The Other McCain

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

Mark Halperin Apologizes for Being Right

Posted on | June 30, 2011 | 22 Comments

President Obama’s press conference performance Wednesday caused me to declare that there was no prospect for bipartisan cooperation. This morning on MSNBC, it caused Time magazine’s Mark Halperin to be even more blunt:

“Do we have a seven-second delay? I want to characterize how I thought the president behaved. . . . I thought he was kind of a dick yesterday.”

Unfortunately for Halperin, an inexperienced assistant producer on the Morning Joe program failed to hit the “bleep” button, so that Halperin’s comment was broadcast to hundreds of thousands of MSNBC viewers. Halperin immediately apologized, but was suspended “indefinitely” from further MSNBC appearances.

Ed Morrissey quips: “It was a dumb remark, but if MSNBC suspended everyone who made dumb remarks on their channel, they wouldn’t have any hosts left.”

Halperin’s resort to locker-room language may be regrettable, but “kind of a dick” is really rather a mild criticism of Obama’s outrageous assertion that Republicans are “willing to compromise your kids’ safety so some corporate-jet owner can get a tax break.”

Halperin’s remark is all the more regrettable in that it distracts from Obama’s comment, which was as false as it was offensive.

UPDATE: Predictably, lefty Steve Benen claims that this somehow proves Halperin is a raging right-winger:

In candor, I don’t much care that Halperin sides with the right over the left, and takes cheap shots at Democrats. I care that Halperin is presented to the public as a neutral, even-handed expert, when that’s plainly not the case. . . .
Forget Halperin’s choice of words, and instead consider the argument he and his “Morning Joe” colleagues were pressing. They were annoyed, apparently, because President Obama wasn’t docile and conciliatory during his press conference. He showed some backbone, and this seems to have troubled the political establishment to no end.

Note that, in Benen’s worldview, “show[ing] some backbone” means accusing political opponents of bad faith. Would Benen praise a Republican for having “shown some backbone” if the situation were reversed and John Boehner had made a similar accusation of mala fides against the president? No, he wouldn’t.

Benen expects Democrats to employ class-warfare rhetoric, and expects liberal journalists to praise Democrats who do so. And while Halperin is a liberal in good standing, his accurate assessment of Obama’s press-conference performance — which was off-putting, in that the president seemed peevish and petulant — permits the Left to renew their bizarre claim that the media has a right-wing bias.

UPDATE II: Linked at American Power — thanks! — where Donald Douglas quotes Tim Graham on Twitter:

I’m sure oh-so-responsible MSNBC kept every host and correspondent from saying “teabagger,” right? … No?

Good point: In what sense is “dick” more offensive than “teabagger”? MSNBC has lowered the standards of discourse, but arrogates to itself the authority to decide just how low the standards should be.

Category: Barack Obama, MSNBC

Kinder, Küche, Kirche

Posted on | June 30, 2011 | 10 Comments

Perhaps I should leave this one to Smitty — Frau Smitty ist Deutsch — but our gallant hero is probably too busy saving the world from Taliban terrorists to notice that the New York Times has decided that Germany is insufficiently feminist:

[W]hen it comes to empowering women, no Teutonic drive or deference seems to work — even under one of the world’s most powerful women, Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Many leaders in business and politics profess to want to employ and promote women. But a decade of earnest vows from the corporate sector has not dented male-dominated Deutschland AG.
“Germany is good at structural reforms, but not at cultural reforms,” said Thomas Sattelberger, human resource chief at Deutsche Telekom, which in spring 2010 stunned fellow members of the DAX 30 index by announcing a voluntary goal of 30 percent female managers by 2015.
“There is a very traditional image of women and men that was taken to an extreme in the Third Reich: female mother cult and male fraternity. These mental stereotypes have not yet been culturally processed and purged.”
Alice Schwarzer, founder of the magazine Emma and perhaps Germany’s best-known feminist, likens this mindset to “a leaden blanket across all of German society.”
Despite a battery of government measures — some introduced in the past year or so — and ever more passionate debate about gender roles, only about 14 percent of German mothers with one child resume full-time work, and only 6 percent of those with two. All 30 DAX companies are run by men. Nationwide, a single woman presides on a supervisory board: Simone Bagel-Trah at Henkel. . . .

Read the whole deranged thing. Germany has suffered much in the past century having been defeated in two world wars, and then divided by the Iron Curtain. Politically correct feminist nonsense, however, may be too much even for the most stout-hearted Germans to withstand.

