The Other McCain

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

Improving Our Accuracy: Laser-Like Focus

Posted on | December 8, 2011 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

Clausewitz and the Rule of Threes

Daily Pundit posted, and I responded. Daily Pundit replied, and we appear to be talking past each other. Unexpectedly. My Mudville Gazette link to Clauzewitzian Triangle did not refer to

Effects of the Clauswitzian tripod of Friction, Fog of War, and Point of Victory. . .

at all. Pardon my 0300 posting, which could have more clearly linked to the material of interest at Mudville Gazette. What I’m trying to get at, from the On War, with some formatting from me:

  • The first of these three aspects mainly concerns the people;
  • the second the commander and his army;
  • the third the government.

The passions that are to be kindled in war must already be inherent in the people; the scope which the play of courage and talent will enjoy in the realm of probability and chance depends on the particular character of the commander and the army; but the political aims are the business of government alone.

In other words, irrespective of the Army, or the whims of the Executive: the Army, Government, and people have to be kept in synch. The difficulty of maintaing the triangle is proportional to the duration of the action. Witness the brief foray into Pakistan to rub out Osama. Witness the decaying support for the recent Libyan action. Witness the general Constitutional queasiness triggered by both actions.

Codevilla is great, and comes at it from the policy perspective. Clausewitz gives you the strategic, i.e. military perspective. This is also called the Clausewitzian Trinity, but ‘trinity’ has religious baggage for some, and so we called it the Triangle in my Strategy and Policy class.

Bickering and Arguing Over ‘Oo Oversimplified ‘Oo

Bill Quick says:

Our military is designed to kill people and break things. Or it should be. It is not a missionary force, a religious force, a cultural force. It is a military force. If it had been used as police generally are, it would have begun to withdraw (or turn in the direction of Tehran) immediately after Bush made his famous “Mission Accomplished” speech.

Well, yeah, but more than a trifle over-simplified. See Austin Bay on Strategy Page for an important brief on DIME.

The acronym is “DIME” — a quick verbal coin for the four elements of national power: “Diplomatic,” “Information,” “Military” and “Economic” power.
When “policy is working,” diplomacy, economic interests, military power and information power (both the ability to communicate and to gather intelligence) complement one another. It’s a difficult ballet, but choreographing and directing this dance is the business of statesmen.

You can tweak my beard for invoking “Team America, World Police”, fine. But that seems precisely where you’re going with “Our military is designed to kill people and break things,” Bill. Remember that M is but a quarter of DIME, and using it singly leaves DIE.

Can we back up and ponder the broader scope of American history, in our Tea Party exuberance? If you read Six Frigates you discover that the debates haven’t changed much in 200 years. Prior to the National Security Act of 1947, we did not retain standing land forces between wars. Air, of course was new. You can point to the Great White Fleet, like the Six Frigates, as a sea example of peacetime navel force, sure: very Mahanian.

My argument here, call it the ‘soft Paul’ is that having a vast DoD is kinda problematic for the Tea Party purist. The excellent counter is “OK, if not U.S. hegemony, then who?” The answer is: why, no one. If there must needs be an 800 pound gorilla in the world, let it be us. Sure, the best defense is a good offense, and I play a mean white side on the chess board.

Conclusion

Coming full circle to the original question of “America can win any war it chooses to fight, quickly and permanently” I guess for managed values of {win, war, fight, quickly, permanently}, your point is spot on, Daily Pundit. Which of {Korea, Japan, Germany, Iraq, Afghanistan} do you feel apply? Gulf War I was certainly a victory; Kuwait was liberated. Yet what precise value of ‘permanent’ had us staging a drag race in Iraq during the next decade between the Marines and the Army?

You like the Osama raid? Libya? You do realize that these are Spec Ops intensive topics. More and more, Team America polices the world via “Dudes that to ‘bump’ in the night”. From a Tea Party perspective, should the decreasing relevance of the Constitutional protocol of having the POTUS request a Declaration of War from Congress be a problem, or should we just chock it up to technological drift? War is hell, and politics is a psychotic Ex-. The notion that we can win any war is arguably true in the abstract, and practically falls apart in extended real-world examples.

