The Other McCain

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

‘Embattled.’ IYKWIMAITYD.

Posted on | December 16, 2011 | 7 Comments

Shortly after reporters begin to call a politician “embattled,” it’s usually not long before he announces he needs to “spend more time with his family.” See if you can figure out why this particular politician became “embattled” recently:

Receipts from embattled Southaven Mayor Greg Davis reveal . . .

Uh-oh. “Reveal” – if you’re a politician, you know you’re in trouble when they use that word.

. . . that he had the city pay for wide-ranging expenses . . .

Well, OK: “Expenses.” I’m sure these were entirely legitimate expenses. But what does “wide-ranging” mean?

. . . including thousands of dollars worth of liquor, expensive dinners at a local restaurant . . .

No harm, no foul.  The mayor was probably entertaining VIPs –businessmen who might want to locate their next factory in Southhaven. “Economic development,” etc. I’m sure it’s legit, but if the citizens object, Mayor  Davis can just reimburse those expenses to make everything hunky-dory.

. . . and a visit to an adult store catering to gay men while on a recruitment trip to Canada.

Oh.

Might be kind of a problem there. Because this guy’s the mayor of Southaven, which isn’t in Connecticut and isn’t a suburb of New York. It’s in northern Mississippi and is a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee:

Davis conceded publicly for the first time in an interview with [the Memphis Commercial Appeal] that he is gay and has struggled to keep the issue from affecting his public life as mayor of Mississippi’s third-largest city.
“At this point in my life and in my career, while I have tried to maintain separation between my personal and public life, it is obvious that this can no longer remain the case,” Davis said Thursday afternoon at his Southaven home. “While I have performed my job as mayor, in my opinion, as a very conservative, progressive individual — and still continue to be a very conservative individual — I think that it is important that I discuss the struggles I have had over the last few years when I came to the realization that I am gay.”

Yeah. He “came to the realization” only after he got himself elected mayor. I’m sure Davis never had the slightest inkling or suspicion that he might be sexually attracted to men until “the last few years.” But never mind when it was that the mayor first “came to the realization” about all this. Because I’m sure the voters in Southaven will be forgiving toward this liberal Democrat.

. . . Davis, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2008 on a conservative, family-values platform . . .

Oh.

Davis spent thousands of dollars at the Mesquite Chop House in Southaven and thousands more at local liquor stores. Also included in the receipts is a charge for $67 at Priape, a store in Toronto that is described by its website as “Canada’s premiere gay lifestyle store and sex shop.”
Davis said he didn’t remember what he bought at the store . . .

Look, I can’t imagine what that $67 was about, but couldn’t the mayor have at least bought this stuff at an American store?

Because they sell everything at Amazon. IYKWIMAITYD.

And, finally:

“I had already planned to take off and spend time with my family over the holidays,” Davis said.

Some things are entirely predictable. NTTAWWT.

 

Category: Gays, Mississippi, Republicans, Scandal

Scott Ott Serves It Dry

Posted on | December 16, 2011 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

Ott is dry, dry, dry today:

The Tebow-ing is a bit odd. But if the students do it five times a day while facing Mecca, their chances of acceptance go up.

Category: humor

If In San Diego, Consider Supporting ‘Healing the Unseen Wound’

Posted on | December 16, 2011 | 5 Comments

by Smitty

I grew up in San Dog as a Navy brat, and served in three ships out of 32nd Street. Were I still on the left coast, I’d volunteer for Healing the Unseen Wound. Having spent some time in Afghanistan, albeit as a little FOBbit, I can appreciate the seriousness of both the visible wounds of IED victims and the PTSD/TBI (post traumatic stress disorder/traumatic brain injury).

Even before going to the ‘Stan, I had an office mate who, as a Marine Corps Reservist, was yanked out of college and sent overseas in a mortuary affairs unit. His PTSD symptoms from picking up the pieces played out in serious obsessive-compulsive disorder. He spent time re-arranging and cleaning things, as though removing tiny bits of entropy from the universe could make it all right. It wound up wrecking his marriage.

Looking at the roster, this is a serious, substantial effort and worthy of support. May fortune smile upon Healing the Unseen Wound.

Category: Culture, Military

Rick Santorum Iowa Schedule Dec. 16-20

Posted on | December 16, 2011 | 5 Comments

Press release from Santorum campaign HQ:

***MEDIA ADVISORY***
SANTORUM PUBLIC SCHEDULE
DECEMBER 16 – 20

Urbandale, IA – Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum will continue his campaign swing through to Iowa. Open press events are noted below, all times are local.

