The Other McCain

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

SCOAMF Nation

Posted on | September 5, 2011 | 34 Comments

MANCHESTER, N.H.
Dan Collins says he was the first person to wear a “SCOAMF” T-shirt to a Tea Party rally:

Dan says Ace of Spades HQ readers will know what this acronym means.

Category: Ace of Spades, Fear and Loathing in New Hampshire, Piece of Work in Progress

SARAH PALIN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

Posted on | September 5, 2011 | 72 Comments

MANCHESTER, N.H.
UPDATE: Here’s a shot where you can see the crowd size (click to enlarge):

My rough eyeball estimate was about 800 people. There were lots of chants of “Run, Sarah, run!” BTW, this photo nearly got me the bum’s rush from security. I went up the stair backstage to get the photo and was then, um, asked by security to leave the backstage area. Hazards of the trade. But the point is — I got the photo.

UPDATE: Sarah Palin speaks (click to enlarge):

UPDATE: Backstage, Governor Palin autographs Ron Rivoli’s guitar:

UPDATE: Welcome, Conservatives for Palin readers and Students4Palin!

I’ll have more photos and videos later.

UPDATE: Da Tech Guy has more photos.

UPDATE: Here’s my interview with Mary Watson of Students4Palin:

At this point — about 3 p.m. ET — we’re working from the patio bar at Murphy’s. Also here are Dan Collins of the Conservatory and Jay Tea of Wizbang, who add their own commentary on today’s events.

UPDATE: Video interview with Jordan Porter and his father, Scott Porter, who drove from Maine to attend the Manchester rally:

PREVIOUSLY: We’re at Veterans Memorial Park, where a Tea Party Express rally featuring Sarah Palin is scheduled to get going at noon ET. Here are a few shots of faces in the crowd.

Jordan Porter, 19, and his father Scott Porter drove five hours from Machias, Maine, to attend the rally.

Mary Watson of Students4Palin.com is a law student at George Mason University and — in case you didn’t guess — a native of New Orleans.

Peter Southwick and Steve Brennan at the Organize4Palin tent. Steve says, “We are relentlessly gung-ho.”

Much, much more to come.

Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in New Hampshire, Sarah Palin, Tea Party

Expertise Debased Is Expertise Rejected

Posted on | September 5, 2011 | 23 Comments

by Smitty

Over at Ars Technica, John Timmer gives us a variation on argument from authority for why we are supposed to respect that one guy who was the ambassador to Bulungi or someplace:

“To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.” With that tweet, Jon Huntsman set himself apart from every other candidate in the Republican primary field. Despite his phrasing, Huntsman, who is barely registering in most polls, was clearly hoping that the public would believe most other candidates to be a bit loopy by contrast.

Agreeing with the scientific community has become a key issue in recent presidential campaigns. Evolution came up at a debate during the previous Republican primary season, and Rick Perry, the current front runner, was put on the spot about it at a recent campaign event (he flubbed his answer on several levels). And, as Huntsman’s tweet suggests, the reality of climate change has been a hot topic.

Evolution is utterly irrelevant to the election for at least three reasons:

  • Whatever is occuring happens at a frequency that is orders of magnitude slower than anything were handling in the current economic crisis.
  • Until there is a repeatable experiment that goes from the periodic table of elements to reproducing life, it’s really all so much speuculation. Not that I think reality was trotted out in 144 hours either, mind you. Just that I’m not even betting a cup of coffee that the theory du jour is accurate.
  • The last several presidents have conclusively demonstrated that you just don’t require much detailed knowledge at all to sit in the Oval Office. Caring about evolution, one way or another, is a difference that makes no difference. If the genesis of life is an election issue, then we should as well rate candidates based upon their knowledge of eschatology. The thumping sounds you heard at the mention of the subject were the heads of half the readers of this post hitting desks around the world.

This is not an anti-science post. We need to fund research, both to improve society, and keep scientists off the street. We wouldn’t want them getting together, cooking data, and creating a large scare, for example. . .Global Unobtainium Contamination. GUC could, you know, throw the climate under the bus. Affect your complexion. Inflate the currency. Horrible stuff. We must regulate Unobtanium! Credits for Unobtanium markets are the only way we can manage this foul scourge, lest it trigger a spate of Michael Moore documentaries.