Update: I just caught up with Belvedere’s Pax Americana post.

The proper form of Pax Americana is where The United States is able to project it’s military forces anywhere Tyranny threatens to expand itself or sow Chaos. Tyrannical governments will always exist, but they can be contained and prevented from disrupting or conquering other nations. When the situation requires America to act to preserve the peace, it should go in, crush the enemy, and leave, telling the peoples of the area as it exits: ‘We’ve solved the problem at hand; you’re on your own; straighten things out; don’t cause anymore trouble because, if you do, we’ll be back with even greater force this time’.
The Pax Americana must also take whatever actions are necessary to ensure that Weapons Of Mass Destruction be possessed only by The United States and it’s close Allies ? preferably restricted to just the nations of the Anglosphere.

Bob, I love you man, but the horses are already out of the toothpaste tube. Sorry.

Category: Blogging, Foreigners

VA Senate Debate As 2012 Opener

Posted on | December 8, 2011 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

There hasn’t been a GOP primary yet, but former VA Senator Allen is already mixing it up with that ex-Governor who was such a potent DNC chair that his replacement by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was something like a vast improvement. *snort* Via Roll Call, we have some details:

The first sharp elbow was thrown on the third question, when Kaine was asked whether Allen’s use of the term “macaca” when describing an Indian-American video tracker during his 2006 re-election campaign — something he’s since apologized for — should be brought up nearly six years later. Kaine campaign officials said Tuesday that it was fair game, and Kaine did not back down from that position.
“The implication was that this young student was less of an American than George or than you and me,” Kaine said. “I don’t know why he would say that, but for whatever reason he said it, it’s part of the divisive politics that we have to put behind us in this country.”

Yeah, macaca: yeah! If we had, say, an ounce of gold for every time the propaganda-mongering Left tried to squeeze meaning into those three leaden syllables, we could pay off the national debt. You just keep on pluckin’ that chicken, Timmy, and you’ll do as well as Creigh Deeds did in his 2009 triumph over Bob McDonnell. Macaca was pure propaganda in 2006, and, five years on, about the only thing dumber is blaming the economy on Bush. To which idiocy you’re also welcome, Kaine.
And then “The implication was that this young student was less of an American. . .” what kind of metrosexual talk is that, Kaine? Allen was, at worst, engaging in a bit of sporting trash talk. Informality. I’m sure propaganda mongers of prior centuries gaze up from hell with approval on what the Democrat party and the WaPoo did in 2006.

Allen asked Kaine why he spent the final year of his gubernatorial term serving as DNC chairman — “the most political, partisan job in America,” as Allen put it — rather than focusing on the needs of Virginia. Kaine’s answer: “To serve the president, the president who is our commander in chief, the president who helped capture [Osama] bin Laden and wipe out al-Qaida leadership.”

Let’s put Timmy’s statement in context:

  1. $4 Trillion of casual debt,
  2. (ObL),
  3. $4 Trillion of casual debt!

Translated Kaine: “I am a tool, a tool’s tool, and a scraping tool used by other tools engaged in self-cleaning.” But you just keep on doing those victory laps, Timmy. We’ll let you know in 2012 how cool you look.

I don’t know how the VA GOP primary will shake out. This is an important race, and I remain an Allen admirer, for all I like the Tea Party influence of Radtke. The Left knows that every Senate seat is equally important, but the VA one is slightly more equal than others, given the names involved. Heartache.

via Daily Kos

Category: Virginia

‘Womyn’ Gripped By Tim Tebow Terror?

Posted on | December 8, 2011 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

I would probably s/assault/insult/ in the first sentence here, but Gabriella Hoffman raises an interesting question:

Thanks to feminazis and other self-hating “womyn,” male effeminacy continues to assault manhood. Nevertheless, Tim Tebow stands out at 6’3’’ and touts manliness wherever he goes. He does not wear skinny-jeans or don high-heels. Instead, he prides himself in looking sharp and being a gentleman. He has too much self-respect to kowtow to feminist demands. Moreover, he is indomitable and high-spirited. Young men idolize him, young women fawn over him. As a result, Tebow terrifies feminists and rightly should.

