The Other McCain

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

The Instapundit Likes To Juxtapose

Posted on | December 31, 2011 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

Ebert says movies suck, costing too much and delivering too little. Not unlike the government, for all we wish the government would deliver less at times. Also Chris Dodd is the head buffoon in charge of the MPAA.


I look at this news and see a great opportunity to plug Declaration Entertainment, Bill Whittle’s scheme to rebuild our culture one great flick at a time.

Forget Dodd and his cheesy cottage.

Update: linked at marfdrat.

Category: Instapundit

Perry Campaign’s Amateur Hour

Posted on | December 31, 2011 | 47 Comments

The secret to an effective “oppo dump” is to leave no fingerprints. The campaign trying to push negative information about its rival into the media strives to obscure the origin of the attack.

If the Rick Perry campaign thinks that delivering its opposition research files to Erick Erickson is an effective messaging technique — well, good luck with that. And the fact that the “oppo dump” doesn’t indicate any wrongdoing by the targeted candidate? Hey, if desperation was a cologne fragrance, you’d reek of it.

The overpaid staffers who have run the Perry campaign into the ditch are already preparing their excuses for failure in Iowa:

[S]ome of his advisers have begun laying the groundwork to explain how the Texas governor bombed so dramatically in a race that he seemed to control for a brief period upon entering the race in August.
Their explanations for the nosedive come against the backdrop of a campaign riven by an intense, behind-the-scenes power struggle that took place largely between a group of the governor’s longtime advisers and a new cadre of consultants brought on this fall. In the end, the outsiders won out — and ever since have marginalized Perry’s longtime chief strategist while crafting a new strategy in which the Texan has portrayed himself as a political outsider and culture warrior. . . .
[S]ources close to the campaign depict a dysfunctional operation that might be beyond saving because of what they describe as the political equivalent of malpractice by the previous regime.
“There has never been a more ineptly orchestrated, just unbelievably subpar campaign for President of the United States than this one,” said a senior Perry adviser.

Even Perry supporter Dan Riehl is getting sick of this clumsy campaign. Yesterday, I was talking to people about how a candidate with such a great story to tell — Texas has the best economy in the United States — has done so poorly. People who had called Herman Cain’s campaign the worst-run presidential campaign of the year may owe Mark Block an apology.

Remember when I was the first reporter to raise the question of whether Perry’s back pain was a factor in his poor debate performance? They originally denied this, but two weeks ago, Perry admitted that had been a problem. Earlier this week, I talked to a well-informed conservative who claimed to know — from sources close to the Perry campaign — that the governor had been prescribed Oxycontin for pain, and was subsequently taken off that medication when it became apparent it was affecting him negatively.

If true, that would explain a lot about the candidate. Now the question is, “What’s wrong with his campaign staff?”

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey:

There’s an old saying that success has a thousand fathers, but failure is an orphan. That’s not entirely true; when a big enterprise fails, it usually produces a thousand claims for paternity for someone else. . . .
In order for Perry to regain credibility as a contender, and especially as a Not-Romney who can take on Barack Obama, the collapse of his campaign in October has to be laid at the feet of someone other than Rick Perry.

Indeed: This finger-pointing festival may just be an effort at “strategic communications,” pre-emptive face-saving intended to assure campaign donors (and Perry supporters in South Carolina) that the likely caucus catastrophe on Tuesday isn’t the death knell on his campaign.

And no one now seems to remember who originally dubbed the Perry campaign in Iowa “The Phantom Menace.”

Speaking of being denied the credit I deserve, last night I gave Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard an earful for not mentioning me as an early prophet of the Santorum Surge in a widely-cited item he published this week.

Of course, I don’t blame Hayes personally for the fact that no one important reads a blogger who is Not Good Enough for BlogCon. “A Venn Diagram Might Be Helpful.”

Meanwhile, Dan Riehl has a startling confession: “I guess I’m getting soft in my old age.” Say it ain’t so!

Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in Iowa, Iowa, Rick Perry

You Can View The Uncertainty With Trepidation, Or As An Opportunity

Posted on | December 31, 2011 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

Insty links Sandbrook at the Daily Mail going all doom and gloom. The situation for 2012 recalls the angst of 1932, with thuggish leaders aplenty today to pick up where fascism of old left off. But Proof Positive has a quote that cuts to the chase:

“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves – regret for the past and fear of the future.”
-Fulton Oursler

The Daily Mail article is quite Euro-centric in its gloom. But it seems that is dying today are socialist notions. The Austrian School is winning the argument of history, as power in the hands of the few is turning up little but debt.

The big question for 2012 is whether technology can prevent a repeat of a collapse into fascism, as in 1932, and a vast war. I’ll boldly predict that technology drives the problem the other way. People communicate enough to realize that the social welfare state is the biggest clay-footed idol since Nebuchadnezzar. The tricky question is how you maneuver out from under the idol before it topples and crushes you, i.e. what is the transition plan toward liberty.

