Greetings From Anchorage!

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Whenever I’m staying in a hotel, it is my habit to laud my hosts with adjectival praise, as for instance when I attended Right Online in Las Vegas at the luxurious Venetian Resort Hotel.

In keeping with this tradition, I can now describe my current abode as an adequate motel near the Anchorage airport.

Good news: It’s only $60 a night. 

Better news:  The local crack whores seem to have called it an early night, so it’s quiet. There’s free WiFi and free coffee in the lobby. I’m not complaining.

My plan had been to crash at Eric Dondero‘s location, but he’s sofa-surfing himself and didn’t want to impose on his host’s hospitality. Just got off the phone with local conservative blogger Thoman Lamb, who reports the latest shenanigans — missing ballots and “walk-in absentees.”

Meanwhile, Fairbanks-area volunteer Pete Alexion says: “Every state in the Union needs to find their Joe Millers and stand beside him or her, for however long it takes.”

The weirdest event of this trip so far? My flight had a refueling stop in Salt Lake City, during which the passengers were left to roam in the airport for about an hour. I was in the smoking lounge on the phone with my wife, when a young man said, “Are you Stacy McCain?”

That young man is the brains behind Political Math. Turns out he’s got a day job as a software programmer. He and I had a disagreement in spring 2009, when I predicted the unemployment rate would get worse, while he thought it would improve. A few months later, when my prophecy proved accurate, he acknowledged that the old geezer had gotten it right, which was nice. He and his wife are expecting their first child, and I wished them a dozen more. Quite a remarkable fellow, and I predict a prosperous future for him.

The big story in the Anchorage Daily News this morning:

Joe Miller’s campaign alleged possible vote tampering and asked for Alaska State Troopers to be dispatched to elections offices going into today’s first count of absentee and questioned ballots in the Republican U.S. Senate primary. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Monday she was “astounded” at what she called Miller’s false allegations of attempts on her side to steal the election.
The Alaska Division of Elections said there was no evidence to support the Miller campaign’s claim that a Murkowski ballot observer accessed the state’s computerized election management system. . . .

Remember that it was Dan Riehl who broke that story Sunday night. At any rate, it’s now 3 a.m. here in Anchorage, and I want to get to the Division of Elections office before noon, so I’ll turn in for the night.

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Drinkers Outliving Non-Drinkers

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by Smitty

I’m cheerfully sober, though I’ve had my share of embarrassments. Anorak has a gallery of shame that is work-place safe. My favorite:

Bottom line:

  • Stay below the legal limit for drunkenness.
  • Don’t become inebriated in unfamiliar locations.
  • If your ‘friends’ have a penchant for lunatic stunts, volunteer for duty driver. Also, find better friends.

Related: iOwnTheWorld posted on this, and has a painful picture that I don’t care to mooch, but did offer a snarky comment around #18.

Via Knowledge is Power, we have a related Rule 5 (or not) clip:

Finally, no ZZ Top emulation:

The Stage Is Set, Except For The Arrival Of Stacy McCain

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by Smitty

Dan Riehl links a Fox News article that seems to indicate an orderly process for absentee vote counts is planned in Alaska’s primary. Landing real soon now, however, and planning one of his entrances:

Update: Via Ace, the count of the primary is mostly secure.

Update II: (via Insty) Would the loss of both Bennett in Utah and Murkowski in Alaska make Mitch McConnell look like a doof, ‘unexpectedly’? According to The Examiner, yes.

The Alaska result is above all a blow to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. As with the primary defeat of Utah’s Bob Bennett in the spring, challenger Joe Miller’s likely win replaces a close McConnell confidant with an unaccommodating conservative.

McConnell’s only in trouble if he, like BHO, fails to realize that the time for Progressive fannying about is over, done, don’t-make-us-stick-another-dork-in-it.

UPDATE III (RSM): Smitty originally used a video that auto-played every time someone clicked on the page. Thus, it’s been replaced by something equally appropriate.

A Disservice To 9/11 Victims And Andrew Roman

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by Smitty

Andrew Roman, as he reports at Proof Positive, tried to do something noble to memorialize the heinous butchery of 9/11:

. . .while I was fortunate enough not to experience any personal loss on that terrible Tuesday morning, as an American, I was deeply and profoundly affected by the attack on my country and the staggering loss of life.

In the months and years following 9/11, many outstanding documentaries on the events of that day were produced – from technical presentations explaining exactly how and why the towers collapsed to personal stories of the people who escaped the towers before they fell.

I own many of these exceptional programs.

However, as a bona fide news junkie, the one documentary I was hoping to see created never came to fruition. The one presentation I had hoped would come out depicting the events of September 11, 2001 “as they unfolded” on live television was simply never made. Coverage of the most photographed and videotaped event in American television news history simply had not been preserved in any real way for the public at large to review and study. Not at the time anyway.

