The Other McCain

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

Friedrich Hayek vs. Ace of Spades

Posted on | November 30, 2011 | 44 Comments

“Yeah, I know political journalists aren’t supposed to believe in ‘omens.’ Still, there’s something vaguely . . . hinky about the way Perry’s stealth campaign has been operating here in Iowa.
“Call me crazy. Attribute my forebodings of doom to irrational prejudice. Say what you will, and I don’t care, but I felt a need to put on the record my instinctive sense that there’s something fundamentally wrong about the Perry campaign. And if Jan. 20, 2013, brings the joyous inauguration of President Perry, then you can say my fears were mistaken. Yet I can’t shake my gut hunch that it won’t work out that way. Some kind of catastrophe will result, one way or another.”
— Robert Stacy McCain, Aug. 9, 2011

OK, Smitty’s been doing the philosophical thing with his series about “Explaining Postmodernism,” while I’ve been trying to do news, news, news, and I’m in a mood to stretch my intellectual legs a few minutes.

Last night I nudged Ace a little bit, and today Jeff Goldstein gave Ace an intellectual body-check, and then today — riffing on a Dennis Miller rant — Ace came back with a long argument that included this:

[P]eople don’t get invested, as far as emotional and [egotistical] investment, in facts and data.
What they get emotionally and egotistically invested in is probabilities and guesses based upon underlying worldview.
It’s this — the gut, the “psychic vibe,” the horse-sense, the common-sense, the cunning, the read on people, the ability to predict the future based on incomplete information — that people really get personally invested in.
It really makes no sense. Everyone knows there is no such thing as psychic vibes, everyone knows the “gut” is a decent instinctual device but hardly something you’d want to start betting big money on, and everyone knows that predicting the future is a job for charlatans and fools, but when we start making predictions — “Sarah Palin can’t win!”; “No, Sarah Palin will dominate!“ — all of a sudden we start speaking with a level of assuredness and confidence and emotional investment that we are too smart to apply to virtually any other situation.
And this keeps happening. No matter what the topic, the less that is known about a situation, the less intellectually confident we can each be about our tentative conclusions, the more emotionally confident we will become.

Well, you can read the whole thing, but here’s my counterpoint: We know what we know and we reason outward on the basis of known facts — accumulated through education, observation and experience — to speculate on the probable nature of the unknown.

What Ace calls “gut” is therefore not always pure instinct or mere arrogant assertion of personal, subjective opinion.

There is such a thing as an informed guess. If someone is a professional pilot, and he sees a TV news report about an airline crash, what he guesses about the likely cause of the crash is not merely “gut.” Likewise, if a veteran police detective picks up a magazine and reads a story about an unsolved murder case, his suppositions about the crime are more than “gut.” Read more

Category: Ace of Spades, Rick Perry

If You Secret Santa Any Of These Gifts, Ensure It Looks Like Your Foe Bought It

Posted on | November 30, 2011 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

Our first product comes via email to Mrs. The Other Smitty.:


I mean, really:

  • If your intent is to give yourself more than a sanctimonious hit of feel-goodery, why not foster or adopt a. . .human being? Adoption is noble. Ask any Christian who has studied the Galatian Epistle at length.
  • The polar bear population myth is a rightLeft pile of hooey.

Speaking of dodgy research, item #2 is an old chestnut from The Onion:
Revolutionary New Insoles Combine Five Forms Of Pseudoscience

Stressed and sore-footed Americans everywhere are clamoring for the exciting new MagnaSoles shoe inserts, which stimulate and soothe the wearer’s feet using no fewer than five forms of pseudoscience.

Check that Onion link for that special hypochondriac near your.

Our third product is courtesy of Jay Leno:

Other than Andrew Sullivan, I can’t think of anybody who would do this to a vehicle.

