The Other McCain

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

EXCLUSIVE: Rick Santorum Interview

Posted on | October 7, 2011 | 13 Comments

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Here at the FRC Value Voters Summit, I was walking through the lobby of the Omni Shoreham Hotel when I saw a familiar face: One of the daughters of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. The candidate’s three oldest children and his lovely wife were sitting in the lobby, awaiting the candidate’s return from an interview with Megyn Kelly at the D.C. bureau of Fox News. After a few minutes, Santorum returned, and we had lunch — sandwiches and chips — then he agreed to a brief video interview:

I’m in kind of a hurry here — Herman Cain speaks at 4:15 p.m. — so there’s no time to transcribe his quotes. If some of our blog friends and commenters would care to do so (just stick the quotes down in the comments), I’d be much obliged.

While we were having lunch, one of Santorum’s staffers walked up and told us the news that Iowa has scheduled its caucuses for Jan. 3. So, good-bye Christmas, eh? But Santorum has campaigned hard in Iowa, and has a solid base of grassroots support, so he may be positioned to take advantage of What Florida Hath Wrought.

UPDATE: Thanks to Steve Eggleston of No Runny Eggs for this transpcript of the interview:

McCain – We’re here in Washington, DC, at the Value Voters Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel talking to former Senator Rick Santorum. How are you, sir?
Santorum – I’m doing great, Stace. How are you?
McCain – I’m doing pretty good. How’s your campaign been going the last couple weeks since we’ve seen you?
Santorum – We feel very, very good. I think we’re picking up some traction, I think getting the recognition as being a serious candidate has got the grass-roots effort out there, as well as the substance to do the job as President and to win a tough election against what will be a tough opponent. I think the more people look at the candidates and make an assessment as to who can deliver the mail, who can stand up for conservative principles, get things done in Washington, bring the country together, and first and foremost win the election, that we’re going to be on top.
McCain – You just got back from a 3-day swing from Iowa…
Santorum – I was in Iowa for most of the week, actually, in, I think, close to my 70th county in the state. I’ll be back again into New Hampshire this coming week, then South Carolina, and then the following week back to Iowa. So, we’re working all the three early-primary states and giving the chance for the voters to get a chance to kick the tires and find out about who we are, not just go give speeches or do television interviews, but really have a chance for the interaction that, at least I’m told the voters in Iowa really appreciate and that pays off, if you do well, in the long term.
McCain – And your debate performances; a lot of people have praise for your performance in Orlando, and I believe I characterized you as a “brutal counter-puncher”. Sometimes these debates have been kind of rough at times.
Santorum – My feeling is there are differences between the candidates on substance, you have to let the folks who are going to make these tough decisions, you have to let them know what those differences are. There clearly were differences between me and Governor Perry on the issue of immigration and this issue of mandatory vaccines, his executive order on vaccines. There have been differences between me and Ron Paul on the issue of Iran and Israel, and our position in Afghanistan. I’m not shy about pointing those differences when they are, and looking forward do more of that in debates ahead on other issues.
McCain – All right then. And your website is…
Santorum – ricksantorum.com. Go and send us a check.
McCain – All right. Thanks.
Santorum – Thanks.

UPDATE II: Josh Lederman of The Hill reports on Santorum’s speech today:

Rick Santorum came out with his own economic plan Friday to top the 9-9-9 plan pushed by Herman Cain.
“I’ve got a better plan. It’s the zero-zero-zero plan,” the GOP presidential candidate and former senator told the Value Voters Summit.
Santorum said his plan would levy zero taxes on repatriation of funds invested overseas, cut corporate taxes for manufacturers to zero and eliminate every regulation put in place by President Obama.
Santorum has long been a favorite son of the socially conservative voter bloc that flocks to Washington every year for the Value Voters Summit, but has yet to define himself as independent thinker on economic issues within the Republican presidential field.

