The Other McCain

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

Still Full Of Crow, No Palin Rumor Room

Posted on | November 3, 2011 | 45 Comments

by Smitty

Hot Air goes for the cheap hits on something I saw earlier, hinting that Sarah Palin may be considering alleging Herman Cain sexually harassed her un-declining to run for President, but I had refused to nibble. However, if Something Really Big Happens on 13 November, don’t forget this post. I’ll admit to hoping things change in that direction, in the context of all that hopium and change-eeba have bought us the last three years.

The good thing about all the GOP fumbling about is that we may, eventually, get so flipping sick of the whole popularity contest aspect, that we, of sheer boredom, get down to the brass tacks of What We Need To Do To Recover Liberty.

If that happens, BHO is toast.

Category: Politics

‘Zo Takes Aim At Russell Simmons, Makes Fish Soup In Barrel

Posted on | November 3, 2011 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

On the one hand, the substance isn’t terribly challenging. On the other, Alfonzo Rachel still delivers the well-played style. Click the image to view:


Update: And it looks like Steven Crowder has some #OccupyShenanigans coming on Monday:

Category: #Occupy, PJTV

Complete Burn-Out Looms: Random Notes on the Road to the American Dream

Posted on | November 3, 2011 | 33 Comments

“A top Iowa supporter of Herman Cain’s presidential campaign is blaming top Cain aide Mark Block for the campaign’s poor response to allegations that Cain sexually harassed at least two women in the 1990s.
“Jeff Jorgenson, the chairman of the Pottawatamie County Republican Party, said Cain’s campaign has been caught off-guard and that Cain should consider changes, starting at the top.
“ ‘I’m not very happy with the response to these allegations from the campaign itself,’ Jorgenson said. ‘I think Herman Cain needs to take maybe another look at his association with his chief of staff.’ ”
— Aaron Blake, Washington Post, “Top Iowa supporter for Herman Cain blames Mark Block for fumbled response”

Frustration eventually overwhelms even my otherwise inexhaustible energy, and being unable to get a return phone call from the Cain campaign has pushed me into the Burn-Out Zone. Two points:

  1. It’s not their fault.
  2. It’s not about me.

Pursuing the Presidency of the United States is a serious enough business that I understand the utter insignificance of my own complaints. For when the Great Scorer comes to write beside their names, he will mark — not that they didn’t return my phone calls when the Big Story was breaking — but whether they won the game.

Any correlation between the two phenomena is probably accidental.

Also utterly random: A friend called my attention to a story about Shorter College, a Baptist school in Rome, Ga., that is being excoriated for expecting faculty to uphold Baptist standards.

More than 30 years ago, I dated a Shorter coed and we, uh, failed rather drastically at upholding Baptist standards. IYKWIMAITYD.

Anyway . . . just called up my editor at the American Spectator and said I probably won’t be filing anything for them tonight. The Americans for Prosperity “Defending the American Dream Summit” kicks off tonight in downtown DC, and early registration ends at 8 p.m., so I wouldn’t want to miss that. Because there might be refreshing beverages for sale, and friends who want to buy them for me.

Did I mention that Phil Kerpen, vice president of policy at Americans for Prosperity, is the author of the blockbuster new book, Democracy Denied: How Obama is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America – and How to Stop Him? I’m sure my readers have seen my good buddy Phil on Fox News, and want to buy lots of copies of Democracy Denied — now just $15.95 at Amazon! — which will make Phil very, very happy. And when Phil’s happy, I’m happy. IYKWIMAITYD.

So I’m pulling the ripcord, hitting the silk and bailing out on the blog for a few hours, while I go down to hit the D.C. scene, schmooze my sources and try to get over the frustration of going five hours without a call-back from my friends with the Cain campaign. If it wasn’t urgent enough to deserve a call-back by now, it can probably wait another day, I suppose.

Meanwhile, there is more news and still more news but . . . Well, maybe this is God’s way of telling me I need to turn it loose and let Phil Kerpen buy me a refreshing beverage. And if you guys will hit the freaking tip jar, I might even violate my code of ethics and pick up the tab myself.




When burn-out looms, one of the most important symptoms is an overpowering thirst. And I must maintain my health. IYKWIMAITYD.


Category: Fear and Loathing at Defending the American Dream, Herman Cain

Economic Freedom: That Upon Which Our GOP Candidates Should Be Focusing

Posted on | November 3, 2011 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Consider the following video a crowbar for use in prying the conservative head out of a lightless location:

The silliness of wasting days and days going after flimsy allegations is helping no one but BHO. Kabogus theater (to coin a phrase) is no way to set about recovering the country.

