LIVE AT FIVEEIGHT – 12.21.11

One of the hardest things about blogging is maintaining morale during times of discouragement. And so I’m grateful to the readers who responded to last night’s emergency request for contributions to the Shoe Leather Fund for my rapidly approaching Iowa trip: Jeff in Walla Walla, Richard in North Hollywood, and Glen in Dubai — yes, I said Dubai.

There were other bits of encouragement: Mike Rogers at Granite Grok promoted my fundraiser, and used some “points” to arrange for me to have a nice hotel room near Des Moines for Jan. 2 and 3. So that’s two days of the eight-day trip coverage, and Dan Collins’ Romanian friend in Cedar Rapids (who will unfortunately be out of town when I arrive Dec. 26) will nonetheless permit me use of his home during his absence. That covers another day or two, and so we approach the minimum feasibility horizon.

I’ve already paid for my airfare to Cedar Rapids, as well as the Jan. 5 flight from Des Moines to Boston to cover the New Hampshire primary, so that’s covered. It’s the first few days of the Iowa trip that have me worried right now. Because it takes three or four business days for PayPal transfers to clear the bank, and because the banks will take a long holiday weekend, unless you hit the tip jar in the next 24 hours — by midnight Wednesday — there’s no way I’ll have that money available to rent a car or pay other expenses when I land in Cedar Rapids the day after Christmas.

Online fundraising during the holiday season is, of course, a difficult prospect. Blog traffic slumps this time of year and people understandably are busy shopping, but if any reader is feeling the urge to kick in $10 or $20 right now — hey, don’t fight the feeling!

UPDATE: Now, speaking of discouragement, I feel bad about this story from Politico:

Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats called Michele Bachmann and urged her to drop out of the race and endorse Rick Santorum, a source with knowledge of the conversation told POLITICO Tuesday . . .
Bachmann declined, the source said, noting to Vander Plaats that she has consistently polled ahead of Santorum in the race and still does. . . .

This was ill-advised on Vander Plaats’s part, especially because it gives Allahpundit an excuse to crap all over Rick Santorum by way of sneaking in another “second look at Perry” twist.

Of course, Vander Plaats shouldn’t have been telling Bachmann to quit. I’ve met Bachmann, I like Bachmann, and I expect to cover Bachmann when I get to Iowa. But she got her “Flavor of the Month” moment in June and couldn’t push it past 14 percent nationally, whereas Rick Santorum never got that shot, and I’m naturally partial to the longest longshot, the lowest underdog in the race. (Which is where Herman Cain was when I jumped aboard the Cain Train a year ago.)

Furthermore — and this is something a lot of Sarah Palin fans saw at the time — much of the media hype that Bachmann got in June was driven by the hope of liberals that, if Bachmann did well, her success would discourage Palin from entering the race and fighting Bachmann for the “Tea Party woman” vote.

Allahpundit is being completely bogus in trying to spin this Vander Plaats thing against Santorum, initially seeming to do so in favor of Bachmann, while ultimately using it to plug Perry:

How come Vander Plaats didn’t ask Bachmann to drop out and endorse Perry instead? Like I say, it makes perfect sense for social conservatives to want to unite behind a champion; what doesn’t make sense is uniting behind Santorum instead of a guy with loads of executive experience and a dynamite jobs record to throw in Obama’s face. Perry’s also much likelier to parlay an Iowa upset into a sustained campaign against Romney than Santorum is, I think.

Bachmann endorse Perry? Oh, hell, no. It was Perry’s bigfoot entry into the race that deprived Bachmann of the bump she would otherwise have gotten from her Ames straw poll win. The candidates who had spent weeks campaigning in Iowa prior to Aug. 13 are united in despising Perry’s campaign for that South Carolina publicity stunt.

Santorum’s surprisingly strong fourth-place finish at Ames was another story that got buried in the Perry hype. Despite the fact that he and Bachmann are both competing for the same social-conservative votes in Iowa, Santorum has always spoken well of Bachmann. A lot of Bachmann voters have Santorum as their second choice, and vice-versa. With the way the caucuses work, there will be some voters who go in Jan. 3 planning to vote for one of them who end up voting for the other.

