Yeah, About That Day Trip. . .

Posted on Comments

by Smitty

I took the car in for an oil change Thursday. This 2002 PT Cruiser’s got 121k miles.
It’s a lovely day for a trip, just after noon, going West on I-64, almost to Lewisburg, chatting up me old college chum in Chicago, ‘Welcome to West Virginia’. . .wait, I’m slowing down, check engine, oil light, pop the clutch, no one around me, won’t re-start, sonofa. . .
Oil is fine. Bad gas in Woodstock, VA back on I-81? No, this engine isn’t even trying.
Call the insurance company, get a wrecker out of Lewisburg. Fortunately, that’s where I’m going.
Call the people I’m going to see. Yes, they can come fetch me in about 10 minutes.
Getting the parts and manhours on task for the repair, no’ so fast. Eating some vacation on Monday. Grrr.
Finally, I get to the destination, meet the subject of the treck. Worth every minute of stress. This 85 year old duffer is amazingly articulate and has a story with everything: heroism, travel, romance, art.
Oh, to have the journalistic chops of Stacy McCain and the visual auteurity of Ladd Ehlinger. I set up the camcorder and do a 1 minute clip just to show him what the gadget looks like. He has no interest in a chronological attack on matters; he already knows the story.
So I take notes, and will try to get an outline together.  The acme of skill will be to draw it out of him in some sensible manner that won’t destroy me trying to edit.  That his first three decades are the makings of righteous war flick don’t matter; he is a Sowell fan and wants to talk about American culture on the skids.
When your feet no longer touch bottom, it’s time to shut up and swim.

He’s a Neo-Keynesian, Not a Kenyan

Posted on Comments

The insuperable problem with conservatives seeking the origins of Barack Obama’s political commitments in the details of his biography is that the Left always stands ready to reply with its standard argument: “Shut up, racists!”

Never has any prominent American leader’s ideology appeared more solidly rooted in his personal story — this, after all, was the purpose of Dreams From My Father — nor has any leader’s personal story ever been more zealously protected against critical scrutiny. Continue reading He’s a Neo-Keynesian, Not a Kenyan →

Desperate New Smear Against Christine O’Donnell: ‘She Turned Me Into a Newt’

Posted on Comments

We knew they were desperate, but no one suspected the Left would turn this into a literal witch-hunt:

“I dabbled into witchcraft. I hung around people who were doing these things. I’m not making this stuff up. . . . One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn’t know it. . . . We went to a movie and then had a midnight picnic on a satanic altar.”

Typical witch pickup line: “Want to go see a movie down at the multiplex and then . . . oh, I don’t know . . . hang out with Beelzebub?”

Speaking of women the Left hates, did you hear what Sarah Palin said in Iowa? “I want to get to Delaware very soon and start knocking on doors.” I put in a call to one of my contacts in the Palin camp, who said they haven’t scheduled that yet. They’re still working on plans for Sarah’s fall campaign tour. Continue reading Desperate New Smear Against Christine O’Donnell: ‘She Turned Me Into a Newt’ →

Ferocious Marine: Journeying Respectfully to Appalachia

Posted on Comments

by Smitty

I need to get on the road within the hour to make Lewisburg, West Virginia by noon. If fortune smiles, I’ll produce a daily series of brief clips of a fellow who is the Genuine Article telling a story for the ages. Last Sunday, I met one of his daughters at the 9/12 DC rally, there on the West Lawn. She sketched the sort of tale that would give a bald man a perm, and I said “I would love to interview your dad,” and exchanged contact info. May the Almighty smile on this endeavor.

So here is a whirlwind FMJRA: Continue reading Ferocious Marine: Journeying Respectfully to Appalachia →

Democrat Halvorson’s Nazi-Smear Aide Is Lesbian Who Brags About ‘Gigantic Boobs’

Posted on Comments

A commenter on the earlier post about Rep. Debbie Halvorson’s “Palin-as-Hitler” protesters points out that Halvorson aide Anna Markowski had a profile on the “OkCupid” dating site (Firefox users click here) with this delightful bit of self-description:

And, yes, Markowski identified herself as “25/F/Gay/Single,” so all you lesbian ladies who want to date a gigantic-breasted Democrat who thinks it’s a brilliant strategy to paint Hitler mustaches on Sarah Palin, feast your eyes on Anna:

That’s from the Flickr page of the Boone County Democratic Party, when Markowksi and her gigantic boobs were working on the Missouri staff of Obama’s Organizing for America. 

Some enterprising member of the White House press corps needs to ask Robert Gibbs a question about whether Palin-as-Hitler is an OFA-approved message.

‘Lisa the Loser’? No, Murkowski Wants to Be Known as ‘Lisa the Laughingstock’

Posted on Comments

The great thing about a write-in campaign is, Alaska’s voters will get to supply the punchline.

Murkowski is not merely out of touch with the voters; she obviously has begun to lose touch with reality.

Begging your K Street lobbyist pals to help you out? Yeah. That’s gonna be real popular with folks in Alaska, I bet. 