Read the whole thing. My question is, do manly men ever feel terrorized by feminists? I muster a high dudgeon for all of the Postmodern idiots plaguing society today, self-hating “womyn” among them. Bunch of Godless Commies, as far as I can tell, spreading the falsehood that there is no difference between women and men, or that either gender is somehow inferior to the other.

I can nearly admire the purity of the evil in their arguments. Overall, feminism seems to say that the obvious natural arrangement of women and men is somehow wrong. And yet, the same people serving these falsehoods wax smug and condescending over yoga, vegan diets, and the Noble Savage Myth. Postmodernism takes its cues from Satan himself, ever offering cheap substitutes in place of something better.

The joy of a blog is telling these feminist nitwits: “Get Stuffed!” They can take their corrosive, false statements about human existence and retire to Lesbos, for all I care.

Category: Feminism

SANTORUM’S SURGE: Tells Palin Supporters, ‘I’m Your Guy’

Posted on | December 8, 2011 | 27 Comments

Here is Rick Santorum talking to Stephen K. Bannon, producer of the Sarah Palin documentary The Undefeated, about Palin’s praise for Santorum last week:

If some of our readers would care to transcribe this interview in the comments, I’d appreciate it.

Category: Election 2012, Rick Santorum, Sarah Palin

Let’s Be Extra-Accurate Here

Posted on | December 8, 2011 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

Daily Pundit:

America can win any war it chooses to fight, quickly and permanently.
The leftists, internationalists, and other creeps who have veto power in our nation’s governance just refuse to let us do so.

The snarky reply is that, sure, you can roll over anyone you like, but can you send enough hippies to #Occupy?

The less snarky reply is that it’s really hard for a national leader to hold the Clausewitzian Triangle together. Even when there is some justification, e.g. the Civil War or Iraq, Presidents like Lincoln and Bush face massive blowback for their policies.

And with justification. Keeping this short, I won’t re-hash Lincoln or Bush’s war records, but the point is that our system means that everybody in a position of power is answerable. OK, maybe not Ben Bernanke, but still: everybody whose decisions can lead to immediate loss of life, if not money, is answerable.

Holding the Rooseveltian ‘Big Stick’ is fine, and we shouldn’t get too Ron Paulish about relinquishing it. And the occasional flexing of the muscle behind that stick isn’t a bad thing. Yet less is more. The fact that the Left can yap is a sign of strength, not weakness. Admittedly, they need to think through why they can yap a bit more often. That too is healthy.

Having visited some suck-tacular corners of the planet (Afghanistan, Indonesia) I, for one, have scant interest in seeing U.S. expeditions heading that way. I’m sorry, is it politically incorrect to say that those places suck? HINT: move to one of them, and your criticism of my opinion will have more weight. It’s one thing to enjoy the notion of Team America: World Police. It’s quite another to wake up in a suck-tacular place and remind yourself why you’re there. 🙂

Category: Blogging, Foreigners

In the Presence of His Newtness

Posted on | December 8, 2011 | 36 Comments

Newt Gingrich speaks Wednesday at the Republican Jewish Coalition
2012 Presidential Forum, Washington, D.C. (Photo by Robert Stacy McCain)

Is it just me, or does Newt Gingrich constantly emit the signal that we should be grateful he has condescended to communicate with us mere mortals? And do Republicans really want to nominate this guy?

Polls say, “Yes,” which leads me to conclude that Republican voters are profoundly masochistic, and are acting on a subconscious desire to be humiliated at the ballot box next November.

The support for Gingrich puzzles and worries me. It’s as if Republicans are defensively trying to rid themselves of the taint of anti-intellectualism left over from the Bush years. But then you remember that Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” was supposed to be the antidote to the reputation of “mean-spiritedness” the GOP acquired during the 1990s.

