The Other McCain

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

Blah, Impeach, Blah, Blah

Posted on | August 21, 2010 | 65 Comments

by Smitty

iOwnTheWorld echoes a Jeffrey Kuhner editorial in the Washington Times about the need to impeach BHO:

If Republicans win back Congress in November, they should – and likely will – launch formal investigations into this criminal, scandal-ridden administration. Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican and ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has promised as much. Mr. Obama has betrayed the American people. Impeachment is the only answer. This usurper must fall.

No, really, impeachment isn’t the only answer. For example, there is a Presidential election in 2012. Unless you’re going to argue that it’s all a farce, the fix is in, and the event will be a dog’n’pony, impeachment is not ‘the only’ answer.
More to the point, as I’ve argued elsewhere, BHO is more symptom than disease. Impeaching him might bring pleasure to some. That pleasure, along with $5, will still get you a beverage at Starbucks.

  • That Federal overreach problem would still exist in any case, as the SCOTUS pries the words “general welfare” far enough apart, like some vast python, to devour the entire body politic.
  • The Federal Reserve would still be easing vast quantities of suppository into a public orifice near you.
  • The Federal bureaucracy will remain. It, along with the lobbyists, write and administer the colostomy-bag-of-tricks that today we call “legislation”. They will continue wielding the Pen of Damocles in a way that will have you begging for the Sword.

I’ll double down.
The whole impeachment meme is a variation on Alinsky Rule 12. The entry level course would use personalize the opposition, and make them an example.
An advanced usage of Rule 12, call it 12.5, could be having a polarizing figure like BHO suck the oxygen out of the room. Long before Alinsky, there was chess. In chess, controlling tempo is crucial. Controlling the news cycle is the goal here. Accepting some damage on one flank might limit damage in a more vulnerable location. Say:

  • the economy
  • existing bankrupt entitlements
  • Constitutionality of new entitlements

There might be some temptation to think that an Alinsky Rule #9 threat of impeachment is helpful. Yuck. Real adults don’t play cheezy games. If the members of the Congress won’t support Impeachment, either for reasons of partisanship or a squishy case, then just forget it. Impeachment is not the sort of thing to try: it’s a ‘not-do’ until such a hypothetical time when a ‘do’ should arrive. Consider Blago before taking the eye off the ball.  Consider that Ryan’s Roadmap is the closest thing to a recovery strategy around, and where is the buy-in?
The last decade has seen both the consolidation of power in the Executive, and a continuous assault on whoever is in the Oval Office. In a whacky retro way, restoring Federalism and separation of powers is the answer, not impeachment.  Focus on the disease, not the symptoms, people.
Impeachment should join Birtherism and Is-he-Islamic-ism in the ‘blah, blah, blah’ bin.

Category: Barack Obama

Scratch Gingrich in 2012: Newt Backs Out of 9/11 Rally Against Ground Zero Mosque

Posted on | August 21, 2010 | 35 Comments

Stick a fork in him, he’s done:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) will not be addressing a protest of the proposed mosque in lower Manhattan on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
The organizers of the rally, Stop Islamization of America and Freedom Defense Initiative, announced Gingrich as one of the event’s confirmed speakers on the Web last weekend. . . .
[A] spokesman for Gingrich, a possible 2012 presidential candidate, told The Hill that the former leader of the House had never confirmed his appearance. Instead, one of Gingrich’s staff had agreed to send a video message from him to be shown at the Sept. 11 rally.
That has since been canceled. . . .
[The spokesman] did not comment on why Gingrich was no longer planning to send a video message to the rally . . .

Two words: Testicular atrophy.

In the space of five days, Gingrich has gone from comparing the mosque to a Nazi sign at the Holocaust Museum to quitting a protest against it.

Make an enemy of Pamela Geller? Be my guest, Newt. Nice presidential campaign you had there.

Category: New York

Is the GOP Heading for Heartbreak?

Posted on | August 21, 2010 | 55 Comments

OK, after reading Karl’s Hot Air post, I’m starting to feel a bit embarrassed about my own grim outlook on the fall elections: Am I too pessimistic? Am I turning into Allahpundit?

Let me explain: I was at Doug Hoffman’s headquarters in Saranac Lake, N.Y., the night he came up short, and I was at Tim Burns’ headquarters in Washington, Pa., the night he came up short. So I’ve seen the agony of defeat at close range, and I know what disappointed hope looks like.

By contrast, I was in Boston for the Scott Brown victory celebration when the confetti rained down and the band played and the AOSHQ crew broke out the pudding. Miracles can happen and, if a Republican can win Ted Kennedy’s seat, nothing is impossible.

So let me give you a reason for optimism: Randy Altschuler in New York’s 1st District has $1.8 million cash on hand, compared to $1.4 million for incumbent Democrat Rep. Tim Bishop. The bad news is that Altschuler is in a Republican primary against GOP establishment candidate Chris Cox, who’s got more than $800,000 cash on hand.

