The Other McCain

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

On the Scene in Iowa

Posted on | August 6, 2011 | 18 Comments

DES MOINES, Iowa — Friday, I visited the Iowa HQs of the Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain presidential campaigns, and then attended a Christian music festival in West Des Moines where Bachmann spoke.

Bachmann poses for a photo with a boy and his frog.

Bachmann poses for a photo with a family. The man in the background with the white beards is part of her security detail.

Bachmann shakes hands with a young admirer.

It was pouring rain most of the day at the Midwest Spirit Christian Music Festival, and these teenagers were covered in mud. On purpose.

Front door of Herman Cain’s Iowa campaign headquarters in Urbandale.

Michele Bachmann’s Iowa campaign HQ is right across the street from Cain HQ. Her bus was preparing to depart for an event in Dexter.

While Bachmann was on her bus tour, four other GOP hopefuls — Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Thad McCotter — were speaking last night at a local Republican dinner in Tiffin:

Reflecting the stakes of the straw poll, Santorum told the Friday night dinner crowd of about 400 activists the event would narrow the field and he urged them to give his struggling campaign a boost. He accused the media of ignoring him because he would be the strongest GOP candidate.

Let’s hope that Santorum’s rivals have the necessary sense of irony to appreciate that claim.

My next byline will be filed from somewhere on the road. My plan at this point — and plans may change en route — is to spend tonight in Sioux City, 200 miles west of here. Herman Cain’s bus tour begins Monday in Sioux City, and his advance team is arriving there tonight.

Let’s try the Santorum method: The media is ignoring me, so hit the freaking tip jar.




UPDATE: Changing schedule, making a detour: I just found out Santorum will be at a 4 p.m. event in Roland, Iowa. That’s not really not much of a detour on my way to Sioux City, so I’ll be there. My Twitter buddy Lisa Graas is a huge Santorum fan, and I don’t want to be accused of being part of the media that are ignoring Santorum on purpose.

Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in Iowa

Hacking Our Way To Smaller Government

Posted on | August 6, 2011 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Via Insty, MIT’s Technology Review points to a McAfee article about governments getting hacked.

The attacks stretch back almost five years, and ranged in duration from one month to 28 months. They affected 32 types of organizations, including government agencies and defense, construction, information technology, and accounting firms.

McAfee believes the attacks were orchestrated by a nation-state, but it has not named that country.

I won’t hazard a guess, but if I had to, I’d throw out some place whose name rhymes with ‘vagina’.

This post will argue that the threat of hacking is the second greatest thing, after elections, for trimming the irrationally exhuberant growth of government. You see, when it comes to implementing the Iron Law of Bureaucracy what you see is increasingly deep hierarchies. The org charts go on for days. Organizations are all about controlling information flow, setting up patronage relationships where certain boxes on the org chart are choke points. People in the boxes control information to store up power and breed their own bureaucracies, in the fashion of a jungle.

Bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.–Oscar Wilde

Well crafted information systems are Agent Orange to the bureaucratic jungle. Transparent, flat, unambiguous, reliable information delivered by software renders all that peopleware in the org chart completely moot. When the data are readily available, more work is accomplished, and it’s all over but the retirement party for the bureaucratic deadwood.

Which is precisely why the bureaucracy is fighting so hard to entrench. Arguably the most detestable example is Nancy Pelosi on ObamaCare:

“But we have to pass the [health care ] bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

No, you Botox-addled bimbo, that is precisely the opposite of the desired result.

And hacking is precisely, if illegally, what is going to drive the Pelosis out. The capacity to blow smoke up the public backside is diminished when email and websites spread the perfidy far and wide. Hacking off government fingers will prove a harsh, but effective, way of keeping them out of the economic pie. The government is going to be forced to focus on legitimate, core functions, and perform them more more transparently, as more and more data leak out. Government hasn’t been forced to conduct public business in a forthright manner, but increasing attention from taxpayers is going to drive precisely that. When people are asking questions, the simplest, most honest approach becomes the most defensible.

One real avenue for improvement along these lines will be the tax code. If the threat of exposure for private information is significant enough, maybe we’ll get around to the idea that income tax really sucks, and set about funding government through less intrusive means. Making the formulae for calculating tax burdens more transparent and public would seem an obvious improvement. The notion that we’re paying for service through taxation, but not privileged to see the business rules, is baffling. If I buy an application from Microsoft, and their proffered license hides the source code from me, well, fine: there are other vendors. Government, not so much. We need to amend this attitude that the Government regularly says ‘no’ to taxpayers without a national security basis for saying no.

So, while I’m not encouraging illegal activity, I’m saying that hacking will not be without positive side-effects for liberty.

Category: Uncategorized

Ann Hathaway As Catwoman: Dooming Me To Purrdition?