Category: Feminism, Germany

Obama Must Be Defeated

Posted on | June 30, 2011 | 41 Comments

Republicans in Congress cannot negotiate with or compromise with a president who talks like this:

“I’ve said to Republican leaders, ‘You go talk to your constituents and ask them, “Are you willing to compromise your kids’ safety so some corporate-jet owner can get a tax break?” ‘ “

This kind of hateful divisive rhetoric renders impossible any thought that Barack Obama is someone Republicans can “work with.” There can be no political peace on any terms with someone who thinks in such categories.

He must be defeated. Period.

Category: Barack Obama, Budget

Dubious Quote Of The Day

Posted on | June 30, 2011 | 16 Comments

by Smitty

From The Moderate BlatherVoice, emphasis mine:

Well [Representative Bachmann]’s right — the media is always looking for a cat fight, it’s tabloid journalism as its finest. But she is only half right — the real power brokers of the Republican party want a Bachmann-Palin cat fight to split the crazy vote and pave the way to a Romney victory — the only Republican who has a chance to defeat Obama.

Only? Really? Are we that stupid? Because if we are that stupid, it means we might as well re-elect BHO. Which would prove we’re not raaaaacist.

Category: Election 2012, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin

Greeks Riot as Parliament Approves Budget Cuts to Avoid Debt Default

Posted on | June 30, 2011 | 16 Comments

Financial markets breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday after the Greek parliament approved an austerity plan needed to avert default on the nation’s debt:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 72.73 points, or 0.60%, to 12261.42, capping the blue-chip measure’s biggest three-day gain since March. . . .
Stocks have swung up and down for weeks on worries that Greece poses a contagion risk to European banks and other heavily indebted euro-zone countries. The passage of unpopular austerity measures Wednesday was seen as paving the way for the heavily indebted country to get another round of aid, staving off a default. It was also viewed as moving the euro zone closer to containing its debt crisis.

The New York Times reports:

Greek lawmakers voted on Wednesday to sharply reduce government spending and sell off an array of national assets, staving off default on the country’s debt and easing, for the moment, a crisis among countries that use the euro. . . .
[C]ritics said they doubted that Europe had done more than postpone a day of reckoning for the euro, with Ireland, Portugal and Spain, as well as Greece, all struggling with slow or negative growth and rising debts.
The passage of the measures, a difficult and possibly debilitating feat for a Socialist Party elected on a social welfare platform, ensures that Greece’s foreign lenders will unlock the next installment of $17 billion in aid that the country needs to meet its debt obligations through August.

While the Greek vote was cheered by financial leaders — who had warned of a possible global financial meltdown if the austerity measures had not passed — the approval of the budget-cutting plan by the Greek parliament sparked a third day of riots in the streets of Athens.

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: Economics, Europe, Greece

LIVE AT FIVE – 06.30.11

Posted on | June 30, 2011 | 6 Comments

TOP NEWS
Obama Assails Republicans As Gulf In Deficit Talks Remains Wide

No deal.

President all sticks and no carrots in press conference; House GOP not impressed

Supremes Could Make Gay Marriage A 2012 Issue
Obama wary of publicly opposing DOMA

Afghan Security Conference Opens Just Hours After Hotel Attack
Afghan police and military forces to assume security duties in seven areas as scheduled, including Kabul



POLITICS
US Shifts To Leaner Anti-Terrorist Strategy

Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan

More special operations units and drones, fewer conventional force units

Rhode Island Senate Approves Civil Unions

GOP Senators Pledge To Work Through 4th Of July Break



Minnesota Lawmakers Continue To Negotiate As Shutdown Looms

Bachmann Focuses On Iowa Roots As Locals Welcome Her Home

Romney Camp Pushes Utah To Move Primary Up

Military Vet Accused Of  Passport Fraud



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
US Stocks Post Gains For Third Straight Day As Greek Concerns Ease
Greece Approves Austerity Bill Despite Riots
Fed Softens Rule On Debit Card Swipe Fees
News Corp. Sells MySpace For a Song
Amazon To Sever Ties With California Affiliates Over Tax Law
Nikkei Runs Out Of Steam After Hitting Seven-Week High
BJ’s Wholesale Agrees To Go Private For $2.8 Billion
HP Serves Up $50 Rebates On TouchPads
PRC Blocks Google+ As Fear Of Social Networks Persists
Arizona DPS Officer Receives Bomb Threat After Second Set Of LulzSec Leaks
Cisco Launches APP Store For Its Cius Tablet



