The Other McCain

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

INTERVIEW: Sean Bielat Says He’ll Make 2012 Campaign Decision ‘Next Week’

Posted on | December 1, 2011 | 15 Comments

In 2010, Republican Sean Bielat gave Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank the toughest re-election challenge the Democrat had ever experienced. Although Bielat’s insurgent Tea Party-backed campaign fell short of unseating Frank, it was obviously a factor in the 16-term congressman’s decision this week to retire at the end of his current term, rather than seek re-election in a newly redrawn district. Thursday night, Bielat spoke to me in a brief telephone interview.

Robert Stacy McCain: So, this is the week of ‘Bye Bye Barney.’ How are you feeling right now?
Sean Bielat: [Laughs.] Well, you know, if you would have asked me a year ago at this time, I would have said that this was exactly what was going to happen. And then, you know, when he came out February and said, ‘I’m definitely running . . . definitely going to be back in this thing,’ I took it with a grain of salt, but I believed it. So he definitely caught me off-guard [by announcing his retirement Monday].

RSM: He’s saying that it’s mainly about the re-districting. Have you taken a good look at that map?
BIELAT: Yeah, I have. It is a much better district.
RSM: You mean, for a Republican?
BIELAT: Yeah. It’s still overwhelmingly Democrat, but it’s a much better district than before. But implicit in that comment – ‘it’s because of re-districting’ – is the fact that he thinks he’s going to have a competitive opponent, right? Because he’s been re-districted before and not retired. The difference is, he had a challenge last time. Now it’s a new district and I think he just wasn’t sure he’d make it through and it wasn’t worth the effort.

RSM: OK. And are you taking a victory lap? I mean, do you believe that your challenge last year convinced him that it was time to pack it in?
BIELAT: I’m also taking that with a grain of salt. I don’t think he would have retired if I hadn’t run against him, but I also don’t think he’s retiring because I did.
He, on Election Day [in 2010], thought he was going to lose. We were told that by a number of the reporters who were following him and who were in his van – they thought they were going to lose. And you saw he put a couple hundred thousand dollars of his own money it, you know. I don’t think he enjoyed this experience. He hadn’t really done this since 1982. I don’t think he enjoyed the eight debates. I think he was worn out. And I think he didn’t want to do it again, particularly if the district was going to be more favorable to his opponent.

RSM: And is there a chance that that opponent might be you?
BIELAT: [Laughs.] Well, there’s no chance it will be me against Barney, but there’s definitely a chance that it will be me against whatever Democrat they’re going to put up in the Fourth [District]. I’m looking very hard at it. Poltically, I think it makes a lot of sense. We’re just trying to figure out personally if it’s what we want right now, with the new baby and the other 15-month-old and, you know, the sacrifices involved in running. But I’m definitely very interested in it.

RSM: You’ve got two children?
BIELAT: Yeah, we just had the second one about two-and-a-half weeks ago.
RSM: Wow. And I understand that you were spending some time in Pennsylvania and some people were trying to lay the ‘carpetbagger’ thing on you.
BIELAT: Yeah, I think it’s tough to do when we only came [to Pennysylvania] in September and the reason I came was because we had family in the area and we had some difficulties the last time around, with the last pregnancy. So we wanted to be here in case that happened again. We’re planning to go back [to Massachusetts] after the holidays. Hope is still a student at Boston University. She took the semester off. She’ll be back in the spring semester. . . . It’s just the circumstance – we wanted to be near family because of the baby.

RSM: OK, and last time around, the Internet fundraising and the support of New Media seemed to really kick your campaign into high gear.
BIELAT: Oh, without a doubt. I mean, one of the most important people for me to get back on the team is [New Media consultant] John La Rosa. I mean, our money came from online. Fox News was huge, too. Every time we went on Fox News, the money would come in, too. But it was because the groundwork was there, because went on the blogs. It was all over the Internet – the Tweets were out there, and Facebook was useful as well.
So it was huge, and then there was the ‘Dancing Barney’ video [by filmmaker Ladd Ehlinger Jr.] and the incident with [Barney Frank’s] significant other, where he was heckling me – that was huge. I can’t tell you how many people came up to me about that, or said, ‘I sent you a contribution after I saw that.’ That wouldn’t have gotten out there without the New Media channels.