Watch that YouTube clip again. Keep in mind that Ron Paul, is the only GOP contender of whom I’m aware who is explicitly talking about removing any federal agencies. Are the rest of the candidates just playing the business-as-usual, with enough cuts like ObamaCare to win the election? (Aside: Robert Birch would like the Ron Paul fans to consider bidding on a piece of art that will shoe in South Korea at Jeju at the Gandeurak Theatre, November 12th. )

For a personal example, we’re looking to retain a nanny for The World’s Youngest Blogger in a couple of months, when I quit the #OccupyCouch movement and go back to work. IRS publication 926 looms large here. What a train wreck. There is simply no good explanation for why the federal government has to be involved in a transaction for services between two Virginia residents. There are some historical explanations, yes. But the entire system of taxation, like the U.S. Code mentioned in the video, is so beyond fixing that [Geithner joke goes here]. Who is the candidate that can restore liberty to America? Eternal paperwork is not the price of freedom. Paperwork is the death of freedom.

Category: Economics

This Blog Has Been Critical Of Senator Webb In The Past

Posted on | November 3, 2011 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Via Instapundit, there are indications of Fightin’ Jim Webb coming out swinging against the Obama administration in Politico (our Bible).  Now, as a Virginia resident, the 2006 ‘macaca’ scandal was a major indicator to me of just how decayed American politics had become. After reading Liberal Fascism, it was highly unclear how anybody with even a vaguely patriotic bone could run on the Democrat ticket.

So it’s encouraging to see the gander about Democrat tax proposals and jobs *yawn* legislation in the. . .mmmm. . .where was I? Oh, the Politico article. However, if you really want to go out in style,

with some dignity intact, here are some suggestions:

  • Co-sponsor the Honest Budget Act
  • Call for BHO’s impeachment.
  • Endorse a candidate for the Senate seat you’re about to vacate.
  • Tell it like it is about the Super Committee silliness.
  • Caucus with the GOP.

I’m sure our able commenters can think of some other ideas that would help, you know, restore some notion of limited government in the country.

Category: Democrats, Virginia

PJM’s Pollock Publishes First Specific Account of Cain Harassment Charge UPDATE: PJM Makes Corrections

Posted on | November 3, 2011 | 115 Comments

Hat-tip to Ace of Spades and congratulations to Richard Pollock at PJM for finally getting the specifics on the record:

Both sources, one male and one female, worked at the time — mid-1990s — for the governmental affairs department of the National Restaurant Association, as did the woman.
According to both sources, Mr. Cain and the woman had been with a large group for a long evening of food and drink at the Ciao Baby Cucina, a restaurant near NRA headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C. This was a normal routine, as the trade association worked with the food and beverage industry. Afterwards, Mr. Cain allegedly took the woman by taxi to his apartment, where she spent the night and woke up in his bed.
The female source told PJ Media that she witnessed the woman entering a taxi with Herman Cain.
Neither source has direct knowledge of what occurred at Mr. Cain’s residence, but several days after the alleged incident, the male source witnessed the woman returning to her workplace “distraught.” “She was very upset.”

Why did this take so long? What were people afraid of? Now the Cain campaign has something specific that they can deal with.

UPDATE: I have sent text messages and e-mail to the Cain campaign seeking their official response. Meanwhile, I agree with Glenn Reynolds: “I’d still like to see names named, even from people I trust.”

Anonymous accusations, in regard to such a serious matter, are unacceptable. It’s one thing to grant anonymity to sources when what you’re reporting is routine campaign strategy stuff. It’s something else when grievous accusations of sexual misbehavior are being made against the leading candidate for a major party’s nomination for president.

UPDATE II: The commenters are, of  course, free to speculate on the factuality or meaning of the account reported by Pollock. Given that I am expected to report on the Cain campaign, however, I am obligated to resist the speculation temptation.

Nevertheless, it is possible to say — as a neutral objective fact — that this changes the nature of the story.

Whereas we were previously led to believe that this was a matter of mere words, which may have crossed the line into the range of “unwanted advances,” now it seems to be something else entirely. And shame on any reporters, at Politico or anywhere else, who were aware of such specific accusations and failed to report the details.

However this story turns out for the Cain campaign, there will need to be some accountability for journalistic incompetence.

UPDATE III: PJM corrects the Pollock article:

(CORRECTIONS: A previous version of this story mentioned that a source witnessed Cain and the woman entering a taxi together. This was incorrect.
The previous version also mentioned that the woman awoke in Cain’s bed — the source only claimed that the woman awoke in Cain’s apartment.
The previous version incorrectly attributed comments from one source to the other source.)

Can you see me biting my tongue?

