The Other McCain

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

‘Can’t Never Could’

Posted on | October 12, 2011 | 6 Comments

“In a David-vs.-Goliath situation, you don’t start by trying to calculate the odds of success, because the odds are liable to be so daunting as to inspire helpless despair.
“But let me ask you this: What were Herman Cain’s odds in 2006, when the doctors diagnosed him with Stage 4 cancer? Think about that before you say Cain can’t win.
“As my father used to tell me, ‘Can’t never could.’ ”
— December 28, 2010

Category: Herman Cain

DNC’s Debbie Wasserman-Schultz Does Post-Debate Spin for … Newt Gingrich?

Posted on | October 12, 2011 | 14 Comments

Republican consultant Brad Marston was in the “spin room” after the GOP presidential debate at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., when he caught this unusual image: Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz giving her spin on the debate while standing under the Newt Gingrich sign.

Maybe this is Newt’s reward for supporting Dede Scozzafava?

Category: Debates, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, New Hampshire, Newt Gingrich

We Don’t Get Bloomberg TV …

Posted on | October 11, 2011 | 42 Comments

. . . but we do get Da Tech Guy who’s in New Hampshire live-blogging the debate at Dartmouth College, where the moderators have been up to the typical “liberals-asking-Republicans-gotcha-questions” tricks.

Does anyone remember when they had that Democratic debate in 2008 with George Will, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Kristol and Byron York as moderators?

No? Me neither, because it didn’t happen.

And yet we get Karen Tumulty questioning Republicans.

Because that’s “fair.”

UPDATE: The post-debate wrapup on Bloomberg, which I found online, seems to indicate Cain got a lot of heat over his 9-9-9 tax plan, but defended it pretty well. Perry did nothing to reverse his slide.

Maggie’s Notebook did some excellent live-blogging and comments: “Sheesh! The moderators were terrible.”

Linked by The Lonely Conservative — thanks!

UPDATE II: Da Tech Guy now has his own Memeorandum thread, which is kinda cool because he didn’t have credentials. He’d told me that the credentialing process seemed to require jumping through too many hoops. So he got there four hours early, set up in the “spin room,” acted as if he belonged there, and nobody bothered to ask for his credentials. As Roxeanne DeLuca said: “You’ve created a monster.”

The Wall Street Journal live-blogged the debate and VodkaPundit drunk-blogged it. Given the weak penetration of Bloomberg TV — what percentage of homes get that channel? — this will almost certainly be the least-viewed of all the GOP debates this year. And considering how lousy the moderators were, that’s a good thing.

UPDATE III: Richard Dunham of the Houston Chronicle:

After being the central figure in his first three Republican presidential debates and a self-described “pinata” for the rest of the field, Texas Gov. Rick Perry was largely a bystander Tuesday night as GOP presidential hopefuls focused their attacks on the new surging conservative, Herman Cain.
While most of the two-hour discussion at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., focused on the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO’s “9-9-9? economic plan and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s 59-point economic plan, Perry told moderator Charlie Rose of Bloomberg News that he wasn’t ready to present a detailed plan just yet.
“I’m not going to lay it out all for you tonight,” he said. “Mitt has had six years to be working on a plan. I have been in this for about eight weeks.”
During the debate co-sponsored by Bloomberg News, the Washington Post and WBIN-TV, candidates focused most of their fire on Cain, whose recent rise in the polls earned him a center seat alongside Romney, relegating Perry to the second ring with Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

UPDATE IV: From Michelle Malkin’s debate recap:

Rick Perry once again failed to deliver. He was languid. Passive. Half-hearted. Listless. . . .
I’m really, really trying to be nice. . . .
Fail. Texas-sized fail.

Malkin quotes Philip Klein on Twitter: “Perry makes Pawlenty look like a world champion debater.” T-Paw’s a good comparison, although I could think of a better one, but Malkin and Klein are both too young to remember Ed Muskie, the biggest front-runner flop in American political history.

I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but everything you ever need to know about presidential campaigns, you can learn by reading one book: Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ‘72.

And it’s funny as hell, too.

