The Other McCain

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

Froma Harrop And Procul Harum: Both Progressive Rock, But Only One A Band

Posted on | January 13, 2012 | 34 Comments

by Smitty (via The Conservatory)

Head over to Dan Collin’s place and watch it, since the embed isn’t playing nicely for us. The tone-deafness (if you will) reaches nearly creepy levels.

rdbrewer at AoSHQ has some quoteworthy analysis:

I’m left with questions. 1) Did she not know this was John Oliver from The Daily Show, and was she not aware of the kinds of things that typically happen during Daily Show interviews? 2) Was this a case of intentional hypocrisy on her part for rhetorical gain? Or was she acting out of complete ignorance?
. . .
In fact, she double-downed again, *accusing the Tea Partiers of having difficulty recognizing irony. Oliver clarified, to paraphrase, “You mean, even where there’s almost a dictionary definition of it right in front of them, they don’t get it?” Her response, “Absolutely.”
Well, I can understand where she’s coming from. The possibility her positions were absurdly mutually exclusive must never have occurred to her. After all, high-minded, super-intelligent people never make mistakes.

On is reminded of Nancy Pelosi, when called on the carpet over ObamaCare’s Constitutionality: “Are you serious? Are you serious?” I actually have a dear friend, X,  who is of the Froma/Nancy mold. The last time I spoke to her, her new emotional flail was sexual abuse of children. The problem is real and serious, and I do not sink to minimize it.

What creeps me out about X or a Froma is the matter-of-fact, calmly fanatic certainty with which they will tell you that Tea Partiers are terrorists and the U.S. is turing into a cauldron of sadistic carnal abuse. I told X words to the effect: “It would be interesting to see how you show statistically that humanity is any more depraved now than ever.”

This is the same kind of unquestioning regurgitation that fuels global warming hysteria. I want to agree with rdbrewer at AoSHQ that these are rational people having us on. The alternative that they are soulless zombies in masquerading as humans is terrible. Also, what would you do differently if they were? Ultimately, I move closer to the opinion that people on the Left are not playing with a full deck. To answer my own question then, I’m saying I’m minimizing the amount of time I waste playing cards with these creeps. The more important task is to remove them from positions of power.

Update: linked at Legal Insurrection.

Update II: Welcome, Instapundit readers! Here, enjoy a Beckett reference.

Category: Progressivism

USMC: B(l)ad And Bladder

Posted on | January 13, 2012 | 30 Comments

by Smitty

There isn’t any way to defend the action of the Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. It was all over the NBC news last night. But step back and question the timing:
In what context did this occur? The trial will be interesting, as we may discover that, while not justified, there were motives. Possible examples include a firefight, or intelligence indicating that the targets of the desecration had snuffed some US Marines.
Should we question the timing? Isn’t the U.S. making a major policy shift in Afghanistan right now? Are these Marines being used to:

  1. Control the media cycle about U.S. policy toward Afghanistan.
  2. Offer some anti-U.S. ammunition to Kabul.
  3. Make the probable budget whacking of the Pentagon seem emotionally justified.

How about some kind of balance in the reporting? The desecration of the corpses is wrong, but the reporting might have you thinking that absolutely nothing else happened in Afghanistan but this reprehensible act.

In summary, while not trying to justify these Marines in the slightest, the media is pissing on the U.S. about as much as those Marines pissed on the Taliban. Thanks for nothing, you sad media Murtha-ites.

via American Power

Category: Aghanistan, Military

Founder of the Axis of Fedora

Posted on | January 13, 2012 | 4 Comments

Pete Da Tech Guy is having a post-New Hampshire primary fundraiser.

I’ve already contributed — Pete generously acted as my chauffeur during part of the New Hampshire trip, in addition to all his excellent blogging — and I therefore urge all my readers to do likewise.

Whether it’s $10, $20 or $50, please HIT DA TIP JAR!

Category: Da Tech Guy

Tragedy in Two JPEGs

Posted on | January 13, 2012 | 19 Comments

by Smitty

This has been all over the net. Most recently from Power Line. But it showed up in the Reader along with the following, via iOwnTheWorld:

Update: linked by Surber and Dell.

Category: Abortion

EXCLUSIVE: Sean Bielat Sends Fundraising E-Mail for 2012 Campaign

Posted on | January 13, 2012 | 13 Comments

Sean Bielat, the Marine veteran who mounted a surprisingly strong Republican challenge to Barney Frank in the 2010 mid-term election, has sent a fundraising e-mail to his supporters, seeking contributions for his planned 2012 campaign for the Massachusetts 4th District seat.