Sure, there will continue to be wars. And those wars will seem intense, if you’re the one wearing the gore that used to be someone. But it is not clear how, in the Information Age, anyone can afford or sustain a WWII-style conflict.

This is a very U.S.-centric response to a Europe-centric post. The message is not “Don’t worry, be happy”. Rather, “Don’t worry, be busy”.

Update: linked at Daily Pundit and Obi’s Sister.

Update II: linked at WyBlog.

Category: Instapundit

If This Is Not A Metaphor For What Must Be Done With Our Federal Government, I Don’t Know Of Any

Posted on | December 30, 2011 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

“600 Pound Woman Shuts Down

Her Pay-Per-View Eating Site“

Mr. Creosote could not be reached for comment:

Via Alan Colmes

Category: humor

Newt Throws A Hail Sarah Pass?

Posted on | December 30, 2011 | 41 Comments

by Smitty

CBS News:

Newt Gingrich, plunging in the polls, dropped this bomb Wednesday: he would consider asking Sarah Palin to serve as his number two or in his Cabinet if he became president.
“She is certainly one of the people you would look at,” Gingrich said Wednesday, according to Right Wing Watch, when asked if he would consider tapping the 2008 vice presidential nominee for a second try.
“I am a great admirer of hers and she was a remarkable reform governor of Alaska, she’s somebody who I think brings a great deal to the possibility of helping in government and that would be one of the possibilities,” Gingrich said at Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition.

I mentioned this little blip on the radar to well known Ralph Reed aficionado Stacy McCain, and he suggested it merited a post. The conversation veered into the bizarre notions afloat these days, like the idea that Michele Bachmann was steering clear of Romney attacks in hopes of a VP slot. Stacy suggested that, given the intensity level of Presidential campaigning, the only sane reason to be in it is to win it.

We chuckled a bit at the Virginia primary fracas, clearly off topic for him while focused on Iowa.  Wir mussen einen Treueeid haben* does make some sense, if you take a party-centric view of things. Sure, I’ll sign it, for the opportunity to vote against Mitt Romney, when that vote is not for keeps. Is there a reason for the increasingly Independent nature of voters, though?

One of the major American archetypes is what I call the “Tommy Boy Myth”. Stacy still hasn’t seen the flick, so I cast it in Bluto Blutarsky terms for him. Essentially, we seem to think that we can fanny about until clutch time, pull a NoDoz-driven all-nighter, and ace whatever test comes with the dawn. We love the underdog. We want to root for the Bachmann/Perry/Santorum who are fighting against “the Establishment”. Isn’t that what Sarah Palin campaigned on as Alaska Governor?

The Sarah Palin situation varies the theme considerably. How does she maximize the remaining goodwill the Tea Parties bear her, if at all? Stacy and I both are of the opinion that, given the absence of any sort of campaign staff, the calls for Iowans to caucus for Palin don’t amount to much. No amount of Tommy Boy Myth could get her on the Virginia ballot. More importantly, she the party system is set up to preclude such insurgency, not support it.

Would she be interested in playing second fiddle to a Newt? Who knows? I, for one, think she would give the GOP ticket a much needed adrenalin boost. That’s not how the party sausage is made, but there it is. Furthermore, I do hope that whoever is selected for VP is somebody young enough to run for POTUS after eight years. The situation is dire enough that, while not losing sight of the need to eject #OccupyResoluteDesk in 2012, the need for a longer-term vision to carry past 2020 is clear. Maybe that suggests Paul Ryan for VP.

But for 2012, though, the GOP head shed is hopefully considering how it will harness the Tea Party energy. Sarah would bring it by the barrel.

Update: Memorandum thread. Director Blue is game:

If swear to all that’s holy that I would pay serious money to watch the reactions of the moonbats when President Gingrich and Vice President Palin are sworn in.

I’m not as serious a Gingrich fan; he seems as much an insider as Mitt, without the savvy electoral machine. I imagine Sarah would look that gift horse in the mouth.

Interestingly, the chief Memorandum action is on the left side of the blogosphere, suggesting Sarah has more value as an anti-conservative keyword than for whipping up the right.

*We must have a loyalty oath!

Category: Legal Insurrection, Newt Gingrich, Republicans, Sarah Palin

Missing The Point On Marriage!

Posted on | December 30, 2011 | 29 Comments

by Smitty

I’m sure that Roxanne de Luca can pick up any oversights here, but the social conservative in me can’t help but yell at this post.

We’re talking about marriage, not a game of chess. The conclusion:

Marriage is extremely important for societal stability and survival. But the current legal form of marriage is evil and is not only deleterious to society, but to men, women, and children alike.

Yeah? So? And? What other, less suck-tastic institution would you offer in place? Dare we, you know, return to first principles?  In discussing Life, the Universe, and Everything with any young men where it comes up, I’m always quick to point out what life means, and how marriage has to be supporting that understanding.

If a young man doesn’t know what life means, then running through a marriage ceremony is an exercise in futility, with a side of sex. The surprising thing is that secular writers are surprised when, unexpectedly, rudderless relationships go off course.