SPORTS
NBA Lockout Looks Likely As CBA Expires

NBA Commissioner David Stern talks to reporters

Players, owners remain far apart on almost all issues

Smith Paints Less Optimistic Picture In Call To NFL Players

Mets Continue Beating On Tigers 16-9




Sluggers Survive In The Field, But Red Sox Lose To Phillies Again

Jagr Gets One-Year Offer From Penguins

A’s Fall To Fish, 3-0

Haren Keeps Nats In Dark As Angels Get 1-0 Win And The Sweep

Doom, Gloom For Debt-Ridden Dodgers



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Chris Hansen Busted By Hidden Cameras

Chris Hansen, star of "To Catch A Predator"

Cheating on wife with 30-year-old Florida journalist

Denise Richards Adopts A Baby Girl

Prince Harry Goes With The Flo

Lindsay Lohan Unchained

“The Bachelor”‘s Emily Maynard And Brad Womack Split

Justin Timberlake Takes Stake In MySpace

The Next Megan Fox? We’re Still Waiting


Sarah Palin Blasts Hollywood Stars As “Full Of Hate”

Octomom: “I Hate My Babies And My Older Children Are Animals”



FOREIGNERS
Rage At Police Fuels Egypt Rioting
Second Gaza Flotilla Sabotaged, Claim Organizers
France Says It Armed Libyan Rebels
Venezuela Summit Cancellation Sparks Fresh Questions About Chavez’ Health
PRC Military Urges Vietnamese To Cool Tempers Over South China Sea Dispute



BLOGS & STUFF
Allahpundit: New Obama Talking Point – The GOP Loves Corporate Jets Or Something
Troglopundit: Memo To Michele Bachmann – Emulating Danica Patrick Won’t Win Coveted TrogloEndorsement
Ed Morrissey: Sixth Circuit Upholds Obamacare Mandate
Legal Insurrection: Obama Press Conference – False Choices And Demagoguery
The Blaze: Woman Seated Near Beck Claims Innocence – But Let’s Go To The Twitter Feed…
Ramesh Ponnuru: Hitchens V. Bachmann
Atlas Shrugs: Obama Administration Puts Israel On List Of Countries Supporting Terrorism, Removes Norks
Lonely Conservative: John Lennon A Closet Conservative?
Jim Geraghty: Obama Still Getting The Hang Of Answering Questions
iOwnTheWorld.com: Mo(u)rning In America
Jawa Report: Norks To Chair UN Disarmament Conference
Yid With Lid: Are Jewish Democrats Finally Beginning To Say No To Obama?

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Category: Live at Five

‘When Irish Eyes Are Smiling’

Posted on | June 29, 2011 | 2 Comments

Thanks to Don Surber for pointing out that the Boston mascot seems to be enjoying a wee bit of Ye Merry Olde Upskirt:

Category: Don Surber, Rule 5

Perry Is A Bad Man Because He Saw What Happened To Palin And Had A Delay Put On Release Of Travel Vouchers. Bad Man!

Posted on | June 29, 2011 | 5 Comments

by Smitty

What have we learned since 2008, if not that the former courts of justice have been reduced to an ideological battleground? Unexpectedly, Rick Perry, kicking around a Presidential run, wants to express himself politically without having his travel used as a weapon against him.

Many of the trips are unrelated to state business (he’s meeting with party leaders and fundraisers in California this week) and several local media outlets are embroiled in a nasty legal battle to obtain the travel vouchers of Perry’s security detail.

Two lower courts have ruled that the information should be public record and Perry has appealed the decisions to the Texas Supreme Court. In the meantime, the two-term governor had his lawmaker buddies help him out by enacting a measure to keep the information secret until it’s no longer that relevant.

They did it by amending an existing school finance bill that passed in the Texas House and Senate this week. The last-minute addition will keep details of travel vouchers submitted by Perry’s Department of Public Safety security team secret for 18 months after trips are completed. By then Perry could be the nation’s commander-in-chief.

So, there are no actual violations to discuss. The implication of the article is that Perry would unethically have Texans pay for trips while building a donor base, and then give an Alfred E. Neumann salute when the sordid details come out, and Perry is POTUS.
Because Perry is such a Bad Man. His badness, in fact, explains why his state is so successful. Success, too, is bad. Some even say that he shops at [NSFW] BMF Wallets, but that is probably apocryphal.

Category: Rick Perry, Texas
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