The Other McCain

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

BLACK WEDNESDAY: Stock Market Disaster of Biblical Proportions!

Posted on | August 11, 2010 | 36 Comments

OK, maybe a tad over-the-top there in the headline. As of 3:30 p.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off about 260 points, but that’s not quite 2.5% of the index value, so it’s too early to expect stockbrokers to start jumping out windows in Lower Manhattan. See if you can’t spot the magic word here:

Stocks were deeply in the red Wednesday after the U.S. trade deficit widened unexpectedly and a string of weak economic reports from Asia and Europe heightened concerns that the global recovery is veering off track.

Also, the Democrats’ plan to fix the mortgage problem isn’t working. Unexpectedly!

UPDATE: While the private sector suffers, federal government employees are laughing all the way to the bank:

At a time when workers’ pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees’ average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.
Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.
Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

That story was sent to me by a federal employee, BTW. They not only get paid more than we do, they have spare time to rub our noses in it.

UPDATE II: The DJIA closed 10,379, a loss of 265 points, while the S&P closed at 1089, down 32 points. And the latest news from D.C. is not really encouraging:

Government Plans More Aid for Jobless Homeowners
The Obama administration announced on Wednesday morning another round of direct assistance for unemployed homeowners at risk of foreclosure.
The aid, which totals $3 billion, comes against the backdrop of a weakening economy, stubbornly high unemployment and a housing market destabilized by millions of foreclosures.

Liberal logic: If what you’re doing isn’t working, do more of it!

UPDATE III: Michael Casey of the Wall Street Journal outlines certain misconceptions of globalization:

Right now the rest of the world should be buying U.S. exports. Instead, it is using the sickly U.S. consumer as a cheap fix for its own problems. The world is addicted to U.S. demand. With Wednesday’s surge in the dollar, we are feeding the addiction even more. Ultimately, as the U.S. economy weakens, so does everyone else.

Read the whole thing. Casey isn’t arguing for protectionism, but rather explaining why U.S. consumers — devastated by the collapse of the real-estate bubble — can’t be counted on as the driving engine for a global recovery.

UPDATE IV: Speaking of magic words:

  • Is There a Double-Dip Recession Coming? (CNBC)
  • “The perceived rising danger of a US double–dip recession, the risk of a hard landing in China and the threat of a financial or sovereign crisis in Europe . . .” (Market Watch)
  • “. . . the US economy is poised now on the cusp of a double– dip recession . . .” (Business Times)
  • ” . . . the downside risk of a double–dip recession and a deflationary spiral has increased over the past few months . . .” (Financial Times)

Double-dip recession! Unexpectedly!

Category: Economics

Kill Truck Informs Me She’s Now Reading ‘How to Get a Million Hits on Your Blog’

Posted on | August 11, 2010 | 10 Comments

Looks like she’s got Rule 5 (“Everybody Loves a Pretty Girl“) nailed down cold, but she’s experiencing a problem I’ve experienced myself: Getting linked for the funny stuff, while more serious work gets overlooked:


Kill Truck’s “something real” was an analysis of Peter Schiff’s Senate campaign in Connecticut, which included some observations about the Tea Party movement.

Trying to get a good content mix — hard-core politics, media criticism, cultural commentary, silly fun stuff — is an experimental process and there’s no magic formula, but there is method to the madness. It ain’t all bikini pics and blogwhoring. 

Having a traffic-growth approach to blogging requires patience and a willingness to do some serious “eat your vegetables” stuff that doesn’t get a lot of traffic, but which functions as ballast to the more light-hearted material.

Also, try to get re-Tweeted by Alyssa Milano.

Meanwhile, everybody follow Kill Truck on Twitter and read her blog. She may post a bikini picture any day now.

UPDATE: Lest you think I’m merely joking about the bikini picture, I’ll include this screen-cap of conservative blogger Cassy Fiano’s sidebar. You’ll notice that, wedged between the cleavage shot and the bikini shot, is a link for her bridal registry. 

This is what we call marketing genius.

Cassy is an excellent blogger whose recent blog topics have included:

An interesting mix of topics, you see. And she doesn’t seem the least bit embarrassed about looking good in a bikini, which may help explain why she and her new husband, Matt, are now expecting their first child.