Friday, December 16:

7:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will be the featured guest of a house party hosted by The Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition at the home of David & Linda Holub in Sioux City, IA.
Location: Home of David & Linda Holub
1218 46th Street, Sioux City, IA

Saturday, December 17:

8:00am CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Onawa, IA.
Location: Onawa Public Library
707 Iowa Avenue, Onawa, IA

1:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Carroll, IA.
Location: Pizza Ranch
425 West Highway 30, Carroll, IA

3:30pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Denison, IA.
Location: Cronk’s Café
812 4th Avenue South, Denison, IA

6:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will be a featured guest at the Harrison County, IA Republican Christmas Party in Logan, IA.
Location: Home of Ross and Lee Hieb
524 West 4th Street, Logan, IA

Sunday, December 18:

11:00am CT: Senator Santorum will have brunch with supporters at the HyVee Instore in Council Bluffs, IA.
Location: Treynor State Bank
HyVee Instore, 1745 Madison Avenue, Suite 1002, Council Bluffs, IA

2:30pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Red Oak, IA.
Location: Pizza Ranch
1511 North Broadway Street, Red Oak, IA

5:30pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Atlantic, IA.
Location: Farmers Kitchen Restaurant
319 Walnut Street, Atlantic, IA

Monday, December 19:

7:30am CT: Senator Santorum will host a breakfast meet-and-greet in Creston, IA.
Location: Windrow Restaurant
102 West Taylor Street, Creston, IA

12:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Osceola, IA.
Location: Redman’s Pizza & Steak
123 South Main Street, Osceola, IA

6:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will keynote the Warren County GOP Dinner in Indianola, IA.
Location: Indianola Christian Union Church
707 East Euclid Avenue, Indianola, IA

Tuesday, December 20:

9:00am CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Pella, IA.
Location: Monarch Restaurant, Royal Amsterdam Hotel
705 East 1st Street, Pella, IA

12:30pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Mt. Pleasant, IA.
Location: Mt. Pleasant Public Library
307 East Monroe Street, Suite 101
Mt. Pleasant, IA

4:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will participate in the Genesis Health Care Forum in Davenport, IA.
Location: Genesis Medical Center
1227 East Rusholme Street, Davenport, IA

6:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will attend a house party to benefit the congressional campaign of John Archer in Bettendorf, IA.
Location: Home of John & Andrea Archer
3195 Westminster, Bettendorf, IA

* * * * * *

Meanwhile, in other Neutral Objective Campaign News:

Iowans heard the last debate last night, but they will be bombarded with direct mail, TV ads and earned media for the next few weeks. Rick Santorum, despite the ranking in the polls, is certainly getting his message out.
Politico reports: “A Super PAC backing Rick Santorum is spending some real money — $200,000 — to boost the hardest working man in lesser candidacy, making the straightforward case to conservatives that he’s the one they can trust.” His campaign is dropping a ton of direct mail, hyping nice comments made about him by Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee.
Anecdotal evidence has also been positive. Craig Robinson of the Iowa Republican e-mailed me about a Santorum event Wednesday night in Holstein: “I think he is now convinced that all of his hard work in Iowa is about to pay off. It might not show up in the polls, but I think it will be there on caucus day. By the way, at 2:30 in the afternoon 35 to 40 people showed up to see him. That’s a good crowd in a town of 1400. I don’t think any other candidates have been to Holstein either.” If you put together a lot of small towns, the numbers do add up. Moreover, Santorum generally helps himself at these appearances. “The response to him was good. People signed up and one couple brought a check. Another couple that I saw at a Rick Perry event the night before in Denison stopped to tell me that Santorum was their candidate. Last night they were deciding between [Rep. Michele] Bachmann, Perry and Santorum.”

This is it, you see: The long-awaited Santorum Surge that everybody thought would never come has, at long last, begun in earnest.

RICK SANTORUM
‘NO SURRENDER’
MONEY BOMB

–


Category: Election 2012, Iowa, Rick Santorum

Because I’m Libertarian Like That

Posted on | December 16, 2011 | 4 Comments

An unfortunate incident:

A barricade situation adjacent to the Northern Virginia Community College campus is over, according to Fairfax County police. The situation ended just before 10 p.m. Thursday.
The incident took place on the eigth floor of the Skyline Terrace Apartments in the south tower of the two building high rise complex … in the 3700 block of George Mason Dr in Alexandria
A man with a gun was threatening to kill himself. Officers were able to talk the man out of his apartment and took him into custody. …
The incident prompted the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College to cancel classes this evening.

This was an unfortunate incident in more ways that one. Wombat is a student at NVCC and was trapped on campus during the lockdown, which caused him to be three hours late with this morning’s “Live at Five” headline roundup. He sent an e-mail to apologize, explaining that a “suicidal a–hole” was the problem. Before I knew how the stand-off ended, I e-mailed Wombat this reply:

1. Did the suicidal a–hole kill himself?
2. Was he an Obama supporter?
Because I can understand why a–holes who support Obama would be despondent. And while I don’t approve suicide, I wouldn’t want to “impose my values” on others.
— RSM

We are grateful that police were able to take this poor demented man into custody, and only regret that more Obama-supporting a–holes don’t seek therapeutic treatment for their psychotic delusions before it’s too late.