And as for Allahpundit’s praise of Perry’s record, I agree wholeheartedly with Bachmann: Using government to force injections on “innocent little 12-year-old girls” isn’t my idea of “dynamite.”

UPDATE II: More encouragement: Dan Collins links at the Conservatory, and Kathy in Longmont hit the tip jar for $5.

UPDATE III: There’s more encouragement, but in the interest of balance, some more discouragement: Instapundit is hyping the Perrybot blog bandwagon.

Has Insty linked anybody’s endorsement of Rick Santorum? I don’t think so. And why not? Because Insty hates Rick Santorum with that special kind of hate that the vast majority of the conservative blogosphere reserves for Santorum.

What’s that all about? Santorum is a social conservative, and everybody seems to have convinced themselves that social conservatives are a dead weight impeding the Republican Party and therefore no one should ever express support for any social conservative anywhere, under any circumstance.

OK, if you feel that way, fine. It’s a free country, but hasn’t Rick Perry also been rather desperately trying to convince Iowa Republicans that he, too, is just as much a social conservative as Rick Santorum? Wasn’t that the whole point of this TV ad?

Perry deliberately contrasts “gays in the military” vs. “prayer in school” — a rather obvious play for the social conservative vote, don’t you agree? And yet Santorum isn’t acceptable because he’s a social conservative?

Perry is acceptable because, I suppose, the bloggers endorsing him figure he’s just engaged in insincere hypocritical pandering: Perry doesn’t really mean this stuff, so it’s OK to support him. Perry’s not going to lift a damn finger to actually implement any kind of social-conservative policy, he’s just talking up this stuff to fool those hicks in Iowa.

Also, as any Perry supporter will tell you, mandatory Gardasil injections are cool! All the kids in Texas, they love them some Gardasil.

UPDATE IV: Further encouragement in the form of tip-jar hits from Jeanne in Drexel Hills, Mark in Horsham, Lisa in Kentucky, Ross in Lakeland, and from our libertarian friend Tom Knapp, whom I suppose will expect me to get some good Ron Paul coverage while I’m in Iowa.

Actually, covering the Ron Paul campaign is easy because whenever there’s an event, the Paulistas are all around the place waving signs. A lot of the major media types covering the GOP campaign tend to ignore the Paulistas, mainly because the sign-waving hordes are such a commonplace feature of every event but also because — until quite recently — nobody thought the Paulistas would actually have an impact on the outcome.

Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in Iowa, Iowa, Shoe Leather Fund

Meghan McCain: I Look At Callista Gingrich, And All I Hear Is Foreigner

Posted on | December 20, 2011 | 38 Comments

by Smitty

Wake up Maggy, I think I’ve got something to say to you:Per the HuffPo:

Meghan McCain argued on MSNBC Tuesday that Callista Gingrich is doing damage to her husband’s presidential primary campaign because she is “a mistress,” has an “icy” personality. . .

Is she as cold as ice? Willing to sacrifice your endorsement? Does Callista never take your advice? Is she someday going to pay the price, you know?

Hate to break it to you Maggie, but the amount of difference your immediate family history made in 2008 fits between these two pipe characters: ||.
Do political spouses add anything at campaign time? They certainly have to support the campaign and the candidate, or the whole effort is pissing in the wind. But the spouse, not being the name on the ticket, only has a smallish impact.

Let’s see: the country is in an economic and Constitutional crisis. The world, too. After the four years of #OccupyResoluteDesk have run their course, we’ll be jonesin’ for somebody capable of leading two nuns in one minute of silent prayer. Also, the country.

Given that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Meghan, can we see your purity scorecard for figuring out what’s what? Newt’s had his wives, and Ron Paul his newsletters. Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Santorum, and Huntsman have, so far as we know, relatively skeleton-free closets. Whoopee. What matters is their ability to grasp the current geo-political situation, formulate ideas, and lead the country in better directions. Their past peccadilloes, a dead horse long since flogged to glue, while not completely irrelevant, are mostly tangential.

