The Other McCain

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

‘After The Baby, My Wife And I Have Been In Sweatpants Purgatory’

Posted on | November 16, 2011 | 18 Comments

by Smitty

Boy, did I get beat with the Life Imitates Art stick. Standing there next to the telly, holding the World’s Youngest Blogger, when Up All Night comes on.
The two fellas are down at the playground, discussing how their sex lives are going. Will Forte, on the right, delivers the utterly devastating post title line. I will leave to your imagination what I happened to be wearing at the moment.

For his part though, Tim Pawlenty took it as gracefully as an Iowa straw poll. Glad his acting career picked up after dropping out of the Presidential race.

Three and a half months is not too young to start explaining these brutal facts of life to the World’s Youngest Blogger. He really likes standing at this young age. Life will beat him down: oh yes, it will.

Category: humor, World's Youngest Blogger

How Bad Is Newt Gingrich?

Posted on | November 16, 2011 | 60 Comments

Bad enough that Ann Coulter would rather have Mitt Romney win:

So now, apparently, we have to go through the cycle of the media pushing Newt Gingrich. This is going to be fantastic.
In addition to having an affair in the middle of Clinton’s impeachment; apologizing to Jesse Jackson on behalf of J.C. Watts — one of two black Republicans then in Congress –- for having criticized “poverty pimps,” and then inviting Jackson to a State of the Union address; cutting a global warming commercial with Nancy Pelosi; supporting George Soros’ candidate Dede Scozzafava in a congressional special election; appearing in public with the Rev. Al Sharpton to promote nonspecific education reform; and calling Paul Ryan’s plan to save Social Security “right-wing social engineering,” we found out this week that Gingrich was a recipient of Freddie Mac political money. . . .

Read the whole thing. Unlike Chairman Ann, I have not yet conceded Romney’s inevitability, although I have previously stated that if we wake up on the morning of Feb. 1 — after the Florida primary — to find ourselves faced with a choice between Mitt and Newt, I’ll endorse Mitt.

There is, however, yet hope that we can avoid such a dire predicament: Either Herman Cain will pull a miraculous recovery or, if that doesn’t work out, Rick Santorum will finally get his shot.

I realize that some of my friends are saying “Slim just left town,” but the one certain thing is that Republicans will never nominate Gingrich, no matter what the polls say today.

They may be the Stupid Party, but let’s hope they’re not that stupid.

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Ann Coulter, Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich

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
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