It’s a reasonable concern. Personally, I wouldn’t vote for a candidate who rejects science and expertise, and as a voter, I’d like to have a viable choice between two qualified candidates. At the moment, it’s looking like I won’t.

My biggest concern is that, ultimately, Huntsman may be wrong. We’re in an environment where economic concerns will almost certainly dominate the election. And the campaigns will be covered by a press that cares more about the strategy of what a candidate said than its accuracy, a press that thinks it achieves balance by pretending there are two sides on every issue that merit serious consideration. In that environment, it’s entirely possible that the US electorate may not recognize or care much about the implications of a few scientific questions.

Besides, a candidate who rejects science can apparently use that position to attract the support of somewhere above a quarter of the electorate. That’s not a bad start for a presidential campaign.

What candidate in the last decade or two has said: “I reject science.”? Who gets to pick the experts? Doesn’t the crashed economy sort of argue that most of the experts need to turn in their pigskins? “. . .economic concerns will almost certainly dominate the election.” You make it sound like being concerned about the economy is a bad thing. We’ve had a system that says running peacetime federal deficits is a good thing. Also good, Quantitative Easing. It’s theft, John, against which lack of integrity your mewling about taking science seriously seems at least ironic, if not laughable.
Have you ever noticed that, with the glaring exception of quantum chemist Angela Merkel, scientists just don’t get into politics? Pols are predominantly lawyers, with a minority of doctors, and the occasional Allen West that our system cannot suppress (yay!).

Are scientists in general just too smart for politics, or simply not suitable? Or have research scientists become just another constituency that kicks back a certain percentage of grant money to the ‘proper’ candidates?

Why does society appear to suck so much, with so many rooms of purportedly smart people? Same as it ever was, same as it ever was. . .

Category: Election 2012

VIDEOS: Pro-Romney, Anti-Romney and Mrs. Romney at Concord, N.H., Tea Party

Posted on | September 5, 2011 | 14 Comments

Yesterday’s Tea Party Express event in Concord, N.H., featured every possible perspective on Mitt Romney. Because of connectivity issues, I only uploaded the photos last night. Now here come the videos, beginning with freshman Republican state Rep. Susan DeLemus, who is definitely anti-Romney:

The Tea Party Express buses arrive for the rally at Rollins Party:

Tea Party Express organizer Levi Russell talks about the tour:

New Hampshire Republican Liberty Caucus chairman Andrew Hemingway is most definitely anti-Romney:

Jackie Bodner of FreedomWorks? Also anti-Romney:

And finally, the most pro-Romney voice of the night:

Wait a minute — almost forgot — Mitt Romney also gave a speech. Skip Murphy at New Hampshire’s top political blog Granite Grok supplies that video:

ABC News says Romney’s hostile rhetoric toward “career politicians” has a specific target — and it’s not Obama:

Gov. Mitt Romney was visibly fired up tonight at a Tea Party rally in Concord, N.H., where he continued his veiled swipes at Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
“Of the people running for president there aren’t many who have less years in government than me,” Romney said. “I served four years as governor but I joke I didn’t inhale.”
Repeating a line he’s used all week Romney said, “Career politicians got us into this and they don’t know how to get us out … I’m a business guy.”

By that logic, Mitt should endorse Herman Cain.





PREVIOUSLY:


Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney, Shoe Leather Fund, Tea Party, Video

Maybe Stacy McCain’s Sports Career Still Has Potential

Posted on | September 5, 2011 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

Moore, a 61 year-old Vietnam veteran, will kick this fall for Faulkner University, a small Christian school in Montgomery, Ala., 43 years after his initial college career was cut short by Vietnam. When he takes the field against Ave Maria on Sept. 10, Moore will be the oldest player ever to take the field for a four-year university.

After all, a sports career would get him off the hook for bowing to Knoxville, TN five times a day.

Category: Sports

LIVE AT FIVE – 09.05.11

Posted on | September 5, 2011 | 3 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Tropical Storm Lee Drenches Gulf

Residents of Slidell, La. scope out their neighborhood as they try to reach their home

May cause flooding as storm moves inland to the Appalachians

Tribal Leaders To Give Loyalist Bastion To Rebels?
Warfala tribe may surrender Bani Walid to avoid intra-tribal fighting


Typhoon’s Rain Kills 20, Strands Thousands In Japan
Worst storm since 2004



POLITICS
Romney Speaks At Concord NH Tea Party Event

Governor Mitt Romney

Draws sparse audience, few protesters

Beyond Saving: Obama Leads Romney, Perry In California Poll

President Visits NJ To View Irene Damage

Wildfires Erupt Again In Texas

Palin’s Running…In The Storm Lake Half-Marathon, Incognito

Unrepentant Cheney Stands His Ground

Bloomberg: Yeah, I Lied About Deputy Mayor’s Arrest, So What?



