The Other McCain

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

So … How Was Your Day?

Posted on | November 16, 2011 | 37 Comments

Mrs. Other McCain locked her keys in the car. It’s raining.

You should hit the tip jar. Not like that’s going to get the keys out of the car (or stop the rain) but it will help cheer up my wife. Meanwhile, in other major breaking news developments . . .

In case you’ve forgotten, the whole point of this headline roundup was to encourage you to hit the freaking tip jar.

Because my wife locked her keys in the car.

Which is my fault.

Because everything is always my fault.





Category: Blogging, Mrs. Other McCain

‘It Was a Pause! … Good Grief!’

Posted on | November 16, 2011 | 23 Comments

So said Herman Cain to a media scrum Monday in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel got to go along for a ride on the campaign bus.

Back in August, Ellen Carmichael promised me a ride on the campaign bus in Iowa, but it never happened because they changed the schedule at the last minute and didn’t bother to tell me until it was too late.

That’s the kind of stuff that happens to bloggers once Tabitha Hale decides you aren’t  good enough for BlogCon.

Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain, Wisconsin

Gollum Reid: ‘That Hobbit Norquist Stole My Preciousssss‘

Posted on | November 16, 2011 | 20 Comments

by Smitty

Via the Puffington Host

He suggested Norquist’s lobbying on the issue is at least one reason why the 12-member super committee hasn’t been able to achieve its goal: trillions of dollars in debt reduction stemming from some combination of spending cuts and new revenues. Several Republicans are wrestling with the fact that they signed Norquist’s no-tax-hike pledge amid debt talks.
“It’s obvious that Grover Norquist has a lot of pull in the Republican caucus and I think that’s an understatement,” Reid said. “So far, I haven’t seen any indication that Republicans are willing to agree to this balanced approach.”
Asked what the public should take away from the state of talks, Reid said, “maybe they should impeach Grover Norquist.”
Norquist later tweeted a response to Reid: “Dear Harry Reid: have a nice day. Think nice thoughts. Calm. Breath slowly. Keep hand in own pocket.”

Just when you thought the Senate Majority Leader had reached beclownment saturation, here he is blaming a lobbyist, albeit a notable one, for Harry Reid’s own non-command of budgeting. The Super Committee is symptomatic of what a failure Harry Reid is as politician. Own it, Harry. It’s not Grover: it’s you.

via Memeorandum

Update: Jimmie at the Sundries Shack gives the point a more thoughtful treatment.

Category: Democrats

Of Course Kagan Will Not Recuse Herself

Posted on | November 16, 2011 | 25 Comments

by Smitty

IBD:

Nearly lost in this is the possibility that Kagan lied during her confirmation. She told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she had not been asked about the legal issues of ObamaCare nor had she offered any views on them. The emails, however, seem to tell a different story. Two exclamation points plainly show that in her legal opinion, ObamaCare was constitutional.

Elena Kagan was telling a higher truth during her confirmation hearings. We are in a Postmodern era. If Kagan felt, at the time of her confirmation hearings, that she had not been asked, then she was telling the truth at the time. Truth is just a social construct, and we really, really need Commando Kagan to get in there and save ObamaCare. Kagan is to be applauded for standing up to those mean conservatives who want to see poor people be uninsured.

I am, of course, being purely sarcastic in the previous paragraph. Kagan is just another brick in this administration’s wall of contempt for all that is good about America. If she does the right thing will be ‘unexpected’. The final insult, of course, will be blanket pardons for Holder et al.

And, yes: I want to see the video of Kagan hearing the arguments. It would be nice to have my negative opinion of Kagan adjusted upward. Let the lady clear the air, and disprove the notion that she is just a sad little tool.

via Insty

Update: linked at The Conservatory in an overview that is well worth your time.

Category: Supreme Court, Uncategorized

VIDEO: Rep. Allen West Serves Up The Red Meat Clip Of The Year

Posted on | November 16, 2011 | 29 Comments

by Smitty

Rep. Allen West summarizes “Bag” Holder’s ignoble career, and politely suggests that even #OccupyResoluteDesk may be complicit in Fast & Furious.

Wow. To be a fly on the wall when Barack saw that one. . .

via Nice Deb, who has a whole lot more.

Update: Daily Pundit is less impressed. In response to Quick’s objections, my gut is to trust West. The details of the maneuvers may not all be public, not that I have any insight into GOP strategy, if any exists.

