The Other McCain

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

Greetings from New Hampshire

Posted on | September 4, 2011 | 10 Comments

“In the course of this apparently endless campaign, I have set up the National Affairs Desk in some of the worst hotels, motels and other foul commercial lodging establishments in the western world. Politicians, journalists, and traveling salesmen seem to gravitate to these places – for reasons I’d rather not think about, right now – but the Wayfarer is a rare and constant exception. The one that proves the rule, perhaps . . . but, for whatever reason, it is one of my favorite places: a rambling, woodsy barracks with big rooms, good food, full ice machines, and . . . yes . . . a brief history of pleasant memories.”
— Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72

MANCHESTER, N.H.
We left Worcester, Mass., about noon and hooked a left onto Route 13 North through Townsend toward the New Hampshire state line at Brookline. Da Tech Guy’s big Buick Le Sabre is a big car for such a small road. North of Townsend, Route 13 is a lumpy two-lane running through the forest, and the first thing you notice when you cross into New Hampshire is the higher-quality of highway pavement. No more of those rutted and badly patched Massachusetts roads here.

Unlike Iowa, where Council Bluffs is 130 miles from Des Moines, New Hampshire is a small state and the distances are short. After crossing the border, we drive about 10 miles, hang a right onto Route 101 East, and then it’s about 15 miles to Manchester. So the total drive time from Worcester to Manchester is barely 40 minutes, although I’m sure we could have trimmed that time considerably if Pete had let me drive the Buick, which has a powerful V-8 that could have us rocketing along at 90 mph, were I behind the wheel. (And we haven’t seen a New Hampshire State Trooper yet. “Live Free or Die” is a motto incompatible with rigorous enforcement of speed limits.)

New Hampshire state legislators are paid just $100 a year, the legislature only meets part-time and there is no state income tax. By contrast, Massachusetts state legislators make $50,000 a year, the legislature meets year-round and the state income taxes are so high that there is a continuous out-migration of fed-up residents moving to neighboring New Hampshire. Unfortunately (and perversely), the immigrants from “Taxachusetts” often bring with them to the Granite State the same liberal values and Democrat political loyalties that have made the Bay State increasingly unlivable.

We arrived in Manchester and drove directly to Herman Cain’s New Hampshire campaign headquarters on Lowell Street. Nobody was in the office, but there was a note on the door: “If locked call 570-604-0809 for Cain info.” No problem. Right across from Cain HQ is the world-famous Red Arrow Diner, visited by every presidential candidate in recent memory.

From here, we were due to push on to Concord, where Mitt Romney is scheduled to headline a 6 p.m. rally at Rollins Park. En route, however, I wanted to stop by a famous local landmark. But when we got to 121 South River Street . . .

Alas, the Wayfarer Inn — that “rare and constant exception” to the western world’s “foul commercial lodging establishments” — is no more. It was boarded up and surrounded by a chain-link fence, parts of it covered in graffiti. I did, however, manage to get a photo of the main entrance, site of one of the most hilarious scenes in Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72.

Somewhere, I’m sure, Frank Mankiewicz was still hiding in the shrubbery, waiting to waylay innocent journalists. So we moved on . . .

Yes, I’m filing this from the Playland of a McDonald’s up the road from the Wayfarer. There’s probably a metaphor in this, but no time to think about it now. Next stop, Concord.





Category: Fear and Loathing in New Hampshire

Palin’s Pressure on Perry

Posted on | September 4, 2011 | 41 Comments

Writing about yesterday’s Sarah Palin rally in Iowa, I mentioned the theory that “Palin may enter the 2012 field because of her dissatisfaction with Perry’s campaign.” I resisted the temptation to examine the theory at length, because I wanted to discuss something I’d seen earlier — Dan Riehl’s discussion of the Palin-Perry issue:

For her part, Palin may factor in Perry’s standing in her own decision-making process. . . .
If she opts to run, it will be because she hasn’t heard what she believes she needs to in the upcoming debates, and/or doesn’t trust Perry to bear the standard.

Read the whole thing, because Dan has put his finger directly on something I had previously remarked in passing: Palin has specified September as her deadline for making a decision, and there are three debates in September — Wednesday at the Reagan Library in California, Sept. 12 in Tampa and Sept. 22 in Orlando. If Perry underperforms in those debates, Palin may see the front-runner’s weakness as an invitation to enter the race.

