The Other McCain

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

Everything Got Easier When We Blew Off The 10th Amendment

Posted on | June 17, 2011 | 14 Comments

by Smitty (via Insty)

TaxProf seems shocked, shocked! that the Treasury just made crap up to favor GM. As long as the power to frobnicate the economy is held in DC, that power will be used to frobnicate the economy. The useful question here is what we are doing to minimize that power, and get it back within its proper Constitutional bounds.

Category: Uncategorized

‘Was That a Denial, Governor?’

Posted on | June 17, 2011 | 58 Comments

MINNEAPOLIS
“We are not having this phone conversation.” The phone call woke me up from a well-deserved nap here at the Hilton, site of the Right Online conference. Before I’d laid down for my nap, I’d posted a brief item at The American Spectator blog:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is expected within a week to make a decision on whether to enter the 2012 presidential campaign, according to one Republican source.
Vendors of campaign services who hope to work for Team Palin have been told that Palin, the 2008 GOP vice-presidential candidate, will decide soon one way or another on mounting a 2012 campaign.

That’s what my source said. And here’s what Sarah Palin said:

To which I replied:

See what I’m saying? My source hears something, my source tells me, and I report it: a mere two sentences. Next thing you know, the governor herself is Tweeting a statement — which, I repeat, does not look exactly like a denial — and, I am told, both my post and Palin’s response are discussed on the radio by Rush Limbaugh. And then my nap gets interrupted by a phone call that’s so off-the-record I’m not even supposed to say I got a phone call.

Sigh. My apologies to all those reporters at the NYT, the WaPo and other mainstream media who are trying to chase down this story. Good luck. I’m going to try to finish my nap now.

UPDATE: Nap delayed again, because there’s a Memeorandum thread now, and I see that CNN’s Alison Harding takes Palin’s Tweet as a denial. But is it?

Did the governor say, “No, I’m not planning to make a decision next week”? Or, better yet, did she deny that her team have informed interested parties to expect a decision in that time frame?

Jim Geraghty at NRO has some helpful thoughts on exactly how long Palin could wait, noting that “the ranks of the unaffiliated staffers and volunteers grows thinner week by week.”

Geraghty also spots the key phrase in my AmSpec report: “vendors of campaign services who hope to work for Team Palin.” These are businesses. They can’t operate on the basis of maybe getting contracts from a potential campaign that may or may not happen. So it would obviously be in their interest to ask, “How soon will we know? When will a decision be made?”

BTW, I’ve talked to my original source twice since this story broke. And I’m standing by the story.

UPDATE II: Allahpundit also examines the timetable of a Palin campaign rollout (or not). But Allahpundit talks about an “announcement” and my source didn’t say anything about an announcement. No, my source was talking about a decision. An announcement and a decision are two different things.

UPDATE III: It is interesting to see some idiots try to depict me as being anti-Palin. Just FYI:

So, memo to Palin fans: Just because I’m a reporter doesn’t mean I’m the enemy.

UPDATE IV: Thanks, Rush!


Category: Right Online, Sarah Palin

Oh Come On, Stacy!

Posted on | June 17, 2011 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

I’m reading this otherwise excellent piece at AmSpec, and can’t buy the conclusion at all. Do you need a Clue, man? “Weiner, on the Spitzer show, with the drivel”.
These are Progressives. This is who they are; this is what they do.
Why, you ask? Compensating for not being Jimmie Bise, that’s why.

Update: Perhaps something in print media, where perhaps he can prick a hole in the stiff front erected by those pornographers, as Carlin had it.

Category: Uncategorized

VIDEO: Breitbart Talks WeinerGate

Posted on | June 17, 2011 | 27 Comments

MINNEAPOLIS
Everybody I saw downstairs this morning at the Right Online conference kept telling me, “You look rough.” As well I should.

My flight out of Dulles yesterday was delayed more than an hour on departure. By the time I arrived, checked into the Hilton and had dinner — bangers and mash at a British-style pub downtown — I was running desperately late on deadline for my column at The American Spectator:

Three weeks ago, Anthony Weiner was a rising star in the Democratic Party, an influential spokesman for the progressive movement and, quite possibly, the next mayor of New York City.
Today, Weiner is a despised figure so thoroughly disgraced, even in the eyes of the most partisan Democrats, that he is unlikely to have any future in politics. In the process of stringing out his bizarre scandal for nearly three weeks — the first 10 days of which were spent telling one implausible lie after another — Weiner damaged himself and his party in a way that would not have happened had he resigned much sooner. By the time Weiner gave his resignation speech Thursday in New York, he was such a pariah that even his political mentor, Sen. Charles Schumer, would not even speak publicly in his defense, instead issuing a brief statement wishing Weiner well. . . .

Please read the whole thing. After I hit deadline, I managed to grab Andrew Breitbart in the hotel lobby for this 4-minute interview about his role in breaking the WeinerGate scandal:

You’ll notice Breitbart had a bottle of red wine handy, and kept waving the cork when he was gesturing. This interview took place at about 2 a.m., after the lobby bar had closed.

Category: American Spectator, Andrew Breitbart, Anthony Weiner, Minnesota, Right Online

LIVE AT FIVE – 06.17.11

Posted on | June 17, 2011 | 4 Comments

TOP NEWS
Weiner Resigns

Former Representative A. Weiner

No sign of wife during announcement
Hecklers disrupt resignation announcement

Government In Cyber Fight But Can’t Keep Up
Lots of talk about the issue but not much action



Zawahiri A Target Just Like Bin Laden
US to hunt down Al Qaeda boss



POLITICS
Ethanol Subsidies Axed In Second Senate Vote

It's food! It's a poor substitute for gas!