In better news, the advent of Chelsea Clinton into the media realm means you are are not the newest knob on the control panel, Meghan. So ya got that goin’ for ya.

Update: more from Don Surber.

Category: Meghan McCain, Newt Gingrich

Because I’m Feeling Kinda Bad About Giving Ace of Spades Such a Hard Time …

Posted on | December 20, 2011 | 14 Comments

. . . I guess it’s time to “pay tribute” by stealing more of his blog content. Like this psychological profile of Occupiers:

[M]any of the rank-and-file occupiers feel isolated in their lives, and appear to lack basic community ties such as are provided by participation in clubs, churches, and strong families…. They thus attach to their political causes with something like a religious fervor. For many, a commitment to “social justice” is “not the end, but rather a means to an inflated sense of self and purpose in their own lives.” Crucially, involvement with others who agree with them provides an “overwhelming feeling of being part of a family.” . . .
[T]he leadership, is less existentially lost, and derives its fulfillment from the “prestige,” “validation,” and “control” afforded by the movement’s coverage in the media. . . . Its members fill the ranks of the professional Left and boast long histories of attending and organizing protests. For them, indignation is quotidian, “community action” is a career, and they feel “validated by the fame and attention” and “rewarded for their life choices.” . . . There is nothing spontaneous or organic about the movements they lead. They are waiting for the revolution and hope to be in its vanguard. Their careers depend upon it.

It’s tragic, isn’t it? When people turn to politics as “a means to an inflated sense of self and purpose in their own lives,” they often lose perspective to such a degree that they do hateful and atrocious things.

Like, for example, endorsing Rick Perry.

The looming crisis in Iowa, with the Fate of the Free World (not to mention my future diplomatic career as ambassador to Vanuatu) depending entirely on the success of underdog Rick Santorum, has strained my nerves to the breaking point.

So when I lashed out at Ace for his endorsement of Rick Perry, you’ve got to view this as an emotional reaction to campaign-induced stress. And also because anybody who endorses Perry is either dishonest or naive, or quite possibly retarded by the Gardasil vaccine.

Nothing personal, you understand. I mean, just because Ace hates “innocent little 12-year-old girls” . . . But I hate to talk about “the incestuous state of conservative opinion online,” when the easy way out is to blame Ladd Ehlinger Jr. for stirring up trouble again.

Because I’m magnanimous like that.

Category: #Occupy, Ace of Spades

News Flash: Democrats Lie (and Have Conniptions When They Get Caught)

Posted on | December 20, 2011 | 5 Comments

Four days after House Republicans voted to approve Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan, “the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released a Web ad that said seniors will have to pay $12,500 more for health care ‘because Republicans voted to end Medicare,’ ” the non-partisan Web site PolitiFact says, declaring this the 2011 “Lie of the Year.”

You can go to Memeorandum and see the hysterical reaction this has gotten from liberals: Steve Benen of Washington Monthly, Paul Krugman and Matthew Yglesias are among those denouncing PolitiFact.

Why the vehemence?

Because without lies, Democrats could never get elected. And they’ve become accustomed to getting a pass from the media on their lies, so that anyone who calls them on their constant, routine and habitual lying must be destroyed as an existential threat to the Democratic Party.

UPDATE: Dana Loesch points out another liberal lie:

The deep racism at the heart of conservative food stamp critiques offers at least one clue as to why the Obama administration has been unable or unwilling to champion SNAP as a valuable recession antidote: as the nation’s first African-American president, Obama is vulnerable to racist innuendo, which his opponents are only too happy to exploit.

If you don’t vote Democrat, you’re a racist.

Category: Democrats, Liberals

BREAKING: Rick Santorum Gets Endorsement by Key Iowa Social Conservative Leader Bob Vander Plaats UPDATE: In Interview, Santorum Says Endorsement ‘Sends a Strong Signal’

Posted on | December 20, 2011 | 14 Comments

Two words? FREAKING HUGE!