At any rate, the post title is intended as a jest, and holds two points for real life:

  • Being indirect about random acts of kindness is one thing. Behaving deviously about gifts is another. Don’t be a backstabber.
  • Also, never maintain a foe. Make sure that if there is a problem with a co-worker, it’s entirely on them. Give no cause for offense.
Category: humor

New Cain Campaign Video: ‘Put an Executive in the Executive Office’

Posted on | November 30, 2011 | 69 Comments

The Herman Cain campaign today released a new online video focusing on job creation and economic issues:

A press release (see full text below) from the campaign called the video a “new Iowa ad,” although the length — 51 seconds instead of 30 seconds — would make it incompatible with standard broadcast requirements. The statement from campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon did not include any specifics about when or in what venues the video might be aired.

** TEXT OF CAIN CAMPAIGN PRESS RELEASE **

Cain Releases New Ad in Iowa;
Campaign Moves Forward

It’s time to draw a line in the sand.
While the Obama Administration sits on the sidelines, and Congress gets nothing done to help end this crippling recession, Republican candidate for president, Herman Cain, is traveling the country, spreading his vision to jump-start the economy and create a climate where businesses can grow and produce.
Take a moment and watch the Cain Campaign’s latest video, shot in a factory, in which Mr. Cain lays out a clear and concise message on how to get the manufacturing sector in this country back on track, generating millions of new, high-paying, private sector jobs.
It’s no secret that the Democrat Party and their surrogates in the mainstream media are out to derail Herman Cain’s candidacy, and the only way for them to succeed is to destroy him personally.
How can we expect good conservative “candidates of the people” to stand up against the “establishment” and run in the future if we abandon Herman Cain now?
It’s time to tell it like it is: Herman Cain threatens the Democrat Party like no other candidate, and because they cannot defeat him on the battlefield of ideas, they must resort to the desperate strategy being played out in public now and fueled on by the liberal media.
Don’t let it happen. Watch Mr. Cain talk about what’s really important: Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Then send the link to your friends and help them learn about the “9-9-9 Plan” and Jobs. Jobs. Jobs

For More Information:
J.D. Gordon, Vice President of Campaign Communications
Friends of Herman Cain, Inc.


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Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain, Video

Herman Cain to Neil Cavuto: Affair Accusation Came ‘Out of the Blue’

Posted on | November 30, 2011 | 41 Comments

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain says a woman who claimed to have had an affair with him was among “many people” to whom he has provided financial assistance, and that her accusation was “out of the blue.”

“I have helped many people financially . . . She’s not the only person I have helped,” Cain said in an appearance today on Neal Cavuto’s Fox News program. Cavuto asked the Atlanta businessman about the claims of Ginger White, who has produced phone records showing more than 60 texts and conversations with Cain’s personal cell-phone number.

“That by itself doesn’t tell you the whole story,” Cain told Cavuto, explaining that his campaign has not had access to the records White showed to an Atlanta TV reporter. He said he had no warning that White was prepared to go public with her claims.

“Boom! Out of nowhere. . . . This was totally out of the blue,” Cain said, describing the accusations against him as “character assassination” because he was “doing so well” in his campaign. “As long as I was low in the polls, this stuff didn’t come out.”

Cain’s poll numbers have dropped substantially in the past month, as he has battled accusations that he sexually harassed women during his tenure as president of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.

Cain told Cavuto that he is concerned about the impact of the accusations on his family, especially his wife, saying the charges were “having an emotional toll on her . . . she gets upset.”

As for the motives of White, whom Cain acknowledges he has known since 1998, Cain suggested to Cavuto that “people . . . are putting her up to this . . . We don’t know who it is.”

RECENTLY:

Category: Election 2012, Fox News, Herman Cain

Q: Can You Tell The Difference Between The World’s Youngest Blogger And The U.S. Attorney General?

Posted on | November 30, 2011 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

A: One of them lacks the maturity for public office; the other one is four months old.
Consider the WYB’s overly precise exposition of both this administration’s Fast & Furious operation, and Eric Holder’s non-approach to explaining to the American people just what these shenanigans mean:

Again, he’s four months old. We can expect, over time, that the WYB will do a better job of conveying the bigger picture of what is going on, without so slavishly reproducing the infantile mewlings of Eric Holder:

Embattled Attorney General Eric Holder today demanded The Daily Caller stop publishing articles about the growing calls in Congress for his resignation because of the failed Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking program.
As Holder’s aide was escorting the attorney general offstage following his remarks Tuesday afternoon at the White House, a Daily Caller reporter introduced himself and shook Holder’s hand. The reporter asked him for a response to the growing chorus of federal legislators demanding his resignation.
Holder stepped towards the exit, then turned around, stepped back toward the reporter, and sternly said, “You guys need to — you need to stop this. It’s not an organic thing that’s just happening. You guys are behind it.”
Holder then walked offstage without answering TheDC’s request for comment about calls for his resignation.