My 12-year-old son Jefferson, who’s here with press credentials as my assistant, overheard one of the conference attendees say that he’d decided to support Santorum for the very reason that he met and talked to him in the hotel lobby. Santorum is the most accessible candidate here, and he spent most of the afternoon in the lobby meeting voters one-on-one. He posed for a photo with Jefferson:

Of course, Santorum knows I’m a Cain guy, but also knows that I’m friends with his strongest online supporter Lisa Graas. And speaking of which, I ran into K-Lo here and she said to me, “Who’s this Lisa Graas who CC’s me on all her Tweets?”

RECENTLY:

Category: Election 2012, Iowa, Rick Santorum

Cain: The Last Hope Against Romney?

Posted on | October 7, 2011 | 43 Comments

Michale Merritt offers an odd criticism of Herman Cain:

That’s because Cain has no national security experience. He’s never worked in the field; he’s a businessman, so it’s not so surprising. He’s also never held high office before, so national security hasn’t come onto his radar from that perspective either. Unlike Perry, Romney, Johnson, and Huntsman, Cain has never had to deal with these issues. He doesn’t, as Republicans used to say, have “executive experience.”

Cain’s business background — as CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and president of the National Restaurant Association — doesn’t count as “executive experience”? But never mind that: How does Mitt Romney’s term as governor of Massachusetts qualify him as a national security expert? And who is Michael Merritt, a 25-year-old with liberal arts diploma, to be offering these assessments?

We’ll leave this aside, not because Merritt doesn’t deserve a more thorough punk-smacking, but because we want to link T.C. Lynch at Leather Penguin, who notices something in an article about erstwhile Chris Christie fundraisers:

Understand something, Tea Party Sheeples: these people are better than you. Notice that in that entire article, the name “Herman Cain” never makes an appearance; he doesn’t exist in their world view, and anyone considering his candidacy to be credible are just run of the mill, bien-pensant fools, who don’t understand the Big Picture.

Read the whole thing. You may have noticed that some of our Republican friends seemed to lose interest in the GOP nomination fight just about the time Rick Perry melted down and Herman Cain surged into contender status. These people are already making peace with the idea of Romney carrying the 2012 Republican banner.

Far be it from me to accuse these Republican friends of racism, because I don’t think that’s really the problem. Rather, I think they have internalized the mystique of the Cult of Expertise, the belief that being president of the United States is a job that only experienced professionals can perform. And I think it’s high time that we destroy that myth, demonstrating once and for all that the professional political class is our fundamental problem.

Populism is an appropriate response when the elites have shown themselves incapable of governance. With all caveats about Cain’s political inexperience considered, and no illusions of him as “Hope and Change” rainbows-and-unicorns saviour a la Obama, I believe he is a man fully qualified to fulfill a vital purpose at a crucial time.

Some of our Republican friends are guilty of “fighting the last war,” when Republicans invested their hope in the “experience” argument on behalf of John McCain. But this is a new election, and Americans are eager to hear a new argument on behalf of a new candidate. I’ve got no grudge against Romney, but if the Republican Party nominates the “It’s His Turn” candidate this year, they will have missed a chance to rally the kind of populist wave that might finally bring real reform to Washington.

Category: Herman Cain

What Cynthia Said

Posted on | October 7, 2011 | 35 Comments

by Smitty

OK, I don’t necessarily agree with the presumption that BHO attains re-election:

With regard to Gov. Palin, I do hope she sets her sights on running for president in 2016 to succeed Obama. When Gov. Palin spoke on Sept. 3 to a Tea Party audience in Indianola, Iowa, she laid out the most positive and practical path for restoring America to prosperity of any of the candidates. She has the ability to make people believe in themselves and their ability to overcome their greatest challenges, which is not only required for a nation to prosper but also is the most powerful cure for the pathological desire to depend on the government to solve every problem. If she does what she has to do to overcome the objections that establishment Republicans had to her candidacy this time around, she is exactly the person most capable of cleaning up the mess that Obama will leave.

However, the potential for BHO to retain power should be used freely to nudge the slackers into participation.