She has allowed her Palin-hating campaign chairman, John Bitney, and her Palin-hating consultant, Andrew Halcro, to convince her that she should destroy what little dignity she still had left.

What’s the phrase she used in her speech?

“We’re in this together.”

Yeah, that’s it, Lisa: You and your delusional RINO buddies, you’re in this together. I guess you didn’t want to let Charlie Crist run away with the 2010 Laughingstock of the Year Award.

As Professor William Jacobson says, “We have proven our point.”

Friday Night Free Association

Posted on Comments

by Smitty

I’m reading too many blogs, but they’re all so good. It’s time for a Rule 1 grab bag, to note and quote some of our great net-friends.

Hot Air: “Internal White House debate: Is it time to start attacking Palin?”
Sure, go ahead. Nothing says cool, collected, and arriving with a head full of plans to address the country’s challenges quite like beating up on a woman. Has she not flogged the Administration sufficiently with her FaceBook page already? I bet this strategy can take the approval rating South of -25. Is the Administration this stupid? Sadly the track record argues ‘Why yes; yes, it is.”

Da Tech Guy: “Can someone tell me why such as story is even necessary?”
Let’s point out something in common between Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and Christine O’Donnell: these ladies take a lot of flack.
Is there an immunizing effect, and wisdom in pursuing it? While I wouldn’t accuse Krauthammer and Rove of being Kernighan and Ritchie, one wonders if the past couple of days of napalm shower have not been intended to blow through the worst possible criticism, to inoculate O’Donnell against the October Surprise.
Political “tough love”, if you will.
Then again, the Pundit Priesthood is readying the “I told you so” card. Why admit that decades of being asleep at the switch by the Brooks, Will, and Krauthammer crowd have contributed to cratering the economy? Better still to let the Tea Parties put candidates in office and then blame the Tea Parties when the real depth of the crisis is laid bare (h/t Insty). Do I sound cynical?

Just a Conservative Girl quotes Fred Thompson:

During an interview on CNBC, Nancy Pelosi said “if I were not in politics, I’d probably be in business”.Well, if Pelosi weren’t in politics, a LOT of people would still be in business.

Right Klik announces B.J. Lawson in NC-4 as this week’s Ten Buck Fridays winner, complete with Senator Tom Coburn endorsement.

Right Network is live, and I hope to be able to check it out on Verizon Real Soon Now. Go, Little Miss Attila.

Democrat Congresswoman’s Staff Uses Nazi Campaign Smear in Illinois

Posted on Comments

Democratic campaign operatives working for Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Illinois, 11th District) staged a protest against the free-market group Americans for Prosperity, carrying signs that depicted Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Halvorson’s Republican opponent with Hitler mustaches.

Larry O’Connor at Big Government has video and photos:

More from Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit and Dan Riehl. Two of those involved in the Nazi-sign incident have been identified: Anna Markowski, a Missouri-based staffer for Obama’s “Organizing For America” group who is evidently now working for Halvorson’s campaign; and Halvorson’s campaign manager Julie Merz, who formerly worked on Nancy Pelosi’s House leadership staff.

Halvorson’s Republican opponent is a 32-year-old Air Force captain named Adam Kinzinger who is demanding answers:

When I decided to run for office, I understood the nastiness of politics but never envisioned this kind of attack. Congresswoman Halvorson’s campaign has denied involvement, but video of protesters retiring to her office following the demonstration indicates otherwise. . . . I respectfully ask that she use the evidence at hand to launch an investigation into the activities of her campaign and its participation in the Joliet protest, and take appropriate action.

The following are questions that Congresswoman Halvorson and her campaign need to answer truthfully:

  • Was the protest organized or sanctioned by Halvorson, the Illinois Democratic Party or the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee?
  • Who are the individuals leading the protest and later seen with Team Halvorson?
  • Are the individuals leading the protest staffers or volunteers for Debbie Halvorson? If not, why are they seen entering the Halvorson office after their protest and laughing with Campaign Manager Julie Merz?

The Illinois 11th District is one of those previously Republican districts that flipped to Democrats in the 2008 Obama wave, but polls indicate it’s flipping back to the GOP with a vengeance now. Halvorson is a first-termer who is well on her way to being a one-termer, and this Nazi stuff is just the kind of desperation tactics we can expect from other endangered Democrats this fall.

We need to fight back hard. Go to Kinzinger’s site and give him money now.

ADAM KINZINGER for U.S. CONGRESS

UPDATE: Dan Riehl suggests that Brian Wolff, former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee executive director, may also be implicated in Halvorson’s Nazi scandal.

Guess what Wolff’s role is with the Halvorson campaign? “Messaging.” Yeah, it takes a certified strategic communications genius to draw a Hitler mustache on Sarah Palin.

UPDATE II: Gee, this is interesting: It appears that not a single major news organization in Illinois — not the TV stations, nor the Chicago Tribune or Sun-Times — has done any actual reporting on this story.

Maybe there aren’t any reporters in Illinois who know how to cover a big story like this. And I notice Newt Gingrich is going to Illinois next week to hold a fundraising dinner for a Kinzinger, so that would be a big story, too.

Hmmmmm.