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Bonn City Fathers: Feed The Meter, You Whores
Postal Cuts Threaten Town Hubs
Greek Central Banker Seeks Faster Action From Athens
QE3 No Silver Bullet For Markets
Taxpayers Rank Behind Solyndra Investors Under Obama’s Refinancing Deal
Apple Obtains Second Court Order To Block Samsung Galaxy Tab Sales In Europe
Amazon’s Kindle Tablet Is For Real
Google Kills A Host Of Products, Focuses On Making Money
Microsoft’s WinPhone Optimism: Realistic Or Delusional?
Ultrabooks: The First Wave
CrunchFund? Unethical Ventures? PigPile Partners?



SPORTS
Lee Roy selmon’s Death Stuns Tampa Sports World

Selmon (second from right) with Barry Switzer (left), Joe Castiglione, and brother Dewey

Hall of Fame Buccaneer dies after stroke, aged 56

NASCAR Atlanta Race Postponed To Tuesday

Budding Super-conferences Don’t Look So Super

Peyton Manning Being Re-Evaluated?


Marcum Sharp As Brewers Sweep Astros

Baltimore Embraces Inaugural Grand Prix

Gutierrez Out For Season As Mariners Lose To Oakland

Livan Takes The Loss; Is This His Last Start For The Nats?



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Eddie Murphy To Host Oscars?

Eddie Murphy

Billy Crystal to have “marquee” role as well

Susan Lucci Unloads On ABC Daytime Head Over Soap Cancellation

Wrestling Legend Kurt Angle Busted For DWI

Green Day Front Man Kicked Off Flight Over Saggy Pants
American Idiot spotted

Audrina Patridge: Bone Deformity Affects Appearance Of My Breasts

Jada Pinkett Smith’s “HawthoRNe” Cancelled



Whole Foods Drops Bethenny Frenkel Drink Containing Toxic Preservative

Kellan Lutz’ Sexy New Girlfriend Identified

Is “Glee” Star’s Bruised-Up Barbie Photo Shoot Glamorizing Domestic Violence?



FOREIGNERS
Activists Report 24 More Syrian Protesters Dead
Historic Rally Buoys Israeli Social Justice Movement
Netanyahu: No Apology To Turkey
Socialists, Greens Post Gains In Mecklenburg; New Setback For Chancellor Merkel
Chirac Brain Disorder Likely To Wreck Trial
OAU Peacekeepers Fire On Car In Somalia, Journalist Dies



BLOGS & STUFF
Legal Insurrection: Presidential Jeopardy Gone Wild
Michael Barone: Speech Fiasco An “Audacity Of Weakness”
Jim Geraghty: Palin In Iowa – Fine Speech, Unless You Wanted An Announcement
Weasel Zippers: Political Science Academics Declare Tea Party Members Racist
Jammie Wearing Fool: “Obama Has Ruined The Democratic Party”
Conservatives4Palin: Bachmann Open To Elimination Of Corporate Taxes
Yd With Lid: Democratic Party Strategists Trying To Destabilize Israel?
Jazz Shaw: Is It Time To Start Charging For Water?
Vodkapundit: Your Weekend Dose Of Doom And Gloom
Lonely Conservative: Why Is Jon Huntsman Getting So Much Media Love?


SOTD: Hand Of Fate

Category: Live at Five

Rule 5 Sunday: Cinnamon Girl

Posted on | September 4, 2011 | 12 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


Buckle your wrist braces and make sure you have a suitably-sized beverage in front of you, because we’ve got a mess of links to go through this Labor Day weekend…


Left over from last week, Postaldog gets us off to a good start by taking Rule 5 right to the edge of NSFW. Soylent Green got an interesting result when he googled “Hurricane Babes”; also, Daniela Sobreira! Troglopundit thought differently when the Kinky Perry meme came rolling around, and Bring The Heat Bring The Stupid has some Julia Ormond for our viewing pleasure.