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Two weeks before the Republican nominating contest opens at the Iowa caucuses, former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania has won a highly-coveted endorsement from one of the state’s social conservative leaders.
Bob Vander Plaats, who has sought to put his imprint on the Republican presidential race for months, announced Tuesday that he would support Mr. Santorum. He and other evangelical Christians have talked openly about their struggle to unite behind one candidate, but he urged others to follow his lead. . . .
The Family Leader said Tuesday that it would remain neutral in the race, a decision that was reached after several lengthy meetings with members of the board, according to Republicans familiar with the discussions. But in the end, participants said, Mr. Vander Plaats decided to make a personal endorsement.

UPDATE: Another social conservative leader, Chuck Hurley, joined Vander Plaats in endorsing Santorum, Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register reports:

Santorum was munching on a cinnamon roll after a campaign stop in Pella when he found out about Vander Plaats’ endorsement.
“There’s a lot of good people out here running, and I’m sure it was a tough decision, I think it shows that we’re the candidate right now that has the momentum that has the message that’s resonating to the people of Iowa,” Santorum said.Vander Plaats and Hurley are “probably catching that. And they see this as the campaign that’s going to be the conservative alternative.”
Santorum had heard rumors that the Family Leader was going to endorse Rick Perry. Then he’d heard this morning that the group wasn’t endorsing anybody.
“Nothing was better than Perry,” he said of the non-endorsement by the group. “Now this is better than nothing — a lot better than nothing,” he said of Vander Plaats’ and Hurley’s endorsement.

Still waiting for a Santorum campaign press release, and hope to speak to either the candidate or his staff soon.

UPDATE II: Rick Santorum was near Ottumwa, driving from Pella to Mount Pleasant, when I reached him just now for a brief telephone interview.

“It’s important,” Santorum said of the endorsements by Vander Plaats and Hurley. “It sends a strong signal to social conservatives . . . who are coalescing behind our campaign.”

Santorum noted that his campaign has also recently picked up endorsements by other Iowa conservatives, including evangelical ministers like Pastor Cary Gordon and Rev. Terry Amman. Many social conservatives had “waited and waited” before making official endorsements, Santorum said, because they wanted to see how the Republican contest would shape up.

The recent flurry of Iowa endorsements for his candidacy, Santorum said, was evidence that “we’re picking up momentum” in the final two weeks before the Jan. 3 caucuses.

Santorum started today with a 7:45 a.m. appearance on “Fox and Friends,” followed by a 9 a.m. event in Pella that drew about “60 to 70 people” and he was en route to Mount Pleasant for a 12:30 p.m. “Faith, Family and Freedom” town hall event. He has held nearly 350 town halls in Iowa this year and visited all 99 counties.

After a 4 p.m. appearance at a health-care forum in Davenport, Santorum will end today at a 6 p.m. fundraiser in Bettendorf for 2nd District Republican congressional candidate John Archer. It is rumored that Santorum’s GOP rival Michele Bachmann will also attend the Archer fundraiser.

UPDATE III: Now a Memeorandum thread, and Ed Morrissey concludes his Iowa war-gaming with a mention that Santorum will be his podcast guest today at 3 p.m. ET.

UPDATE IV: Politico‘s Reid Epstein reports:

Vander Plaats provides the former Pennsylvania senator with one of the most sought after imprimaturs for these voters.
“I believe Rick Santorum comes from us,” Vander Plaats told reporters at a press conference in a hotel lobby here. “Not to us. He comes from us. He is one of us.” . . .
Santorum also won the endorsement of Chuck Hurley, the president of the Iowa Family Policy Center. . . .
Santorum, Hurley said, “meets and exceeds the biblical qualifications” for Iowa evangelicals.