The shift toward Newt strikes me as a retrograde movement — “Hey, let’s go back to the Good Old Days of 1995!” — and I just can’t imagine Americans going for this kind of Blast From the Past trip. But I don’t mean to give you a lengthy discourse about what’s wrong with Newt, I’m just writing some words to go with the photos I took yesterday, so let’s get to the pictures.

Newt as seen from the third-floor balcony that served as the press gallery for Wednesday’s event. When I wandered into the balcony, I was greeted by Tony Lee of Human Events, who wanted to share stories about his experiences covering the Cain Train derailment. But the pain from Cain is impossible to explain. If you want to know how bad it got, read Joe Budzinski’s account of trying to cover a Cain fundraising event in November. Now back to Newt . . .

Newt is surrounded by a press scrum while greeting well-wishers after his speech. Notice the man at right in Hasidic wardrobe. Here’s video of the scrum chasing Newt through the lobby:

Back in August, when Gingrich placed eighth in the Ames Straw Poll, the media mostly ignored him. Now that he’s the front-runner, Newt’s like the Justin Bieber of the GOP field and paparazzi chase him everywhere.

Alana Goodman of Commentary works on a blog post. When i got home I checked and found she’d written a post about how Newt was against “radical” change in May but is in favor of “fundamental” change now.

The view from the back of the press gallery. Note the laptop screens, and also notice the man standing at stage left, waiting for Newt to finish talking. He had to wait a long time.


Category: Election 2012, Newt Gingrich

LIVE AT FIVE – 12.08.11

Posted on | December 8, 2011 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
New Romney Ad Turns Up The Heat On Gingrich

Still image from new Romney video

Ad stresses length of Romney’s marriage and commitment to LDS church, contrast to Gingrich pretty obvious




Sandusky Facing New Charges In Sex Abuse Case
More accusers come forward; Sandusky jailed pending $250K cash bail

Protests Continue In Moscow As Gorbachev Calls For Nullifying Elections
When even the Communists accuse you of rigging the elections, you know you’ve f***ed things up



POLITICS
Aging Survivors Mark 70th Anniversary Of Attack On Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor Survivors' President William Muelhieb salutes the Color Guard during the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor

120 survivors among the crowd of 5,000 commemorating Pearl Harbor Day; largest turnout since 50th anniversary in 1991

Cop Killer Mumia Spared Death Penalty

Protesters Arrested In DC After Shutting Down K Street

White House Pushes For Cordray Vote But Senate GOP Not Budging

Grassley Calls For Ouster Of Justice’s Breuer Over “Fast & Furious” Scheme

Occupy SF Cleared From Plaza But Reconstruction Work Remains



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Investors Await Outcome Of EU Emergency Meetings
Asia Stocks Fall On Aussie, Japan Economic News
Federal Panel Says Government, Industry Need To Do More To Address Fracking Environmental Concerns
Delay Of Wal-mart In India Means Politics Is Killing Cucumber Farmers
Martha Stewart Bringing Products To Penney’s
Gold Declines As European Leaders Gather
Justice Department Investigates E-Book Pricing
OnLive Brings Cloud Gaming To Tablets, Mobile Phones
Verizon Puts Down Its Big Red Foot
Android Users Can Detect Carrier IQ, Everyone Else Out Of Luck
PRC Pad Peddler Wins Rights To iPad Name From Apple



SPORTS
Big East Adds Boise State, Four Other New Teams

Boise State now in Big East...what?

Conference now spans all four time zones; San Diego State, Houston, SMU and Central Florida the “other four”

The Albert Pujols Derby: Is Everyone Nuts?