Did I say “weakness”? This morning at breakfast with Da Tech Guy, I picked up the Boston Herald and saw this Associated Press article:

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — He may have been 2,000 miles from the border, but Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry’s immigration record in Texas quickly became the focus in New Hampshire Saturday afternoon.
Speaking to hundreds of Granite State voters at a private reception, the Texas governor was asked whether he supported a fence along the Mexican border.
“No, I don’t support a fence on the border,” he said, while referring to the long border in Texas alone. “The fact is, it’s 1,200 miles from Brownsville to El Paso. Two things: How long you think it would take to build that? And then if you build a 30-foot wall from El Paso to Brownsville, the 35-foot ladder business gets real good.”
Instead, Perry said he supported “strategic fencing” and National Guard troops to prevent illegal immigration and violence from Mexican drug cartels.

Make of that what you will. But according to the article, some Tea Party activists in New Hampshire didn’t like Perry’s answer.

By the time you read this, Da Tech Guy and I will be in New Hampshire, where Mitt Romney’s appearance at a 6 p.m. Tea Party Express rally in Concord is expected to draw a big crowd, including many angry Tea Party protesters.


Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in New Hampshire, Immigration, New Hampshire, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin

FMJRA 2.0: Running Up That Hill

Posted on | September 4, 2011 | 4 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


MY VIDEO of Michele Bachmann’s Christian Testimony Used in SMEAR JOB

Gibson Guitars CEO: U.S. Government Urged Him to Use Foreign Labor

No Honor Among Thieves, No Curiosity Among Journalists: Perez Hilton Re-Pirates Video, CBS News Repeats Smear

Lowlife Who Pirated My Video Apologizes for Smearing Michele Bachmann

Indianola ‘Clusterf**k’
UPDATE: Iowa Rally Organizer Trashes Palin to NBC News?
UPDATE: Palin Blames O’Donnell?

Global Warming Kills Florida Surfer UPDATE: Thousands Without Electricity or WiFi; Bloggers Hardest Hit by Storm UPDATE: New York Braces for Irene; Women, Minorites, NFL Fans Hardest Hit

Hard Times Spreading Just Like the Flu …

The Politics of Fear

Al-Qaeda Leader Atiyah Abd al-Rahman Suffers From Embarrassing Foot Odor and Fatal U.S. Predator Drone Missile Strike

Storm Center Commander-in-Chief?

Why Does Conservative Light Suck At Supporting Lefty Darkness?

Catastrophic Damage

FMJRA 2.0: Take Me Out To The Ball Game

In Fairness to Ace …

Rule 5 Sunday: Cuts Like A Knife

Al Gore: If You Disagree With Me About Global Warming … RAAAAACIST!

LIVE AT FIVE – 08.29.11

‘Self-Appointed Republican Elites’

How About That Commitment To Mediocrity

Discrimination Against the Ugly? Expect a Class-Action Lawsuit by Smitty and Me

Talking Economics to Democrats Is Probably a Waste of Breath, But …

‘Books Have No Real Future’?

‘This Whole Capitalistic System Is Basically in Place to Rip Your Ass Off’

LIVE AT FIVE – 08.30.11

What Accounts for the ‘Gender Gap’ in Pay? Statistics Prove: It’s Lazy Women

Jane Jamison, R.I.P.

Thanks for Answered Prayers, and Guess Who’s Going to New Hampshire?

Bad Liberal Policy in California

LIVE AT FIVE – 08.31.11

Should I Stay In Afghanistan, Where It Sounds Relatively Safe?

Iowa Conspiracy Theory

Boehner 1, Obama 0

LIVE AT FIVE – 09.01.11

Does Anyone Else Remember …?

Ron Paul vs. Tea Party Express?

Sounds Like An Expression Of Contempt For Separation Of Powers, To Me

Bachmann Ad: ‘There Is an Honest Conservative and She’s Not Rick Perry’

LIVE AT FIVE – 09.02.11

Tommy Christopher’s New Assignment: Covering Speaker Boehner’s Resignation

‘Let’s Face It, the Color of His Skin’

Herman Cain Slams Obama on Jobs: ‘Zero Leadership, Zero Plans, Zero Results and Zero Understanding of Basic Economics’

Arianna Huffington Fires Tech Blogger AOL Paid $30 Million to Buy Out

Obama Helping the Rich Get Richer

‘Community Organizing’ Properly Understood: Political Organized Crime

New Hampshire, Here I Come!