Category: Cynthia Yockey, Sarah Palin

Herman Cain in D.C. Area Today

Posted on | October 7, 2011 | 2 Comments

Two events:

This basement-office pundit game gets old after a while. It’s been more than three weeks since my last road trip (to cover the Sept. 12 Tampa debate) and the hunger to go out and do some actual shoe-leather work has been gnawing a hole in my soul.

It’s 146 miles round-trip — I’m going.

 

Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain

Pat Condell Offering Simple, Sad Truth

Posted on | October 7, 2011 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

A pitch-perfect delivery, via Da Tech Guy.

UPDATE (RSM): The strongest sentence is when Condell says of the Palestinian leaders, “They don’t want peace, they want victory, and the won’t be happy until Israel is wiped from the map.”

Palestinian nationalism is a toxic legacy of an era young people don’t remember and which too many older folks never really understood, when the Soviet Union sponsored “movements of national liberation” throughout the Third World. Yasser Arafat was to Palestine what Ho Chi Minh was to Vietnam. Everything I need to know about Palestinian nationalism I learned as a boy in June 1968 when we turned on our TVs and learned that Robert Kennedy had been assassinated in Los Angeles. That’s why I refer to modern liberals as the Sirhan Sirhan wing of the Democratic Party.

Category: Israel, Video

LIVE AT FIVE – 10.07.11

Posted on | October 7, 2011 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Obama Cites Europe’s Woes While Campaigning For Jobs Bill

President Obama addresses "emergency" news conference

Trying to get ahead of today’s jobs number, which are expected to stink. Again.

Who Will Win Nobel Peace Prize?
Hundreds nominated; Arab Spring & EU two strong possibilities

“Occupy Wall Street” Protesters Disgusted With Both Parties
Demonstrators equally unhappy with Bush, Obama



POLITICS
Chu Defends Embattled Energy Loan Program

Energy Secretary Steven Chu

President Obama also chimes in, supporting loans to Solyndra as “worthwhile”

Nevada’s January Caucuses Could Lead To December Campaigning

Sarah Palin: Not Retreating, Just Reloading

Case Clothed: Scott Brown Quip Hits Below Belt

Obama Defends Attorney General Prissy On Gunwalker

Senate Banking Committee Approves Cordray For Consumer Post

Giffords Returns To Washington For Husband’s Retirement Ceremony

Justice Scalia Criticizes Narcotics Laws

Caltech Edges Harvard As Top American University



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Euro clings To Gains After ECB Action; Skepticism Lingers
Doubts Over Eurozone Trim Asian Gains
Gold, Copper, US Crude Set For Weekly Gains
Environmentalist Wackos Sue To Block Keystone XL Pipeline
Amazon To Collect TN Sales Tax In 2014, Add 2000 Jobs
Oracle Agrees To $199.5 Million Settlement With Feds
FCC Asks Court To Toss Verizon’s Net Neutrality Suit
HP Investigating Android TouchPads
FCC Seeks Revision Of Rural Phone Subsidy
Sony In Talks To Buy Ericsson Out Of Phone Venture
XBox 360 To Launch New TV, Film Services
Westboro Loonies Announce Protest Of Steve Jobs Funeral Via iPhone



SPORTS
Tigers Outgun Yankees, Prepare To Face Rangers For Pennant

Tigers celebrate after beating Yankees

Tiger bullpen hangs on for 3-2 win over Damn Yankees

No Experience Necessary: White Sox Sign Robin Ventura As Manager

Big 12 Adds TCU



Bruins Raise Banner, Fall To Flyers In Opener

Injured Manning Holding On To Hope

Are You Ready For Some Football? Hank Isn’t

Penguins Win Shootout To Beat Canucks 4-3

Riggleman To Mets As Bench Coach?



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Is This Leonardo DiCaprio’s New Leading Lady?