Back in early 2003, I decided I would endeavor to actualize, on my own, the kind of “documentary” I was wanting to see – a timeline of the events of September 11, 2001, employing mostly “as it happened” television newscasts. My task was to gather as many of the original telecasts from as many networks as possible – including the initial “breaking news” bulletins which began airing at 8:48 AM – and compile them into a montage that presented exactly how each outlet reported the unfolding story. It would, quite literally, be a succession of segments, edited together in such a way that would enable one to get a representative sampling of how the television networks covered each development that morning (e.g., the second plane crashing into the South Tower, the first reports of an “explosion” at the Pentagon, the collapse of the South Tower, etc).

This was not an agenda driven project.

A bit later:

I finished the project about two-and-a-half years after the attacks, in April, 2004.

Six and half years after that – just yesterday, in fact – my “As It Happened” video made the Sunday New York Times Magazine.

RTWT to find out the sadly predictable feedback from Virginia Heffernan, about whom this blog shall choose to maintain a private opinion.

The interesting question raised is: How do we maintain history in a dispassionate, factual way, and learn from it in ways that protect the future? The Progressive Airbrush is about as helpful as endless Inigo Montoya-ism.

Alaska LP to Murkowski: DROP DEAD!

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REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT — Eric Dondero was sworn to secrecy about this and the Alaska LP had a deal to break it on Fox News, so it couldn’t be reported until after I’d already left the house:

Alaska’s Libertarian Party has officially said no to any possibility of incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski joining its ticket in the fall elections, party Vice Chairman Harley Brown tells Fox News, though it seems clear the laissez faire party never really considered the option all that seriously.
The five-member board discussed the senator on Sunday more out of a courtesy, since some unknown person raised the prospects of a Murkowski Libertarian Party ticket run should she lose the GOP primary to Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller, who currently holds a more than 1,600-vote lead.

Guess who has high praise for Dondero? Eric’s “plugged in,” you see, whereas I’m chopped liver.

It’s OK. Still a while before final boarding. Maybe I’ll update in a minute before heading off to the Last Frontier.

UPDATE: The National Desk, 4:45 p.m. ET:

UPDATE II: Remember yesterday morning’s post?

Christine O’Donnell: The Next Joe Miller?
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.”

Hey, did I call that one, or what?

Tea Party Express ready to spend
on Rep. Castle challenger
The Tea Party Express, which spent some $600,000 on Alaska Republican Joe Miller’s primary challenge to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R), says it’s preparing to do the same on behalf of Christine O’Donnell (R) in Delaware.

All righty, then! I’ll be boarding in a few minutes, so it’s time to shut down the National Desk for now. And, of course, please hit the tip-jar!

One-Way Flight to Anchorage

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That’s right — I booked my flight this morning, and Mrs. Other McCain has already packed my suitcase, so I’ll be in Alaska for Tuesday’s absentee-ballot count.

Frankly, I was planning to go later, but got an e-mail Sunday from a source who suggested I didn’t want to miss the action Tuesday and so I did something crazy: Booked a one-way flight on short notice, because (a) I wasn’t sure I had enough money yet to buy a round-trip; (b) it isn’t clear how soon they’ll have an official decision; and (c) maybe I can drop by and see the neighborhood where, uh, Joe McGinniss lives.

 IYKWIMAITYD.

OK, since I’ll be off the grid for about 12 hours, let’s round up the Alaska news, starting with this video of Joe Miller’s appearance Sunday on Face the Nation, courtesy of our friend Brian O’Connor at Red Dog Report:

“The government is going bankrupt. I don’t think anybody can deny it, sitting at $13.3 trillion in absolute debt and $130 trillion in future unfunded obligations.”

You want to see what media bias looks like? Check the lede of this story:

Joe Miller, the surprise leader in Alaska’s unresolved Republican Senate primary, said Sunday that the growing national debt requires “belt tightening” that should include cutting back on federal dollars that his state receives.

Got that? Not the “winner,” but merely the “leader.” Of course, the only reason the primary is “unresolved” is because Murkowski wouldn’t concede on Election Night and she apparently thinks the NRSC can pull some shenanigans with the absentee ballots.

Ian Lazaran at Conservatives for Palin has an important rejoinder to the PPP poll, which was hilariously wrong about the impact of Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Miller.

U.S. News & World Report has “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Lisa Murkowski,” to which we might add No. 11: She’s a loser.

Apparently, my friend Susan Ferrechio at the Examiner hasn’t gotten the memo:

In Alaska, Republicans may knock each other out on the November ballot and allow a Democrat to win the U.S. Senate seat held by the GOP for nearly three decades. Incumbent Lisa Murkowski trails GOP challenger Joe Miller by 2,000 votes and has not ruled out running as a third-party candidate if she is not the victor after state officials count absentee votes on Tuesday. A general election ballot with three candidates would split the Republican vote and make it easier for Democrats to win if they field a strong enough candidate.