Posted on | August 6, 2011 | 15 Comments

by Smitty

Could Hathaway tempt me into actually watching a Batman flick? The answer is probably no, but it’s still a worthy effort.

because I could not think of a usage of the word pussy here

Hottest thing on a bike I've seen all day

(h/t What Would Tyler Durden Do?)

Category: Celebrities, Rule 5

VIDEO: Bachmann Demands Resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

Posted on | August 6, 2011 | 26 Comments

DES MOINES, Iowa — As reported last night at The American Spectator and at Libertarian Republican, here is video of Bachmann’s statement:

The text of Bachmann’s statement:

“Tonight’s decision by S&P to downgrade our credit rating to AA+ is a historically significant and serious event for the United States. The United States has had a AAA credit rating since 1917. That rating has endured the great depression, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the terrorist attacks on 9/11. This President has destroyed the credit rating of the United States through his failed economic policies and his inability to control government spending by raising the debt ceiling.
“We were warned by all of the credit agencies that a failure to deal with our debt would lead to a downgrade in our credit rating, but instead he submitted a budget that had a $1.5 trillion deficit and then requested a $2.4 trillion blank check. President Obama is destroying the foundations of the U.S. economy one beam at a time. I call on the President to seek the immediate resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and to submit a plan with a list of cuts to balance the budget this year, turn our economy around and put Americans back to work.”

UPDATE: A statement from Herman Cain:

On Tuesday, April 19, 2011, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner promised that America faced “no risk” of a credit downgrading. Less than four months later, he is proven shamefully wrong. As I have feared for months, the S&P has chosen to downgrade America’s credit rating from AAA, which we have always enjoyed, to AA+.
Perhaps this is because the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats never once demonstrated a willingness to propose its own ideas for meaningful spending cuts, something credit agencies signaled were necessary to redeem America’s financial standing in the world.
As a corporate executive, I’ve rescued companies from the brink of bankruptcy and returned them to profitability. That involved balancing budgets or even creating them in the first place, something that the Democratic leadership in Congress hasn’t done for 828 days. If I couldn’t run companies without budgets, how can the government?
I also had to make tough budgetary cuts to save companies. Leadership is about doing what’s right, even when it’s difficult. But somehow, that sort of idea was never floated among those within the Obama Administration.
Now, Americans are fearful for their retirements and for their children’s educational savings. This is a country known for dreamers and innovators, for thinkers and doers. And now, we are a nation living in fear.
This is a sad day for America. Such a rating is unfitting of the greatest and most prosperous nation the world has ever known. And such a weak leader is, as well.

The Treasury Department is claiming to be victim of a mathematical error by S&P. Who do you trust to do math, S&P or Geithner?

Linked by Da Tech Guy — thanks!

UPDATE II: Linked by Reaganite Republican and by Tea Party Libertarian — thanks! — and welcome, Instapundit readers!

Category: Barack Obama, Economics, Election 2012, Michele Bachmann, Timothy Geithner, Video

Fair-adise Lost, Ezra Klein Edition

Posted on | August 6, 2011 | 12 Comments

by Smitty

In the Pagan Progressive Pantheon, Fairness is a minor, throw-away deity to whom random, cost-free appeal can be made. Preston at The PJ Tatler gives us Rick Santelli schooling ueber-knob Ezra Klein:

“Moving money around in ways that are unfair,” Ezra? Really? That’s what you’re going with? The left’s focus on “fairness” led directly to the housing collapse, and its focus on “fairness” now is creating an extremely hostile economic climate.

Generally speaking, Klein, fa(ir|re) is what you pay to ride a bus. That is, while the Golden Rule governs our output to others, voicing expectations of fairness from government in particular, and life in general will:

  • go unmet
  • result in loss of your lunch money
  • make you sound the sort of feckless Lefty twerp that would write for the WaPoo.

In summary, I personally try to transmit fairness to all I encounter. In contrast, when somebody whines about unfairness, particularly in a political conversation, I mark them either an utter rube (common Lefty) or a dangerous emotional manipulator (uncommon Lefty).
The Fairness God, in the Progressive Pantheon, also governs taxation, and, while no warrior, stirs up a great deal of class warfare, when his worshippers get a good chant going.

Category: Uncategorized

Obama: “You Mean The Economy Isn’t Like Batteries, And AA Is Bigger?”

Posted on | August 5, 2011 | 28 Comments

by Smitty

Hey, if BHO gets the credit for bin Laden, he gets the blame for the downgrade. Particulary ironic in light of the recent 14th Amendment whining about the validity of U.S. debt. Not the same thing, sure, but a finely related twist.
If there is any good news here, it is that the attribution is squarely on BHO. It will be spun as unimportant, I suppose.

UPDATE (RSM): I was at an event with Michelle Bachmann in West Des Moines when the downgrade was announced. Bachmann made a statement calling for a Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to resign. I called Eric Dondero of Libertarian Republican and gave him the report. I’m now trying to upload video, which is difficult with the crappy Wifi at this hotel.