Category: Allen West, Barack Obama, Democrats, Eric Holder

Good Question, Tina

Posted on | November 16, 2011 | 95 Comments

Three of Rick Santorum’s children outside the Ames Straw Poll, Aug. 13, 2011

“Rick Santorum is seemingly so impossibly behind in the polls that it’s difficult to think he’s running for president for his own ego or because he’s particularly power hungry. In fact, what praise Santorum receives is always praise of the same ilk: He fills his niche well, speaking eloquently and evenly about social and foreign policy issues that desperately need to be addressed but threaten to be overlooked in this economy-dominated cycle. Why doesn’t that score him more points with voters supposedly sick of politicians who care more about themselves than they do about the issues?”
— Tina Korbe, Hot Air

One of my beefs about the “Second look at Gingrich” trip is that it is being promoted by people who never gave Rick Santorum a first look. If you’re scouting around for your next favorite Not Romney candidate, certainly Santorum is more plausible than Newt. (Today’s headline: “Gingrich Said to Be Paid at Least $1.6 Million by Freddie Mac.”)

Santorum’s brand of conservatism may not be your particular cup of tea, but there is no denying that he is a man of firm principle, untainted by even the slightest hint of corruption or scandal. Neither can it be denied that Santorum has campaigned tirelessly despite all discouragement. He has held events in all 99 counties in Iowa and you might think that some of Herman Cain’s critics — who have slagged him for his alleged neglect of Iowa — would give Santorum credit for his relentless campaigning in the Hawkeye State.

But no: The bandwagon-jumpers, who have flitted around from one Republican candidate to another, always want to jump onto a bandwagon they think can win, and so the media’s pre-emptive judgment that Santorum is not a contender becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s a matter of perception and reality, and that Saturday in August when I caught up with Santorum at a barn party in Roland, Iowa, stands out in my memory for the contrast between the perception of Santorum’s campaign and the reality.

When a candidate is bumping along in single digits in the polls, there is the tendency to think he’s got no support at all. Yet there was Santorum in a barn in the middle of a cornfield, surrounded by dozens of ordinary Iowans who were enthusiastically devoted to his candidacy, and telling them confidently that he was going to shock the world by winning the Iowa caucuses and going on from their to win the Republican nomination and then defeating Obama.

It was a classic Iowa moment and, despite everything, I cannot even now — with just 48 days remaining until the Jan. 3 caucuses — rule out the possibility that Santorum’s “Little Engine That Could” campaign might indeed succeed. Stranger things have happened in this weird year, and once the bandwagon-jumpers realize that the Newt Bubble is foredoomed to failure (see Maetenloch’s post at the generally pro-Newt AOSHQ for a few hints) I wonder if Santorum might finally get that first look he has been so long denied.

Iowa blogger Shane Vander Hart has endorsed Santorum, and his list of reasons for supporting Santorum begins with this:

He is a man of integrity. What you see is what you get. There hasn’t been any doublespeak. He doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet. He doesn’t flip flop. He’s a strong family man. If you spend any time around him it is quite evident that he loves his wife Karen and their seven children. He has strong character, and is faithful both to his family and God.

It is fashionable among pundits nowadays to derogate social conservatism as a spent force in GOP politics, but if the Christian Right has any remaining clout, surely it has clout in Iowa, and Santorum’s family-friendly campaign — his wife and kids traveling with him to every event — has a built-in appeal.

While I’m not sure that Shane Van Hart’s influence will set off a herd stampede toward Santorum, I am reminded of something that Joe Albrecht, spokesman for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, said to me in August: “Iowans . . . recognize the value of hard work.” They expect candidates to work for their votes, and no candidate has worked Iowa as hard as Santorum has.

Nothing else but hard work can explain how Santorum over-performed in the Ames Straw Poll, where he finished a strong fourth and, as he pointed out in our post-event interview, was massively outspent by all three candidates who placed ahead of him.

Santorum’s strong finish at Ames should have given his campaign a boost, but was overshadowed by (a) Rick Perry’s Phantom Menace, and (b) Tim Pawlenty quitting the next day. Looking back now, three months later, it is supremely ironic to see Gingrich (who got just 385 votes at Ames) in the four-way Iowa front-runner scrum, with Perry fifth (7%) while Santorum is seventh (3%) and continues to be low-rated as a non-contender by all the pundits.

There’s something definitely wrong with that picture and it seems to me that anyone who thinks Santorum will be a non-factor in Iowa is likely to be very surprised come Jan. 3.

UPDATE: Jeff Goldstein says, “Yet again, we’ve been played” — although I hope he doesn’t include me in that “we,” as I’ve been fighting the Conventional Wisdom for the past year. And quite frankly, I think it’s time to start casting a skeptical eye at Fox News coverage of the campaign, because they’ve been pushing their own sort of Conventional Wisdom that’s not quite the same as the MSM’s version, but still quite influential.

