The Other McCain

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

Nancy Pelosi Tries to Evade Responsibility for Historic Defeat of House Democrats

Posted on | November 12, 2010 | 6 Comments

At last count, losses for House Democrats appeared to total at least 63 seats, pending absentee ballots in some races and possible recounts in others. Among the defeated Democrats were such long-serving incumbents as Rick Boucher (14 terms, VA-9) and Paul Kanjorski (13 terms, PA-11), who had survived even the 1994 “Contract With America” GOP landslide.

But don’t blame Nancy Pelosi:

“We didn’t lose the election because of me,” Ms. Pelosi told National Public Radio in an interview that aired Friday morning. “Our members do not accept that.”
Instead, the California Democrat attributes the loss of at least 60 seats to high unemployment and “$100 million of outside, unidentified funding.” . . .
“The reason they had to take me down is because I’ve been effective in fighting special interests in Washington, D.C.,” Ms. Pelosi said, citing the health insurance and financial services industries. “I’m effective. They had to take me out. I’m also the most significant attractor to support for the Democrats.”
“So, I’m not looking back on this,” Ms. Pelosi said. “They asked me to run, I’m running. We don’t let the Republicans choose our leaders, and again, our members understand, they made me a target because I’m effective, politically and policy-wise.”

She’s so “effective,” isn’t she?

Yeah, you’re “effective,” all right. And the effect is a cataclysmic policy disaster for the nation and a political disaster for your party. (Exactly as predicted: “Democrats in the Deathmobile,” American Spectator, March 19, 2010.)

Given that the entire rationale of the Democratic Party is that no one should ever be responsible for their own lives — if you drop out of high school, get hooked on drugs and spawn a brood of impoverished fatherless children, you’re a victim — we should not really be surprised that Nancy Pelosi can’t even take responsibility for leading her party to its worst defeat since 1938.

The Democratic Party is in a ditch, and Nancy Pelosi’s just sittin’ up there, sippin’ on a Slurpee.

(Via Memeorandum.)

UPDATE: Mark Hemingway:

At this point suggesting that Democrats were buried under an avalanche of “outside, unidentified funding” is just an outright lie:

Overall, Democratic candidates in the 63 races that flipped to the GOP had $206.4 million behind them, a tally that includes candidate fundraising and spending by parties and interests. That compares to only $171.7 million for their GOP rivals.

Also, note that Democrats out-raised and outspent Republicans in every category this election cycle.

The Democratic Party doesn’t believe in these right-wing things you call “facts.” Hater!

UPDATE II: Nice Deb, “Democrats in Chaos.” including this very relevant quote from Byron York:

“In the course of the Obama administration we have seen examples of Democrats in the White House, Congress and across the government pursuing ideological goals that are not only not based on facts and science and argument but actually fly in the face of facts and science and argument.”

Meanwhile, the laughable results of ObamaCare.

Category: Democrats, Election, Nancy Pelosi

Bring Me the Head of David Brooks

Posted on | November 12, 2010 | 12 Comments

No one — not David Frum, not Conor Friedersdorf, not even Charles Johnson — has been the source of more genuine evil in American politics than David Brooks. His 1997 paean to big government Republicanism, “A Return to National Greatness,” was a blueprint for the abandonment of Reaganite principles.

“National Greatness” was sort of a Protocols of the Learned Elders of RINO, helping pave the intellectual way toward “Compassionate Conservatism,” No Child Left Behind, Medicare prescription drug coverage and everything else loathsome about Bush-era Republican policy.

Brooks considered it a “damned outrage” when TARP-sucking Bob Bennett got beat in the Utah GOP convention, and in May bemoaned the victory of Rand Paul in the Kentucky Republican primary while also bemoaning the defeat of turncoat Arlen Specter in the Pennsylania Democratic primary:

Yes, well, this is a frustration for me. For people in the center, Arlen Specter is symptomatic of a problem, which is that there is no centrist philosophy. You know, people in the center should be able to say, we have big budget deficits, out of control, and here’s our agenda. . . .
And, yet, the center has not developed that. People who consider themselves moderates have not developed that philosophy. And, so, a lot of people who look like centrists and who seem basically centrist, like Arlen Specter, just seem like opportunists. . . .

