The Other McCain : Page 2035 : "One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up."

“Another flaw in the [friends with benefits] scenario is that the older generations haven’t learned how to have casual sex. For people in their 40’s and older, the standard for relationships has been monogamous marriage. While that may not be the right thing for everyone to do, it’s what we’ve been taught. So when a person wants to try something different, they’re navigating uncharted territory.”
— Johanna Lyman

This startling assertion was enough to get a reaction from Professor Glenn Reynolds, who is about the same age as me and who, I guess, was doing more than studying law all the time back in the day. My temptation to start telling stories about the 1970s and ’80s is tempered by the suspicion that Ms. Lyman would never believe half of it.

However, it never occurred to me that “how to have casual sex” was some sort of arcane skill that had to be learned, as if practicioners thereof were teachers instructing novices in the grand mystery.

We were just young and restless and bored. Livin’ by the sword . . .

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

UPDATE II: Linked by Moe Lane and Bill Quick — both of whom are probably old enough to remember when “friends with benefits” was known simply as fornication.

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

Posted on November 16, 2011November 16, 2011Comments

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.

How Bad Is Newt Gingrich?

Posted on November 16, 2011November 16, 2011Comments

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:

Oct. 16: Good Question, Tina
Oct. 15: Remembering Newt’s Awfulness
Oct. 14: ‘You Have to Answer for Santino, Carlo’

So … How Was Your Day?

Posted on November 16, 2011November 16, 2011Comments

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 . . .

A 75-year-old math teacher is charged with masturbating during class at a Christian school in Schaumburg, Illinois. Unfortunately for Paul LaDuke, his auto-erotic activism is too late to earn himself a job as “safe school czar” in the Obama administration. But certainly Kevin Jennings will give LaDuke an award of some kind.
Crazy dude shoots at the White House: “Police believe the suspect, 21-year-old Oscar Ramiro Ortega of Idaho, is mentally ill. . . . U.S. Park police say Ortega may have spent time blending in with Occupy D.C. protesters.” Obviously, it would be hard to “blend in” with those guys if you weren’t mentally ill.
Why Ace Gets Invited to Speak at BlogCon: “The two men who inspired this shooting with their vicious, immoderate rhetoric, Michael Moore and Keith Olbermann …”
Undoubtedly, another Koch-funded Tea Party racist: “Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez was arrested at the Hampton Inn in Indiana, Pa. at about 12:35 p.m. Wednesday and is in the custody of Pennsylvania State Police. . . . Ortega-Hernandez was believed to be living in the Washington area with ties to Idaho.” And everybody from Idaho is a racist.
Today is Lisa Graas’s birthday and she’s asking readers to celebrate by contributing to Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign. Otherwise, she’ll have the Pope send the Swiss Guards to get you.
“JPMorgan, Goldman Keep Italy Risk in Dark” — I haven’t read the story, but the headline alone is enough to suggest we’re all about to get screwed raw. Again.
Morning Joe today was about as bad as it gets. And keep in mind, it’s Morning Joe, which is routinely awful.
For reasons that no one can adequately explain, Ramesh Ponnuru has gotten in touch with his inner David Brooks.
Kate Middleton is knocked up, which is good news for me, because every time she makes news, I get more Google search traffic for “Kate Middleton upskirt photo.” But wait — what? I’ve been out-Google-bombed by . . . Bob Belvedere?
OK, I can get over that, because I got quoted by The Week and linked by The Guy Who Named the Blogosphere.
A New York Times article actually mentions that a candidate suspected of collecting illegal campaign contributions is a Democrat. Some editor is going to get fired for letting that get past the copy desk.

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.

‘It Was a Pause! … Good Grief!’

Posted on November 16, 2011November 16, 2011Comments

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.

Gollum Reid: ‘That Hobbit Norquist Stole My Preciousssss‘

Posted on November 16, 2011November 17, 2011Comments

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.

Of Course Kagan Will Not Recuse Herself

Posted on November 16, 2011November 16, 2011Comments

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.