Let’s just admit that the Progressives have been as wrong about marriage as they have been about Anthropogenic Global Warming (or whatever the label du jour is), economics, the sanctity of life, overpopulation, energy, you name it. Return to your traditions. Progressivism has (mostly) been a scam.

On this topic, Russell Brand has apparently discovered irreconcilable differences, and is divorcing Katy Perry. Russell, Russell, Russell: don’t do it. Be reconciled. Do not let the celebrity need to live your life on the cover of tabloids blind you to what matters in the bigger picture.

via Instapundit

Update: linked by Catholic Bandita, may God comfort that lady.

Category: Culture, Progressivism

‘Quite a Difference!’

Posted on | December 30, 2011 | 48 Comments

AMES, Iowa
Here at Buffalo Wild Wings near the campus of Iowa State University, the place is packed with media covering the Rick Santorum campaign. I’ll have photos in a few minutes, but first, let me explain that title quote.

On Aug. 11, after the debate before the Ames Straw Poll, I came to this very same restaurant to finish my article for the American Spectator. And when I went out to the parking lot to have a cigarette, I heard laughter coming from the back porch. So I walked around the corner and saw that Rick Santorum and his campaign team — his wife, his kids and a handful of staffers and supporters — were having a post-debate celebration.

There were maybe 20 people there, and they greeted me cordially. I was the only reporter in sight.

Today? You can’t get near the senator today. He is swarmed by media. The C-SPAN bus is parked outside. Carl Cameron is here, as are reporters for every news organization you’d care to name. 

So when I bumped into Santorum’s campaign manager Mike Biundo amid the crowd, I reminded him of that night four months ago.

“Quite a difference,” he said.

Indeed.

UPDATE: Here we see the candidate — wearing his brand-new Iowa State red sweater-vest — surrounded by the media mob:

If you’ll look at the left side of that photo, you’ll see press secretary Matt Benyon (in the white sweater) telling reporters where to go. And here is the senator’s oldest daughter Elizabeth, who remembers the times when I was the only reporter covering her dad:

The senator’s family is, “officially,” off-limits to the press. But they make an exception for the future ambassador to Vanuatu.

UPDATE II: As the senator was leaving the restaurant, the Buffalo Wide waitresses demanded to have their photo taken with the future President of the United States:


One of the other photographers said, “Look at the man with the hat” — making me the focal point for the photo. And here is something you’re never going to see anywhere else:

Rick Santorum poses with Tizzy, a dual champion Treeing Walker Coondog, Tizzy’s owner Jon Hathaway of Des Moines, and the lovely Elizabeth Santorum.

Well, gotta run. There’s another football party tonight, and Jake Braunger — the Santorum campaign’s 24-year-old Iowa field director, who’s been buying me beers today — is about to leave the bar. If Santorum does well next Tuesday, Jake is likely to be deployed to South Carolina, where his duties are sure to include making sure that the future ambassador to Vanuatu gets all the big scoops.

And beers. But mainly the big scoops.

Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in Iowa, Iowa, Rick Santorum

Guess Who’s Gonna Be Watching Hawkeye Football Tonight With Rick Santorum?

Posted on | December 30, 2011 | 12 Comments

Well, me, obviously, but also all my friends in Iowa are invited tonight to the Des Moines suburb of Johnston for the party tonight as the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Oklahoma Sooners: 

8:45pm CT: Senator Santorum will host an Insight Bowl Watch Party in Johnston, IA.
Location: Okoboji Grille
8481 Birchwood Court
Johnston, IA

So if any of my Iowa readers are looking for an opportunity to meet the candidate, watch some football and, most importantly, buy me beers — hey, you know where I’ll be.

Well, at least that’s where I plan to be. Things have become kind of unpredictable in Iowa this week, which is the subject of my American Spectator column today:

DAVENPORT, Iowa — Strange things keep happening in the final days leading up to the Jan. 3 Iowa precinct caucuses. Protesters from the Occupy Wall Street movement are being arrested at the offices of Republican presidential candidates. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann says her former campaign manager was bribed to endorse Texas Rep. Ron Paul. And, perhaps strangest of all, Texas Gov. Rick Perry just released an ad attacking former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
The ad slamming Santorum for using so-called “earmarks” for spending projects during his tenure in Congress is, in some sense, par for the course. Attack ads have flooded the TV and radio airwaves here in the Hawkeye State in the past month, and no GOP candidate has spent more on advertising in Iowa than Perry. What was strange and ironic about this latest ad is that, until this week, none of Santorum’s Republican rivals had thought his campaign important enough to bother attacking. Less than three months ago, Perry was leading the Real Clear Politics average of Iowa polls with 24.7 percent, whereas Santorum was sixth with 4.3 percent. Now, Perry has slipped to fifth place in the RCP Iowa average, behind Santorum, whom two recent polls now show in third place. And so Perry’s campaign is spending money to target a candidate once dismissed as irrelevant. . . .

Please read the whole thing and, if you’re feeling an urge to hit the tip jar — don’t fight the feeling!





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Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in Iowa, Football, Iowa, Rick Santorum
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