In the e-mail, obtained exclusively by The Other McCain, Bielat seeks donations in the amount of $17 for his campaign, which he plans to announce officially Tuesday, Jan. 17.

Bielat’s likely Democrat opponent for the newly redistricted MA-4 seat will be Joseph Kennedy III.

“The Massachusetts Democrats are desperate to reclaim Barney Frank’s district and re-brand it as yet another ‘Kennedy Seat,'” Bielat wrote in the e-mail. “We can’t let this happen! Putting someone into office simply because of his family is bad for Massachusetts, and it’s bad for the nation.”

Strong online fundraising helped turn Bielat’s 2010 campaign against Frank into a race that garnered nationwide attention. After MA-4 was re-districted to include more Republican voters, Frank announced he would retire rather than seek re-election, a decision many attributed to the expectation that Bielat would once against run for the seat.

* * FULL TEXT OF BIELAT E-MAIL * *

January 12, 2012

Dear —-,
In 2010, I made it my goal to retire Barney Frank. With the help of thousands of people in Massachusetts and across the country, against all odds, we ran a highly competitive campaign against a 16 term incumbent in a gerrymandered district designed to protect him. We gave Barney Frank quite a scare and many pundits have suggested that our efforts played a significant role in his recent retirement announcement. While we fell a bit short on Election Day, we built a network of people who cared enough about tomorrow to get involved today.
2010 was also an amazing year for me personally. My wife Hope and I were blessed with our first child, Theodore. In 2011, were blessed once again, with the birth of our daughter, Seraphina. As all parents know, having a child changes your view of the world and gives you a new sense of purpose. Suddenly, changing this country’s course to build an America with even more promise became less of an abstraction.
Many people have asked if would consider another run for Congress. Running for office isn’t a decision to be taken lightly, and Hope and I weighed the pros and cons of another run. After much consideration, it all came down to this–We looked into our kids’ eyes and asked ourselves:
“What can we do to provide the best possible future for our children?”
The answer was clear. Simply resting on past accomplishments, and patting ourselves on the back for whatever role we played in Barney Frank’s decision to retire, wouldn’t be enough. In order to create the right future for our kids and our country, we must continue to work. For this reason, I’m happy to say that I will be a candidate for Congress once again in 2012.
Recently I sent a tweet regarding my plans for 2012.
@SeanBielat I have made a decision re: another run for Congress. Save the date: January 17th. #tcot #mapoli #MA04

This simple tweet appears to have helped launch a campaign…not mine, mind you, but that of Joe Kennedy III, the grandson of Robert Kennedy and son of Citizens Energy Director Joe Kennedy II. The Massachusetts Democrats are desperate to reclaim Barney Frank’s district and re-brand it as yet another “Kennedy Seat”. We can’t let this happen! Putting someone into office simply because of his family is bad for Massachusetts, and it’s bad for the nation. Sending more people to Washington spouting the same tired rhetoric is perhaps worse.
Wasn’t 30 years of Barney Frank enough? Wasn’t 64 consecutive years of Kennedys in Congress enough? Now Democratic Party insiders think that they can replace Barney with yet another Kennedy, a young man who has never lived in the district, but has a famous last name, to secure a seat for another several decades.
That’s why I need your immediate support. My formal announcement is on January 17th, but we are at work already. My goal is to raise $25,000 by the time I announce–that gives us just over 4 days.
Please consider donating $17 to commemorate January 17th, the date we officially begin the effort to elect a new voice for Massachusetts. The Kennedy family will be able to raise huge amounts of money without difficulty; however, ours is a grassroots campaign and we will only win with your help. Please contribute if you’re able to.
The people of Massachusetts deserve better. The country deserves better. Our kids deserve better. We need to stop the runaway progressive train and put America back on the right track. Your donation will go a long way toward restoring jobs, preserving our liberty and security, and bringing about some “change” that actually makes sense. It’s time to restore America’s greatness. Can you help us? Donate today!
Thanks for taking the time to read this note and thanks for being willing to get involved in shaping this country’s future!

Sincerely,
Sean Bielat
Candidate for US Congress
Massachusetts-District 4

p.s. In 2010, we showed that we could take on an entrenched incumbent like Barney Frank. Now the 4th District is much more competitive due to redistricting, and since it’s an open seat, we have an excellent chance of winning…but only if we get the support we need.

Sean Bielat (R-MA) is a US Marine, a successful businessman and a proud father. To donate now, visit SeanBielat.org. Please also follow his tweets and posts on Twitter and Facebook and share his updates across your online networks..

