The Other McCain

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

About That ‘One Each’ Shtick

Posted on | November 5, 2011 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

Sometimes the gag runs so long that you completely forget it’s even there.

This blog must double down on its unyielding commitment to reader safety. Not meaning to be mysterious, or have any killing go on, no matter how much some others may need it, here is the scoop: ‘one each’ refers to a military unit of issue. I managed to elide the trailing ‘a’ whenever I signed up for a gmail account those bazillion years ago. Whoops.

Here is an example that just came out of the closet:

If you want to over-think it, and you should not, consider it an oblique, smirking statement about the de-humanizing, anti-individual nature of modern life. My humanity is reduced to some stock ‘Smitty’ character, which comes from the supply department in a ‘one each’ unit of issue.

For practical purposes, I can start up an online account somewhere, pick the user name ‘smitty’, tack on a ‘1e’, and have both little worry about colliding with an existing account, and some hope of remembering the user name. If anybody ever guesses that my password is ‘password’, though, I am toast.

Category: Uncategorized

‘F– Michelle Fields!’ — Interview With Reporter Harassed at Occupy DC Protest

Posted on | November 5, 2011 | 242 Comments

Michelle Fields stands next to a policeman while
covering ‘Occupy DC’ protests, Nov. 4, 2011

Michelle Fields, a young video reporter for the Daily Caller, was assigned to cover Friday night’s Occupy DC protests outside the Americans for Prosperity “Defending the American Dream” conference at the Washington Convention Center. In an interview Saturday morning, Fields described how she was targeted for harassment:

Robert Stacy McCain: You won’t be going back?
Michelle Fields, Daily Caller: I won’t be going back to cover it. I actually don’t feel safe going back to those protests, because they singled me out, they singled out the Daily Caller. I just don’t think it’s safe for me to be back around those people.
They actually had a person covering me all night, for about three hours, with someone walking around with a camera, screaming things out to me like, “You’re worse than Fox,” and attacking me, attacking what I’m wearing. So I won’t be returning.

McCAIN: Attacking what you were wearing?
FIELDS: Exactly, yes. I think they were just trying to figure out ways to upset me — about the clothing I was wearing, where apparently I shop, really strange stuff.

McCAIN: Where you shop?
FIELDS: Exactly, yes.

McCAIN: You were wearing what? Abercrombie & Fitch or what?
FIELDS: They were screaming out that I was wearing [designer] Ann Taylor. So I’m not sure — I wasn’t wearing Ann Taylor.

McCAIN: Oh, my goodness.
FIELDS: They were screaming stuff out like that. They were screaming like, ‘F– Michelle Fields!’
And when I tried to conduct interviews, an individual would jump in front of the camera and stop the interview, or block it with a piece of paper or cardboard, so that we couldn’t tape anything or talk to anyone.

McCAIN: Oh, my goodness. So while they want all the friendly media they can get, in terms of —
FIELDS: Exactly, yes. And so people started chanting, ‘Right-wing extremists,’ while we were trying to interview people, and they talked to people who were part of Occupy DC and told them not to talk to us. So they chanted that, they chanted songs at me that I’m ugly, like ‘U-G-L-Y, you ain’t got no alibi, you’re ugly,’ to me individually, and that I’m a ‘horrible person.’ It was, literally, just attacking me and the Daily Caller, but specifically me.

McCAIN: Wow. Wow. And so they had somebody whose job was apparently to monitor you?
FIELDS: Exactly, yes. So for about three hours, I had someone following me around, harassing me, screaming things out to me. And I actually did not feel comfortable, because at one point there were a whole group of men surrounding me saying, ‘F—Michelle Fields.’  And I went to a police officer and I told him that I felt these people were harassing me. And the police officer said he’d take care of it, but it never ended. These people were harassing me for the entire evening.

McCAIN: Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. These are the enlightened, tolerant, liberal, progressives.
FIELDS: Supposedly.

* * * * * *

UPDATE (Smitty): Welcome, Instapundit readers!

UPDATE II (RSM): Linked by Don Surber, Darleen Click at Protein Wisdom, Dan Collins at The Conservatory, Fire Andrea Mitchell and The Lonely Conservative — thanks! — and welcome, Hot Air readers!

PREVIOUSLY: #OWS Protesters Attempt to Storm AFP Defending the American Dream Summit


Category: #Occupy, Fear and Loathing at the Defending the American Dream Summit

BHO Reflects On Success In New RNC Ad

Posted on | November 5, 2011 | 5 Comments

by Smitty

Keep in mind though, that BHO is the symptom. Federal overreach is the problem.

Via Lee Hernly

Category: Barack Obama

No One Says That #OccupyResoluteDesk Has Much To Hide, But He Acts That Way

Posted on | November 5, 2011 | 24 Comments

by Smitty

President Obama’s attorney sent a letter to Congressional investigators on Friday, saying the White House would not cooperate with a subpoena requesting documents related to its doling out a $535 million loan guarantee to now bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra.
“I can only conclude that your decision to issue a subpoena, authorized by a party-line vote, was driven more by partisan politics than a legitimate effort to conduct a responsible investigation,” Obama’s counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, wrote in a letter to the top Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce committee.

One is tempted to make some remark about an ass and cheek, but people might not understand that I mean them in the sense of ‘donkey’ and ‘impudence’, and accuse me of sexual harassment, so we’ll steer clear.

This administration, in joke terms, is moving from ‘unfunny’ to ‘tedious’. #OccupyResoluteDesk seems almost guilty until proven innocent of everything imaginable on this and every other scandal. The way to remedy that is to put some teeth in the campaign promises of transparency. The sooner the better. Credibility is dwindling, Mr. President. That is truly a shame. The ‘Chicago on the Potomac’ japes would have been better as cheap political riffs, not sad reality.

