The Other McCain

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

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

Major National Gathering of Conservative Bloggers Will Include Everyone But Me

Posted on | October 6, 2011 | 60 Comments

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 . . .

These are the announced speakers and panelists at BlogCon 2011, Nov. 11-12, at the luxurious Crowne Plaza Denver Downtown Hotel in Denver.

Discussions about my attendance concluded abruptly after Tabitha Hale rejected my suggestion that I moderate a panel entitled, “Suckage 2.0: How to Become Completely Irrelevant as the Universal Laughingstock of the Conservative Blogosphere.”

Maybe next year . . .

Category: Blogging, Tabitha Hale

CPAC12: We’re So There

Posted on | October 6, 2011 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

For bloggers like us, CPAC is the thing that even CINCHOUSE knows we cannot miss. (Sorry about the Herman Cain event tomorrow in Arlington, VA, Stacy). This event could also be called #OccupyMarriottWardmanPark, except that, to paraphrase Ann Coulter, conservatives tend to have jobs, showers, and a point.

This trailer makes CPAC look like an action flick:

There is indeed action, albeit of a more wonkish nature. I’m actually not a crowd person, so it really wipes me out, but that is what coffee is for. The World’s Youngest Blogger may put in an appearance,

but is not currently predicted to best Ron Paul in the straw poll.

CPAC12: get some. It’s February 9-11, 2012, so you’ve got plenty of time to form a green energy company, secure federal cash, pay your kickback to the Democrat party, go Tango Uniform, and still make CPAC. No, that’s not how we’re actually funding our appearance.

Category: CPAC

Storm Center: J.D. Gordon Takes Charge as Herman Cain Communications Director

Posted on | October 6, 2011 | 16 Comments

Cmdr. J.D. Gordon (USN, Retired), former Pentagon spokesman, is now
communications director for Herman Cain’s presidential campaign.

Saturday, I was the first to report that former Pentagon spokesman J.D. Gordon was taking over as de facto press secretary in the wake of Ellen Carmichael’s resignation. Today, I had my first phone interview with Commander Gordon, USN (Retired) — a career Navy man, like my co-blogger Smitty — and was quite impressed.

Commander Gordon understands my “never burn a source” rule, so most of our conversation occurred somewhere in the range of “background,” “off-the-record,” and “don’t ever breathe a word of this to anyone.”

First things first: In reporting the story Saturday, I got some things wrong and must now clarify any misperceptions accidentally created.

Gordon joined the Cain campaign on Sept. 1 and his title is “Vice President, Communications; Senior Adviser, Foreign Policy & Security.” This reflects Gordon’s dual areas of expertise, as a career public affairs officer with extensive knowledge of national security. (You can read his biography here.)

Gordon’s first task was to help inform Cain on foreign policy and military issues — which many of Cain’s critics had seen as a weakness — but Gordon’s portfolio also included supervisory authority over communications, i.e., he became Ellen Carmichael’s boss.

Anyone with sufficient math skills to add 2+2 could see that the sum of this equation would be “trouble,” which is nobody’s fault: Not Ellen’s fault, not J.D.’s fault, not Herman’s fault.

“Growing pains,” just like Carmichael had told me when a couple of Cain’s Iowa staffers left the campaign in July.

For more than a year, Carmichael had reported directly to Herman Cain, and the insertion of Gordon in the chain of command changed that. As I say, this is simple mathematics, rather than any sort of “sources say” revelation. What I heard from Gordon confirmed what I’ve been told by Carmichael and, while both spoke to me in that nebulous shadow realm of background/off-the-record, it’s fair to say — and again, nothing “exclusive” here — that conflicts arose.

“Differences of opinion,” you might say.

Perhaps you can imagine what happens when a veteran naval officer and a 2009 LSU graduate suddenly become colleagues in the middle of a presidential campaign with a long-shot candidate who is suddenly becoming a contender.

Hell, I could pitch that story in Hollywood as a situation comedy.

