The Other McCain

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

BREAKING: Alaska Libertarian Party Calls Emergency Meeting About Murkowski

Posted on | August 29, 2010 | 71 Comments

Sources in Anchorage inform me that the five-member executive board of the Alaska Libertarian Party will convene in an emergency meeting today to discuss efforts by Lisa Murkowski’s supporters to secure the LP nomination for the Republican senator should she fail to overturn Joe Miller’s 1,668-vote margin in the GOP primary.

Meanwhile, about 5 a.m. ET today, Joe Miller sent a Tweet linking to this story by Sean Cockerham in the Anchorage Daily News:

Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto said in an e-mail Saturday that there are many calls going out to Alaskans who voted absentee ballots, asking them who they voted for in the primary. . . .
“I believe, and time will prove it, (the calls) are being done for nefarious purposes,” DeSoto said in the e-mail. “It is definitely not being done by the Joe Miller campaign. It is being done, I believe, by the National Republican Senatorial Committee or someone they contracted with as the beginning of a legal battle to throw out ballots.”
It is public information who requests absentee ballots. Both the Murkowski campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Campaign on Saturday denied making calls to absentee voters.

Yeah, of course they’d deny it. Just like they’d deny harrassing Joe Miller’s volunteers. But there’s more from the ADN story:

NRSC Communications Director Brian Walsh . . . said the single NRSC lawyer sent to Alaska to assist Murkowski with the ballot count, Sean Cairncross, returned to Washington, D.C., on Saturday after 72 hours in the state. “This has been much ado about nothing,” he said.

Wait a minute: How much of its donors’ money did the NRSC spend to send its top lawyer to Alaska for three days? Because I’m planning my own trip to Alaska, I know that flights to Alaska can be very expensive. A short-notice booking for a three-day trip? And I’m betting the NRSC lawyer didn’t fly coach class, either.

UPDATE: Democratic polling firm PPP:

In a three way contest with Murkowski running as the Libertarian candidate Miller leads but with only 38% to 34% for Murkowski and 22% for McAdams.

See, this is how the Palin-hater Andrew Halcro (who is behind the Lisa-for-LP talk) helps out Murkowski, the NRSC and — not coincidentally — Democrats.

Encouraging hope of  a Murkowski third-party bid (“She’s still in it! She’s fighting for you!”) prevents Murkowski’s supports from coming to grips with the reality of her defeat, and thus delays efforts by Miller to unite the GOP base and reach out to independent voters. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Murkowski’s people are talking to McAdams about letting her have the Democratic nomination.

As for Andrew Halcro’s scheme, remember that the No. 2 official in the Alaska LP said it’s “99% . . . no way” that the Libertarians would take Murkowski.

UPDATE III: The Alaska LP executive committee meeting lasted more than two hours, but the committee members were sworn to secrecy about the result. A press conference is scheduled Monday in Anchorage — I’ll update with details later — and Alaska LP chairman Scott Kohlhaas could be making an appearance on Fox News.

Meanwhile, Dan Riehl’s Republican sources say that the NRSC is up to shenanigans on Murkowski’s behalf and adds:

 Murkowski could still win this election legitimately. But, if she wins it any other way, and especially if the NRSC helps her do it, the DC GOP’s house is going to start burning down before they even gain control of the one on the Hill.

Read the whole thing.

Category: Alaska, Election, Joe Miller, Senate

Gay Tea Party Activist Bruce Majors: ‘It’s a Full-Time Job Being a Celebrity Racist’

Posted on | August 29, 2010 | 30 Comments

Last week, a D.C. guide for out-of-towners attending the Restoring Honor rally was seized upon by the Left as evidence of Tea Party bigotry because it advised visitors to stick to the touristy parts of town, et cetera. Rachel Maddow got all snarky about it:

Here’s your first ironic denouement: The guy who wrote the Tea Party Guide to D.C. is a gay guy who has donated thousands of dollars to Democrats:

Eugene Robinson, a columnist for The Washington Post, accused Majors of “scaring white people.” DC Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton called the post “worrisome” and said she feared it would inflame racial tensions.
Majors, who says he aspires to be “the gay, slightly more libertarian Ann Coulter,” clearly relishes the attention. Upbeat and talkative, he sports a mischievous grin that refuses to fade.
“It’s a full-time job being a celebrity racist,” he says as he walks through the crowd at the National Mall. “I need a personal assistant.”

OK, so that’s your first ironic denouement. And the second?

Yeah, Bruce Majors is a friend of mine. I’m sure he’ll put that character reference on his résumé.