Yes, exactly, Mr. Brooks: Specter did seem like an opportunist, because he was an opportunist, just like you. Specter was a vain and unprincipled power-seeker, and you are a vain and unprincipled power-worshipper.

Look how adept you are at trimming your sails to the prevailing winds, Mr. Brooks. When Obama was riding high, you were there to sniff the creases of his pants, and now you’re back to lecture us on behalf of your own opportunistic centrism, “A National Greatness Agenda“:

The country is restive and looking for alternatives. And before the next round of voting begins, I suspect we will see another mass movement: a movement of people who don’t feel represented by either of the partisan orthodoxies; a movement of people who want to fundamentally change the norms, institutions and rigidities that cause our gridlock and threaten our country.

Make book on it: If Republicans stand strong on conservative principles, play shrewd politics, nominate good candidates and capture the Senate and White House in 2012, Brooks will be there after Election Day to lecture the re-ascendant GOP that they should abandon “partisan orthodoxies . . . and rigidities.”

Be careful, Mr. Brooks. After the bloodthirsty Tea Party mobs have finished publicly horsewhipping and stomping Pete Sessions to a bloody pulp, they may come looking for you.

UPDATE: Daniel Larison provides a thorough dissection of the Brooksian Error.

Category: David Brooks Fisking Day

‘Imperative’ That You Keep Paying Taxes for Crappy Radio You Don’t Listen To!

Posted on | November 12, 2010 | 8 Comments

Never mind that you’re underwater on your mortgage and worried about losing your job, you must — absolutely must — keep paying taxes for the benefit of National Public Radio employees:

“It’s imperative for funding to continue to ensure that this essential tool of democracy survives and thrives well into the future.”
The co-chairmen of Obama’s fiscal commission, Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson, proposed eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, among other ideas, in their report on how to bring down the long-term debt in the U.S. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting assists NPR and PBS stations in their operations.
“The National Commission’s proposal to eliminate federal funding for public media would have a profound and detrimental impact on all Americans,” NPR said in response to the proposal.

Two simple questions:

  • How much NPR do you listen to? Not much, probably.
  • How much of this blog do you read? A lot, I bet.

Screw NPR. It’s imperative that you hit my tip jar!

I may not be an “essential tool of democracy,” but many Democrats say I’m essentially a tool.

Category: Economics

Irish Eyes Aren’t Smiling

Posted on | November 12, 2010 | 5 Comments

If this doesn’t worry you, it should:

European shares were expected to fall for a third straight day on Friday, tracking losses in Asia and on Wall Street, with worries about Ireland’s debt levels and weak commodity prices seen putting pressure on equities. . . .
“As for Europe, the deteriorating state of the Irish economy has scope to further erode sentiment approaching the weekend break,” said Ben Potter, research analyst at IG Markets. . . .
The 10-year Irish government bond yield has rocketed to 9 percent, from as low as 4.4 percent earlier this year, making it the second highest-yielding euro zone bond after Greece’s 11.7 percent. The bid/ask spread for Irish debt has also blown out, suggesting the market is freezing up.

Uh, the market for Irish bonds “freezing up”? On the eve of the Fed’s “QE2” monetizing of the debt? Let me remind you of something I wrote in March 2009:

We are looking at an ill-designed house of cards on top of a Ponzi scheme erected over the San Andreas Fault. The question is not whether disaster will result, but when.
When that disaster finally hits — when capital freaks the hell out and the bond market goes sideways — the lone sanctuary of sanity and calm will be Galt’s Gulch.