Yes, there will be three candidates on the ballot in November: But if you think Lisa Murkowski’s going to be on the Libertarian ticket, you haven’t been paying close attention. It may not be up to Lisa to “rule out” a third-party campaign, OK?

Dan Riehl wonders why it took two years for Murkowski to pass the bar exam, and hints at a reason. Hey, Dan’s just askin’ questions . . .

OK, that should be enough Alaska news to hold you until Smitty can get back online this evening, when I’ll be on that long flight to Anchorage. This will be the longest trip yet for the increasingly legendary fedora I borrowed from Da Tech Guy, and my buddy Eric Dondero has promised to find me a sofa to sleep on, at least for the first night or two.

Booking a one-way fight when we’ve still got bills overdue has got Mrs. Other McCain  worried to death about this trip, but she’s praying, and you can’t go wrong with a praying woman. Thanks to everyone who has already contributed to the Shoe Leather Fund.

Maybe I’ll be able to update from the airport in a few hours, but other than that, my next dateline will be Anchorage. So for now, I will close with the five most important words in the English language:

HIT THE FREAKING TIP JAR!

UPDATE: As predicted, the LP tells Lisa the Loser to get lost.

I’ve deleted a few of the troll Waylay’s comments, and will delete him entirely if he ever again derogates the blog, per se. This is what is not allowed, you see? You can argue any political viewpoint you wish, but you can’t come into the comments of my blog to declare that the blog sucks. If you want to declare that my blog sucks, go get your own blog and call it, “Hey, That Other Guy’s Blog Sucks,” and see how much traffic you get. But you can’t use our bandwidth to delegitimize our project.

This afternoon, I kissed my wife and hugged my kids good-bye and now I’m about to fly across the country to do what I do, and I don’t need some pathetic troll coming into the comments to say that what I do isn’t worth doing.

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Great Post, Sanity Inspector, But What About Slavery?

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by Smitty

The Sanity Inspector captures an excellent thought regarding sectarian relations in the United States, emphasis mine:

Something is coalescing, taking root, something which may have repercussions centuries on down the road.

Americans are a kind, forbearing, humble, welcoming people, lefties’ incessant accusations otherwise notwithstanding. I have never had a negative personal experience with a Muslim and, SFAIK (anonymous internet flammage aside) no Muslim has ever had one with me. I suspect that that is true of most everyone reading this, left or right. In fact, I sometimes have occasion to help Muslims who are new to the area, or to America altogether. They just want to run their convenience stores, parking garages, and halal meat shops, and get on in life, same as everyone else.

And yet the Islamic terrorists, well-trained foreign agent or Sudden Jihad Syndrome flipout, are hiding among them, not us. And the alleged moderate Muslims who run interference for them are quick to scold us for noticing, as are the progressives who tend to make mascots of civilization’s enemies. And every snowflake in an avalanche can plead “who, me?”.

On the ground, under the news radar, most people get along fine much of the time, even in the world’s hot spots. Muslims will even visit Palestinian churches to receive The Virgin’s blessing, I’ve heard. And yet “My biking buddy is a Muslim, therefore Islam is a religion of peace” is as idiotically simplistic a statement as “I get along fine with all the black people at work, therefore there is no more racism in America.” Only difference is that the stakes are far higher with the former delusion.

The people who roll their eyes at the commotion over Park51 do not understand or appreciate the power of symbols–intended or unintended. They do not understand the power of memory, of grievances unassuaged, and how they can be passed along year to year, generation to generation, to unpredictably multiplying effect.

I think we do have an example of such in US History, starting with the 3/5 Compromise in the Constitution, running through the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Raaaaacism Industrial Complex, and, hopefully, more or less concluding at the Restoring Honor event.
We have to differentiate between forgiving those that undertake evil, to be free of bondage to the past, while retaining a dispassionate recollection of the events, to protect the future from repeats.
For radical Islam, one doesn’t see much hope outside of moderate Imams giving the radical nutjobs the Full Alinsky treatment of outing, personalizing, and ridiculing the notion that explosive garments and landscaping garner nothing in Eternity. How can any sane religion advocate mass murder as an active choice? *cough* Abortion *cough*, ye Christians *cough*.
Beside slavery, there is the more general issue of the Civil War. But the “South will rise again” meme is notional at best. Simply put, the US has no significant cultural memory in which to store resentment. Now, if our government were to remain Full Quisling with respect to radical Islam, things could change, and the gloomy futures come to pass.
However, I predict that in decades out that the leveling power of the Internet is going to dampen the power of radical Islam. If you read Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the current situation is built on enslaving the female half of the population in the Middle East. I submit that Stein’s Law applies. Applying it will take resolve, though. Which is why we must eject the Quislings in two months, and continue to reject Quislings when they run for office.