Alyce Crawford, Leonardo DiCaprio

Actor Picks Up Model To Replace Blake Lively As Arm Candy

Demi Still Wearing Wedding Ring Amid Cheating Allegations

Ali Fedotowsky, Fiance Roberto Martinez “Miserable In The Relationship”



Salma Hayek Shares Her Five Tricks For Busting A Bad Mood

“Young Adult”Trailer: Charlize Theron Is Whiskey-Swilling Bad

Behold! Julia Roberts As Evil Queen In “Snow White”

NBC Cancels New Comedy “Free Agents”

LeAnn Rimes Accepts Tabloid Fascination, For Now



FOREIGNERS
Libyan Rebels Launch Major Assault On Sirte
After A Decade, NATO Says Afghan Exit Plans Still On Track
PA Officials Allege IDF Cooperation In Settler Violence; IDF Calls Bullshit
Pakistani Doctor Alleged To Have Assisted In Bin Laden Raid May Face Treason Charges
Pakistan Downplays Afghan Pact With India
Tutu At 80: Technology To Trump (Lack Of) Diplomacy At Birthday Party; Dalai Lama To Speak Via Video Link
ROK Unification Minister Downplays Nork Food Shortage As Not Serious



BLOGS & STUFF
WyBlog: If Only We’d Put Steve Jobs In Charge Of Education
NRO Corner: Harry Reid Nukes The Senate
Legal Insurrection: Mark This Day In The Annals Of Senate Nuclear Warfare
Jawa Report: #OccupyWallStreet Turns To Dark Side
Lonely Conservative: #OccupyWallStreet Costs NYC Taxpayers $2 Million So Far; Sanitary Problems Cropping Up
100.7 WZLX: Scott Brown Calls In And Thanks Elizabeth Warren For Keeping Her Clothes On
Althouse: What Goes Around Comes Around
Allahpundit: House Dems Introduce Resolution Condemning Perry For Slur On Hunting Camp Rock
Weasel Zippers: Cain Says He’d Serve As VP For Anyone But Perry
Michelle Malkin: A Solyndra Head Rolls
Confederate Yankee: Could Administration Officials Face Life In Prison Or Death Penalty For Gunwalker?
Michael Walsh: Justice Department Panicked By Gunwalker Documents


SOTD: Suffragette City

Category: Live at Five

INSANITY IS HEREDITARY

Posted on | October 6, 2011 | 17 Comments

My 19-year-old son James bought himself a new Poulan chainsaw tonight and immediately decided he need to post a photo to his Facebook page. I’m not worried about his safety. But he if ever buys a laptop . . .

Category: Family

The Herman Cain Story

Posted on | October 6, 2011 | 69 Comments

A new Pew Poll shows the astonishing surge for Herman Cain in the GOP field since the Sept. 22 debate in Orlando. Cain trailed Rick Perry by four points Sept. 22-25, but by Oct. 1-4 Cain led Perry 18-15, while front-runner Mitt Romney softened slightly, declining from 25% to 22% in the span of little more than a week. If this trend continues another two weeks — as the Republican candidates meet again in debates Oct. 11 in New Hampshire and Oct. 18 in Las Vegas — the contest may begin to be viewed nationally as a race between Romney and Cain.

Was this all a result of a single debate debacle for Perry and of Cain’s surprise win Sept. 24 in the Florida Straw Poll? Or is it the fact that Americans are learning more about Cain and liking what they see?

Moneyrunner got an e-mail today with a brief biography of Herman Cain that concludes this way:

He did all this starting from rock bottom (his father was a chauffeur and his mother was a maid). When you add up his accomplishments in his life—including reaching the top of three unrelated industries: information systems, business management, and banking—Herman Cain may have the most impressive resume of anyone that has run for the presidency in the last half century.

Go read the whole thing, and then ask yourself: Why do all the “experts” keep saying Herman Cain can’t possibly win?

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! We will celebrate like the natives of Vanuatu when John Frum finally returns.

UPDATE II: You know what black America really needs? More self-righteous lectures from white liberals!


Category: Cargo Cult of the Blog Gods, Election 2012, Herman Cain, Instapundit, Polls
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