It’s not too late to take Glenn Beck’s advice and buy gold. But then again, ammunition, Coleman lantern fuel and freeze-dried food might not be bad investments, either.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Instapundit links to an economics professor who wants to see banks shut down and their executives perp-walked:

Finally, maintaining the dollar’s international appeal also requires imposition of the rule of law in the US. Currently, the fraud perpetrated by the biggest banks is far worse than anything the Russian kleptocrats and mafia combined could possibly imagine. The US is in the grips of the worst scandals in world history, with the financial sector no longer constrained by anything that would be recognizable as lawful practice. And that is the biggest threat to the dollar as international reserve currency. Unless the top banks are closed, with their management jailed, there really is no hope for the US dollar or for its economy. 

“Jailed”? Hell, why stop there? Public floggings! Firing squads! Feed them to wolves!

BTW, you gotta love the headline on Professor Wray’s Nov. 4 column:

Right Now, A Complete Collapse
Of The Financial System
Is Not Out Of The Question

Excuse me, got to go buy some more freeze-dried food and ammo. Gonna need lots of ammo.

Category: Economics, Ireland

Good News, Bad News

Posted on | November 12, 2010 | 3 Comments

Good News: That wretched pedophile book I blogged about has been pulled from Amazon:

“The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct” was pulled from Amazon.com, a spokesman confirmed Thursday, after thousands of users posted angry comments and threats to boycott the site.
The self-published e-book was available on the site for download until late Wednesday for $4.79.

Bad News: The victim in a statutory rape case has committed suicide:

A statutory rape charge against an 18-year-old Michigan man who had sex with a 14-year-old girl has been dropped after the girl committed suicide, according to the Wayne County, Michigan, prosecutor’s office.
“Our witness was the evidence and her testimony was going to be our evidence in the case,” said Maria Miller, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office. “Our heart goes out to the family in what is just a tragic case.”
The mother of Samantha Kelly made a tearful plea for justice on Wednesday after watching former defendant Joseph Tarnopolski go free.
“My daughter did not get any justice before this, and she is not getting justice now,” Kelly’s mother, June Justice, told reporters, according to CNN affiliate WDIV.

More background on this tragedy:

What started on Sept. 26 — according to police statements and reports — as a giggling teenage hook-up had spun wildly into a tragic mix of rape accusations, felony charges, overheated high school drama, taunting and ridicule. It ended Monday with death and a mother’s rage and grief. . . .
Things ratcheted up in October when Kelly told Fox2 News that she resisted the sex and that Tarnopolski wouldn’t let her leave.
The broadcast spread the word throughout the school, school officials said . . .
Factions soon developed. The day of his arraignment, a number of students at school wore shirts supporting him and others wrote “Joe’s Innocent” on their hands until school officials intervened.
Two kids were suspended for 10 days, Huron School District Superintendent Richard Naughton said.
Another student was disciplined for hitting Samantha with a clump of mud he pulled off his shoe. . . .
Samantha Huff, 16, said: “People were jerks to her. Everyone was talking about her at school.”

Schools are teaching kids to have “safe sex,” right? Somehow the risks of rape and suicide don’t seem to have been factored into their safety formulas.

Category: Crime, Culture, Sex

LIVE AT FIVE – 11.12.10

Posted on | November 12, 2010 | Comments Off on LIVE AT FIVE – 11.12.10

TOP NEWS

Iraqiya Bloc Walkout Could Torpedo Fragile Unity Government

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki


Sunni-backed bloc claims promises by other parties already being broken

Cash, Cows And Cars Block US/ROK Free Trade Agreement
No deal before G-20 meet goes down





Bowles Tweaks White House For Lack of Serious Bipartisanship
“I told people in the White House I had spent more time listening to people in the opposition party than they had done as a whole group.” Meanwhile, Obama distances himself from Congressional Dems’ flaming and handwaving.