Top linkers this week:

  1. The Camp Of The Saints (12)
  2. The Pro From Poca (10)
  3. (tied) Daily Pundit and That Mr G Guy (9)
  4. Da Tech Guy (6)


Thanks to everyone for the linkagery! If you want to be included in next week’s FMJRA and you’re using Blogger or some other platform WordPress hates, please send your links to Wombat-socho by September 9 with “FMJRA” or “Shameless Blogwhoring” in the subject line.

Category: FMJRA Award

Remember: The Left Banks On At Least Two Things

Posted on | September 4, 2011 | 22 Comments

by Smitty

Those two things being:

  1. The public has no recollection of history before the previous news cycle, and
  2. The public has no patience.

I, for one, see a great deal of wisdom in Sarah’s non-approach to toying with the notion of a Presidential campaign. She’s basically doing a Second Mover play. What is striking, ironic, and disheartening is that, for all of the dismay about politics as usual, there is nothing but contempt poured upon someone doing the unusual.

Fricking relax, people: Governor Palin will either declare, or not. You know who wants her to declare right now, so he can giver her the Full Alinsky? BHO, that’s who. The threat of her candidacy, itself, is something which conservatives should relax and enjoy fully, until such time as she declares that phase concluded.

Should the potential candidacy materialize, waiting as long as possible shall have minimized the exposure to the Ruling Class money sources, and maximize pressure on We The People to put up or shut up. If we fail to support a relatively independent candidate, then we deserve the Romney/Huntsman tool who will be picked by the Ruling Class to run a mediocre campaign, culminating in a gracious concession speech.

For my part, none of the candidates are talking about the kind of scaling back that is truly needed. Spending varies, typically increasing. So talking about spending cuts, or tax cuts may as well be hope and change, for all I care. Tell me about regulatory cuts, about structural reductions in the federal government, and you have a chance of sounding serious. That’s what needs to occur. Yet all of the candidates are concerned about focus-group testing every utterance, about ensuring they don’t scare the moderates. OK. Got it. We have to start where we can, and keep the pressure on to reduce the government. Three parts to bureaucratic struggle:

  • 48% showing up. Can you be peeled off of ESPN long enough to care?
  • 48% stamina. Do you outlast the opponent?
  • 2 4% the ideas you’re putting forth.

Keep that in mind.

Update: props to Anamika for helping my typing of ‘independent’.
Update II: woe unto the blogger who doesn’t make a separate math check after the spell check, especially when named ‘Smith’.

Category: Sarah Palin

Troublemaker: Karl Rove vs. O’Donnell

Posted on | September 4, 2011 | 28 Comments

One of the undeniable truths about Christine O’Donnell’s 2010 Delaware Senate campaign is that many Republicans wanted her to lose. Months before most Americans ever heard of O’Donnell, leading members of the GOP Establishment had invested their influence and prestige in attempting to ensure that nine-term Rep. Mike Castle would be the Republican nominee. Much as they had in Florida — where the state party chairman and the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, had arranged an early endorsement for Charlie Crist – the Establishment lined up early behind Castle.

From the very outset of her 2010 campaign, O’Donnell found herself fighting off savage attacks from Republicans, including false accusations included in an opposition-research dossier distributed to reporters. With the support of Tea Party activists, O’Donnell scored an upset victory over Castle in the primary, but by then her reputation was badly damaged by the unrelenting assaults from the GOP Establishment. And talk about the need for “party unity” – which had been often heard from  Establishment leaders when they had thought their liberal friend Castle would win the primary – was forgotten the moment O’Donnell emerged as the GOP nominee. Read more

Category: Books, Christine O'Donnell, Karl Rove, Republicans

Pardon Me While I Run The Fisk Bus Over Loco MoDo A Time Or Twa

Posted on | September 4, 2011 | 13 Comments

by Smitty

Fisking a Maureen Dowd column. It’s the blogger version of calisthenics, really.

Maureen Dowd Smitty
One day during the 2008 campaign, as Barack Obama read the foreboding news of the mounting economic and military catastrophes that W. was bequeathing his successor, he dryly remarked to aides: “Maybe I should throw the game.” Rules of Lefty Punditry:

  1. History began with George W. Bush.
  2. Pre-history was golden, but W. killed it, for spite.
  3. BHO has Olympian powers, except where the Stygian evil of W drags BHO down.

