The Other McCain

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

‘I Fear No Boy Named Sioux,’ Said Custer

Posted on | September 14, 2011 | 7 Comments

by Smitty


Title reference, for those who would mis-interpret.

Weiner, the Left punts on 3rd down, systemically. It’s part of failing upward, which is what you do when you hate liberty and just want a nipple from a federal family breast stuffed in your face.

It takes a very special person to try to talk tough while the arrows of reality are placing picturesque perforations in his rapidly deteriorating perimeter. All things considered, Weiner, that little big horn of yours has assured its place in the Andrew Sullivan Museum of Junk.

Given the location of the Little Big Horn, one wonders if you’ll be moving to Montana soon, where you can be a dental floss tycoon?

Category: Uncategorized

NY-9: Turner Time?
UPDATE: ‘I See Dead Voters!’
UPDATE: GOP’S TURNER WINS!

Posted on | September 13, 2011 | 38 Comments

UPDATE 12:08 a.m. ET: ASSOCIATED PRESS DECLARES REPUBLICAN BOB TURNER THE WINNER IN NEW YORK’S 9TH DISTRICT!

UPDATE 12:13 a.m. ET: While AP has called it for Turner, Democrat Dave Weprin has not yet conceded:

Businessman Bob Turner (R) defeated state Assemblyman David Weprin (D) in the special election for the House seat held by former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner (D).
Turner’s victory is regarded as an upset given the Democratic history of the 9th district, which takes in portions of Brooklyn and Queens, as well as the fact that President Obama carried the seat by 11 points in 2008.
Weprin has yet to concede, but the Associated Press has called the race for Turner.

Turner becomes the first Republican elected in this district since 1923.

UPDATE 12:25 a.m. ET: How big is this win?

This is the same congressional seat that was held by pervert Anthony Weiner, before he tweeted his meat. This is also the some congressional seat that was once held by far left Marxist Chuck Schumer, and even 1984 VP nominee Geraldine Ferraro. Now it’s held by Republican Bob Turner, thanks to the epic failure of Obama, and his anti Israel policies!

In other words, SCOAMF.

UPDATE 1 a.m. ET: Matt Drudge’s headline:

From the Associated Press story Drudge linked:

Weprin, a 56-year-old Orthodox Jew and member of a prominent Queens political family, seemed a good fit for the largely white, working-class district, which is nearly 40 percent Jewish.
But voter frustration with Obama put Weprin in the unlikely spot of playing defense. A Siena Poll released Friday found just 43 percent of likely voters approved of the president’s job performance, while 54 percent said they disapproved. Among independents, just 29 percent said they approved of Obama’s job performance.
Turner, a 70-year-old Catholic, vowed to push back on Obama’s policies if elected. . . .
Weprin became embroiled in New York-centric disputes over Israel and gay marriage, which cost him some support among Jewish voters.
Orthodox Jews, who tend to be conservative on social issues, expressed anger over Weprin’s vote in the Assembly to legalize gay marriage. In July, New York became one of six states to recognize same-sex nuptials.
Former Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat, endorsed Turner in July as a way to “send a message” to Obama on his policies toward Israel. And Weprin was challenged on his support of a proposed Islamic center and mosque near the World Trade Center site, in lower Manhattan.

So: Obama, gay marriage, Israel and the Ground Zero Mosque. I’m sure Charles Johnson will blame this election on Pamela Geller.

UPDATE 11:55 p.m. ET: Republican Bob Turner is still leading — by a margin of about 2,400 votes, 53%-47% — but I just now saw this shocking story at ABC News:

Claiming a handful of deceased voters have been mailed absentee ballots for today’s special election, an attorney for Republican congressional candidate Bob Turner told ABC News that he has obtained a court order to seal all paper ballots in New York’s 9th Congressional District, pending judicial review.
“We found five dead people, confirmed, who were mailed absentee ballots,” said Turner’s attorney, Grant Lally. “Some of these people have been dead for years.”

Now Democrats will accuse Republicans of necrophobia.

PREVIOUSLY: It is very early — polls closed at 9 p.m. ET and we’ve only got 7 of 512 precincts reporting as of 10:15 p.m. — but Republican Bob Turner is leading 55%-44% in the New York district formerly represented by Anthony Weiner.