UPDATE V: Press release from the Santorum campaign:

IOWA FAMiLY LEADER PRESIDENT AND CEO
BOB VANDER PLAATS AND PRESIDENT OF
IOWA FAMILY POLICY CENTER CHUCK HURLEY
ENDORSE SANTORUM FOR PRESIDENT

Influential Iowa Conservatives Join The Fight

Urbandale, IA – Today, two major endorsements were awarded to the Santorum for President campaign. Bob Vander Plaats is the President and CEO of the Iowa FAMiLY Leader and Chuck Hurley is the President of the Iowa Family Policy Center – and both are influential pro-traditional values leaders in Iowa.
Rick Santorum said: “I am truly honored to receive the Bob and Chuck’s endorsement today. I’ve had the great pleasure of getting to know them over the past several years. In fact, we campaigned together throughout 2010 as they successfully worked tothrow out activist judges who redefined marriage in the Hawkeye State. Their reach and influence covers all corners of Iowa, and I know they did not take this endorsement lightly. This means so much more to our campaign. If their work on behalf of Governor Huckabee four years ago is any indication, I have no doubt they will be a terrific catalyst for our campaign as we continue building momentum in Iowa. Now is the time for conservatives to unite so we can defeat Barack Obama.”
Hogan Gidley, National Communications Director said, “Conservatives are starting to recognize that Rick is the viable consistent conservative alternative to moderates like Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Rick offers a clear contrast to Barack Obama on important issues like healthcare, individual mandates and TARP. This endorsement like previous endorsements are clear indicators that Rick’s record of conservative victories are attracting those who want to beat this President and his radical liberal agenda.
The FAMiLY Leader has emerged as one of the nation’s most influential pro-family organizations. In 2010, Rick Santorum was the only Republican Presidential contender to join the FAMilY Leader in their statewide campaign to oust Iowa Supreme Court justices who redefined marriage in Iowa. The FAMiLY Leader has also been active in the 2012 presidentialcampaign, hosting a presidential forum in November 2011 where six of the leading Republican presidential candidates attended.
Rick Santorum has been a stalwart defender of the traditional family for two decades. Santorum is the author of the law that bannedpartial birth abortions, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and the Born Alive Infant Protection Act to defend the unborn. Santorum was the principal proponent of the Federal Marriage Amendment, forcing the only vote ever cast on the Amendment. Rick Santorum was also the author of the Combating Autism Act to assist special-needs children afflicted with autism, the National Fatherhood Initiative, and the landmark 1996 Welfare Reform legislation that has helped millions of American families rise out of poverty. In 2005, Santorum authored the New York Times Best-Selling book, “It Takes A Family.” Rick and his wife Karen are the proud homeschool parents of 7 children.

Category: Election 2012, Iowa, Rick Santorum

‘So Critical’

Posted on | December 20, 2011 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Mitt Romney has a blog post up that sounds real swell. I wouldn’t damn this notion with anything but faint praise:

The first step in returning to an Opportunity Society is scaling back our vast federal government. I will put every single government program to a simple test: Is this program so critical to our nation’s future that we should borrow money from China to pay for it?

Read Romney’s entire focus-group approved message.

Mitt sounds like he’s unwilling to admit that the Progressive penetration, however slight, has sodomized the Constitutional order. What is required is a straightforward Enumerated Powers check against the Federal government, and then a transition plan to unwind the substantial over-reach that has accumulated.

Governor Romeny, this ‘so critical’ test is piffle. Where DC has over-reached in the last century, the correct remedy would be to amend the Constitution to legitimize the over-reach. Am I making this up? Check out the million-plus hits on emergency extension of unemployment benefits. How many acute, critical extensions of unemployment benefits do we need before we have the integrity to admit that this is a chronic, status quo, business-as-usual situation?

May I double down, please? ‘So Critical’ is precisely the sort of code phrase that targets two audiences. It sounds reassuring to the proles, delivered in those practiced tones, and gives them something to vote for. It also re-assures that bureaucrats that, within those deep down devilish details, there Will Be No substantial reform. Business as flipping usual, boys. The subtext of the campaign is that if bureaucrats want to keep their gravy train going, they had better subvert the GOP primaries and make sure Mitt wins. Or Newt, who is also likely to be ‘reliable’, IYKWIMAITYD.

