The Other McCain

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

Cain on CNN: ‘In Terms of the Mechanics of the Campaign, Nothing’s Gone Wrong’

Posted on | November 27, 2011 | 24 Comments

Talking to Candy Crowley today on her State of the Union show:

Herman Cain ascribed his recent drop in the polls to false sexual harassment allegations and voter confusion about his positions on abortion and foreign policy, saying Sunday that some of his remarks over the past month had been taken out of context.
“Obviously false accusations and confusion about some of my positions has contributed to it,” Cain said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked by host Candy Crowley about his campaign’s flagging poll numbers.
“That was to be expected. In terms of the campaign itself, nothing has gone wrong in terms of our strategy of spending time in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida,” Cain added. “So in terms of the mechanics of the campaign, nothing’s gone wrong.”
Cain said criticism over his position on abortion and foreign policy matters was fueled largely by comments that were taken out of context, leading to voter confusion.
“Some people are heavily influenced by perception more so than reality,” Cain said. “The good news is most of my supporters have stayed on the Cain train, as we say.”

Speaking of the Cain Train, I just got off the phone with a lady in Northport, Alabama, who is organizing a convoy of Cain volunteers that will be heading to South Carolina in January.

“The media don’t have a clue,” she said, speaking of what the grassroots network of Cain supporters have been doing “under the radar.”

UPDATE: A Cain volunteer created this video and, if you’ll watch closely at the 32-second mark — showing Cain speaking at the Iowa State Fair in August — you might spot an objective journalist in a brown fedora and navy blazer sitting in the front row:

UPDATE II: Here’s video of Cain on CNN:

Alan Colmes calls Cain “incomprehensible,” which leads to the obvious question: Why does Alan Colmes hate black people?

Unfair? Of course. But liberals have been playing that cheap game constantly the past four years, and have thus forfeited the right to complain about “fairness” in political arguments.

Now a Memeorandum thread.

Category: Alabama, CNN, Election 2012, Herman Cain, South Dakota

Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader Endorses Newt Gingrich for President

Posted on | November 27, 2011 | 24 Comments

Unexpectedly?

For President, Newt Gingrich
This newspaper endorses Newt Gingrich in the New Hampshire Presidential Primary.
America is at a crucial crossroads. It is not going to be enough to merely replace Barack Obama next year. We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing. . . .

It’s all over the top of Memeorandum:

Union Leader endorses Newt Gingrich
— Politico

Gingrich wins Union Leader endorsement
— The Hill

Newt Gingrich Gets Big
New Hampshire Endorsement
— Fox News

Will this endorsement help Gingrich raise lots of money? Yep. Will it prevent Mitt Romney from winning New Hampshire? Nope.

“Behold . . . a little cloud . . . like a man’s hand,” on the horizon:

After Tuesday’s debate sponsored by the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute, The American Spectator‘s George Neumayr criticized Gingrich for his “scolding tone” on immigration, saying that Gingrich had “alienated conservatives … with his holier-than-thou approach to illegal immigration.” Tim Albrecht, spokesman for Iowa’s Republican Gov. Terry Brandstad, said on Twitter after the debate: “Newt did himself significant harm tonight on immigration among caucus and primary voters.”
Roy Beck of Numbers USA, a group that advocates for lower immigration levels, said voters won’t like Gingrich’s “long-term record” on immigration.
“In fact, Gingrich’s leadership in Congress is one of the reasons we have so many illegal aliens today who have been able to stay in this country for 25 years,” Beck said in an online column Wednesday. “That’s the supreme irony of Gingrich’s pro-amnesty remarks in last night’s debate. The man who helped ensure that illegal aliens from the 1980s and 1990s are still here in 2011 asked voters last night to consider the inhumanity of making illegal aliens leave this country after they have sunk such long roots here.”
Beck noted that Gingrich had a career grade of “D” on Numbers USA’s report card on immigration issues.

Just sayin’ . . . a couple more headlines:

Did Newt Gingrich just
flip-flop on immigration?
— Christian Science Monitor

Rivals say Gingrich stance
is equivalent to amnesty
— Des Moines Register

 


Category: Election 2012, New Hampshire, Newt Gingrich

VIDEO: Latma Works Out On Bob Dylan ‘The Times, They Are A-Changin’

Posted on | November 27, 2011 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

This is one of those that is technically polished, and completely worth your time. Yet somehow the collision of Dylan and Gaza becomes so horrific that you may forget to laugh.

via Atlas Shrugs

Category: humor, Israel, Video

Iowa Heats Up

Posted on | November 26, 2011 | 6 Comments

Thanksgiving’s over. We’re now just 37 days from the Jan. 3 caucuses:

Mitt Romney’s first campaign advertisement in Iowa this election cycle – an oversized postcard – says he’s “the strongest Republican to beat Barack Obama and protect our values.”
So-called “values” voters – conservatives who oppose abortion and same-sex marriage – traditionally turn out in force in Iowa to cast the first votes in the GOP nominating process.
And Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, faces a serious threat from evangelical Christian activists in Iowa, some of whom are plotting ways to block him from winning the Jan. 3 caucuses.
Multiple versions of the Romney mailers, each with a different theme, are circulating in Iowa.
The post-Thanksgiving rush to the 2012 Iowa caucuses, just 37 days away, brought a wave of campaign pitches today.
“Today’s mail included pieces from Cain, Paul & Romney,” Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn tweeted. “Plus a Bachmann autodial.”