UPDATE: The White House is already spinning NY-9 as something other than a referendum on Obama, even though the Turner campaign has been nothing but all-Obama-bashing-all-the-time.

UPDATE 10:30 p.m. ET: OK, now a few more precincts reporting — we’re up to 13 of 512 — and it’s Turner 53%, Weprin 47%.

This might be a good time to mention a conversation I had in Tampa with someone who knows New York politics very well. My source mentioned Democrat Dov Hikind’s endorsement of Turner and said: “Dov Hikind doesn’t endorse losers.” FWIW.

UPDATE 10:40 p.m. ET: With 45 of 512 precincts reporting, it’s Turner 52%, Weprin 47%. There’s a good chance the Republican will win, but we certainly shouldn’t expect a GOP landslide in a district that Obama won with 55% three years ago.

UPDATE 10:45 p.m. ET: You’ve got to admire the way they’re holding back precincts in Brooklyn. That may be either (a) Democrats up to shenanigans on behalf of Weprin or (b) Democrats following Dov Hikind’s orders on behalf of Turner. Remember what my source said, eh?

Our upstate New York friend The Lonely Conservative is tracking the results.

UPDATE 10:55 p.m. ET: Tea Party people . . . in New York City? Raaaaacism!

And with 121 precincts reporting, Turner leads 51% to 49%. If Turner pulls this one out, tomorrow’s White House press conference with Jay Carney ought to be an all-time classic.

UPDATE 11:05 p.m. ET: Ace of Spades has an NY-9 open thread. With 149 precincts reporting, it’s Turner 52%, Weprin 48% — a margin of barely 700 votes, of course. Very low turnout, and those Brooklyn precincts are suspiciously slow with their reports.

UPDATE 11:15 p.m. ET: With 191 precincts reporting, Turner leads 51%-48%.

UPDATE 11:30 p.m. ET: Democrats have got to be sweating now: Turner leads 51%-49% with 218 of 512 precincts reporting.

The margin is just 524 votes out of more than 28,000 cast, but still . . . this is New York City!

Linked by Donald Douglas at American Power — thanks!

UPDATE 11:40 p.m. ET: Do we dare hope? Can Turner hold on to this lead? With 271 precincts reporting, it’s Turner 53%, Weprin 46%.

UPDATE 11:45 p.m. ET: How will Democrats spin a loss in NY-9? They’ll probably blame it all on Dave Weprin’s toupeé credibility gap. And at this hour, Turner’s still leading by some 1,500 votes.

PREVIOUSLY:


Category: Congress, Election, New York

The Prisoner on Flight 1884

Posted on | September 13, 2011 | 52 Comments

The National Affairs Desk, 4 p.m., Sept. 13, 2011

“Shortly after the election-night returns [in the 1972 Florida Democratic primary] showed Muskie hopelessly mired in fourth place behind Wallace, Humphrey, and Jackson, the Man from Maine called an emergency staff meeting and announced he was quitting the race. This stirred up a certain amount of panic and general anger among the staff people, who eventually persuaded Big Ed to at least get himself under control before talking to any reporters. He agreed to go out and play golf the next day, while the top-level staffers got together and tried to find some alternative.
“This was the reality behind the story, widely published the next day, that Muskie had decided to ‘change his whole style’ and start talking like the Fighting Liberal he really was at heart. He would move on to Illinois and Wisconsin with new zeal . . . and his staff people were so happy with this decision to finally ‘take off the gloves’ that they had agreed to work without pay until the day after the big Victory Party in Wisconsin.
“It took about a week for the story of Muskie’s attempt to quit the race to leak out to the press, but it was not an easy thing to confirm. One of the most frustrating realities of this goddamn twisted business is the situation where somebody says, ‘I’ll only answer your question if you promise not to print it.’
“Everybody I talked to about the Muskie story seemed to know all the details – but there was no point trying to check it out, they said, because it came from ‘somebody who was at the meeting’ and he ‘obviously can’t talk about it.’
“Of course not. Only a lunatic would risk getting fired from his un-salaried job on the Muskie campaign several days before the crucial Wisconsin primary.”
— Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ‘72

PHILADELPHIA                              
We took off from Tampa International Airport at noon sharp, some 90-odd passengers aboard a U.S.  Airways 737, including the prisoner who sat handcuffed in 25F, the right-side window seat in the rearmost row.  A plainclothes law enforcement officer — federal marshal? sheriff’s deputy? homicide detective? — sat in 25D, the aisle seat.