Via Atlas Shrugs

Category: Democrats, Eric Holder, World's Youngest Blogger

Exploring ‘Explaining Postmodernism’ By Stephen Hicks 6: Four Whore’s Men

Posted on | November 30, 2011 | 9 Comments

by Smitty

The stunning conclusion.

The Four Whore’s Men of the Apocalypse
If there was any redeeming value in the thought of their predecessors, then

scuttled it. God save their souls, and damn their ‘ideas’. These chaps have done Western civilization no favors whatsoever. Let their ideas begone, and may they take Chomsky’s noise with them. Read more

Category: Intellectuals

CRISIS LOOMS FOR HERMAN CAIN CAMPAIGN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE UPDATE: Cain Tells CNN He’ll Make Decision ‘Within the Next Several Days’

Posted on | November 30, 2011 | 27 Comments

Sources close to the Herman Cain presidential campaign in New Hampshire say that the candidate will be flying into a firestorm of trouble when he arrives in Manchester for events tonight.

Reporters for New Hampshire news organizations today contacted Cain campaign insiders in the state asking if they were aware that at least seven Republican members of the state legislature who had previously endorsed the Atlanta businessman were preparing to rescind their endorsements. These additional defections follow in the wake of reports yesterday that two GOP state legislators who had endorsed Cain had switched their support to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Meanwhile, some of Cain’s most enthusiastic supporters in the state insist that there must be major changes to the campaign. These supporters cited grievances that include what they call the incompetence of Cain’s New Hampshire state campaign director Charlie Spano, as well as widespread discontent among Cain’s supporters with his campaign’s national staff.

UPDATE: Cain is scheduled to arrive this evening in Manchester to hold a private meeting with his New Hampshire supporters at 7:30 p.m., and has scheduled a press conference for 8:45 p.m. ET.

WMUR-TV reported yesterday that two GOP state representatives, Sam Cataldo and William Panek, were switching their endorsements from Cain to Gingrich. Panek told CBS News that the Cain campaign’s “handling of [sexual accusations] does bother me,” and added: “It makes [Cain’s endorsers] look bad too because we’re supporting him.”

WMUR also reported that yesterday afternoon, a few hours after Cain told staff and volunteers on a conference call that he was “re-assessing” his campaign, Cain’s Manchester campaign office was locked, with an “out to lunch” sign on the door — at 2:30 p.m.

UPDATE II: John DiStaso of the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader reported yesterday:

Cain is scheduled to return to New Hampshire Wednesday night and meet with supporters and the media at about 8:30 p.m. at his state campaign headquarters at 62 Lowell St., Manchester, said spokesman Charlie Spano. . . .
Cain spokesman [J.D.] Gordon told the Granite Status in an email that Cain still intends to appear at the New Hampshire Union Leader on Thursday for an interview. . . .
Spano said that he has heard nothing to indicate that Cain has changed his planned appearances elsewhere in the state on Thursday.
“This is a serious matter to have to deal with but at the same time, the New Hampshire staff is determined to go forward with the campaign and do what is necessary to compete and bring the message of economic revival through his ‘9-9-9 plan’ to voters,” Spano said.
Spano said the four members of Cain’s New Hampshire staff “believe in his integrity and that this is a man who was helping a friend and has helped friends in his life.”

UPDATE III: While Cain’s New Hampshire operations appeared on the verge of implosion today, the candidate made a scheduled appearance in Ohio, which does not hold its primary until June. The loudest complaints against the Cain campaign this year have been from supporters in early primary and caucus states — including Iowa and New Hampshire — that the candidate has not appeared often enough in those key states.