Meanwhile, in NY-23, our hero Doug Hoffman has about $200,000 cash on hand and is facing a GOP primary against an establishment candidate, Matt Doheny, who’s got nearly $700,000. And the (Dede-endorsed) Democrat incumbent, Rep. Bill Owens, is sitting on $600,000.

Go back to Jim Geraghty’s list of 99 most feasible Republican pickups for November and from the “Blue” (easy) category choose MD-1. This district, containing the Eastern Shore area of Maryland, was long represented by moderate Republican Wayne Gilchrest, who routinely won 2-to-1 landslides, but lost the 2008 GOP primary to conservative challenger Andy Harris. But when the Obama tide hit in November 2008, Harris lost narrowly (49%-48%) to Democrat Frank Kratovil.

MD-1 looks like a sure bet to flip back to the Republicans this fall. However, as of June 30, Kratovil had $1.3 million cash on hand, whereas there are two leading GOP candidates in the Sept. 14 primary, Harris (about $900,000 cash on hand) and Rob Fisher (about $240,000 cash on hand).

So here you’ve got what should be an easy win for the GOP — and yet (a) the Democrat’s got a significant money advantage and (b) the Republicans must fight out a primary battle that won’t end until seven weeks before Election Day.

Returning to Geraghty’s list, let’s pick one from the “Green” category (“should be GOP wins”):  PA-3, up near Lake Erie, a district won by George W. Bush in both 2000 and 2004. In 2008, however, the Obama wave lifted Kathleen Dahlkemper to a 52-48 win over third-term incumbent Phil English. As of June 30, Dahlkemper was sitting on $1 million in campaign cash, while her GOP opponent, Mike Kelly, had a measly $100,000.

You see why I’m worried, folks? Republicans need to gain 40 seats to take over the House. When you combine the “Blue” and “Green” categories in Geraghty’s list, the total is 39 seats, and some of those races might be a lot tougher for the GOP than Geraghty thinks. “Blue Dog” Democrat Rep. Bobby Bright in AL-2, for example, got lucky when the Republican establishment lined up behind Martha Roby, who isn’t exactly a dynamic political personality. As of June 30, Bright had $730,000 compared to Roby’s $120,000.

Moving up to the “Yellow” (50/50) category, we find we’re in the same range as PA-12. How’s our friend Tim Burns doing since the May 19 special election? As of June 30, he was about even with Democrat Mark Critz in cash-on-hand. Another race I’m following is Ray McKinney in GA-12. As of June 30, Ray’s opponent, incumbent Democrat Rep. John Barrow, had more than $600,000 cash on hand, compared to less than $80,000 for McKinney.

Money isn’t everything, but it’s essential to running any political campaign and, almost everywhere, we see Republican challengers at a significant financial disadvantage to the Democrat incumbents they must beat if the prophecies of a GOP House majority are to be fulfilled. 

These candidates can’t depend on the Washington-based Republican establishment to bail them out. RNC reportedly has only $5 million cash on hand. The NRCC has $17 million, compared to $33 million for the DCCC.

If conservatives online don’t start paying attention, Nov. 2 may be another one of those “agony of defeat” moments — a long night of tearful Republican concession speeches that brings smiles to the faces of Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann.

And nobody wants to see that, right?

Category: Congress, Conservatism 101, Election, Politics, Republicans

Feisal’s Mental Jiu-jitsu Revealing Animus

Posted on | August 21, 2010 | 46 Comments

by Smitty

This week’s FMJRA shouts out to all those who are unmoved by the Ground Zero Mosque mastermind, Feisal. Sometimes, even sincere gifts just don’t pass muster, though I’d not accuse Feisal of sincerity. Don’t call the US, dude: We The People will call you. Not real soon, though.

Also, Right Klik points to Delia Lopez, running for Congress to represent Portland, Oregon, a D+19 district (Hah! VA-8 is D+44, and we’re still going to wreck Moran at the ballot box). Go, Oregon! Go, Americans!

On with the show. Read more

Category: FMJRA Award

‘Free Money’ Madness at the Fed

Posted on | August 21, 2010 | 5 Comments

For more than 18 months, the Federal Reserve has kept its funds rate at effectively zero — a policy of monetary stimulus so extreme that it would have been unimaginable a few years ago. This policy was instituted as an “emergency rate” after the 2008 meltdown, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said a week ago, and its continued extension cannot be justified.

“I wish free money was really free and that there was a painless way to move from severe recession and high leverage to robust and sustainable economic growth, but there is no short cut,” Hoenig said in an Aug. 13 speech.