Pens’ Crosby To Sit Out Two Games As A Precaution

Mark Buehrle Joins Free Agent Migration To Miami

Ex-Syracuse Coach Not Charged Despite Evidence

Lakers Owner Buss Hospitalized For Blood Clots In Leg



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Lindsay Lohan To Unveil “Playboy” Spread On “Ellen”

Lindsay Lohan

Cover’s already leaked to the intertubes


“Teen Mom” Amber Portwood: “I’ve Been Diagnosed With Extreme Bipolar And Disassociative Disorder”

Brad & Angelina’s Family Toy Shopping Trip


Alec Baldwin Deletes Twitter Account After Getting Kicked Off American Airlines Flight

Harry Morgan Dead At 96, Played Colonel Potter On “M*A*S*H”

Different Stroke For Kristen Wiig

Giuliana Rancic: “My Breasts Have Never Defined Me”



FOREIGNERS
“Assad’s Story Is Not Believable” (Video)
Mexico Claims To Have Foiled Plot To Smuggle In Kadafi’s Son
Generals Reassert Power In Post-Election Egypt
NATO Chief Rebuffs Russian Threats To Missile Shield
EU Summit Signals Crunch Time For UK’s Cameron At Home And Abroad



BLOGS & STUFF
Don Surber: Poll Says Newt Is Tea Party Favorite
Weasel Zippers: McRINO Will Probably Endorse Romney
Power Line: Was “Fast & Furious” All About Gun Control?
American Thinker: Plan B – Barack Obama And The Morning After Pill
Sister Toldjah:: The Moron Alec Baldwin
Jihad Watch: Imam Bans Women From Touching Bananas & Cucumbers
Blackfive: Fort Hood Massacre Nothing More Than “Workplace Violence” Per DoD
Legal Insurrection: The Company He Still Keeps
Lonely Conservative: Democrats Lose Nearly One Million Voters In Battleground States
Volokh Conspiracy: Did Gingrich Break The Law With Bolton Promise?
Atlas Shrugs: 5th Circuit Upholds Holy Land Foundation Convictions
PJ Tatler: Pearl Harbor Day Menu For Obama Kids At Sidwell Friends? Teriyaki Chicken And Edamame
Big Hollywood: Michael Moore Stops Lying Long Enough To Call Obama Wall Street’s Man
Boston Herald: Mayor Menino Tells Occupy Campers To Take A Hike
Rush Limbaugh: The So-Called Conservative Media Attacks Newt Gingrich


SOTD: Turn Up The Radio

Category: Live at Five

My Day (and Night) in D.C.

Posted on | December 7, 2011 | 34 Comments

ROSSLYN, Virginia
Greetings from the ninth-floor office overlooking the Potomac River that is headquarters of The American Spectator. I’m working on a borrowed computer that doesn’t have a slot for the digital memory chip that contains photos and video I shot today at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Presidential Candidate Forum. So I’ll upload that tomorrow. Meantime, word pictures will have to do.

My reasons for coming down to D.C. today were fourfold:

  1. A 1 p.m. interview with Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nevada);
  2. The RJC forum;
  3. Trying to talk my bosses at the Spectator into giving me some travel expense money; and
  4. A party tonight on Capitol Hill.

So I began by renting a car. The deer-damaged KIA finally has been repaired, but I’ve still got to pay some fees to the DMV to get the tags and stuff, and I have a visceral aversion to dealing with bureaucracy. Anyway . . .

Raining cats, dogs and other small mammals in the D.C. area today. This means traffic was even worse of a mess than usual. Washington is full of people who can’t drive worth crap on a clear sunny day, and a rainstorm is an almost insuperable challenge for these incompetent vehicular menaces. The District of Columbia is the only place in America where they offer the driver’s exam in braille, and the laws against “discrimination” are so stringent in Washington that it’s considered a human-rights violation to deny a license to the mentally handicapped. 

D.C. gives licenses to people who are too stupid to figure out how to buy a bus pass, and the taxis are all driven by guys from Ethiopia and Eritrea, where the nuances of such words as “merge” and “yield” seem to have been lost in translation. At least 15% of the drivers in our nation’s capital are recently released inmates of St. Elizabeth’s. I’m pretty sure the guy who cut me off on Constitution Avenue today was John Hinckley.

Did I ever mention I hate driving in D.C.? And it’s a deeply personal hatred. Everybody here complains about “traffic,” as if it were some amorphous inevitable thing. But bad traffic is caused by bad drivers, so every trip into town is for me a non-stop cussfest against the idiots responsible for this godawful mess. Anyway . . .