UPDATE V: John Hinderaker at Powerline:

Rick Perry, during the half of the debate that I saw, bordered on invisible.  I don’t know whether the pundits who say this was make or break for Perry are right, but it certainly was not a strong night for him. One thing that strikes me as odd is how little mileage Perry gets out of his job creation record in Texas.  He mentioned it a time or two, but, as in prior debates, he didn’t use it effectively as the foundation of his claim to be the strongest candidate.

Perry came into the race on Aug. 13 and had a double-digit lead on Romney by Labor Day — without ever having debated. Perry’s support started to soften after his OK-but-not-great performance in the Sept. 7 Reagan Library debate. Perry clearly lost the Sept. 12 Tampa debate, and his performance at the Sept. 22 Orlando debate was a Hindenburg-at-Lakehurst catastrophe.

It’s simple: Perry is lousy at debating, and these televised debates are the major events of the campaign. Notice by comparison that Cain, while perhaps not an Oxford Union debate champ, has nonetheless learned the trick of deflecting an opponent’s attack, not “getting into the tall grass” of a detailed defense, but rather using it as an opportunity to repeat his own message.

We’ll see if Cain’s rivals, anxious to stop his surging momentum, will be able to land more solid blows next Tuesday in the Las Vegas debate. And we’ll be there in Vegas.

Category: Da Tech Guy, Election 2012, New Hampshire

Would The Golfer In Chief Pose For Such A Shot?

Posted on | October 11, 2011 | 11 Comments

by Smitty (via Gerard)

It says a great deal that Bush himself condescends to hang out with the enlisted guys who were permanently harmed on his watch.

It says far more that the guys harmed on Bush’s watch really want to hang out with him.

It’s not on Intrade, but I doubt the question posed in the title would get into double digits.

Category: Uncategorized

Smitty’s School Of Parenting

Posted on | October 11, 2011 | 27 Comments

by Smitty

Or, the tangential benefits of heterosexuality
Category: Family

A Frothy Flagon O’ Fisk

Posted on | October 11, 2011 | 3 Comments

by Smitty

I have led DaveC over At The Point Of A Gun astray. He is now glancing at the Puffington Host, with Fisk-o-licious results. Some bozo-ette named JD Samson (shades of JT LeRoy):

Like so many teenagers, I believed in the “American Dream,” that I could move to New York from the Midwest and become an artist. I would achieve both fame and success, and I would never have to think about money. The first half was true. I made art and lived activism, and I achieved amazing amounts of success that I feel incredibly proud of. The second half, not so much. I have been able to live well, eat well, invest in my arts and make my own schedule, but I forgot to save money and think about my future.

Bingo. One would think that she would have ended it right here with an epiphany of being responsible for yourself and self determination. But then liberalism is a mental disorder so it would be dangerous to assume that her comprehension skills are normal.

RTWT, as DaveC delivers an Ol’ Woodshed Sojurn (#OWS) to Samson like the Samsonite leftovers of an ObamaVille near you.

Category: Blogging, humor

8,000,000: Fear and Loathing on Vegas Debate Media Credential Deadline Day

Posted on | October 11, 2011 | 30 Comments

Later today we will record our 8 millionth visitor to the blog. We got our first 3.3 million at the old Blogspot site (March 2008-December 2009) and, since switching to the custom domain with WordPress software in January 2010, have added another 4.7 million visits.

We recently recorded our best month to date with 339,343 visits in July so — assuming we can keep this up, and the Blog Gods of the Cargo Cult do not become offended again — it’s possible to estimate that we could reach the cumulative total of 10 million visits sometime in April or May.

This evidence of reader loyalty comes at a most convenient time, considering that today is the deadline to submit media credential requests for next Tuesday’s CNN/Western Republican Leadership Conference presidential debate in Las Vegas.

Submitting such requests is a hassle, as I’ve always loathed filling out applications. However, I’m sure my request will be approved, as I had no problem getting credentials from CNN for the Sept. 12 Tampa debate. But whereas I was credentialed as a correspondent for The American Spectator, I’m a bit nervous about how the public-relations office at CNN will respond when Smitty and Wombat apply for credentials to cover the Vegas debate for TheOtherMcCain.com.