A laugh riot. Madcap hijinks ensue. Twenty-six episodes for the first season with a three-year option. (Attention Charlie Sheen: Call me, OK?)

The Odd (Campaign) Couple has a spinoff called Amicable Parting of the Ways, but is anyone surprised? It’s nobody’s fault, nobody’s bitter, and everybody speaks well of each other, and a publisher would have to offer me a hefty book advance in order to get me to do the “insider tell-all” version of that story. But I digress . . .

This unfortunately necessary drama ended Friday. Ellen Carmichael’s now working on a state election campaign in her native Louisiana and when that’s over, she’s coming back to D.C., where she has several stellar offers as an editorial commentator and/or public-relations specialist. Her future’s so bright, she’s gotta wear special heavy-duty infra-red shades.

It’s a win-win, happy endings for everyone including J.D. Gordon and the surging Herman Cain campaign. Gordon’s professionalism has earned him the respect of influential Washington journalists, among them top network TV correspondents and producers, and Gordon has already been working hard to build relationships with the reporters covering the 2012 GOP campaign.

Now, the news: The candidate once known as “Herman Who?” has suddenly become the hottest “get” in media, and will appear Sunday on both CBS Face the Nation and Candy Crowley’s CNN show State of the Union. The Cain campaign is also getting ready to announce new staff hires, and has picked up several recent endorsements. Furthermore:

In addition, I’m not sure if this was “background” or not, but Gordon wished me a happy birthday (I’m 52 today), offered to buy me a beer if I make it to D.C. tomorrow, and said — this is a direct quote — “Your readers really ought to hit your freaking tip jar.”

 

 

Trust me. That’s in my notes.

Update (Smitty): linked by our CPAC friend Nice Deb.

 

RECENTLY:


Category: Election 2012, Fear. Loathing., Herman Cain

#OccupyWallNuts Continue Their Epic Struggle Against That One Thing

Posted on | October 6, 2011 | 47 Comments

by Smitty

Trifecta is well worth your time. The rotating Kirk/Spock/McCoy chemistry of the three amigos plays well in serving up the abuse for the #OccupyWallNuts. I’m giving Whittle the Kirk role here, cheerfully telling the tools to get out of the toolbox and get a job. Green has the McCoy role, working hard, trying to empathize with a sad herd of sheep, and Ott does a Spock-tacular job of synthesizing the two, and offering a warning that the tentacles on the friendly guy handing out the money to support the protest signs that say ‘Brought to you by Cthulhu’ may be an indicator.

Stephen Green's head 'splosion whas captured by a fetching bit of silk.

Meanwhile, over at Heritage, we find this:

Stand aside, citizen-protestors. The Occupy Wall Street movement is about to get professional help. New York City labor unions have decided to join the demonstrations. Members of the Service Employees International Union and the United Federation of Teachers, among other unions, will soon be marching with the protestors.

Why is the union movement making common cause with disgruntled students?

Because these protests are useful vehicles. Unions can use them to marshal support for special-interest policies that benefit them.

Read the whole thing. A private sector union is a company without a product. A public sector union is a civil service mutiny. I’m not opposed to the former, insofar as liberty means the freedom to do even the stupidest things. However, a company without a product must be allowed to feel the winter cold on the bare bottom of their idiocy. Capitalism lives or dies on the feedback. In particular, the private sector unions must be prevented from injecting their idiocy into public sector contexts.

Update: FilmLadd has me doing a double-take:

An even smarter one would be asking how are they planning on using these protesters in 2012 to subvert the elections. My hunch is that these protests aren’t about accomplishing anything right now except to flex their muscles, test out the police, and see which supporters “they” (the White House) can count on.
In short: #OccupyWallStreet is a dry run for November 2012.

Ladd, I hope you are as correct in that prediction as I was on the Palin candidacy. Read the whole thing, where Ladd Ehlinger rips Bill O’Reilly and the rest of the media for laughing at #OccupyWallNuts.

