"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
LAS VEGAS, Nevada
Herman Cain spoke this afternoon at the Western Republican Leadership Conference here:
Earlier today, I went with Steve Foley of Citizens for Cain to a luncheon at Maggiano’s Little Italy hosted by the Republican Women of Las Vegas:
After Cain’s luncheon speech, he posed for photos with well-wishers while surrounded by the mob of photographers and TV cameras that follows him pretty much everywhere nowadays:
Remember the whole Gitmo-release thing with Wolf Blitzer yesterday? Ace really didn’t dig that at all:
He literally seems to be making it all up on the fly, and I mean all, so when he’s asked a question like this, all he knows about the situation is literally just that which was contained in the question.
You can read the rest. It’s pretty brutal, and this is the kind of situation — a blunder that exposes him to lacerating criticism from conservatives — that Cain must avoid henceforth if he wants to be taken seriously as a contender.
LAS VEGAS, Nevada
Last night at the CNN debate, somebody said, “Hey, have you seen Erik Telford?”
“No, is he here?”
“Yeah. He was on Twitter asking who was coming to Vegas for the Western Republican Leadership Conference.”
Well, I’d been busy covering the debate and hadn’t seen the Twitter message, and by the time I hit my deadline for The American Spectator, the fact that Telford was in town had slipped my mind.
Fast-forward to this morning. I had to go down to the drugstore to buy a razor, and was walking through the lobby of the hotel when a familiar figure walked past me. So I reached out and slugged Telford in the arm.
“Dude, why didn’t you call me?”
“I didn’t know you were in town — until you slugged me in the arm.”
“It wasn’t exactly a secret that I was coming to Vegas,” I said. “But I guess nobody reads my blog.”
“Well,” Telford said. “I figured you wouldn’t get invited.”
“Yeah, I invited myself. Because nobody ever invites me anywhere. Like BlogCon — can you believe Tabitha Hale left me off the list?”
Telford laughed. Because, of course, I’m always left off the list, unlike Stephen Kruiser, Katie Harbath, Cord Blomquist, Peter List, Frank Keegan, Dana Loesch, Larry O’Connor, John Nolte, Meredith Dake, Matthias Shapiro, Will Franklin, Brandon Stewart, Bill Beutler, Michael Sandoval, Ari Armstrong, Todd Shepherd, T.L. James, Kelly Maher, Andrew Malcom, Melissa Clouthier, Michelle Malkin, Steven Crowder, Jim Pethokoukis, Dean Clancy, Max Pappas, Ed Morrissey, Deneen Borelli, Ace of Spades, Kristina Ribali, Russ Walker . . .
Just like Telford didn’t call me when he got to Vegas — because nobody wants to hang out with me, right? — Tabitha didn’t invite me to BlogCon because she wants it to be a fun, exciting event featuring people who are actually important, influential and popular.
In an effort to understand this situation, I mentally envisioned Tabitha’s worldview as a Venn Diagram:
There is no “Set AB,” because these are non-intersecting sets.
Ergo, the very fact that you’re reading my blog means that you are not important and don’t really matter.
UPDATE: Tabitha accuses me of harassment? A historic first: Harassment with Venn Diagrams.
Meanwhile, this might be a good time to remind you that I’ll be speaking Oct. 29 at the Maryland Conservative Action Network’s “Turning the Tides” conference in Annapolis.
by Smitty
Does this mean I need to subscribe to GBTV?
by Smitty
Via Althouse, you have to wonder what, if any, thought occurs in senior Democrat noggins:
President Obama and the Democratic leadership are making a critical error in embracing the Occupy Wall Street movement—and it may cost them the 2012 election.
Last week, senior White House adviser David Plouffe said that “the protests you’re seeing are the same conversations people are having in living rooms and kitchens all across America. . . . People are frustrated by an economy that does not reward hard work and responsibility, where Wall Street and Main Street don’t seem to play by the same set of rules.” Nancy Pelosi and others have echoed the message.
I just finished Explaining Postmodernism on the flight to Vegas.
While falling short of any clinical diagnosis of insanity, I’m moving closer to believing these senior Democrat leaders are fairly close to religious fanatics. Or maybe jilted lovers, who are willing to burn down the house around that which they formerly loved, rather than let him/her enjoy liberty. After having stashed enough money overseas where the results won’t matter, of course.
Keep your powder dry and your eyes peeled, Americans.
Herman Cain answers reporters’ questions Tuesday night in the ‘spin room’
at the Sands Expo and Convention Center (Photo: Robert Stacy McCain)
LAS VEGAS, Nevada
This morning, I remember the first time I ever heard Herman Cain’s name: My brother Kirby called me from Georgia and said, “Have you heard about this guy? . . . He’s the real deal.”
The latest CNN poll shows Cain in a virtual tie with Mitt Romney, and here’s the latest about two NBC polls in key primary states:
Former businessman Herman Cain holds a narrow lead in South Carolina’s Republican primary, and he’s running neck and neck in Florida with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, according to two new NBC News-Marist polls.
These two states have played pivotal roles in past Republican presidential nominating contests: Since 1980, the winner of South Carolina’s GOP primary has gone on to win the party’s nomination, while Florida ultimately decided the party’s pick in 2008. This cycle, South Carolina’s contest will occur on Jan. 21 and Florida’s will take place on Jan. 31.
“The road to the convention is going to go through these two states,” said Lee Miringoff, the director of Marist College’s Institute for Public Opinion.
Last night I was talking to Steve Foley of Citizens for Cain and we agreed: We’re looking like political geniuses now. Nobody else saw the potential of the Cain campaign back when we first got fired up about it back around Thanksgiving last year. Here’s my American Spectator column today:
Scores of reporters and dozens of cameras surrounded the candidate in the “spin room” here at the Sands Expo and Convention Center following Tuesday night’s CNN Republican presidential debate. “Mr. Cain! Mr. Cain!” reporters shouted, shoving their microphones toward the man who was never expected to become a serious contender for the GOP nomination. If nothing else, the Las Vegas debate confirmed that Atlanta businessman Herman Cain is indeed now a contender. . . .
Read the whole thing. I filed it at about 1:3o a.m. ET and then enjoyed a night on the town with Smitty and Wombat, who were smoking Davidoff cigars. A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
Thanks to all the readers who helped send us here and in case you weren’t one of them, please: Hit the freaking tip jar!
Genius like this shouldn’t work for free, right?
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by Smitty
Live At Five is experiencing technical difficulties having to do with bandwidth availability in the Clark County joint that may or may not have something to do with this video:
by The World’s Youngest Blogger