Category: Uncategorized

Schadenancy Pelosifreude

Posted on | August 5, 2011 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

STILLTOOHOTANDBAD, KUWAIT–Even halfway around the world, Nancy Pelosi’s policies look like something cooked up by an air-headed, talentless daddy’s girl whose position was bought with a rich hubby’s money.
Sissy Willis on Twitter points to Fox News:

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s four-year effort to “Green the Capitol” is officially no-more, having been dumped into an existing energy-savings program on the Hill in a move that Republicans say will save more money, eliminate redundancy and promote collaboration.

In response, some Democrats are crying foul, saying the move reflects the low priority that energy savings is for Republicans.

I don’t know. The reality may differ. But, until proven otherwise by reputable sources, you can safely assume that anything she touched was mostly a kickback scheme for cronies, with some occasional tangible public benefit for appearance sake.
I think that Nancy is a serious runner-up in the Worst American Politican Ever sweepstakes. Certainly someone else’s must have out-sucked her record, but the record she does have could suck-start a B-52, in my opinion.

Category: Nancy Pelosi

Fear and Loathing at the Quality Inn

Posted on | August 5, 2011 | 12 Comments

DES MOINES, Iowa
Just got off the phone with Dale Peterson, who’s meeting with agriculture groups — including the Iowa Turkey Federation — on behalf of the Herman Cain campaign today. Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out the logistics for the rest of my trip.

Right now, I’m staying at the Quality Inn downtown, which is a nice enough place — free breakfast every morning in the restaurant — except that it’s across the highway from Mercy Hospital, and this means that many of the guests are relatives of patients being tended there. Yesterday, while I was waiting for the elevator, there was a lady talking on her cell phone, crying about her father who just had a heart attack and is in ICU at Mercy.

Speaking of people on life-support (this is what we journalists call a “transition”) the TV just showed this Tim Pawlenty ad again:

TV in Iowa is crammed full of these ads, as well as ads for Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann. I’ve posted all three at Right Wing News so you can watch them back-to-back, which is how they’re running during local cable breaks here on Fox News. Like the weeping relatives of ICU patients, these non-stop ads are bumming me out, so I’m going need to get back on the road.

Yesterday, Herman Cain made news during his appearance at the Greater Des Moines Partnership, as Karen Obradavich of the Register reports:

Herman Cain seemed to raise the bar Thursday for his performance in the Iowa Republican straw poll, saying he needs a top-three finish in the Aug. 13 event.
However, the presidential candidate added later that failure to reach that wouldn’t drive him out of the race.
“I don’t believe I have to win the straw poll, but I do believe I need to finish in the top three,” Cain said during a forum sponsored by the Greater Des Moines Partnership.
But when asked what would happen if he didn’t place third or better, he said, “We’re not going to stop. That’s just the desired place where we would like to finish, that’s in the top three. If we finish fourth or fifth, we’re going to evaluate that to determine what the implications are. So it’s not the end of the road, it’s just going to be a harder analysis that we would do to decide if we go forward.”

The stakes for Cain in the straw poll aren’t nearly as high as they are for Pawlenty, as I explain in my Spectator column:

While it is notoriously difficult to predict the outcome of that vote, a third-place finish for Cain at Ames would likely put him ahead of Pawlenty. At least one longtime Iowa GOP operative has said that, given how much Pawlenty has already invested in this state, his campaign’s viability would be in jeopardy if he didn’t place at least second at Ames. If Pawlenty actually were to place fourth — behind Cain, who wasn’t even considered a “first-tier” candidate three months ago — that likely would be seen as a humiliation for the former Minnesota governor. But that’s a huge “if,” and few Iowa observers expect Cain to place better than fifth at Ames.

Those of you who remember my lost $10 bet with Da Tech Guy last week understand why I don’t usually do predictions. But if Cain finishes ahead of Pawlenty at Ames . . . dude. Here are some photos from Cain’s visit yesterday:

The press corps at Cain’s appearance in Des Moines, including Craig Robinson of The Iowa Republican and Meghan Malloy of the Iowa Independent.

Cain talks to a local reporter at the Smokey Row Coffee shop in Oskaloosa.

I’ve got lots more photos and videos, but the slow WiFi connection makes it difficult to upload them in any kind of efficient fashion. And I’ve still got to figure out how and when I’m getting to Sioux City for the start of Herman Cain’s bus tour Monday. His advance team is supposed to arrive in Sioux City tomorrow night, but I need to catch up with Bachmann on the campaign trail.

My phone just rang with a tip from a source who says his Texas sources tell him that Rick Perry is going to unofficially announce this weekend that he’s going to make an official announcement next week. So the Phantom Menace looms even larger now and, even worse: I just ran out of cigarettes.

So I’m hitting the road and will report back later.





Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in Iowa, Herman Cain, Iowa, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Tim Pawlenty
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