What is going on here, as a private-sector economist warned me in May 2009, is that officials are “trying to re-inflate the bubble.” The Huffington Post’s Shahien Nasiripour has a report, based on a briefing with a “senior Obama administration official,” that includes some balancing voices of reason:

The Fed will keep the main interest rate near zero for an “extended period” to support the recovery. Some Fed officials, most notably Thomas Hoenig, the president of the Kansas City Fed, believe that maintaining a zero interest-rate policy for an extended period will inevitably lead to asset bubbles: cheap money encourages speculation, and speculation can drive prices to an artificially high level (like housing during the boom years).
Christopher Whalen, a noted bank analyst at Institutional Risk Analytics, said this month that big banks “are busily creating the next investment bubble on Wall Street — this time focused on structured assets based upon corporate debt, Treasury bonds or nothing at all — that is, pure derivatives.” Whalen said low rates are to blame for this burgeoning bubble.

This neo-Keynesian madness at the Fed is unsustainable. Economic reality will eventually make itself felt and the blame will fall squarely on the administration that gave us “coked-up stimulus monkeys.”

Category: Economics

WikiLeaks Founder Reportedly Charged With Rape, Media Suggest U.S. ‘Smear’ UPDATE: Police Withdraw Charges?

Posted on | August 21, 2010 | 9 Comments

Swedish tabloid Expressen reports that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged with raping two women in Stockholm. No details of the alleged crime are available, but a very rough Google translation of the Expressen report indicates that the two women who made the accusations are in their 20s. Australian-born Assange is 39.

WikiLeaks made headlines last month by releasing thousands of pages of classified U.S. military documents. Via Twitter, Wikileaks characterized the charges as “dirty tricks”  and quoted Assange’s assertion that “the charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing.” Wikileaks subsequently issued an official statement:

On Saturday 21st of August, we have been made aware of rape allegations made against Julian Assange, founder of this project and one of our spokespeople.
We are deeply concerned about the seriousness of these allegations. We the people behind WikiLeaks think highly of Julian and and he has our full support.

CNN’s Jim Kavanagh said the charges against Assange “brought instant suspicion of a U.S. government-led smear campaign,” while Politico‘s Laura Rozen noted that the reported arrest was made “just ahead of the expected release of thousands more secret U.S. military documents.” The London Telegraph reported:

Kristinn Hrafnsson, an Icelandic journalist who works with Mr Assange, told Swedish media on Saturday afternoon that Mr Assange was still in the country and would visit a police station later that day. “He will go there late today. There are powerful forces that want to hurt Wikileaks,” said Mr Hranfnsson, who insisted that the accusations were false.

Critics of WikiLeaks say its reports have endangered U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan. A U.S. soldier, Bradley Manning, is suspected of leaking materials to the organization.

The BBC also reported on Assange’s rape charges and there is additional blog commentary at  Outside the Beltway, Sister Toldjah and Riehl World View.

UPDATE: Now police have reportedly withdrawn the charges, or all but one of the charges, and there is certainly cause for Allahpundit to say, “Hmmmmmmm.”

More reaction at Memeorandum.

UPDATE II: Readers will note the Joe Friday “just-the-facts-ma’am” nature of my initial reaction. I was struck by the fact that none of the reports had details of where, when and how the alleged rape occurred. I was also struck by how quickly some media insinuated that the accusations had to be the result of a U.S.-orchestrated “smear.” As in any criminal investigation, the facts may take days or weeks to sort out, and there’s no need to jump to any conclusion about this situation.

UPDATE III: CNN updates to note the dropped charges, but there is still no detail on how the charges originally arose. Who were the accusers? Where and when did they make these allegations? Why were their accusations initially believed, but later discredited?

Category: Crime, Foreigners, Sweden

This Is A Christian Act How, Exactly?

Posted on | August 21, 2010 | 61 Comments

by Smitty

Via Gateway Pundit, there is word that The Dove World Outreach Center in Florida plans to burn some Korans.

That is as bent an idea as anything the Fred Phelps flock is doing. Followers of Christ near and far should consider denouncing this evil provocation.

For starters, this blog thinks that The Dove World Outreach Center is false, and all members should depart for a Christ-centered, Biblically sound church. Pray, read the Bible, know the difference, people.

Category: Gateway Pundit

Ann Coulter on GZM: ‘It’s Like We’ve Designed a Pompous Douchebag Trap’

Posted on | August 21, 2010 | 31 Comments

“Look, it’s Keith Olbermann!”

BTW, Ace of Spades pulled out the flaming skull for the revelation that the imam at the Lower Manhattan Islamic Community Center That the Associated Press Won’t Call the “Ground Zero Mosque” Anymore has said some stuff that isn’t exactly moderate.

UPDATE: Just so you know what she’s referring to, it was Olbermann’s “Special Comment” from Monday.

“First, they came for the douchebags who quote Martin Niemoller . . .”

UPDATE II (Smitty): For some related humor, check out Recovering Liberal for some satire so highbrow, my head ‘sploded in a comment, leaving an atrocious pun.

Category: Ann Coulter, MSNBC, Video
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