The Other McCain

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

Robert Reich: Tea Party Strawman Flaming, Not The Greenwich Village Way

Posted on | December 21, 2011 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

The right is currently in a struggle to determine whether it will nominate a Ruling Class Overlord who says sufficiently conservative sounding things to take the nomination, the veers to the center to win the election. Alternatively, somebody with both high moral and conservative track records, e.g. Perry, Santorum or Bachmann, could be selected both to run and govern in a way that will reduce that thumping sound from the Founders’ graves.

Recalling that Riech is doing a convincing impression of a buffoon, his Huffington Post column becomes hilarious.

Some describe the underlying conflict as Tea Partiers versus the Republican establishment. But this just begs the question of who the Tea Partiers really are and where they came from.

The underlying conflict lies deep into the nature and structure of the Republican Party. And its roots are very old.

As Michael Lind has noted, today’s Tea Party is less an ideological movement than the latest incarnation of an angry white minority — predominantly Southern, and mainly rural — that has repeatedly attacked American democracy in order to get its way.

It’s no mere coincidence that the states responsible for putting the most Tea Party representatives in the House are all former members of the Confederacy. Of the Tea Party caucus, twelve hail from Texas, seven from Florida, five from Louisiana, and five from Georgia, and three each from South Carolina, Tennessee, and border-state Missouri.

Others are from border states with significant Southern populations and Southern ties. The four Californians in the caucus are from the inland part of the state or Orange County, whose political culture has was shaped by Oklahomans and Southerners who migrated there during the Great Depression.

This isn’t to say all Tea Partiers are white, Southern or rural Republicans — only that these characteristics define the epicenter of Tea Party Land.

Read the whole thing, if you need a belly laugh. If you have history, pound history; if you have economics, pound economics; if you have neither, pound some strawmen.

The crucial point for all of the Left is that there is never a substantial economic argument to refute the Tea Party’s disdain for living in Reich’s blend of 1984 and Atlas Shrugged. Reich could at least refute Will’s devastating point that the Baby Boomer households have sucked up the wealth, to the detriment of anyone younger. Coming up with an argument would be like work, or something. Why not just point a finger?

Supreme Field Marshall of the Endless Strawman Horde, General Leopold von Stubble, said of Reich:

We do not fear Reich, for we produce strawmen at a rate even more prodigious than his destruction rate. What we fear is that the minds of his readers become tainted with facts. If people realize what a colossal joke Reich has become, they’ll quit listening. People attending to Reich’s endless stream of flatus is crucial for us to manage our high strawman production rate without flooding the market. Fortunately, with the election year coming up, we can expect President Obama to do his part to eliminate strawmen, so the pressure is off of Reich’s readers, at least through November 2012.

Category: Economics, Huffington Post

Games People Play: You Take It Or You Leave It

Posted on | December 21, 2011 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

Via Proof Positive, we have the Alyssa Rosenberg at Squaking Points Memo giving a belly laugh over the new Rainbow Six game which apparently has the player ventilating #OccupyWallStreet protesters.

I would love to see the mic check that goes into getting consensus for this kind of nonsense. But as much as I’d just love to knock this impulse, I’m also dead sure that while most of Hollywood will blame one-off Ponzi schemers for much of the recession, conservative artists will try to help cement a narrative that the 99 percent movement and advocates of financial system reform are inherently anti-capitalist and violent.

While not really coming out in defense of violent video games, not spending time/money on them myself, it would be helpful if Rosenberg would go back and apply the same concern troll affection to Obama vs. Tea Party.

I doubt Rosenberg has the intellectual honesty to admit that:

  • The Left went there first, louder, and longer, going so far as to have then-Speaker of the House Pelosi connect Tea Partiers with Nazis.
  • Occupy protesters do have a well-documented history of thuggery.

Get bent, Rosenberg.

Category: Progressivism

#OccupyDC Nativity Scene

Posted on | December 21, 2011 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

I found the cluttered thinking of the woman who stated she’s Jewish to be most interesting. The notion that if you’re going to represent one religion, you should represent all religions is fantastically silly. If a religion is a spiritual course to steer, then you should drive all directions at once? That’s a formula for going nowhere, I should think.

via American Glob

Category: #Occupy, Video

Britannia, Rule the Waves!

Posted on | December 21, 2011 | 17 Comments

And damn the Argies!

A South American trading bloc has agreed to close its ports to ships flying the Falkland Islands flag.
Mercosur, which includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, came to the decision at a summit in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo.
But Uruguayan President Jose Mujica said British-flagged civilian ships that may supply the islands would still be allowed to use its ports.
The [British] Foreign Office said there was “no justification” for the action.
The Falklands flag is flown by 25 boats, mostly fishing vessels operated in joint ventures with Spanish companies.
The Mercosur decision is the latest in a series by Latin American regional bodies designed to show solidarity with Argentina which has long claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, which it calls Las Malvinas.
Britain has held them since the 1830s and says their future is not negotiable. The two countries fought a brief but bloody war over the islands in 1982.

That’s reported by the BBC. Biased BBC is struck by the fact that the national network chose, in a caption on its Web site, to highlight this: “Argentina has long claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, which lie 400 miles from its coast.” Never mind the British claim, eh?

As for the BBC’s description of a “bloody war” in 1982, the death toll in the Falklands War of both sides combined was less than 1,000. By comparison, during World War II, the British lost more than 1,000 troops killed on D-Day alone — a single day. During the three-month Battle of Britain, when the island kingdom stood alone against the vengeance of the Luftwaffe, the RAF lost nearly 2,700 men.

The BBC exaggeration of the trifling Falklands affair into a “bloody war” is of a piece with their horror of empire expressed by the implication that Argentina has a legitimate claim to the islands “400 miles from its coast.”