Read more

Category: New York Times

People Who Like Sarah Palin Liked Her Iowa Speech; Ace of Spades, Not So Much

Posted on | September 3, 2011 | 130 Comments

Sarah Palin gave her big speech in Indianola while I was at lunch today with Da Tech Guy. However, I got a sort of live feed on the event via a series of text messages from Tea Party activist Tiffiny Ruegner.

“No doubt she’s campaigning,” Tiffiny texted, and at the end: “Finished. Didn’t announce. . . . You’ll get the story in New Hampshire.”

The part elided (“…”) involved the suggestion that perhaps Palin did not announce her presidential candidacy at Indianola because of her displeasure with the bungled organizing of the rally. So Tiffiny’s theory is that Palin will announce Monday at the Manchester rally, and I pass that along as an interesting theory to consider.

Doug Brady at Conservatives for Palin has a comprehensive round-up of the speech, including the complete video:

Here’s Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register:

Although this audience of like-minded conservatives passionately urged her to run, Palin during her 40-minute speech did not say whether she will seek the Republican nomination for president.

Here’s Alex Pappas of the Daily Caller:

“The reality is we are governed by a permanent political class,” Palin said to applause from a rain-soaked audience in Indianola, “until we change that.”
The crowd at the Tea Party for America’s “Restoring America” event ate it up. She was interrupted during her speech to chants of “Run, Sarah, Run.”

And here’s Scott Conroy of Real Clear Politics:

Sarah Palin still isn’t a candidate, but in an aggressive bid to lay down her marker in the 2012 Republican presidential race, she delivered a speech here Saturday that was as confrontational toward the Republican establishment as it was aimed at President Obama.
Despite her high-profile endorsement of Rick Perry during his 2010 gubernatorial primary fight, Palin used thinly veiled language to leave little doubt that she sees the Texas governor and national front-runner for the Republican nomination as part of the problem.
“Some GOP candidates, they also raise mammoth amounts of cash,” Palin said. “We need to ask them, too: What, if anything, do their donors expect from their investments? We need to know this because our country can’t afford more trillion-dollar thank-you notes to campaign backers.”
Again and again, Palin urged her audience to confront “the permanent political class,” “crony capitalism” and “the good ol’ boys,” whom she said she took on as governor of Alaska.

The idea that Palin may enter the 2012 field because of her dissatisfaction with Perry’s campaign is intriguing, but I’ll save that for another post. For now, let’s consider Ace’s idea that Palin’s just jerking everybody around:

[A]fter the encouragement of interest, and the cultivation of speculation about what that “major announcement” might be, it was a very standard-issue and not-particularly-important or novel stump speech.
Some might find this sort of coyness and games-playing “brilliant” or the like. I don’t.
Some may claim she “played a trick on the media.” Yes, the media. And everyone else too. . . .
Who’s being pranked here? The media in attendance were all paid to be there. Their travel arrangements were comped. They’ll get back their vacation day. And it was either covering this or covering Jon Huntsman.
What about everyone else?

You can go read the whole thing. Ace seems to be more or less on the Perry bandwagon at this point, so a bit of Palin-vs.-Perry drama may be shaping up . . . But as I say, that’s another post.

The “paid to be there” factor was part of the reason I didn’t go to Indianola. If I had thought she was going to announce, I might have made the trip. But I’d already spent 10 days in Iowa, whereas I hadn’t been to New Hampshire yet, so this trip seemed to me the better bargain for the tip-jar hitters. It’s cheaper, because I can crash on Da Tech Guy‘s sofa and ride with him, rather than paying for a hotel room and renting a car.

Florida, on the other hand . . . but let’s not get ahead of the story.


Category: Ace of Spades, Election 2012, Iowa, Sarah Palin

Two Famous Italians in Hats

Posted on | September 3, 2011 | 12 Comments

AYER, Massachusetts
Da Tech Guy dines at his favorite table in one of his favorite restaurants, the Nashoba Club Restaurant.

Pete’s got me linked up. He’ll be my host for the next few days, so you probably want to go hit his tip jar for having to put up with me. Tomorrow: New Hampshire.

Category: Da Tech Guy, Fear and Loathing in New Hampshire
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