El Opinador Compulsivo wound up being held over as well, but I think Talulah Riley, a prize-winning butt, a topless blonde, and some Brigitte Bardot from 1953 were worth the wait. This week, he offers not one, but two high-resolution beauties, a potpourri of lovelies, Roxanne, and Dakota.


Too late for last week? No! Super early for this week! Randy’s Roundtable checks in with Jenna Pietersen on Monday for Thursday. Clear? Valley of the Shadow enlists the suitably Goth Rose MacGowan in his shaking of the tip jar, while the POH Diaries affirm the truth that Kate Beckinsale is hot. Edge of the Sandbox crosses the Rule 5 and FMJRA streams to interesting effect in his post comparing Femen in the Ukraine to Western feminists’ slutwalks. Eye of Polyphemus has Sophie Monk this week, and Daily Irony has Meng Qian posing with a soccer ball. Reaganite Resistance checks in this week with another in his series of Romanian singers, and Zion’s Trumpet spotlights Karla Diaz. A View From The Beach takes a closer look at Daryl Hannah on the occasion of her recent arrest in D.C. The Rio Norte Line thinks to blaze new frontiers in Rule 5 with his clothing-oriented post, but we’ve seen Corset Fridays for quite a while now. Still, some nice-looking ladies in those pants. Also nice looking are the daughters of Doug Flutie and Mark Rypien, who Troglopundit informs us are following in their dads’ footsteps, sort of. Jake Finnegan’s Burkalesque Babe for this week? Bar Rafaeli.


This week at The Camp Of The Saints, the Rule 5 lineup includes Melita Toniolo, the weekly Rule 5 News, Julie McCullough, and most importantly, a call to arms: Gina Elise Needs Our Help. Do your part! Go forth and CLICK!


Maggie’s Notebook this week has Emmanuelle Chiriqui for us, and Teresamerica celebrates the beginning of football season with Alexa Flutie and other cheerleaders. Dustbury’s pick of all the possible Rule 5 opportunities at the VMAs was Victoria Justice, and his pick of the new comedy shows this fall is Whitney Cummings. Almost makes me want to start watching TV again.


American Power checks in with his own Rule 5 linkagery featuring Yevgeniya Diordychuk, Kate Winslet heating up the Venice Film Festival, a Britney Spears video, and some afternoon rule 5 links.


Only two stragglers this week. Please send your Rule 5 links by September 10 to Rule 5 Wombat to be included in next week’s Rule 5 roundup!

Category: Rule 5

MITT-MANIA in New Hampshire!

Posted on | September 4, 2011 | 55 Comments

CONCORD, N.H.
Mitt Romney headlined tonight’s Tea Party Express rally and here are just a couple of photos:


I’ll have much, much more in a few moments.

UPDATE: More photos:

Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer is interviewed by Da Tech Guy.

Dave Weigel interviews some local Tea Party activists who showed up to protest against Romney. 

UPDATE II: More photos:

My friend Andrea Shea King offered to take this photo.

Not everybody in the crowd succumbed to Mitt-mania.

Suffice to say, he’s immune to Mitt-mania.

This young fellow knows how to get onto my blog.

UPDATE III: Yet more photos:

A capitalist offers a fine selection of anti-Obama buttons.

A Tea Party activist tells an ABC News reporter why Mitt Romney is the spawn of Satan (I paraphrase).

My old buddy Eric Odom is traveling with the Tea Party Express.

The anti-Romney rally sponsored by FreedomWorks.

UPDATE IV: Dave Weigel, filing for Slate from the same McDonald’s where Da Tech Guy and I are working, just posted his article about the anti-Romney protesters:

“The issue with Romney is the issues,” says Jackie Bodnar, spokeswoman for FreedomWorks, the group that quit the TPX tour to protest Romney. She hands me the three pages of fliers and oppo research that everyone will be getting as they show up, with granular details about the taxes and fees and un-Tea Party things Gov. Mitt Romney supported in the ‘Aughts.
Peg Coutermarsh was one of the first to arrive. She wears a shirt with the date January 19, 2013 on it — Obama’s last day in office, if he loses — and holds a flagpole that has been signed by famous Tea Party speakers. Hermain Cain has signed it. She doesn’t want Romney to sign it.
“I’m going to support a Tea Party candidate,” she says. “Romney represents the same old, same old.”
Is she swayed at all by the polls that show Romney beating Barack Obama?
“If you read into who was polled, they were all Romney people.”
The press conference starts at 5:30, sharp. There are two dozen protesters and around 30 reporters scribbling down what they say. Andrew Hemingway, wearing a Join-or-Die T-shirt, speaks into a microphone, his anti-Mitt jeremiad radiating from a small grey amp.
“Did you know that 50,000 people fled Massachusetts because of Mitt Romney, fled to the free state of New Hampshire?” asks Hemingway. “For him to say, in a recent Politico article, that a lot of Tea Party people in New Hampshire like him? I say he’s drinking the wrong Kool Aid.”
Jerry DeLemus, chairman of Granite State Patriots, warns us that Romney is about to commit fraud, getting the media to take pictures of him in front of a “Tea Party” banner and pronounce him acceptable.
“A photo-op is just that,” he says. “I can take a picture of myself in front of the Supreme Court. That does not make me a Supreme Court justice!”

Read the whole thing. Dave does good work.

UPDATE V: The first few photos at the top were uploaded while we were still at Rollins Park, where I was poaching WiFi from the Tea Party Express. Several people — including Weigel and Andrea Shea King — thought it was amusing to see me working on the grass and shot some photos:



Whatever it takes to get the story, right?

Speaking of which, Da Tech Guy’s doing a quick fund-raiser in an attempt to get enough money to join the Tea Party Express tour.

Both Da Tech Guy and I have more photos, videos, etc., to get online, but Sarah Palin’s due in Manchester at noon Tuesday, so we’re going to have to shut down the National Affairs Desk here in Concord and get back on the road.

UPDATE VI: We’re at the hotel in Manchester where the Tea Party Express crew is staying. Pete’s uploading video and telling stories of his travels. Meanwhile, Don Surber writes:

What does compute is that as the lone New Englander in the race, Romney must win New Hampshire. And how does he go about that? By sucking up to the party brass? By showing everyone how centrist and electable he is? By using the 2008 plan?
No, he is asking the Tea Party for help. Far from being the extremists who will turn off middle America, the Tea Party is middle America.

Surber links the Boston Globe‘s story:

CONCORD, N.H. — More than 25 protesters turned out before a Tea Party Express rally this evening to protest not President Obama, but Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
“We do not need leadership that puts their finger up, sees which way the wind’s blowing and then all of a sudden changes their mind and goes back in that direction,” Tim Carter, a leader of the Lakes Region Tea Party in New Hampshire. “If you look at Mitt’s past voting record, I think that’s what you’re going to see.” . . .
The FreedomWorks rally was held before the larger Tea Party Express rally, where Romney was scheduled to speak. FreedomWorks had been active with the Tea Party Express, but pulled its staff member off the Express bus to protest Romney’s inclusion in today’s event. After holding the anti-Romney rally, it urged participants to join the Express event, held in the same place.
The Tea Party Express tour, which is crossing the country in the lead-up to a Tea Party-sponsored Sept. 12 presidential debate, invited all Republican presidential candidates to speak at rallies along the route. With the entrance of Texas Governor Rick Perry into the presidential race, Romney has showed signs that he will be reaching out more to Tea Party activists.

UPDATE VII: Bob Belvedere at The Camp of the Saints quotes the original Gonzo:

It was dangerous lunacy, but it was also the kind of thing a real connoisseur of edge-work could make an argument for… Separately, we might pull it off. But together, no — we would blow it. Too much aggressive chemistry in that mix; the temptation to run a deliberate freakout would be too heavy.

When the going gets weird, the weird go to New Hampshire.

UPDATE VIII: The New York Times:

Mitt Romney’s keynote speech Sunday night at a Tea Party Express rally in Concord, N.H., was perhaps more notable for what did not happen — there were no fiery clashes with Tea Party protesters, or angry hecklers — than for what did — Mr. Romney delivered a lively version of his standard stump speech.

The civility of the Tea Party was, or at least should be, the big story of this event, as Da Tech Guy has been saying all night. Here’s Pete’s video where he asks a question of Romney and then of Romney’s finance director Ron Kaufman:

Linked at Memeorandum, with more from The Lonely Conservative and The Gateway Pundit.





Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney, Tea Party
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