UPDATE: Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters has a transcript of Maddow’s segment, as well as for another segment by Chris Matthews on the same topic. And apparently none of MSNBC’s journalistic geniuses ever thought to do a simple online search of the FEC records for Bruce Majors.

“Too good to check,” et cetera.

Category: Gays, Glenn Beck, MSNBC, Tea Party, The Flemish Menace

Oh, Boy! More BrandiTV!

Posted on | August 29, 2010 | 8 Comments

Everybody loves America’s Xenophobic Sweetheart, Brandi Milloy. Among the many admirers of the recent Miss California contestant — fourth runner-up? were the judges blind? or merely gay? — is Professor Glenn Reynolds, who links a video that inevitably invites this compare-and-contrast:

OK, there’s my friend Stephen Kruiser with Danika Quinn and Alexis Garcia, which is pretty doggone awesome. Yet a dramatic increase in awesomeness can quite easily be achieved:

See what I mean? 31 Flavors of Pure Awesome! (Click on either image to watch the video.)

This isn’t to say that Kruiser is about to lose his PJTV gig and start working at Hot Dog On a Stick out at the mall, although Kruiser himself seems to be sweating that possibility. No worries, Stephen: I’m sure you’ll continue making frequent appearances on the soon-to-be-renamed BrandiTV network.

Category: PJTV, Rule 5

Osteon Top Of Things

Posted on | August 29, 2010 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

One hopes all enjoy my attempt at one of those Dustbury titles.
Meanwhile, after that intimate gathering with half a million-ish honor-lovers yesterday, I was “filet of Smitty” until later than usual this morning, which means a Rule 5 Sunday delay. Your indulgence is sought.


Definition of osteon here.

Photo via Miss Cellania.

Category: humor

Christine O’Donnell: The Next Joe Miller?

Posted on | August 29, 2010 | 41 Comments

A friend was on the phone the other night and we were talking about the result in Alaska — where a half-million dollars in TV ads by the Tea Party Express helped push Joe Miller to a surprising victory — and my friend said, “Well, you know, now that they’ve finished up that Alaska thing, what about Delaware? . . . It’s only three counties. They could have a heckuva impact with just $150,000 there.”

Indeed, Christine O’Donnell has been endorsed by the Tea Party Express in her GOP Senate primary fight against RINO Mike Castle, and now national media are pondering such a possibility:

Castle, running for the seat formerly held by Vice President Joe Biden, is competing with long-shot opponent Christine O’Donnell, a conservative commentator . . . who has aligned herself with local tea party groups. . . .
The Tea Party Express sent out a fundraising appeal Friday focusing on the Delaware primary, that called Castle “one of the most vile RINO’s you will meet (Republican In Name Only).” The anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List has also endorsed O’Donnell. . . .
“Our biggest challenge right now is that not enough Republican voters know about this primary,” O’Donnell acknowledged, insisting that the race was still winnable. “It’s a closed primary against the most liberal Republican in the House.”
O’Donnell has also aggressively courted conservative Internet activists, appearing at the RightOnline conference in Las Vegas last month and focusing her message on the possibility of a lame duck Senate session where the winner of Delaware’s special Senate election might end up voting on key legislation. . . .

Yeah, she’s a “long-shot candidate,” just like that Alaska guy I interviewed in early July when he he was still “Joe Who?”

The odds against O’Donnell may be even longer. Delaware state GOP chairman Tom Ross is totally sold out for the Castle campaign, and evidently Castle thinks he’s got it so locked up he doesn’t even need to show up at candidate forums.

However, it’s estimated Christine would only need 20,000 votes to win the Sept. 14 primary, and I’m betting that there are at least 20,000 Republicans in Delaware who are sick and tired of Tom Ross and his RINO buddy Mke Castle.

CHRISTINE O’DONNELL for U.S. SENATE

Category: Alaska, Christine O'Donnell, Delaware, Election, Joe Miller, Republicans, Senate, Tea Party

Glenn Beck for President?

Posted on | August 29, 2010 | 23 Comments

It’s not an idea that ever crossed my overwhelmingly white mind, but such a possibility is explored at length by Michael at Jumping in Pools.

Category: Glenn Beck

Lisa the Loser vs. Joe Miller, RINO Killer UPDATE: Now 23,000 Ballots Still Out, Count Won’t End Until . . . Sept. 8? UPDATE: Palin Predicts Miller Win

Posted on | August 28, 2010 | 25 Comments

When last we left the sordid Senate saga in Alaska, the NRSC had flown its top lawyer to Anchorage to help Sen. Lisa Murkowski try to steal the election from Joe Miller. According to the No. 2 official in the Alaska LP, it’s highly unlikely Lisa the Loser could get the Libertarian nomination.