RSM: So that really made a difference. What would be the timetable, if you did decide to run? When would you be thinking about putting something together again?
BIELAT: I want to make a decision next week. You know there’s a number of other Republicans who are calling me to find out my plans, because if I’m not getting in, they may want to get in. So I certainly don’t want to slow them down and, you know, I don’t want to be in limbo myself. If I end up not doing this, I’m going to be working on the [political action committee] – I’d like to kick that off and start doing some good there.  So I want to make this decision fairly soon.

RSM: OK, so you say, within a week?
BIELAT: Yeah. That’s the plan.

RSM: Wow. OK, then. So if we’re going to be scrambling the jets, we’re going to be scrambling the jets in a pretty quick hurry here.
BIELAT: Yeah. I mean, if I’m going to get in, I want to raise money this quarter. And if I’m going to raise money in December, when the holidays are coming up, I’ve got to do it right at the beginning. So that means making my decision right away.

Category: Congress, Election 2012, Massachusetts, Sean Bielat

Campaign Update: Rick Santorum Adds Friday Event in Merrimack, N.H.

Posted on | December 1, 2011 | 4 Comments

As reported this morning, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum will arrive Friday in New Hampshire for a two-day campaign tour. In a “media advisory” issued Thursday afternoon, the former Pennsylvania senator’s campaign announced the addition of another event to his Granite State itinerary. Santorum will speak at 9 a.m. Friday to students and faculty at Merrimack High School, at 38 McElwain Street in Merrimack, NH.

Category: Election 2012, New Hampshire, Rick Santorum

The Raven Keeps Calling Newt’s Name

Posted on | December 1, 2011 | 17 Comments

“If we’re really going to do this, can we at least first have a semi-competitive primary between Newt and a more conservative candidate? Perry’s still out there, you know, hangin’ around at five percent for a big hug from the base. All you have to do is wish it to make it so!”
— Allahpundit

While I was busy today on a “therapeutic escape from depressing realities,” and examining the prophetic omens of cosmic significance, news kept happening:

Gingrich Tells ABC News:
‘I’m Going to Be The Nominee’
By Jake Tapper

WEST DES MOINES, IOWA — A very confident New Gingrich asserted to ABC News Thursday afternoon that he will be the Republican presidential nominee.
“I’m going to be the nominee,” the former Speaker told ABC News. “It’s very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high I’m going to be the nominee.”
The bold assertion came after Gingrich refused to criticize the Republican challengers who have begun attacking him and his record. . . .

You should read the whole thing. And not just because “Jake Tapper” is the Greatest-Ever Not-Really-a-Porn-Alias Name, but also because Newt’s got hubris like some people have halitosis. If your quest is to find the one Republican 2012 candidate who can match the insuperable arrogance of Barack Obama, go with Gingrich.

Mitt Romney preps Newt Gingrich attack
— Politico

Look, Mitt, why bother doing it yourself? Just give your oppo-research dossier on Gingrich to Curt Anderson and let him leak the juicy stuff to Politico. About a week from now, we could all be watching the Gloria Allred press conference with her client, a male-to-female transsexual, describing the beastly abuse she suffered from Newt — 15 years ago, before the operation.

“No fingerprints,” as they say.

Top Romney Aide Calls Gingrich Evil
— Human Events

See what I’m talking about, Mitt? That’s the kind of headlines you get when you don’t outsource your hit-jobs to clever consultant types who know how to do this “Black Ops” stuff right. And I’m not saying that John Sexton at Verum Serum is on your payroll, but he does good work. IYKWIMAITYD.

Gingrich Says He Was Acting as
a Citizen, Not a Lobbyist 
— New York Times

What part of “eye-rolling disbelief” is so hard to understand here? Newt just decides as a citizen he needs to get in touch with his old buddies in Congress and tell them to enact policies that — coincidence! — happen to benefit the clients who are stuffing big money into Newt’s bank account. 

Happens every day. Not a crime. “No fingerprints,” as they say.

Newt Gingrich Isn’t Exactly
What You’d Call ‘Electable’
— Some Guy Who Wrote a Mitt Romney Hagiography

Well, enough news for now. Readers will excuse me, as I must make a phone call explaining to Rick Santorum the significance of a certain archipelago in the South Pacific — as a citizen.