The request form asks for a “title” and the name of a “supervisor.” We haven’t exactly been formal in the matter of titles, and I do damned little that could be called “supervising.” Read more

Category: Cargo Cult of the Blog Gods, Debates, Election 2012, Fear and Smitty in Vegas, How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog, humor, Nevada, Shoe Leather Fund

Because RINOs Always Travel in Herds: Chris Christie Will Endorse Mitt Romney

Posted on | October 11, 2011 | 102 Comments

Remember when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was supposed to be the feisty populist conservative alternative to Mitt Romney? So much for that ridiculous nonsense, eh?

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, just one week after definitively announcing he will not run for president in the 2012 race, plans to endorse Mitt Romney for the job Tuesday afternoon, Fox News has learned.
The event is set to take place in Hanover, N.H., the site of the Republican presidential debate being held Tuesday night. The endorsement will be made in advance of the debate.
Marking a fast turnaround for Romney, the endorsement comes one week to the day since Christie called a press conference in Trenton to end once and for all the speculation that he would make a late entrance into the race.

UPDATE: Bryan Preston at PJM:

So, is Christie pulling a Crist and making a major endorsement of a moderate candidate to help him fend off more conservative challengers? That’s what it looks like.

Three words, Bryan: Follow the money.

The GOP money people in New York — Georgette Mosbacher, et al. — were the ones urging Christie to run and, when he finally said “no” for the thousandth time, they all jumped on the Romney bandwagon. A big-money RINO-lanche for Romney is the only way to stop a certain surging candidate. IYKWIMAITYD.

UPDATE II: “Moderate GOP Governor’s Club,” Michelle Malkin says. Jon Huntsman was a member of that club. Ditto Mitch Daniels. Ditto Tim Pawlenty. The kind of GOP Establishment-approved folks that the big money boys find acceptable.

Now a Memeorandum thread.

UPDATE III: Thanks to commenter Joe for reminding me of this headline from last year:

N.J.’s Christie Backs Castle in Del. Senate Race

Yeah. That explains a lot, doesn’t it? Guess that means Herman Cain is this year’s Christine O’Donnell. Even if Cain gets the GOP nomination, the Establishment insiders would rather see Obama re-elected than to let an outsider win an election.

UPDATE IV: At a press conference in Hanover, N.H., just now, Romney called Christie “a real hero” and “my friend.” Christie said: “Mitt Romney’s the man we need to lead America and we need him now.”

First question at the press conference was about the Jeffress/Perry Mormons-are-a-cult issue. Christie referenced his own decision to appoint jihadi extremists to enforce sharia law a Muslim judge.

UPDATE V: David Freddoso’s headline at the Examiner:

Huge: Christie to endorse Romney

What’s with all the fat jokes, huh? Just because the hippo endorsed the RINO . . . See? Now you’ve got me started. But anyway, I was confused by this sentence in Freddose’s column:

Could the recent success of conservatives like Christie in the North, and the possible nomination of Romney, threaten the Republican Party’s reputation as a southern party?

Yeah. Unlike my fellow Atlanta native Herman Cain, whose nomination would only reinforce that whole “southern” thing, I suppose.

UPDATE VI: Duane Lester: “Christie continues to prove doubters right.”

The Lonely Conservative: “Herman Cain Says He’ll Go After Mitt Romney in GOP Debate.”

Linked by The Guy Who Named the Blogosphere — thanks!

UPDATE VII: Ed Morrissey:

The obvious conclusion is that Romney’s worried about an inability to move upward and the continued rise and fall of the Not-Romneys in the race. . . . By getting ahead of the news cycle with a big endorsement just before tonight’s debate, it could also relieve pressure on Romney to make news by attacking Herman Cain — or possibly hint that Romney wants a knockout punch badly enough to risk engaging the conservative base’s favorite of the moment.

So it appears that everybody’s expecting a Cain-vs.-Romney donnybrook tonight and Da Tech Guy, who is in New Hampshire for the debate, says, “in my opinion the story of the day is: ‘Can Herman Cain take a punch?’ ”


Category: Chris Christie, Election 2012, Mitt Romney
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