A month from today — Dec. 26, the day after Christmas — I plan to be on a plane to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Hit the freaking tip jar.

Category: Election 2012, Iowa

Attention, Lonely Women

Posted on | November 26, 2011 | 26 Comments

There you are, alone at your computer on a Saturday night. Sure, you’re attractive in your own special way. But that miserable city where you live is full of beta males, metrosexuals and other wimpy guys who don’t know how to appreciate a woman like you. There’s only one thing left to do: Head to North Dakota!

TIOGA, N.D. — As much as the drilling rigs that tower over this once placid corner of the prairie, the two communities springing up just outside of town testify to the galloping pace of growth here in oil country.
They are called man camps — temporary housing compounds supporting the overwhelmingly male work force flooding the region in search of refuge from a stormy economy. These two, Capital Lodge and Tioga Lodge, built on opposite sides of a highway, will have up to 3,700 residents, according to current plans.
Confronted with the unusual problem of too many unfilled jobs and not enough empty beds to accommodate the new arrivals, North Dakota embraced the camps — typically made of low-slung, modular dormitory-style buildings — as the imperfect solution to keeping workers rested and oil flowing.

Why are you sitting around all lonely in that city, sweetheart? You could be as popular as the prom queen in Tioga, North Dakota!


Category: North Dakota

He Should Have Shopped Amazon.com

Posted on | November 26, 2011 | 4 Comments

Not only would he have saved money by shopping our Amazon “Black Friday Deals Week” specials, but he’d probably still be alive:

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) — A man collapsed while doing some Black Friday shopping in a crowded store, and people nearby continued to shop.
Witnesses tell WSAZ.com some shoppers walked around and even over the man’s body.
Family members tell WSAZ.com that Walter Vance, of Logan County, W.Va., passed away after being taken to the hospital.
It happened at Target in the Southridge Shopping Center in South Charleston about 12:15 a.m. Friday.

Our condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. While my major motivation in promoting Amazon “Black Friday Deals Week” specials is capitalist greed — I get a small commission on each sale — humanitarian idealists can comfort themselves with the knowledge that they’re preventing senseless holiday shopping tragedies.

Shop Amazon: The Life You Save May Be Your Own!

 

 

UPDATE: In the interest of public safety, let me point out some of the great bargains you can get at Amazon this week:

It’s a fact: Nobody has ever died while shopping our Amazon links.

UPDATE II: More life-saving bargains:

Don’t worry, though: Amazon also sells motorcycle helmets, because they care about your safety. Also, dead customers are bad for business.

 

Category: Amazon

BOOM! Michele Bachmann Publishes Gingrich’s 2004 Pro-Amnesty Letter

Posted on | November 26, 2011 | 64 Comments

Michele Bachmann today offered what she called “more evidence indicating that Newt Gingrich is the most liberal GOP candidate,” in a press release that cites a pro-amnesty letter Gingrich signed in 2004.

The Gingrich letter, sponsored by the neoconservative National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), called for President Bush to offer a “new path” via guest-worker arrangements and to “recognize that those already working here outside the law are unlikely to leave.” The letter was co-authored by longtime pro-immigration activist Tamar Jacoby and originally published Feb. 6, 2004, in the Wall Street Journal.

“This letter is a clear indication that Speaker Gingrich has a deep history of supporting amnesty,” Bachmann said in the press release, sent to national media Saturday shortly after noon ET. “I don’t agree that you should make 11 million workers legal because that in effect is amnesty and will only encourage more illegal immigrants to come here.”

Gingrich has been under fire on the immigration issue since a debate Tuesday, when he proposed granting permanent U.S. residency to illegal immigrants who have been in the United States for 25 years. Gingrich’s rival Mitt Romney slammed Gingrich’s proposal as amnesty, as did influential Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King.

Jacoby is a scholar at the Manhattan Institute who has been called an “open-borders advocate” favoring amnesty for illegal aliens. In addition to Gingrich and the late Jack Kemp, other prominent signers of Jacoby’s NFAP letter included Linda Chavez, Francis Fukuyama and Grover Norquist, as well as former Bachmann adviser Ed Goeas.


Category: Debates, Election 2012, Immigration, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Republicans

Vasquez Sounds: El Talento Musical de Mexicali Lanzó a la Fama por el Video

Posted on | November 26, 2011 | 27 Comments

Los lectores disculpen la torpe español. Esto se traduce del Inglés con Google. Recuerdo la mañana del viernes, cuando he publicado sobre los 10 años de edad, la cantante Angie Vásquez y sus hermanos? Su video musical les ha hecho la mayor sensación en Internet. El video ha recibido casi 6 millones de visitas, y el grupo familiar “Vasquez Sounds” ha aparecido en las noticias de televisión en México y los Estados Unidos.

