surrounding an ABC News interview with Newt Gingrich’s ex-wife:

Javier Manjarres: “You being a social conservative, do you think his past personal issues with social conservatives?”
Rick Santorum: “You have to ask social conservatives on that. The national media has been despicable in what they have done to me over the past 15 or 20 years, and what they’re doing to me right now, as you all know. These are lowlifes who dig up everything to try to undercut you and take you off your game and distract away from the real issues we’re dealing with. What you do in your public life and what you do while you’re in public life, to me, is fair game. Some of these things Newt did when he was Speaker and in public life and that, to me, is a fair-game issue. That subject [Gingrich’s divorce] is one thing. Getting into the salacious details is quite a different thing and, to me, out of bounds. “

The party, sponsored by Ali Akbar’s Blog Bash organization, was held at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel that is media headquarters for the Southern Republican Leaadership Conference which is meeting this weekend in Charleston. Santorum’s attendance at the event was arranged by Alice Linahan of Voices Empower.

UPDATE: Santorum’s answers on issues and discussion of his campaign strategy were solid, but what impressed the bloggers in attendance was his accessibility and relaxed demeanor. Few bloggers have had a chance to see Santorum outside of debates and campaign appearances.

Santorum arrived at the party — having been next door in the Fox News temporary studio for an interview with Sean Hannity — with his wife Karen and daughter Sarah, as well as several staffers, volunteers and supporters. Santorum helped himself to pizza, chicken tenders and a Blue Moon Ale. Before he could eat, however, several bloggers insisted on interviewing him.

After answering their questions, Santorum sat down to eat and was joined at his table by pollster Dick Morris, who had also been at the Fox News temporary studio at the Marriott. Several bloggers captured their conversation on camera, and continued asking questions, which Santorum answered. He went back for seconds at the buffet — getting three more slices of pizza and a Sam Adams Boston Lager.

UPDATE II: Bryan Preston of PJ Media has more about Santorum’s appearance at Friday’s blog party. During the event, Santorum was endorsed by conservative voter-integrity activist Anita Montrcrief, who blew the whistle on ACORN.

I’ll try to get more video and photos online after a while.

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

Mitt Romney Needs More Lessons From Chris Christie

Posted on | January 21, 2012 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

The 2012 election is not an episode of Leave it to Beaver:Concluding the rebuttal with “You’re wrong!” is about an order of magnitude below the intensity needed. Let’s leave the Ward Cleaver routine on the sundeck by the pool, shall we? Suggested response:

“This country was founded in Liberty. Do you speak it? You should feel free to get yourself into the 1%, if you choose. And if you cannot, because the government of President 1% Obama has blocked your way, you need to direct your energy into either running for office yourself, and improving the situation, or voting for me, who knows extremely well how to fix the situation. Finger pointing is beneath real Americans.”

via American Power

Category: Mitt Romney

Scott Ott With The Dry Humor

Posted on | January 20, 2012 | Comments Off on Scott Ott With The Dry Humor

by Smitty

If Ott gets any drier, he’s going to wake up British:

Category: humor, PJTV

Two Words In Reply To Stare Decisis On Progressivism, The Second Of Which Is ‘You’

Posted on | January 20, 2012 | 19 Comments

by Smitty

Can we get a spine implant for Orin Kerr (emphasis original)?

I’m also a Burkean conservative stare decisis guy, and I’m acutely aware of the Supreme Court’s long struggle to identify principled and workable limits on the scope of the Commerce Clause. History has shown that it’s surprisingly hard to do that, and that unprincipled or unstable lines don’t last and just destabilize the law for a short window before being rejected. My comfort with the Court striking down the mandate therefore varies considerably based on how the Court could do it. Let’s imagine, hypothetically, that the Supreme Court strikes down the mandate but does not identify any genuinely principled or workable doctrine to justify it. The Court’s decision merely reopens the hornet’s nest of line-drawing problems that the Court has long struggled with in the Commerce Clause setting, with the significant likelihood that in 20 years the Court will abandon its reasoning. In that case, the Burkean conservative part of me would be dismayed by the Court’s decision. Sure, the federalism guy side of me would be happy, but it would be outweighed by my Burkean objections. But if we imagine a hypothetical opinion invalidating the mandate that did identify such a principle, and the principle proves a lasting one, then my Burkean concerns could be addressed and my reaction would be different.

A century ago, the Wilson administration hijacked our Constitution, and effected a slow-motion Article V re-write thereof. These many trillions of dollars of debt later, stare decisis amounts to ‘staring at the deceased’, i.e. our liberty. False ideas are not rendered true by trotting them out gradually, sir.

Step up to the plate, and understand that Amendments 16 & 17, plus the Federal Reserve Act, were the seeds. The New Deal and Great Society fed and watered Leviathan. And now the time has come to ensure that the SCOTUS notes that liberty has been substantially harmed by the last century of “Progress”, and does something more in keeping with the American exceptionalism. This ‘Burkean conservative’ concern trolling is worthy of faux conservative clowns like David Brooks.

That the government can tax me to support, and I cannot sue for emancipation from, this horrid Social Security beast is all we need to know about the fecklessness of stare decisis arguments. I hope that the decision that slays ObamaCare lays the foundation for a restoration of individual liberty.

Update: now a Memeorandum thread.

Category: Health Care, Supreme Court

Banning Traffic Cameras

Posted on | January 20, 2012 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

Insty’s link on Iowa banning traffic cameras leads to a subversive thought serious question: why do we have unmarked police cars? In military terms, the idea of having the authorities pose as civilians is a matter of OPDEC. Going undercover makes sense when, say, infiltrating criminal organizations.

Is that an example of overkill, in the common case of the work commute? Or are traffic tickets really part of the business model for police departments?

When elected Benevolent Dictator for Life, I promise to snuff both traffic cameras and unmarked police cars. Put the police bill right out front and center where it should be.

Category: Uncategorized
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