UPDATE IV: I put this post online at 1:28 p.m. and had contacted Mark Block and J.D. Gordon via e-mail and text before 2 p.m., seeking a response. When that didn’t work, I called at 2:40 p.m. It’s now 4:15 p.m.

My phone isn’t ringing and there’s no answer in my inbox. If they’re not responding to me — on a day like today — to whom are they responding? Why should I even bother trying to get a response?


Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain, Scandal, Sex

The Herman Cain Rorschach Test Continues To Mystify

Posted on | November 3, 2011 | 20 Comments

by Smitty

Herman Cain personally goes after Rick Perry’s campaign for the Politico scandal-ette:From Politicalistas:

It is suspicious that someone very close to the Perry campaign has recently distanced himself from the campaign as a “general consultant”. Dave Carney is known as one of the best political hit-men in the business.

More at the link.
Meanwhile, Dan Riehl links Dana Milbank and expresses his concerns about Cain:

Unfortunately, this is why I’ve been so against [Cain]. For reasons I can’t fully disclose, I concluded early on it was a lark and I resented the hell out of it. Yeah, maybe because Palin didn’t run and Perry imploded he received more attention than he thought he would going in and he upped his game a notch. But it’s always been just a notch. One of his big boasts is how much money he’s taken in … but, in essence, hasn’t spent.
The campaign irregularities now being investigated? Look, Cain isn’t a dumb guy. They didn’t care because they never thought any of it would matter. He’d sell some books, raise some cash, maybe take a shot at Saxby Chambliss for the Senate down the road, or something else – more radio affiliates, a Fox gig, etc…. But the dude just wasn’t in it to win it.

The problems that we seem to have with politics in general in the country are:

  • The primary phase resembles a high school class presidency campaign that collided with an episode of Seinfeld. Is candidate X doing a good job making nice-nice with the dyslexic Iowa soccer-mom demographic? Did candidate Y‘s campaign adequately staff the response to the accusation of having a sloppy shoe shine?
  • The boring, and important parts of public policy are almost nowhere on display. Does the Ruling Class simply think that We The People can’t handle the truth? We should be poring over the various tax plans of each candidate, and, in contrast, pillorying the abdication of leadership embodied in the Democrat Senate and Executive. Instead: piffle.

I don’t subscribe to Steynian negativity, in the long run. The country is in overall denial about how far things have decayed. So the silliness of the current campaign can be seen as avoidance behavior. But I submit that history repeats itself because of a sinusoidal nature. We’re bottoming out right now, before things improve.

Cain is a fine American, and one I could support with enthusiasm. Or not. No individual personalities matter. This Office of President isn’t just Dancing with the Stars, hold the dancing. The Commander-in-Chief is a commander, not some irreplaceable priest-king. That we seem to have forgotten the basic nature of the job as a job with Constitutional bounds is yet another sign of decay. I don’t even think the Reagan aggrandizement is helpful.

Update–Heh:

Category: Dan Riehl, Herman Cain

‘Inappropriate’

Posted on | November 3, 2011 | 16 Comments

by Smitty

Sexuality is cooked into the human condition at the chromosomal level. As a social conservative, one of my keys to a stress-minimizing, joy-maximizing life is keeping things really, really simple. On sexual topics, the less of anything above, say, PG level, the better. Let us not deny the existence of sexuality, but let us ensure we’re dealing with it in an ‘appropriate’ way.

Dominique Strauss Kahn, should his ignoble name come up in discussion with The World’s Youngest Blogger, will not be held up as an example of manhood to which to aspire. Nor will anybody trying to make a buck off DSK’s tawdry escapades (emphasis original):

Now, I personally do not want to police other people’s desires when it comes to rape/assault fantasies. Whatever floats your boat that doesn’t hurt anyone else or yourself, I always say. But it is beyond inappropriate for a rape/assault fantasy porn to act out a real incident that has an alleged real victim.

It amuses me to see an author like Jessica Wakeman at The Frisky get into high dudgeon over such a finely split hair. Does Jessica find appropriate of other rape/assault fantasy porn (that she doesn’t care to police) as long as it’s purely fictional? How much allusion to the DSK allegation would make it OK for Jessica?

No, it’s simply the least-worst way to go to take a libertarian, indifferent stance to what people are up to. If the law defines the edge of ethical, and no laws are broken, then fine. Morally speaking, I can’t differentiate between DSK, Jessica, or these pornographic actors. It’s all a muddle.

You want to know what’s appropriate? From Ancient Commenter Solomon, who I guess came by the wisdom the hard way:

Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Proverbs 5:18

I realize modern people have been trained to hate simplicity, but appropriate sexual conduct is one aspect of life upon which the Information Age has had little effect.

via Instapundit

Category: Sex
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