Update II: linked at The Camp of the Saints

Update III: Prof. William Jacobson locates some fine irony about the transition from pure anarchy to union manipulation for #OccupyWallStreet:

How many of the unemployed in the crowd will make the connection between exclusive union shops and lack of right to work laws, and diminished job opportunities? How many will understand that trade unions exist to protect members of the unions, even if it means driving up the cost of products and services to consumers?
As they tearfully mourn the loss of Steve Jobs, how many will wonder why Jobs was so against unions, and fought a long battle to keep unions out of Apple? As they tweet the revolution from their iPhones and iPads, how many will realize that these devices may not ever have come into being but for Apple’s fight against some of the very unions marching along side them?

Update III: Linked at The Lonely Conservative, who, like me, cannot recall any Tea Party clashes with police.

Category: #Occupy, PJTV, Unions

Long Before The Infamous Speedo, There Was The Mullet

Posted on | October 6, 2011 | 32 Comments

by Smitty

It’s Stacy McCain’s birthday today. How about we break out some cheer. Consider: a snapshot from the early days of color photography, Stacy’s youth:Now, Stacy has not formally denied that this is him, clutching his Cuddlewhumpus County, Alabama Annual Noodling Contest and Catfish Fry, Third Place, Youth Division trophy, but that’s what I heard.

Quick poll: is it high time that Stacy resurrect the mullet?

Update: Linked at The Lonely Conservative.

Category: Farce, R.S. McCain School of Journalism

Some Better Ideas For Primaries

Posted on | October 6, 2011 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

Noting the latest in the primary brinksmanship, maybe the parties could consider:

  1. All 50 states at once. No one gets a jump. Not a lot of news and vetting, but at least no one is pre-eminent.
  2. A purely random distribution. Have a meeting a year before commencement of hostilities, and treat it like a lottery. More vetting time, no one is permantly pre-eminent.
  3. Just keep on sucking pond water like you do.

Yeah, it’ll likely be #3.

Category: Election 2012

BLAME ME!

Posted on | October 6, 2011 | 37 Comments

Rejection is painful, and I’m sure that Sarah Palin’s supporters blame themselves for her decision not to run. But don’t blame yourself and don’t blame Sarah — it was all my fault.

Mea culpa. Mea magna culpa.

Don’t ask why or how I was personally responsible for Sarah Palin not running for president. Don’t torture me into confessing my myriad personal failures and my sins — both of commission and omission — which caused her to reject your pleas that she run for president.

It doesn’t matter. I wanted her to run for president and she didn’t. If I had been good enough to deserve it, she would have said “yes.”

The failure is mine alone. Make me your scapegoat, and absolve yourself of any worry that you did anything wrong. All I ask in return is that you do me one favor, and read my column in The American Spectator:

Michelle McCormick was “working on a hellacious bar tab” in Clive, Iowa, when I called her Wednesday evening to get her reaction to the announcement that Sarah Palin will not run for president. McCormick has spent months in Iowa as a volunteer leader of the grassroots group Organize4Palin, and had every right to be bitter about the long waiting game that led up to Palin’s  final “no.” Yet the 28-year-old Texan was cheerfully drinking away her disappointment and still full of praise for the former Alaska governor who inspired her.
“I keep telling people, no regrets,” said McCormick, who left her job and moved to Iowa to work without pay on Palin’s behalf. “I’ve had so much fun doing this — the people that I’ve met and good friendships I’ve made — I would not trade that for anything. Shoot — I got to meet Sarah Palin a couple of times. Man, that was awesome…. We still respect Governor Palin and respect her decision.… I will always respect Sarah Palin. Next to my mom, she’s one of my  biggest role models. I’ve had a wonderful journey doing this.”
If McCormick did not fault Palin for the drawn-out “will she or won’t she” drama that continued all summer and into October, why should anyone else? Yet Palin’s announcement was an occasion for some to mock diehard supporters  like McCormick. . . .

Read the whole thing, please.

But if you don’t, I’ll blame myself for that, too.

It’s all my fault. Because I suck.

Category: Election 2012, Sarah Palin
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