Linked by Nice Deb and the Spartanburg Tea Party blog, as well as by Da Tech Guy who says I gave Lisa Graas “the best birthday present ever.” Lisa’s response to that on Twitter caused me to accuse her of sexual harassment.

Not like that’s a bad thing, you understand . . .

UPDATE II: Massive Memeorandum thread on Gingrich’s Freddie Mac deal, and Iowa reporter Kay Henderson provides audio and a transcript of Newt’s exchange with reporters this morning:

Bloomberg’s John McCormick: “Bipartisan commissions have sort of found that ‘influentials’ were sometimes put on Fannie & Freddie just to have them friendly. Is this is a case of that?
Gingrich: “I have no idea…I was approached to give strategic advice. I was glad to offer strategic advice and we did it for a number of companies and Gingrich Group was very successful.”
McCormick: Do you think you were sort of being bought to just be there and be a friendly voice?”
Gingrich: “No, I don’t think that anymore than your institution is being bought by the people who advertise in it.”

The New York Time’s Trip Gabriel: “Do you recall any of the strategic advice you did give?…Expanding housing for low-income Hispanic communities, for example?”
Gingrich: “Well, first of all, if you can do it in a way that is financially sound, every American should be interested in expanding housing opportunities for people whether they’re African American, or Latino or of any background so the idea that you’re thinking about how can we help people learn how to budget, how can we help people learn how to save, how could you help them learn how to maintain a house on a low income would strike me, for more people, would be good things to do, not bad things to do and I’m happy to say I made public speeches to the National Association of Home Builders. I’m in favor of the largest possible home ownership. This is all public knowledge. I’m in favor of doing the right kind of things and you can go talk to Rick Lazio about the support I gave him as speaker on housing reform which he pushed through despite opposition of some of the people like Barney Frank and others, so I think the record there is one of I’m pretty consistent and frankly, I tend to give the same strategic advice in private I give in public.”

….AP’s Tom Beaumont: “Does this remind you that your background comes from being a Washington insider?”
Gingrich: “It reminds people that I know a great deal about Washington and if you want to change Washington, we just tried four years of amateur ignorance and it didn’t work very well, so having somebody who knows Washington might be a really good thing.”

Yeah. Good luck with that argument.


Category: Election 2012, Iowa, Rick Santorum

Aw, C’mon, Governor Perry

Posted on | November 16, 2011 | 62 Comments

by Smitty

This is either a result of (a) incomplete analysis, or (b) a cheap populist appeal:

“Any congressman or senator that uses their insider knowledge to profit in the stock market ought to be sent to jail—period,” said Mr. Perry, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination.

This sounds swell, but is going to hit a major brain freeze right around Article 1, Section 5:

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.

What I think would be effective, if I may utter the dread words “Constitutional Amendment” is along the lines of:

Every Congress, in the 18th month thereof, shall require a confidence vote by at least two thirds of the legislatures of the States. Failure to meet this confidence threshold shall result in no member of that Congress being allowed to retain their seat after that seat is next up for election.

I call this the “Kill Switch” Amendment. It’s not an individual term limit, but rather a global one. Chemotherapy, sadly, wipes out a few good cells with the bad. But don’t let your love of good tissue trick you into tolerating cancer. The Paul Ryans and Allen Wests are going to get themselves re-elected. If the Congress fails its confidence vote, they can either run for a Senate seat, state office, or just take a two-year sabbatical.

Example reasons for amputating a Congress en masse could include, but are not limited to:

  • Failure to balance the budget.
  • Failure to limit the federal government to the enumerated powers of the Constitution
  • Failure to check the Executive branch.
  • Failure to do more than insult the notion adhering to ethics.
  • Failure to read legislation prior to voting on it.
  • Failure to adhere to the Oath of Office.

I’m not going to say I had Princess Pelosi in mind when I wrote that list.

The argument that “government is too complex; we need to retain experience” is mostly specious. When someone says it’s too complex, the follow-up question is why we haver permitted the cancer of complexity to overtake matters. For example, in doing the homework for the simple act of retaining a nanny for The World’s Youngest Blogger, I have two words for the IRS, the second of which is “you”. The only reason that Doing The Right Thing with respect to taxation resembles a course in Differential Equations is that we have allowed to many “experts” to obfuscate matters.

The notion of a Kill Switch has the virtue of brutal simplicity. Possibly there would be a way to rig the idea; but would you vote for somebody willing to change their name legally just to get into office?

I predict that, with enough fresh blood and reduced incumbency, the Congress could move closer to serving the people, and resemble less an obnoxious aristocracy. You see that in the relatively less corrupt military; when the people are shifted around often enough, the focus moves more to accomplishing the mission. Sure, people end up making themselves look good, but that remains more a by-product of getting things done. Arguably, there is some loss to the size of mission scope brought on by lack of experience. However, I’m contending here that less scope is better. Or did you think ObamaCare was a keen idea?