Esta es una noticia de Reuters en español:

Abelardo Vázquez, padre de los tres niños de Mexicali mejor conocidos como “Los Vázquez Sounds”, comentó que por el momento lo más importante es que sus hijos se sigan desarrollando, aunque, dio a conocer que los hermanos grabarán un cover por mes, para subirlo a internet y venderlo en iTunes.
Abelardo Vázquez, padre de los tres niños de Mexicali mejor conocidos como “Los Vázquez Sounds”, afirmó que no hará ningún lanzamiento de esta agrupación ya que lo más importante en estos momentos es que ellos se sigan desarrollando y preparando, aunque sí adelantó que los hermanos grabarán un cover por mes, para subirlo a internet y venderlo en iTunes.
En entrevista con Javier Poza, el padre de Abelardo Vázquez, Gustavo Vázquez y Angie Vázquez, señaló que será el tiempo el que decida el camino de sus hijos en el ámbito musical.
Y es que de acuerdo con el también productor, tanto él como su esposa, creen que los tres niños que se han convertido en todo un fenómeno en las redes sociales, aún no tienen la edad para enfrentar este tipo de situaciones, ni ser expuestos a los medios de comunicación, sobre todo dijo, porque tiene la creencia de que los niños no deben trabajar, ni tener ese tipo de responsabilidades.
Asimismo, aclaró que si cuentan con una visión sobre ellos, pero a largo plazo, “yo creo que a cierta edad, están haciendo lo que pueden hacer, queremos darles más herramientas para que cuando ellos tengan la edad de decidir qué hacer con sus vidas, lo hagan con menos riesgo y acertadamente”, agregó.
A pregunta expresa sobre si es cierto que ya grabaron algunos covers en un estudio de San Diego y estarán a la venta de manera digital, Abelardo Vázquez, respondió que sí, pues aunque no tienen planes de ningún tipo comercial, tampoco piensan darle la espalda al negocio.
Es decir, esto lo llevarán a cabo siempre y cuando los niños no tengan que trabajar.
De acuerdo con el padre de “Los Vázquez Sounds”, esta idea surgió porque la gente comenzó a preguntar cómo podía descargar el cover, sin embargo, la única manera de que ellos tengan acceso a él de manera legal, es vendiéndolo, ya que así se garantizan los derechos de autor.
De manera que se pusieron en contacto con iTunes y de ahora en adelante grabarán un cover por mes, para subirlo a internet y ponerlo a la venta.
Por otra parte, destacó que desde hace 5 años sus hijos Abelardo y Gustavo tocan juntos y sacan covers, sin embargo, fue hace un mes cuando los tres comenzaron a ensayar durante una semana y quedaron sorprendidos con el resultado.
De manera que a la siguiente semana a su hijo Abelardo se le ocurrió pedirle que los grabara, para hacer el video y subirlo a Youtube, a lo cual accedió con una cámara normal, “de las que se consiguen en cualquier tienda departamental”, dijo.
Agregó, “yo grabé las escenas en donde mi hijo Abelardo que toca varios instrumentos, no podía grabarlas porque él está tocando. Él grabó lo demás, cuando terminamos de hacer las tomas que el sintió que eran las necesarias yo le dejé la cámara y en tres días cuando regresaba de la escuela y todo eso, se puso a editarlo y un viernes me dijo ya lo voy a subir, la verdad no le presté mucha atención porque para mí esto era una cosa de ellos, de chamacos y a los tres días ya era un fenómeno”.
Finalmente, comentó que Angie, su hija, no ha tomado clases de canto, argumentando que posiblemente heredó esto de su madre quien si canta muy bien, a pesar de que no se dedica a ello.
Aunque, sin quitarle el mérito a su hija de 10 años, también señaló que es más fácil que un niño logre alcanzar notas altas, que un adulto.

Switching back to English, I’ll translate to say that their father, Abelardo, doesn’t want them to work professionally yet, because he’s worried about “risk,” and they’re not yet able to face this kind of situation. However, he’s reached an agreement with iTunes for them to upload their versions of some more songs, to be released once a month. The kids began rehearsing their cover of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” about a month ago. His son, also named Abelardo, who plays guitar and piano, asked the father to help with the video, because the son couldn’t play and run the camera at the same time. The video was done with a camera you can buy at any department store. The son edited the video and uploaded it. The father “did not pay much attention” until three days later it became a phenomenon.

Now, back to Spanish:

Mis hijos Jefferson, 12, y Emerson, 10, tienen una canción favorita. De hecho, creo que Emerson podría estar enamorado. ¿Y adivinen a quién más le gusta?

Si le gusta a Alyssa, ¡ya sabes que es impresionante!

UPDATE: Linked by Fausta Wertz, who also provided some free advice on improving the Spanish translation. My oldest daughter Kennedy, now 22, is extraordinarily fluent in Spanish. Her husband’s family is from Argentina and, when Kennedy was 18, she spent a year in a full-immersion program at a college in Argentina.

At family gatherings, I like to tweak my son-in-law by making references to Margaret Thatcher and the Falkland Islands, occasionally breaking into a hearty chorus of “Rule Britannia!”

Category: Mexico, Music
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