Is anybody curious why Ron Paul has such traction? Is it really a phalanx of over-caffeinated supporters running about? Or maybe, just maybe, does the notion of going after the Federal over-reach with hammer and tongs actually have some appeal?

Jonah Golberg wants to, but seems closer to Romney:

Paul routinely says that he’s the only candidate who promises real change. For instance, he proposes cutting $1 trillion from the budget in the first year of his presidency. Now, show of hands: Who thinks Ron Paul could get those kinds of cuts through Congress?

It’s like all of the debates and discussion are just “Whacky stuff candidates say to get elected.” I mean, we’re not here to reform anything; we’re here to talk about reform as though it was something we genuinely meant, right? I would argue that cutting $1 trillion would require three things:

President Paul does not get ventilated for trying.
President Paul goes all Thermopylae, fighting off the Bureaucratic Hordes of Xerxes with his +5 Vorpal Pen of Veto.
Most importantly, the people would have to back him up. The transition would not be pleasant. Neither is getting sober. But we really can’t all be Vodka Pundit. Some of us have to work at it.

Thus, I’d contend that Ron Paul and Mitt Romney are the bookends of the GOP field. Notwithstanding the foreign policy, I think Ron Paul is spot on with the bulk of what he says. The unworkable foreign policy is almost a feature: it allows him to advocate domestic policy sense and drive the GOP in a necessary way, while ensuring that nobody with a realistic view of foreign policy is going to vote for him.

Finishing off with the faintest possible praise, Mitt’s ‘so critical’ test is slightly better than nothing. Which is about where I am on the United Nations, as well. See if you can borrow some sack, Mitt, and offer a substantial way forward, eh?

Of the rest of the field, Bachmann, Perry, and Santorum seem like the candidates who pick up the most of Paul’s sense, while keeping the foreign policy sensible.

via Orit Sklar on Twitter

Category: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul

Vice President Condi Rice?

Posted on | December 20, 2011 | 30 Comments

by Smitty

The Washington Times:

America’s first black female secretary of state is quietly positioning herself to be the top choice of the eventual Republican presidential nominee, ready to deliver bona fide foreign-policy credentials lacking among the candidates. The 56-year-old has recently raised her profile, releasing her memoir in November and embarking on a monthlong book tour.
After 2 1/2 years as a professor at Stanford, Miss Rice is reportedly getting “antsy” to get back into the political game. “She’s ready to go,” said one top source.

The really big challenge for Condi is connecting to America. She’s been so wonky and either circling the globe or locked in an ivory tower that there may not be much connection for her to Joe Six Pack, the way, say, a Sarah Palin does.

I’ll admit to being a Condi fan. Like Sarah Palin, just the threat of a brainy conservative lady getting on the ticket is enough to make heads ‘splode.

Update: Less enthusiastic: Daily Pundit

Just putting a neocon looser like Rice into a position of power again, after this sterling record, is enough to make my head explode. But I have to admit – she’d make a nice bookend for Bush III – I mean, Romney.

via Drudge

Category: Election 2012, Republicans

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The Other McCain

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

LIVE AT FIVEEIGHT – 12.21.11

Slouching Toward Cedar Rapids

Meghan McCain: I Look At Callista Gingrich, And All I Hear Is Foreigner

Because I’m Feeling Kinda Bad About Giving Ace of Spades Such a Hard Time …

News Flash: Democrats Lie (and Have Conniptions When They Get Caught)

BREAKING: Rick Santorum Gets Endorsement by Key Iowa Social Conservative Leader Bob Vander Plaats UPDATE: In Interview, Santorum Says Endorsement ‘Sends a Strong Signal’

‘So Critical’

Vice President Condi Rice?

THE FULL METAL JACKET REACH-AROUND AWARD

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