Now, the idea of judicial term limits may be worth exploring. And one can admire the way Rick is willing to stir the pot, as with telling the truth about Socialist Security. Meanwhile, Governor Perry, can you please quit with the emotionally nifty appeals that are not going to mean much in the real world?

Update: linked at Dustbury.

Category: Rick Perry

LIVE AT FIVE – 11.16.11

Posted on | November 16, 2011 | 7 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
State Investigating Ex-PSU Coach Sandusky’s Charity Amid Child Sex Abuse Case
When crying, stung by bee

Ousted Wall Street Protesters Face An Uncertain Future
Bloomberg denies First Amendment includes right to camp out

As Rivals Slip, Gingrich Finds Traction
LOLWUT?



POLITICS
Mayors Grow Weary Of Filthy #OWS Hippies And Their Shenanigans
New York, other cities move to break up occupiers’ camps

Solyndra: Energy Department Pushed To Keep Layoffs Quiet Until After Midterm Elections
Illegal Aliens Descend On Alabama To Protest Immigration Law
Governor Asterisk Hosts 100th NH Event
Feds, ACLU Ask Appeals Court To Strike Down Alabama Immigration Law
Boehner Calls Tax Plan That Increases Revenue $300 Billion Fair Offer
Former Holder Chief Of Staff’s Nomination To Bench Imperiled By “Fast And Furious”
Copyright Office To Endorse Controversial Hollywood-Backed Online Piracy Act



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Wall Street Rises On US Economy, Progress In Italy
Euro Falls To Five-Week Low Before France, Spain Bond Auctions
Asian Shares Sluggish On Euro Zone Contagion
Dell Outlook Cloudy
Report: FHA Could Need Taxpayer Bailout Next Year
Kindle Fire: A Grown-Up E-Reader With Tablet Spark
Nook Tablet: Great Hardware Begging For An Ecosystem
Facebook Security Breach Raises Concerns
AMD Bulldozer Chip Wants To Flatten Intel
Apple’s iPhone 4S Battery Troubles Now Joined By New Problems



SPORTS
Duke’s Coach K Passes Bobby Knight On Wins List
NBA Players File Antitrust Lawsuit
Tigers Ace Justin Verlander Unanimous Pick For AL Cy Young
QB Matt Leinart Gets Starting Opportunity With Texans
Hockey Night In Canada: League Wants To Better Protect Goalies
Bruins Win Sixth Straight
Wild Surge To 4-2 Win Over Blue Jackets
Avalanche Lose To Crosby-less Penguins
Nationals Chasing Wandy Rodriguez?



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Heather Locklear, Jack Wagner Call Off Engagement
NBC’s “Prime Suspect” To Shut Down Production
Diane Keaton: Bulimia, Woody And Me
Matt Weiner: “Mad Men” Goes To (20)11
No Booze For “Boardwalk Empire”‘s Paz De La Huerta
Justin Timberlake’s Marine Date Tells Her Story



FOREIGNERS
Syria Releases Prisoners, Death Toll Drops Ahead Of Arab League Meeting
Palestinian “Freedom Riders” Board Israeli Buses In Protest
Afghan Elders Fear Tragedy If US Leaves Too Soon
Thai Army Turns Flood Relief Into PR Opportunity
Euros Tell Israel Military Strike On Iran Nuke Program Not An Option
Papademos Government Expected To Survive Confidence Vote, But Cracks Already Appearing In Alliance
Clegg Clashes With Cameron Over EU
Philippines Wants Decisive Action On China Sea Oil Claims



BLOGS & STUFF
NRO Corner: #OWS Protests Eviction
OWS Exposed: NYC Claims Occupiers Stockpiling Weapons
Hit & Run: NY Court Upholds Eviction Of #OWS
Weasel Zippers: Charlie Rangel Outraged At Eviction Of #OWS From Zuccotti Park
Ramesh Ponnuru: GOP Loses Way By Misreading Bush History
Hot Air: Limbaugh Comes To Cain’s Defense
Power Line: The Trouble With Crony Capitalism
Lonely Conservative: White House Urged Solyndra To Delay Layoffs Until After 2010 Elections
Seth McLaughlin: Rick Perry Calls For Part-Time Congress, Term-Limited Judges
Examiner: Crackdown On #OWS Coordinated With Federal Law Enforcement
Conservatives4Palin: Farm State Legislators Attempting To Use Supercommittee To Write New Farm Bill
Michael Z. Williamson: Wait, I Have This Idea…

Category: Live at Five
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