Nobody sat in 25E, for obvious reasons.

What crime had the prisoner committed?  I didn’t dare ask. But whatever it was, somebody wanted this guy transported to  Philadelphia ASAP, which was why he shared my pleasant flight on U.S. Airways, three rows behind me in the tail end of the big Boeing jet.

Our flight was only about three-quarters full, so even though my ticket was for seat 6E — a center seat on the right side, just a couple rows behind first class — I was able to opt for 22C, an aisle seat on the left, way in the back. I always prefer an aisle seat, and this flight was sufficiently underbooked that I got extra room because seat 22B was empty.  All in all, then, it was a nearly ideal flight experience in terms of 21st-century commercial air travel.

Did the prisoner in seat 25F fully appreciate this? Probably not.

Interstate fugitives don’t usually collect many frequent flyer miles, and so the guy in handcuffs probably had no frame of reference — overbooked planes, delayed departures, missed connections, long layovers — with which to compare his involuntary trip to Philly.

Meanwhile, the guy in 22A (the window seat next to me) was reading A Clockwork Orange while I was reading Hunter S. Thompson’s account of the 1972 campaign. Both are tales of twisted madness, but only one of those stories is fiction. And covering the current presidential campaign confirms every insight Thompson had about “this goddamn twisted business” of political journalism. Read more

Category: Debates, Election 2012, Florida, Shoe Leather Fund

Goldman Sees The Image Of A Piece Of Toast In Egypt

Posted on | September 13, 2011 | 28 Comments

by Smitty

David P. Goldman looks at Egypt and has an ugly conclusion:

The result, I predict, will be a humanitarian catastrophe that makes Somalia look like a picnic. It’s not surprising that the Egyptian mob might attack the Israeli embassy. The Egyptian street has nothing to do but rise up against perceived oppressors, because nothing good awaits them; and the desperation that will follow the collapse of the Arab “Spring” threatens every Middle Eastern regime, such that the rulers have to try to get out in front of the rage. But what will they actually do? The Egyptian military is hanging onto power by its fingernails. If it attacks Israel, it will lose, and generals will be hanged from lamp posts. The Syrian military is too busy killing protesters to attack Israel, or to assist Hezbollah in a confrontation with Israel.
What we are likely to witness during the next two years will be repellent, even horrifying–but not necessarily dangerous.

Read the whole, depressing thing. American exceptionalism, indeed: decades and billions have simply not waved wands where wanted.

And, while it’s cheap and easy to take swipes at the President over U.S. foreign policy, precisely what anyone would do differently or better is not abundantly clear.

Category: Egypt, Israel

Kevin Jackson Gives BHO A Charlton Heston Makeover

Posted on | September 13, 2011 | 3 Comments

by Smitty

Kevin Jackson in Taki’s Magazine:

Obama promised to deliver his ideas with no subterfuge. Unlike his actions in the past such as sealing his college transcripts, there would be transparency with jobs. Obama would not treat jobs like his birth certificate or his Harvard writings and other musings. Lobbyists are not welcome here, as jobs are the order of the day, and almost three years into his presidency we need to know that jobs are Priority #1.

Quite a good read, overall.  The Obama Bible, AKA The New Book of Jobs, is territory that one could mine endlessly.

Now, if only Kevin could give the President some Moses-like success. . .

Category: Uncategorized

Joe Miller Lives!

Posted on | September 13, 2011 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

Costa at NRO has an update:

No longer in the national spotlight, Miller remains active in politics, speaking at tea-party rallies. I caught up with him in this small, suburban town, just north of Philadelphia, about an hour before he spoke at a tea-party event at a local farm, where he endorsed upstart Senate candidate Marc Scaringi, a former Rick Santorum aide, who is challenging Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.).

Over coffee, Miller told me that he is not ready to endorse a presidential candidate, but finds Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann near the top of his list. He also thinks that Sarah Palin, despite the buzz, will jump in. “My gut is that she’s going for it,” he says. “I know the polling data and facts on the ground may suggest otherwise, but she would be a wonderful addition to the fray. I think she would enliven the debate. She would embolden and motivate the tea-party base, bringing an outside-the-establishment perspective, which is really needed.”