73-24 vote on Feinstein amendment may just be symbolic; underlying “green” subsidy bill unlikely to pass House


Cuomo Lobbying NY Senators In Search Of Vote To Pass Gay Marriage


DiMasi May Have Pension Suspended


AG Holder To Continue Push For Terror Trials In Civilian Courts


WI Senate Passes Budget, Gov. Walker To Sign


Democrats, GOP Both Happy With New DNC Chairman



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
RIM Misses Targets, Slashes Outlook, Plans Layoffs
European Stocks Slip; Banks Suffer On Greece Worries
Wall Street Slips On Greece Fears, Materials Decline
Wells Fargo To Stop Originating Reverse Mortgages
Crude Futures Down On Greek Debt Concerns
Facebook App Coming Soon To iPad?
A Laptop With Its Head In The Cloud
Why The iCloud Won’t Be My Cloud
Microsoft Releases Kinect Developer Toolkit For PCs



SPORTS
Mets: Surprisingly Mediocre

DJ Carrasco balks home the winning run in the Braves' 4-3 win


Bullpen gaffe hands Braves the win


Lee Leads Phillies To Victory Over Fish With Arm & Bat

Papelbon Strands Two In Ninth, Red Sox Finish Road Trip 8-1


Wild Sign AHL Coach Mike Yeo

Upton Homers In 10th, Snakes Edge Giants 3-2

Cards Fall 7-4 To Nats, Extend Losing Streak To Six



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Justin Moves In With Jen

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux


Shacking up already

Rebecca Black Yanks “Friday” Off YouTube

Crystal Harris In Tears Over Broken Engagement

Oprah Determined To Land OJ Confession

The Skeevy And The Skanky: Jesse James, Kat Von D Plan Summer Wedding

Dave Chappelle Planning New Paid Subscription Show


Paris Hilton, Cy Waits “Re-Evaluating” Their Relationship

Buzz Aldrin Jettisons Third Wife

Selena Gomez Blames Junk Food For Health Problems



FOREIGNERS
US Funds Hunt For Libyan Missiles
Greek PM Jettisons Finance Minister
Almost 10,000 Syrians Seek Refuge In Turkey
Palestinian State Declaration Means “The End Of Talks”
Philippines Sends Warship After PRC Boat Heads For Disputed Seas
Putin Hires Former Model As Personal Photographer



BLOGS & STUFF
Allahpundit: Oh My – Senate Votes 73/27 To End Ethanol Subsidies
Sundries Shack: Weiner Battle Over, War Isn’t Won Yet
Gateway Pundit: Alan Colmes Freaks Out After Weiner Resignation Announced (Video)
Don Surber: Obama Down 5 In Gallup Poll
Weasel Zippers: Classy – NJ Union Leaders Compare Gov. Christie To Hitler
American Thinker: Boehner Threatens To Cut Off Libya Funds
Bob Owens: The Definitive Scandal – “Gunwalker” Much Worse Than Iran-Contra
Conservatives4Palin: Obama Opposes Alaskan Energy Bill
NRO Corner: Nick Kristof And Starship Troopers

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Category: Live at Five

‘Moving On’ to Right Online!

Posted on | June 16, 2011 | 16 Comments

DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
By the time you read this, I’ll be on board a jet preparing to depart for Minneapolis and the 2011 Right Online conference. I’m still recovering (and by “recovering,” I mean sick as hell) from pneumonia, and the strain of Three Weeks of Weiner have probably hindered my recovery.

Both Don Surber and Da Tech Guy called attention to the timeline of my posts I appended to today’s post about Anthony Weiner’s resignation. All credit is due to Andrew Breitbart, as well as to Ace of Spades, Patterico and many other bloggers who helped push this story to its final resolution. If you’ll look at that timeline, you’ll see that I did 15 posts in the first five days of the scandal (May 28-June 1), so I think I contributed my fair share to the team effort.

Remember that, in his first public statements about the scandal, Anthony Weiner urged reporters to “move on.”

Yeah. And now, you see, I’m movin’ on from town to town.

Please hit the tip jar!

Category: Anthony Weiner, Right Online

‘Bombast is Olbermann’s Métier’

Posted on | June 16, 2011 | 7 Comments

Just a striking phrase ripped from a New York Times feature about The Bombastic One’s eagerly awaited (by him) return to TV, on Al Gore’s Current network, which isn’t available on my cable system and probably isn’t available on yours.

Basically, the story is about how Keith Olbermann likes being on TV all the time, so that when he’s not on TV, an existential crisis ensues.

Being someone whose métier is the written word, I am mystified by whatever mad compulsion — I need to be in front of a camera every day! — drives Olbermann into such an obscure venue as Current.

He’s been fired from every other network he’s ever worked for and, assuming this trend continues, I suspect one day we’ll see him hawking cubic zirconia jewelry on HSN.

Category: Keith Olbermann

Gingrich: ‘These Are Supposed to Be Professionals Who We Were Paying’

Posted on | June 16, 2011 | 11 Comments

It’s hard to be sympathetic to Newt Gingrich, but his remarks about campaign staffers and/or consultants who talked trash anonymously to reporters are worth hearing:

(From Mediaite with a Twitter hat-tip to Matt Lewis.) Why would anyone hire a consultant or staffer who backstabbed his last boss?

Category: Election 2012, Fox News, Newt Gingrich, Video
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