Category: Election 2012, Newt Gingrich

‘BumBumBum’ Drumbeat: End The Fed

Posted on | December 1, 2011 | 11 Comments

by Smitty

Freedom Works has a great piece on what is among the most crucial issues of our day: Ending the Fed. Couple of quick points, emphasis mine,

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is desperate to protect his privileged secrecy. Bloomberg writes that he “argued that revealing borrower details would create a stigma — investors and counterparties would shun firms that used the central bank as lender of last resort — and that needy institutions would be reluctant to borrow in the next crisis.” Helicopter Ben, a nickname he acquired by essentially stating that the government could “defeat” deflation by dropping money out of helicopter, cares more about protecting the reputation of his cronies than letting the American people know where their money is going.

Hey, get stuffed, Bernanke. As far as I can tell, you have just said that fair markets are bad. That transparency==stigma. That we cannot handle the truth. We may need to borrow Nigel Farage to ask the Who Are You? question.

An overwhelming 75% of Americans want a comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve, according to a recent Rasmussen poll. The calls for a true audit are getting louder and stronger by the day. The fight for transparency is transcending party lines, with fiscal conservatives such as Ron Paul and self-identified Democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders working together to remove the Fed’s cloak of secrecy. More Republican presidential candidates are starting to echo Ron Paul’s long held beliefs on the Fed.

I think that an actual look at Bernanke’s shenanigans is going to drive the stake through the Federal Reserve heart. There is just no way under the sun that this bogus distinction for the Federal Reserve, such that “its monetary policy decisions do not have to be approved by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branches of government” is thoroughly and completely wrong, as well as counter to the spirit of our Constitution.

More at Zero Hedge. Is there anything more painful than someone refusing to admit that it’s over?

Update: some post-Fed thoughts in U.S. News.

Category: End The Fed

BULLETIN: Earthquake Hits Vanuatu as Santorum Vows on National TV: ‘We’re Going to Surprise a Lot of People’ in Iowa

Posted on | December 1, 2011 | 15 Comments

Geologists, eschatologists and political observers took note Thursday when an earthquake struck the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu at the exact time that Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said during an appearance on a U.S. television network that he would do “very, very well” in next month’s Iowa caucuses.

“It’s coming our way,” the former Pennysylvania senator told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “We’re the campaign that’s on the move. We’re the campaign that’s rising.”

Students of apocalyptic prophecies noted that, even as Santorum was speaking, a 5.2-magnitude earthquake rattled Vanuatu, a tiny achipelago of volcanic islands between Fiji and New Guinea.

“We will do well in Iowa — I have no doubt about that,” Santorum said during his Thursday interview with Mitchell. “We’re going to surprise a lot of people on [Iowa caucus] Election Day on January third.”

Thursday’s earthquake was the third to strike Vanuatu in the past five days. The former French colony was hit with 4.7 quakes on Wednesday and on Nov. 26, which most seismologists described as aftershocks of the 8.7-magnitude earthquake near Vanuatu on Nov. 11.

Asked by MSNBC’s Mitchell about his disagreements with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Santorum said the current GOP front-runner has “been jumping around a lot” on “very big, definining issues in Iowa and across the county,” including cap-and-trade legislation that would impact “lots of farmers in Iowa.”

Although no deaths resulted from the series of earthquakes that have recently shaken Vanuatu (known by Westerners as the New Hebrides prior to becoming an independent republic in 1980), disaster-relief organizations warned that tsunamis or other deadly catastrophes are possible if the long-dreaded “Big One” should hit next.

Recent polls in Iowa show Santorum in 7th place, although his strong grassroots campaign in the Hawkeye State has taken him to all 99 Iowa counties. A Catholic father of seven children, Santorum is staunchly supported by social conservatives, and recently gained the endorsement of Karen Testerman, a New Hampshire activist described by The Hill as a “powerful former . . . supporter” of Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.

The Santorum campaign had no immediate comment on speculation by one autodidactic religious scholar that the Vanuatu earthquakes may be a “biblical omen of cosmic significance.” However, a few hours before the 5.2-magnitude quake hit Thursday afternoon, Santorum spokesman Matt Benyon issued an “updated media advisory” announcing that six events have been added to the campaign’s “Faith, Family and Freedom Tour” of Iowa that begins Sunday afternoon.