Category: Election 2012, Massachusetts, Sean Bielat

Campaign-Induced Tourette’s Syndrome

Posted on | January 13, 2012 | 34 Comments

‘The Phantom Menace’ in Des Moines, Iowa, Aug. 9, 2011

“Perry’s decision to make his announcement in South Carolina was widely viewed at the time as a genius move that would lock down his support in a crucial early primary state, and once he emerged as the most viable conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, Perry would have no trouble making up whatever he’d lost in Iowa by dissing Ames.
“Such was the conventional wisdom in August . . .”
— Robert Stacy McCain, Oct. 17, 2011

“There could be some populist cred for Perry if big donors tied to Wall Street start leaving him, but that’s a big trade-off for the funding Perry desperately needs in South Carolina. If he can’t put ads on the air and compete with Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich, then Perry won’t go anywhere in his last-gasp effort to stay in the race. He’s already at the bottom of the pack in the latest Insider Advantage poll, at 5%. Even Jon Huntsman scores better than Perry in South Carolina, at 7%.”
— Ed Morrissey, Jan. 12, 2012

“Oops he did it again. When asked to name and provide the number of federal departments he’d eliminate as president, Texas Gov. Rick Perry managed to list three, but they weren’t the three agencies he consistently names on the stump or that he attempted to name when he committed his now infamous ‘oops’ moment.”
— ABC News, Jan. 13, 2012

“Mitt Romney still holds first place in the South Carolina Primary field, while his opponents jockey for second with the voting eight days away.”
— Rasmussen Reports, Jan. 13, 2012

While I was in New Hampshire, I occasionally startled my hosts with outbursts of profanity, cussing my way toward deadline. It’s my theory that unless you thoroughly cuss out your computer once in a while, the damned things become arrogant. So I’d be sitting there in Mike Rogers’s kitchen, frustrated by the effort of trying to upload a video, and suddenly erupt in a fit of vulgar shouting at my laptop.

But it’s not just the computer that’s testing my patience these days. It’s also the campaign itself. Because I see a widespread confusion prevailing among conservatives that has been generated by the same bandwagon-jumpers who, in August, kept telling us that the Mighty Rick Perry Juggernaut was going to roll all the way to Tampa and then on to the White House.

The Perry myth — “Howdy, Thank You, Erick“ — has gone through several permutations in the months since Perry’s debate disasters torpedoed his poll numbers. But the myth has enjoyed a zombie afterlife in the form of a phrase that the Perrybots made ubiquitous back in the heyday of the Smilin’ Texan’s frontrunner glory:

“A Vote for [Blank] Is a Vote for Romney”

You could fill in the blank with any name — Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, whoever — and it didn’t matter to the stooges and shills who were riding aboard the Mighty Rick Perry Juggernaut. Their peculiar variation on the Bandwagon Fallacy involved not merely the hyping of Perry as The Only Man Who Could Beat Romney™, but also the orchestrated derogation of any other “Not Romney” candidate.

Ergo, supporters of all other Republicans were dismissed as hopelessly naive: “Don’t you know that a vote for [your candidate] is a vote for Romney?” Read more

Category: Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, South Carolina

Maggie Mac Moves Mouth,
Mad Monsoon Materializes

Posted on | January 13, 2012 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

Meghan McCain, the daughter of Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain, often refers to herself as a Republican, but rarely as a “conservative.” And on Wednesday night’s broadcast of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” she suggested former President Ronald Reagan would fall in line with her — especially on the issue of same-sex marriage.

See, Maggie, the debt just blew by the GDP, and #OccupyResoluteDesk is trying to panhandle another $1.2 trillion.

Now, Maggie, you might, at a high level of abstraction, you might call what the President has done to the Constitution, the economy, and our culture as a form of sodomy.

But it’s substantially the case that most are worried about. . .federal government, not feral gay problems. Less, not more, sexuality in politics, please.

via Fire Jim Moran

Category: Meghan McCain

Half A Million $ Back To The Treasury?

Posted on | January 13, 2012 | 23 Comments

by Smitty

Who is this Rand Paul guy, and why is he violating the Iron Law of Bureaucracy?

The half million dollars represents about 16 percent of Paul’s annual budget. He contended no senator had returned as much to taxpayers, though at least two senators disputed that claim. An aide to Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said his office returned $636,036 in unspent money to the Treasury in Fiscal Year 2010 and another $503,161 in 2011.

Somebody tell Paul that Progress sucks, as in moving budgets in the vertical direction.

via Bluegrass Pundit

Category: Rand Paul
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