FACT: Cuba is just 90 miles from Key West, Florida.

My son-in-law is Argentine. Fine people, the Argentines, and I cheer their soccer team in the World Cup, but I also enjoy mocking their silliness about “Las Malvinas.” No Thanksgiving dinner at our house would be complete without my annual toast to Margaret Thatcher and a rousing chorus of “Rule, Britannia.”

When Britain first, at heaven’s command,
Arose from out the azure main . . .
This was the charter, the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:
Rule Britannia!
Britannia rule the wave!
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves!

UPDATE: It is an amazing fact of history how England, an island nation the size of Alabama, has spread its influence across the globe. The population of the United Kingdom today is 62 million. Add together the United States (300 million), Canada (34 million), Australia (22 million) and New Zealand (4 million), and the rest of the English-speaking world is at least six times larger than the nation that “arose from out the azure main.”

Category: Argentina, Great Britain

LIVE AT FIVEEIGHT – 12.21.11

Posted on | December 21, 2011 | 1 Comment

— compiled by Wombat-socho
TOP NEWS
Congress Packs Up With Payroll Tax Cut Extension Left Undone

A shameless demagogue.

Boehner’s House already catching flak from Senate colleagues as well as White House

ROK’s Top Spy Under Pressure To Quit
Didn’t find out about Kim Jong-Il’s death until TV reports two days later

Romney Accuses Obama Of Trying To Give US A European Makeover
Making the closing argument in Iowa

 
POLITICS
Wikileaker’s Defense Team Ready To Pound The Table

Adrian Lamo: the hacker who helped burn Manning

Defense to hang blame on Army for not stopping leaker

Twelve Charged With Hate Crimes In Amish Beard Cutting

Alabama Church Leaders Urge Repeal Of Immigration Law

Iowa Conservative Leaders Endorse Santorum, Ask Other Candidates To Bow Out

Alabama Jobless Rate Falls Amid Immigration Reform

It’s Official: Gary Johnson Running As Libertarian

Tarek Mehanna Found Guilty On Terror Charges

Crybaby NY State Senator Going To Jail

PolitiFact Tags Democrats With Lie Of The Year

Donations Down This Year, Salvation Army Says

 
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
European Central Bank Sees Record Refinancing Demand
European High Court Upholds EU Plan To Charge Airlines For Carbon Emissions
US Stock Index Futures Rise; Oracle Eyed
Asia Stocks Rise For Second Day On US Data, PRC Industry Support
Oil Climbs For Third Day On U.S. Economy, Shrinking Supplies, Iran Sanctions
PRC Hackers Hit U.S. Chamber Of Commerce
Gold Climbs As IMF Pledge Boosts Euro Against Dollar
Judge Rules Motorola Violated Microsoft Patents
RIM Rejects Amazon’s Takeover Offer
Sony Apologizes As PlayStation Vita Complaints Rise
Siri Still Hates Brits And Southerners

 
SPORTS
Ohio State Buckeyes Get One-Year Bowl Ban From NCAA

NCAA drops coal in Buckeyes' stocking

Committee also increases other self-imposed penalties

Derrick Rose Agrees To 5-Year/$94 Million Extension With Bulls
Gaborik Scores Two As Rangers Beat Devils 4-1

#1 Syracuse Routs Bucknell, 80-61

Sullinger Leads #2 Ohio State Over Lamar

Nationals Still In Hunt For Dobbs

 
FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Debra Messing, Daniel Zelman Split

Daniel Zelman, Debra Messing

Amicable divorce after ten years

Brit’s Ex Jason Alexander Slams Her Engagement To Jason Trawick

HBO Renews “Enlightened”, Cancels “Hung” And Two Other Shows
Four Join Amanda Seyfried In “Lovelace”

“Dark Knight Rises” Has Big Problem: Audience Can’t Understand Villain

Courtney Stodden Definitely On The Naughty List Now!

Jon Bon Jovi Tweets Photo Proving He’s Not Dead

 
FOREIGNERS
Nork Military To Share Power With “Great Successor”
U.S., ROK Cautiously Reach Out To Norks
Syrian Opposition Says Dozens Killed In Last 24 Hours, Demands UN Action
Maliki Calls On Kurds To Hand Over Sunni VP al-Hashemi
Death Toll From Southern Philippine Flash Floods Tops 1000
“U.S., Israel On Same Page Regarding Iran Threat,” Says Israeli Home Defense Minister
Thousands Line Streets of Prague To Pay Respects To Vaclav Havel
PRC Village Ends Protests After Government Compromise
Hegde: Without CBI, Lokpal Mere Complainant
Falklands Boat Ban Sparks New Row Between Argentina, UK

 
BLOGS & STUFF
Weasel Zippers: Sheila Jackson Lee Demands Emperor Obama Use His Powers To Extend Payroll Tax Cut
Althouse: Romney Leads Obama
NRO Corner: The Fringe Frontrunner
Hit & Run: Gary Johnson To Ditch GOP For The Libertarian Party
Allahpundit: Terrorist Villains In New “Rainbow Six” Game? Occupods!
Marginal Revolution: Don’t Overrate The Good News
Rich Lowry: Ron Paul, The Fringe Frontrunner
Doug Powers: Left Kind Of Upset By Politifact’s “Lie Of The Year” Choice
Israel Matzav: Another “Accident” In Iran
Atlas Shrugs: UN Adopts Anti-Free Speech Resolution Championed By Obama Administration
JustOneMinute: Effective Is As Effective Does
Troglopundit: From The “Dammit! Why Didn’t I Think Of That?” Files
SOTD: Let’s Dance

Category: Live at Five

Slouching Toward Cedar Rapids

Posted on | December 20, 2011 | 18 Comments

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
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