An example of a purely political subpoena would be if Congress demanded #OccupyResoluteDesk’s college transcripts. That task would be better left to the media. Politico has recently set a new low benchmark, with its homeroom-note-passing-level story against Herman Cain. Moving up to the level of inquiring about college transcripts would be a step up for Politico.

via Althouse

Category: Ann Althouse, Barack Obama

#OWS Protesters Attempt to Storm AFP Defending the American Dream Summit

Posted on | November 4, 2011 | 161 Comments

WASHINGTON, D.C.
“Occupy DC” protesters just attempted to force their way into the Washington Convention Center where the Americans for Prosperity Foundation is holding its Ronald Reagan tribute dinner for the “Defending the American Dream Summit.” I was in the middle of the scrum of smelly hippies when they stormed the doors and have multiple photos and video which I’m uploading now.

UPDATE: Smelly hippies chant “We are the 99%” while attempting to force their way into the building:

UPDATE II: A couple of AFP supporters who were attending the dinner and had stepped outside to watch the protesters marching, got caught in the mob when the protesters rushed the doors:


You can see Michelle Fields, a video producer for the Daily Caller, next to the policeman.

UPDATE III: Another brief video showing the chanting frenzied mob:

So you have the sights and sounds of “civil disobedience,” and are fortunately spared the smell.

UPDATE IV: Welcome, Instapundit readers! It’s stuff like this that makes you nostalgic for the Good Old Days of real police brutality.

UPDATE V: After the storm-the-doors stunt, the smelly hippies deployed to block adjacent street corners and chant stupid slogans:

A Republican consultant (who shall not be named) said: “I’ve never seen so many losers in my life.” Truly, it was LoserFest 2011.


Category: #Occupy, Fear and Loathing at Def. the Am. Dr. Summit

ObamaCare Is The Issue Of Our Day, According To Cuccinelli

Posted on | November 4, 2011 | 16 Comments

by Smitty

Getting to hear my state’s rock star Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, at the Defending the American Dream Summit was every bit the treat that was expected.

cuccinelli is a rock star

moderator, Betsy McCaughey, Ken Cuccinelli, Congressman Andy Harris (MD)

Leading off and actually upstaging him slightly however, was former NY LT Governor, Betsy McCaughey (pronounced like ‘McCoy’) who had the finest blend of passion and wonkery I’ve ever seen. Also, she was substantially obscured by a copy of ObamaCare in a binder on the podium, and clearly knows the legislation better than most Congressmen.

She discussed the Dartmouth Hoax, which was news to me. She noted that the number of ObamaCare wavers sits at 1470. She finished: “The rule of law is king, not Mr. Obama!”

When Cuccinelli came up, he mentioned that Virginia’s separate case has been folded in with the other 28-state (!) package of cases. The Supreme Court is to be reviewing the cases starting on or around the 10th of November, with some sort of decision, notionally, in the June timeframe. That will afford time for #OccupyResoluteDesk to develop the “Workin’ hard, tryin’ ta overcome that sandbaggin’ GOP Congress narrative’. As a litmus test for whether somebody is competent to vote, such nonsense would work. The percentage of the American electorate that would fail that test would probably be depressing.

Representative Andy Harris (MD-1) rounded out the conference. He allowed that he was one of six medical doctors elected to repeal ObamaCare, which he called a proxy for the Tea Party/Socialism struggle. Considering his 30 years as a practicing physician, he said that he’d seen the emphasis shift over time from the patient to the paperwork. He said that the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is a de facto “Death Panel”, and that Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are the HMO of the 21st century. He offered a laundry list of real reforms to health care management, in the spirit of the phrase “Patients and their doctor, not a bureaucrat.”

Also present and blogging: Josh Mesker.

Category: Fear and Loathing at the Defending the American Dream Summit, Fear. Loathing., Health Care

The Axis Of Fedora Extends Its Reach: Inducting @GaltsGirl

Posted on | November 4, 2011 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

Introducing the mighty GaltsGirl, who blogs at Conservative Daily News.

Yeah, Defending the Dream Summit: yeah.

Category: Blogging

Herman Cain Accuser’s Lawyer: ‘No Value of Revisiting the Matter … Now’

Posted on | November 4, 2011 | 51 Comments

“Lawyer ethics” — Hold a press conference to announce that you don’t want to discuss your smear-job against your client’s former boss:

Joel Bennett, whose client is one of two women that lodged written sexual harassment complaints against Cain during his three-year tenure leading the group, did not identify the woman. He said she felt “there is no value of revisiting the matter now or discussing it further publicly or privately. In fact, it is extremely painful to do so.”

Emphasis on “now.” As if to say, ABC News wants to wait until the week before the Iowa caucuses to have your client sit down for her hour-long prime-time interview with Dianne Sawyer. Right?

Update (Smitty): Da Tech Guy explores the situation at length. I agree with Pete that this has been a good acid test for the Cain campaign, and will curry sympathy with the base. Pete is having a fundraiser, which merits your attention. Pete, however, links Dave Weigel: “Cainaquiddick: Where Source-Based Journalism Goes to Die” Really, Dave, the -quiddick? Did a young woman die here? Did Herman Cain demonstrate a non-grasp of the difference between an automobile and a submarine? This piffle didn’t even rate a -gate, much less a -quiddick. At ease, young man.

UPDATE II (RSM): Jim Geraghty: “Despite all the drama of the week, we know about as much as we did Monday.” Which is the basic point I made this morning: “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Politico?”

UPDATE III (RSM): Professor William Jacobson catches both Politico and the New York Times spinning the lawyer’s ridiculous press conference — at which he announced his client would not speak to the media — as having “confirmed” the accusations. Is it any wonder that lawyers and journalists are the most hated professions in America?

Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain
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