If she can’t gin up enough phony absentee ballots to overturn Miller’s 1,668-vote margin of victory in Tuesday’s GOP primary, she’s on her way to being an ex-Senator, and so now Lisa the Loser is on the attack:

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) pushed back against her Republican opponent Joe Miller on Friday, calling him “paranoid” for suggesting that she is conspiring with her legal team to steal victory in Tuesday’s primary.
Miller holds a narrow lead over the incumbent Murkowski, who has vowed not to concede until all 20,000 absentee ballots have been counted . . .
“To suggest that the NRSC has sent an attorney to Alaska to skew results is paranoid,” Murkowski said.

OK, to start with, it was originally estimated that there were 8,000 absentee ballots to be counted. Now suddenly we are told it’s 20,000? But never mind that. If Murkowski is so doggone confident of victory, why did she demand that the NRSC send its general counsel to Alaska? She’s sitting on more than $1 million in leftover campaign cash. Can’t she pay for her own lawyers?

Now let’s address Murkowski’s accusation that Miller is “paranoid.” This afternoon, I spoke by phone to a Miller campaign volunteer who lives near Fairbanks and who described the harassment he’s received from Murkowski supporters.

“I’m getting tons of crank calls — you wouldn’t believe it,” said the volunteer, who explained that some anti-Miller activists had targeted him due to his online work for the campaign. Murkowski supporters in his community, however, had learned of his pro-Miller stance directly.

“I’ve lost a lot of [Republican] friends who turned out to be closet liberals . . . RINOs,” he said, describing one friend’s reaction as “Oh my God, you’re a f***ing bagger” — i.e., a “teabagger,” the Left’s preferred epithet for Tea Party activists.

As to the Team Joe strategy for the absentee ballot count, the volunteer said, “I leave that to the legal eagles,” noting that Miller is a lawyer (J.D., Yale Law) and that campaign manager Robert Campbell is also a lawyer.

We are grateful to King Shamus for this photo:

JOE MILLER for U.S. SENATE

UPDATE: I don’t understand this heavy-duty analysis at Swing State Project, but it suggests that the absentee and provisional ballots are likely to favor Miller.

UPDATE II: The Associated Press says it’s 23,000 ballots:

Republican challenger Joe Miller holds a narrow lead over incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska’s GOP Senate race, which remains too close to call with more 23,000 absentee, questioned and early ballots not yet counted.
State elections workers will begin to count absentee ballots Tuesday. Division of Elections officials estimated 16,000 absentee ballots were sent out before the election. Ballots mailed from within the United States must arrive by Sept. 3 to be valid. Ballots mailed internationally must arrive before Sept. 8.
The ballots to be counted include almost 9,000 questioned ballots flagged by Division of Elections officials because the voter’s intent might not be clear. Another 663 votes were cast during the “early voting” process on Election Day and await counting.

OK, so the count won’t be officially finished until at least a week from Wednesday, with lots of opportunity for shenanigans. I gotta be there.

UPDATE III: From Robert Costa at National Review:

Category: Alaska, Election, Joe Miller, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Senate

After A Brief ‘Reagan Tribute’ On
The Couch, Thoughts Return To
‘Restoring Honor’

Posted on | August 28, 2010 | 30 Comments

by Smitty

First, one should offer some shouts to fellow bloggers:

  • Sorry to the TD of the Washington Rebel that my phone battery ran out, and we couldn’t get back together. The informal gathering at the Army and Navy Club with Wombat Rampant, which transitioned to the ever-tasty Shelly’s Backroom, and a conversation that we should have recorded for a podcast. Truly great Americans, those two.
  • Thanks to Dave C for the lift. He ignored every bit of my advice, with great results. Possibly, arriving an hour earlier would have been better, but we didn’t dare hope the event would be that well attended. His ‘future-swimmer’ daughter (he’ll have to explain), however, needs to be kept a safe distance from Stacy’s youngest, as that much cute in a small area could lead to a cuteness singularity. Safety, people.
  • After the event we wound up across the street from Shelly’s at the National Press Food Court, where we met Adam Brickley of Draft Sarah Palin fame. Yet another podcast-worthy gumflap ensued. Until we get our techno act together, your attention is drawn to The Delivery. Back to lunch, Adam pointed out that the Special Operations Warrior Fund raised North of $5 million, and that the amount raised via texting could help estimate crowd size, at least for establishing a lower bound.

Around the blogosphere, Read more

Category: Glenn Beck
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