Category: Barack Obama, Health Care, Virginia

The World’s Youngest Blogger: Despite The Iraq Exit, I Insist Upon Clashing

Posted on | December 16, 2011 | 13 Comments

Category: humor, World's Youngest Blogger

You See, Mr. Paul, History Does Not Support Scientific Experiments

Posted on | December 16, 2011 | 59 Comments

by Smitty

The Australian reports that

RUSSIA seized today a consignment of the radioactive isotope Sodium-22 at a Moscow airport from a passenger who was to travel on a flight to Tehran, the customs service said.
“Tests showed that the Sodium-22 could only have been obtained as the result of the work of a nuclear reactor,” it said in a statement. “A criminal inquiry has been opened and the materials transferred to prosecutors.”

Sodium 22 is not recommended as a dietary supplement:

22Na is a positron-emitting isotope with a remarkably long half-life. It is used to create test-objects and point-sources for Positron emission tomography.

So the argument may be that Iran has legitimate medical interest. Yet, back to The Australian:

Moscow has echoed Western concerns about the nature of the Iranian nuclear program but stopped short of publicly accusing Tehran of seeking atomic weapons and always said that the standoff should be solved by diplomacy.
Experts have long called for tight controls against nuclear smuggling so that Iran cannot get ahold of materials it is barred from obtaining under UN Security Council sanctions.

The point of the sanctions is to put peaceful international pressure on Iran to be a nicer kid on the international playground. Maybe, Mr. Paul, if you understand that Tehran plays the bully in the Middle East the way the Federal Reserve pushes everyone around with respect to the currency, you might grasp that political liberty is as crucial as economic liberty. Yet you’re stuck in Neville Chamberlain mode, sadly. Even though what you say about the overall peacefulness of the Iranian people is very probably true, that assertion does not seem to hold for the Iranian leadership.

Here’s the 2012 rub, Ron: if it was a laboratory setting, it might be of interest to see if your approach would work, where Chamberlain and Jimmy Carter failed, failed, failed. But it’s not. History is a one shot deal. And you can go all Sermon on the Mount in your personal life, where I truly appreciate the foundations of your ideas. Yet, the Almighty constrains neither free will, nor the capacity for evil implied by that free will.

  • Nobody wants to see a dirty bomb employed.
  • Nobody wants the stress of dealing with the threat of a dirty bomb employment.
  • Crucially, the majority of Americans are going to vote against your strange comfort level with the previous two points.

Update: American Power think Paul is unserious.

Update II: A thorough Paul review at The Pirate’s Cove.

via Zero Hedge

Category: Iran, Ron Paul

Santorum Iowa Ad: ‘Join the Fight’

Posted on | December 16, 2011 | 32 Comments

Last night’s final debate in Sioux City was probably the best yet for Rick Santorum, says Bryan Preston of PJ Media, noting that the former Pennsylvania senator “showed very solid instincts on a range of issues” — as he has all along. There has been no “drama,” no flip-flopping from Santorum, and he has gotten relatively little media attention while carrying his “consistent conservative” message to all 99 Iowa counties. Now at long last, his fundraising boosted by praise from Sarah Palin and others, Santorum has released his first Iowa TV ad:

ABC News reports:

The voice over narrates over quotes from Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Mike Huckabee praising Santorum and even a quote from rival Newt Gingrich lauding Santorum’s Iran policy.
On Wednesday, the former Pennsylvania senator bragged that he was running the leanest of the GOP presidential campaign. . . .
Santorum has been barnstorming the state for months hoping hard work will pay off on Jan. 3, but going on the air will undoubtedly help.

Santorum campaign press release has the transcript:

He’s Rick Santorum.
A loving husband, a devoted father, homeschooler and a man of deep faith.
He wrote the law that banned partial birth abortions.
Overhauled America’s welfare system.
And no one has done more to protect America from Iran’s growing threat than Rick Santorum.
It’s no wonder Palin, Beck and Huckabee are singing his praises.
Now it’s your turn to join the fight.

Meanwhile, a new pro-Santorum “Super PAC” — the Red, White and Blue Fund — has spent a reported $200,000 to air this ad in Iowa:

We all agree Obama’s reckless agenda must be stopped.
But who is the true conservative you can really trust?
Rick Santorum.
He’s fought for conservative values his whole life.
Father, husband a champion for life.
A visionary that saw and understands the threat of radical Islam.
And a proven reformer who took on Washington and won.
Rick Santorum.
Finally a true conservative we can trust.