Equally provocative stuff at the link.

As with Sharron Angle, Joe Miller showed that ye olde evil Ruling Class Overlords will fight for their right to party on the Titanic, rather than let anyone save the ship.

Category: Uncategorized

No Time for Final Wisdom in Tampa

Posted on | September 13, 2011 | 11 Comments

TV satellite trucks in front of Monday night’s debate venue.

TAMPA, Fla.
My flight boards at 11:30 a.m. for the return flight home, and so there’s no time now for any elaborate explanation of what happened here during the CNN/Tea Party Express debate. Here’s a quick survey of headlines at Memeorandum:

Perry Wears a Bull’s-Eye at G.O.P. Debate
— New York Times 

Bachmann: ‘I’m offended’
— Politico

Romney’s Win
— Weekly Standard

The frontrunner has no clothes
— Washington Post

The general consensus of the national press corps seems to be that, whoever won last night’s debate, Rick Perry definitely lost. And who am  I to argue with the general consensus? My own take on the debate — which I finished at 1 a.m. in an Ybor City taco joint — is online at The American Spectator:

Rick Perry came into last night’s debate here with a target on his back, leading in the polls only a month after his late entry into the Republican presidential campaign. His fellow GOP candidates fired at the Texas governor all night, but it wasn’t until Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann said the phrase “innocent little 12-year-old girls” that he suffered any serious wound.
Bachmann’s poignant phrase was used in reference to Perry’s controversial 2007 executive order mandating that every sixth-grade girl in Texas get vaccinated with Gardasil, a new drug to prevent the sexually transmitted disease human papilloma virus (HPV). Perry’s decision was subsequently voided by the Texas legislature, and he has said he regrets trying to implement it by executive order, but continues to defend it as “making a difference in young people’s lives,” as he said during Monday’s debate.
Bachmann drew cheers from the Tea Party audience when she said Perry’s decision “to have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat out wrong.” And she also implied that Perry’s decision was corrupt, mentioning his former chief of staff’s position as a lobbyist for Merck, the company that makes Gardasil and a contributor to Perry’s gubernatorial campaign. Perry responded by pointing out that Merck donated a mere $5,000 to his campaign, out of $30 million he raised. “If you’re saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended,” Perry said, to which Bachmann replied: “I’m offended for all the little girls and the parents who didn’t have a choice.” . . .

Read the whole thing. My friend Ali Akbar, who was in the debate hall, said that three women he talked to who supported Perry before the debate had changed their minds after the debate. It seems that the Gardasil issue really hurts with the Mommy Vote. But there’s no time to think about what that means right now, so you’ll have to hash it out amongst yourselves in the comments.

That flight out of Tampa International Airport won’t wait for the final wisdom and there’s only time now for the most important sentence in the English language: Hit the freaking tip jar!

Conservative Action Fund treasurer Shaun McCutcheon, Republican consultant Ali Akbar and former Georgia congressional candidate Ray McKinney at the Ybor City taco joint after the debate.

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Debates, Election 2012, Florida, Shoe Leather Fund

Sunshine State Spin

Posted on | September 13, 2011 | 13 Comments

Rick Santorum talks to the press after Monday’s debate.

TAMPA, Fla.
No debate is complete without the post-debate spin, and here are a few photos and videos of the action in the “Spin Room” after last night’s debate at the Florida State Fairgrounds.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a “spinner” for Rick Perry, is swarmed by media.

Tea Party Express spokeswoman Amy Kramer talks to reporters.

Herman Cain talks to reporters.

They’ll let anyone in the spin room: Even Democrats like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron. It was weird seing Carl with a CNN-issued media credential hanging from his neck on a CNN lanyard.

OK, now here’s video of Rick Santorum’s entrance to the spin room. Notice how the reporter tries to work his own angle into the interview, which clearly irritates Santorum:

And here’s video of Herman Cain talking to the press about the same issue, Rick Perry’s Gardasil mandate:

Category: Debates, Election 2012, Florida, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, Tea Party
« go back — keep looking »

    About

    This is an area on your website where you can add text. This will serve as an informative location on your website, where you can talk about your site.

    Subscribe to our feed

    Search

    Admin