POLITICS

Nancy Reagan To Host Debate For 2012 Hopefuls

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan and House Minority Leader John Boehner


Campaign trail to the White House starts from the Reagan Library next spring

Palin Praises Perry, Blasts Obama As “Most Pro-Abortion President”

AP Poll: Little Hope For Political Compromise

Lots Of Fuss But No Final Answers In NY-25 Yet

Walsh Campaign Confident Of Victory, Gets Lawyered Up and Backup From GOP Anyway



Chances Of DADT Repeal In Lame-Duck Session Fading

Anonymous Democrat Activists Are Revolting; Nutroots Up In Arms Over Possible White House Compromise On Bush Tax Rates?



THE ECONOMY, STUPID

Yahoo Looking Into Job Cutbacks In Its Consumer Service Group

PRC Diesel Squeeze May Push Oil Over $100/Barrel

Infighting Breaks Out In PRC As National Statistics Bureau Ripped For Fudging Inflation Numbers On The Low Side

Christie’s To Auction Apple I; Expected To Bring Over $160K

EWeek Top Ten List: Why The Samsung Galaxy Tab Is A Contender

Firefox 4 Regains Speed Mojo
No need to think in Russian; Clint Eastwood not available for comment



SPORTS

Celtics Beat The Heat Second Time Around, Too

LeBron James guards the Celtics Rajon Rondo

Evidently it takes more than hype to win in the NBA. Who knew?

No Turk For You, Kentucky!

Lightning Grounded By Caps, 6-3

Thrashers Snap 3-game Losing Streak With Win Over Wild




Sterger Finally Talks To NFL About Favre’s Junk

Clippers’ Blake Griffin Falls Victim To Shake Weight Menace (Video)



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS

Carrie Prejean Pregnant

Carrie Prejean

Due in May 2011. 🙂

National Enquirer: The Fight That Ended Billy Ray’s Marriage

Marie Osmond Opens Up To Oprah About Son’s Death




Gwyneth Paltrow Shows Off Her Chops At CMA

Dick Van Dyke: Porpoise Driven

Jane Fonda Discloses Breast Cancer; Is Now Cancer Free

Hulk Hogan Readies For Marriage #2



FOREIGNERS

Taliban Car Bomb Shatters Pakistani Police Compound; 15 Dead, 100 Injured

Rumors: Aung San Suu Kyi to Be Released Soon

Could Double Agent Have Blown Chapman’s Cover And Other Russian Agents In The U.S.?

Hezbollah Vows To Block Arrests Of Its Members In Hariri Assassination

Cuba Denounces Castro Mission In “Call Of Duty: Black Ops”, Nobody Cares



BLOGS & STUFF

Neo-Neocon: Yes We Will, No We Won’t – The White House Is Waffling Again

Hit & Run: Why Deficit Reduction Is Hard

Atlas Shrugs: Some Attendees At Capitol Hill Muslim Prayer Group Have Terror Ties

William Teach: Ezra Klein Says Midterm Collapse Is Joe Lieberman’s Fault

Don Surber: Tea Party Jumps Shark on DWTS?

Ed Morrissey: TIME Blames Tea Party For Hyperinflation In Advance

Gates Of Vienna: Burning Poppies To Celebrate The English Caliphate


— compiled by Wombat-socho

Category: Live at Five

No Regrets in Delaware

Posted on | November 12, 2010 | 18 Comments

DOVER, Delaware — Christine O’Donnell did not merely defeat Mike Castle in Tuesday’s Senate primary. She beat the Republican establishment, both nationally and in Delaware, and she beat a veritable army of naysayers who said she couldn’t do it. . . .
— “This Changes Everything,” The American Spectator, Sept. 15, 2010

The other day, in defending Mark Levin, I offered my post-mortem critique of the O’Donnell campaign and was willing to move on. But then Instapundit linked Professor Bainbridge who linked Doug Mataconis who linked Dan Riehl who said:

Surrendering to liberalism, while claiming victory as a Republican, is a defeat for conservatism.