Permit a necessary digression here: A donnybrook has erupted among some conservatives, typified by Rush Limbaugh’s remarks yesterday about “establishment Republicans [who] are dumping all over Newt Gingrich.” If you read that, you’ll note that El Rushbo also takes on the unexpectedly strong showing by “wacko nut job” Ron Paul. And Limbaugh takes on National Review, which also got a sharp retort from another leading conservative:

Brent Bozell, the nephew of conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr., who founded National Review magazine in 1955, and whose father, Leo Brent Bozell, collaborated with Buckley for many years at NR, today dismissed the magazine as having lost the identity forged for it by its founder.
“National Review’s endorsement of Romney & Huntsman proves only that this is no longer the magazine of William F. Buckley Jr.”

But while “movement conservatives” like Limbaugh and Bozell fight the NR punks who have declared war on Gingrich, everyone seems to be united in their opposition to the Ron Paul surge. A conservative friend yesterday e-mailed me a link to an American Spectator item yesterday in which Jeffrey Lord brought up the controversy about the old Ron Paul newsletters and what Lord calls “the and-oh-by-the-way-pay-no-attention-to-all that-anti-Semitic-stuff that trails the Paul candidacy like the little cloud of dirt that used to follow the Peanuts cartoon character Pigpen around.”

Also, Ace notes en passant, Ron Paul is endorsed by Andrew Sullivan.

Need we say more? While I have lamented the anti-Paul crusade, arguing for an effort “to engage the more decent and rational Paulistas” on behalf of a united front against Democratic Party liberalism, I lack the influence necessary to broker such a peace. (For example, having long ago called for Rich Lowry’s ouster from National Review, I could never be published there until Jonah Goldberg finally decides to lead the uprising against the decadent Lowry regime, a long-overdue revolution.) So the internecine war rages on and the question must be asked:

Why not Rick Santorum?

Look, if you’re a “movement conservative” who hates Ron Paul, who is more diametrically opposed to Paulism than Santorum? He’s the pro-Israel neocon warmonger your mother (if your mother is a Paulista) warned you about. By comparison to Santorum, Bibi Netanyahu is a dhimmi pacifist.

OK, he sometimes seems a bit of a scold on the social issues. One of my friends has used the word “sanctimonious” to describe Santorum’s mien in previous debates. But while other Republicans can be accused of unprincipled and insincere pandering to social conservatives, Santorum is a man who argues for the pro-life, pro-family agenda out of sincere religious conviction. He’s a cradle Catholic, a father of seven, married to the same woman for 21 years and (unlike a certain other candidate whom we need not name) there has never been a hint of scandal attached to Santorum’s name. Tina Korbe at Hot Air expresses the mystery:

The Santorum phenomenon is a perplexing one. For, as the ad suggests, Santorum has betrayed conservatism on far fewer occasions than either of the two current frontrunners. . . .
I have to admit, a surprisingly stellar finish in Iowa from Santorum would sit far better with me than, say, a win from Ron Paul and probably Newt Gingrich, too.

The only reason why some leading conservative spokesmen have not backed Santorum, I would suggest, is that they’re afraid to back an underdog. They look at the poll numbers and say to themselves, “Well, I don’t want to embarrass myself by backing a loser.” This is an argument to which I have already made my own reply, borrowing a youthful oration from the future Senator Joseph Blutarsky:

Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! … And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough… The tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go! …
What the f— happened to the Delta I used to know? Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you’re gonna let it be the worst. “Ooh, we’re afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble.” Well just kiss my a– from now on! Not me! I’m not gonna take this.

“Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh?”

You may say it’s hopeless, that a candidate running a low-budget campaign with single-digit poll numbers cannot, with just 18 days to go before the Jan. 3 caucuses, suddenly surge ahead to win Iowa. And why not? Because “we’re afraid to go with you Bluto.”

All it would take is a few minutes of careful praise from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin — maybe they could contact the Santorum campaign and do on-air interviews with the candidate — to light the fuse on a powder keg that could explode all the predictions of the pundits and pollsters in Iowa.

You, the ordinary “civilian” reader of this blog, are probably saying to yourself: “But that’s not going to happen.”

And why not? Because “we’re afraid to go with you Bluto.”

Can’t you e-mail this post to Rush, Sean and Mark? Can’t you post it on Facebook, send it out on Twitter, circulate it by e-mail to your friends? Yes — yes, you could do that.

As I said during the 2009 Doug Hoffman campaign, the key thing is this: “Stop asking what you can do, and start doing what you can.”

You can “join the fight” for Rick Santorum right now.

RICK SANTORUM
‘NO SURRENDER’
MONEY BOMB

 
RECENTLY:

Category: Election 2012, Iowa, Rick Santorum, Video
« go back — keep looking »

    About

    This is an area on your website where you can add text. This will serve as an informative location on your website, where you can talk about your site.

    Subscribe to our feed

    Search

    Admin