So I was a half-hour late getting to the Russell Senate Office Building for my interview with Dean Heller, but they understood that this was not my fault, and the interview was wonderful. Heller is a great conservative facing a 2012 challenge from Shelley Berkeley, a corrupt liberal pawn of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid axis. Go give Senator Heller $25 or $50 for his re-election campaign now.

Once we’d finished the interview, I hailed a cab and went to the Ronald Reagan Center for the RJC shindig. No sooner had I signed in at the media credentials table than I encountered Texas Gov. Rick Perry and his entourage entering the auditorium. Got some pictures then went inside where Newt Gingrich was talking. And talking and talking.

Let’s face it: If you want a president who can spontaneously deliver a five-minute policy seminar on any topic under the sun, Newt’s you’re guy. Dude opens his mouth and entire paragraphs come tumbling out, each paragraph including at least one “frankly” and one “fundamentally.”

The RJC audience seemed to dig Newt’s act, but frankly, I’m fundamentally opposed to his candidacy.

Didn’t stick around to hear Perry’s speech, although I’m told his three-point plan for Middle East peace was excellent, if only he could have remembered the third point.

Of course, I missed Rick Santorum’s RJC speech this morning. Fortunately, Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times was there:

Former Sen. Rick Santorum said there’s good reason why he’s talking a lot more about foreign policy than other Republican candidates.
“Because I believe that there’s a very good chance that by next election day, the national security issues in this country will be of higher priority in the eyes of the American people than the economy,” he said Wednesday morning in Washington. . . .
Invoking the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the former Pennsylvania senator slammed President Obama for a policy of “appeasement” with regard to Iran that has allowed that nation to become a much bigger threat.
“I know people in this country are tired of war. But our Pearl Harbor already happened,” he said.
Iran has grown stronger because of Obama’s indifference, he argued. The so-called Arab spring should have begun in Iran in 2009, but Obama failed to support democratic uprisings there. And yet he threw an ally of the United States and Israel — Egypt — “under the bus” in the face of demonstrations that included the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The president, for every thug and hooligan, for every radical Islamist, has had nothing but appeasement,” he said. “Ladies and gentlemen, learn from history.”

My sarcastic friend Dave Weigel mocks the “Santorum surge,” but Dave will be laughing out the other side of his face when Santorum claims victory Jan. 3 in Des Moines. Go give Rick Santorum $25, $50 or $100 just to spite Weigel. Anyway . . .

So I was standing out in the lobby after the Gingrich speech with several other reporters (including S.A. Miller of the New York Post, whom I used to work with at The Washington Times) who were on Newt stakeout duty, and guess who walked by? Scooter Libby, who is now a foreign-policy expert at the Hudson Institute.  That was cool.

The reporters and I were standing around talking Iowa caucus travel plans when — whoosh! — a couple of camera guys took off running: Newt had been spotted, and I raced to catch up with the scrum, getting pictures and videos.

“No more questions,” Newt was saying, as he posed for pictures with some of the event attendees. But reporters kept sticking microphones in his face and asking questions he’d just said he wouldn’t answer. The TV camera guys were really just shooting B-roll, and I was mainly trying not to get trampled by the scrum. There is nothing quite like a mob of media surrounding a Republican presidential front-runner.

Oh, and Trampled By The Scrum would be a great album title for an alternative-rock band.

Then I hopped a Metro train across the river here to The American Spectator office where I wasn’t really surprised to learn that they didn’t have any travel expense money for me today.

Maybe next week. Gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. Hit the freaking tip jar.

Now I’m due for a party tonight hosted by the Prosper Group, an “online strategy” operation smart enough to invite me to their party. Expect incriminating pictures tomorrow of Republican operatives having decadent fun, some of whom will be buttonholing me in the near future to write nice things about their clients.

This is why you pay me the medium bucks, eh?


Category: Election 2012, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Shoe Leather Fund
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