Whatever else Dan Riehl said — and he’s obviously not trying to get a gold star for “plays well with others” — that one sentence is exactly right.

Defeating Mike Castle in the GOP primary was a big victory. Electing Christine O’Donnell on Nov. 2 would have been a bigger victory but, to quote a very wise man, “Don’t demand perfection, or you’ll be disappointed.”

So if the outcome in Delaware wasn’t perfect, it was much better than the prospect of Mike Castle getting elected to the Senate. Good-bye, Mike — enjoy your retirement.

As for the rest, let us keep in mind the words of a very wise man: “Political change is a process, not an event.”

In 2004, the GOP powers-that-be ganged up to thwart Pat Toomey’s primary challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter. Less than five years later, with Toomey leading Specter in their Republican primary rematch, Specter quit the GOP, lost the subsequent Democratic primary and is now just two months away from surrendering his seat to Pat Toomey.

Conservatives were told for decades that Arlen Specter was the best they could hope for in Pennsylvania, a state that was alleged to be trending inevitably toward Democrats.

In the words of a very wise man: “Heh.”

Not only did Toomey chase Specter out of the primary and beat Joe Sestak on Election Day, but Pennsylvania Republicans won the governorship and five House seats, defeating incumbent Democrats Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3), Bryan Lentz (PA-7), Patrick Murphy (PA-8), Chris Carney (PA-10) and — sweetest of all — 26-year incumbent Paul Kanjorski (PA-11).

So much for that inevitable trend, you see.

The trend-hoppers thought jumping aboard the Obama express was their ticket to ride, and instead it was their ticket to political oblivion.

Charlie Crist embraced the stimulus. Good-bye, Charlie!

Mike Castle voted for cap-and-trade. Good-bye, Mike!

I’m reminded of what a GOP operative said to me shortly after the NRSC endorsed Crist in May 2009: “All they care about is getting their chairmanships back, and they don’t care how they get there.”

Yeah. Read more

Category: Dan Riehl, Delaware, Election, Instapundit, Tea Party

The Weekly Newsbeast?

Posted on | November 11, 2010 | 9 Comments

MSM meltdown yields a hideous amalgam: The newsmagazine that Jon Meacham ran into the toilet will merge with Tina Brown’s HuffPo knockoff:

Newsweek and The Daily Beast will announce tomorrow morning that the two publications will merge, a source close to the deal tells The Observer.
It will be a 50-50 merger of the two companies. The editorial staffs will combine under the editorship of Tina Brown, who will again run a high-profile glossy.
Newsweek owner Sidney Harman, 92, and IAC chairman Barry Diller had for weeks disagreed over an operating structure for the hybrid publication. The deal reached today establishes a daily role for Mr. Harman and strong editorial independence for Ms. Brown.

Allahpundit jokes:

It might be difficult for Newsweek’s down-the-middle, fair-and-balanced staff to cope with Peter Beinart screeching about wingnut McCarthyism or Kirsten Powers musing on “the GOP’s long, hot, racist summer.”

Looking through the history of Ms. Brown’s career — Tatler, Vanity Fair, New Yorker, Talk — it’s hard to resist the suspicion that Newsbeast (or whatever the resultant hybrid is called) will be mainly about celebrities, both as subjects and as writers.

The investors can expect to lose a crapload of cash in the process. The New Yorker reportedly lost $42 million in three years (1995-97) under Ms. Brown’s editorship. Talk lost an impressive $80 million during its two-year existence. Whatever else you might say about Tina Brown, she’s undeniably brilliant at convincing investors to lose money on her projects.

Alas, there’s only one Tina and probably lots of would-be media moguls out there with millions of dollars to throw away on glitzy media operations. Send me an e-mail and we’ll do lunch.

But if you decide instead to hit Vegas and blow your millions on blackjack and hookers, I’ll understand.

Category: Journalism, Newsweek
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