 




 


 

RECENTLY:

Category: Election 2012, Iowa, MSNBC, Rick Santorum, Vanuatu

Ace of Spades Really Hates Ron Paul, Endorses Re-Election of Barack Obama

Posted on | December 1, 2011 | 73 Comments

“I heretofore state I will not support, or vote for, Ron Paul, under any circumstances whatsoever.
“That’s where I’m coming from. Under no circumstances whatsoever will I vote for this reactionary, anti-semitic peacenik ‘We brought 9/11 ourselves’ pacifist Chomskyite crank.
“And I’ll say it: I will, yes, be amenable to Barack Obama being re-elected under those circumstances.”
— Ace of Spades

This seems to be turning into “Let’s F– With Ace” Week, so what the heck? Go with it. Having spent three months kicking Tabitha Hale in the shins — “Not Good Enough for BlogCon” — this wheel’s gonna keep on squeaking until some grease shows up.

Also, “heretofore,” Ace? Think you meant “hereby” or “henceforth,” but if the Valu-Rite Vodka says “heretofore” . . . Go with it.

Everybody knows I love Ace, so why am I doing this? Why would I push a running gag so far as to deliberately expose him to the vitriolic rage of the Paulistas who will flood his comments with fuming denunciations? A few possibilities suggest themselves:

A. It beats the hell out of finishing my long post about why you should hit my tip jar to send me to Iowa.
B. It beats the hell out of transcribing audio of the various interviews I’ve done recently.
C. It beats the hell out of soberly confronting the undeniably grim prospects for the Herman Cain campaign.
D. There’s no point traffic-baiting Allahpundit who, since becoming an employee of Salem Communications Inc., doesn’t give a damn anymore whether bloggers talk smack about him.
E. Admit it: “Let’s F– With Ace” Week is probably funnier than anything else I could be blogging about this week.

If you answered “All of the Above, But Mainly E,” congratulations: Put $10, $20, $50 in my tip jar and I’ll keep it up all week, just for fun and also to pay my way to Iowa. Because if you’re going to f–k around on a blog as a therapeutic escape from depressing realities, you might as well do it for profit. More f–king around after this ad for our Amazon “Black Monday Deals Week” specials.

See? I got no shame in my game, because Smitty reminded me last week why he’s willing to pay the blog-hosting fees out of his own pocket: It’s his patriotic duty to keep me online. Read more

Category: Ace of Spades, Amazon, Election 2012, Iowa, Neutral Objective Journalism, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Shoe Leather Fund

“Lack Of A Coalition. . .Is Nature’s Way Of Saying Something’s Wrong”

Posted on | December 1, 2011 | 17 Comments

by Smitty

I don’t know if Quigley’s sad little attempt at divide-and-conquer in The Hill is worth a RTWT, but these lines are a hoot:

Because right now the hard-hat Republican base has commandeered the party. It retreats to a degenerative state and doesn’t have a chance against President Obama. The varying support and lack of coalition around a candidate is nature’s way of saying something’s wrong.

There had been an allusion to the 70’s distinction of “hippies v. hard hats” earlier in the article. Quigley seems so scared of saying Tea Party, in his attempt to goad Sara Palin into declaring a run:

Sarah Palin, still a paid commentator I believe for Fox, should go direct on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s show — he the honest, courageous dean of free comment today — and say this: “I am thinking of entering the Republican primary campaign.”

A sentence so tortured, it looks like one of mine.

The Left cannot seem to grasp that a vocal chunk of Americans really care more about liberty than this or that personality. You read the news: the Attorney General is a thug, the Federal Reserve is expending the last of our economic vitality on Europe, the Middle East is on the brink of a full-on regional war, the welfare state entitlements are strangling any future hope. You realize that statesmanship is more about having the correct principles and being committed to them than it is about having excellent sound bites and a swell personality.

I’m writing Sarah Palin in during the primary, and I hope she doesn’t declare until the last legally possible moment, mostly in protest and rejection of the existing, defunct political system.

via Ginthegin

Category: Sarah Palin

The Web Site That Mrs. The Other McCain MUST NOT SEE

Posted on | December 1, 2011 | 10 Comments

by Smitty
Under no circumstances should Mrs. The Other McCain’s web browser be permitted to visit this site:

If she goes there, all heck could break loose. All readers are encouraged to help restrain Mrs. The Other McCain. That is all.

Category: humor
« 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