ABC News reported that, during his appearance today in West Chester, Ohio, Cain said he is a victim of “character assassination” and said he has gotten “a groundswell of positive support” in the wake of an Atlanta businesswoman’s claim that she had a 13-year affair with Cain, a claim he has denied.

UPDATE IV: CNN’s Jim Acosta files a report from Ohio, and here is a transcript of his on-air report to the network:

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Just moments ago our Jim Acosta got a very quick one-on-one with Herman Cain, the man who is debating whether to stay in the race for the president. Jim joins us on the phone right now.
Jim, what did he say?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Randi, you know, we only asked him a couple of questions. That’s all the time we had. He was doing the rope line inside a Marriott Hotel in Dayton , Ohio , after wrapping up a speech. And I just asked him very quickly, are you vowing to stay in the race? And all he would say is, we are reassessing and re-evaluating. And then I asked him again, does that mean you’re staying in the race? And he would — he only responded, we are re-evaluating and reassessing. And then I asked him, when will you have a final decision on your future plans? And he said within the next several days.
So, it sounds like Herman Cain is not going to drop out of this race today. It sounds that (ph) he may not drop out at all. We listened to his speech inside this hotel just a few minutes ago and he was very defiant, saying that character assassination would not drive him out of this race. But when we asked him specifically, on the record, on camera, whether or not he is going to stay in this race, he did not give us a straight answer, Randi.
KAYE: Jim, does he seem at all worn down or frustrated by all of this?
ACOSTA: You know, if anything, he looked emboldened. I have to say, he gave a very fiery speech here. It was basically his standard stump speech. It had most of the one liners that people who have covered him closely have heard before. But he really whipped up this crowd here.
He had a very large crowd inside this ball room just a few moments ago and they were eating it up. And they were shouting back to him, Randi, don’t get out of this race. Stay in the race. We need you, Herman Cain. So, the candidate was defiant and so was his audience.
KAYE: Jim Acosta, a nice get, getting a quick interview there with Herman Cain. Thank you for that reporting.

UPDATE V: Linked at POH Diaries and Legal Insurrection — thanks!

Just got an e-mail from Cain campaign chief of staff Mark Block, acknowledging he had seen this article. The last time I saw Block was when we had a smoke together outside a Cain post-debate party in Spartanburg, S.C., on Nov. 12. I told him then, as I had told him many times before: Bring back Dan Tripp.

We were off the record, so I can’t report Block’s reaction, and I get paid to cover campaigns, not to offer campaigns unsolicited advice. But the word I’m getting out of New Hampshire — i.e., that would-be Cain volunteers have been kept at arm’s length by Spano’s hired staff in Manchester — suggests that the services of Tripp (or someone like him) could come in handy. Just sayin’ . . .

 

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Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain, New Hampshire

Doubling Down On Ehlinger’s Argument

Posted on | November 30, 2011 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

Emphasis mine:

Quit wasting your time and the country’s time trolling Teh Algorez Internetz trying to find the next Presidential messiah. Figure out who your Reps are, figure out if they are worthy of your support or opposition. Your country needs them and you to focus on what’s important.
And no b.s. carping on how you’re in a deep blue district and it’s not possible to win. Fight collectivists where you live first before turning into a zealot over a primary contest on the other side of the country. Remember Barney Frank? Bielat fought the crap out of him in 2010. Sure, Barney won, but it was Bielat and the voters who were vindicated yesterday, when Frank declined to run in 2012.

Ladd stopped by for breakfast here in Northern Virginia a couple weeks back while driving homeward. The Eighth District of Virginia is pretty much George Washington’s back yard. And yet, in our era of Progressivism, the imperial Federal Government has resulted in ‘Gentleman’ Jim Moran, he of the 90 stock swaps the day after the 2008 financial crisis briefing to Congress. How can any self respecting, legitimate American fail to support Patrick Murray, even in the face of the worst odds since Washington took on the British Army?

Go long. Go for incremental victories. I hope at the very least to see Ladd do an advertisement in support of Murray’s repeat campaign.
MORAN DELENDA EST. Support Patrick Murray:

Category: Ladd Ehlinger, Patrick Murray
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