Congratulations, Cassy! And thanks for your shameless obedience to Rule 2.

Category: Blogging, Kill Truck, Rule 2, Rule 5

BREAKING: Handel Concedes; Nathan Deal Wins Ga. GOP Gubernatorial Runoff

Posted on | August 11, 2010 | 21 Comments

A recount seemed certain last night, but now Karen Handel has called it quits, as Aaron Sheinin reports from Atlanta:

Yesterday, Karen Handel called Nathan Deal a “corrupt relic of Washington.” Today, however, Handel said she is endorsing him as the GOP nominee for governor.
In a statement just released from the Handel campaign, she said she called Deal this morning to concede the nomination.The November ballot is now set. Deal will represent the GOP and face Democrat Roy Barnes and Libertarian John Monds.
Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said that U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., coordinated the phone call between Handel and Deal.

Good news, then, that Republicans have united to help save my native state from a return of Retread Roy Barnes. And thanks to Orit Sklar for giving me the heads-up last week.

NATHAN DEAL for GEORGIA GOVERNOR

UPDATE: Let me hasten to add that Libertarian gubernatorial candidate John Monds is a friend of mine and a great guy. In 2008, John and I were part of a 2,800-mile round-trip in a 15-passenger van full of “smelly libertarians” for the Libertarian Party national convention in Denver. Tom Knapp was also aboard for that trip.

We know that Sarah Palin endorsed Handel, who lost the GOP primary to Deal, and we know that Palin endorsed libertarian-leaning Rand Paul in Kentucky. If Palin really wanted to “go rogue” in Georgia, she could endorse John Monds on the Libertarian ticket — which would be a real game-changer.

Yeah, a Palin endorsement of the Libertarian candidate here would be a guaranteed nightmare for both Democrats and Republicans in Georgia. It’s extremely unlikely, of course, but I’m throwing the idea out there, just in case Team Sarah wants to try stirring up some serious “you betcha” mischief.

UPDATE II: Allahpundit might have once changed planes at Hartsfield Airport.

Category: Election, Georgia, Libertarians, Sarah Palin

Go Greg Gutfeld

Posted on | August 11, 2010 | 16 Comments

by Smitty

Props to Gutfeld for working on keeping toleration a two-way street. Now, I haven’t shred #1 of interest in gay bars as such. However, one cannot think of a better way to point out the asymmetry of the situation. If the builder wants to be a pontifex, placing the structure on less contentious ground seems a much greater place to start.

With my sister-in-law in town, we took a day off of work and came over to National Harbor, which seems to be some sort of hotbed of G.G. fandom:

National Harbor catches the spirit of Gutfeldism

This photo seems to suggest that Gutfeld’s new nightclub might afford employment opportunities for runty folks like me.

Category: Uncategorized

Predictably, Major Media Interpret Primaries as Good News for Obama

Posted on | August 11, 2010 | 8 Comments

After updating the election results last night, I Tweeted this:

To which Smitty replied:

To which I replied:

Stop looking forward to 2012 — i.e., how did the Palin Factor play? — and focus on the here and now. Ken Buck’s defeat of Jane Norton was a defeat for John McCain, John Cornyn and every other member of the GOP establishment who have been trying to fix primaries for their handpicked pets. If grassroots conservatives are fired up for a fight — even a fight against their own party’s leadership — it’s an encouraging sign for Republican prospects in November. 

Think back to the Ned Lamont primary campaign in 2006: Ultimately doomed, but a harbinger of a fired-up Democratic “wave” in the mid-terms. When the grassroots start getting rowdy, the primary season can appear discordant and confusing, but the raw energy and enthusiasm are really the key factors to notice. That’s the message I got out of last night, but look at this morning’s headlines:

Colorado Race Could Reassure Obama and Democrats
— Politico

Primary night yields good news for President Obama and Democrats
— New York Times

Really? I mean, really? The hand-picked establishment candidate won in the Colorado Democratic primary, while grassroots conservatives defeated the establishment pick in the GOP primary, and that’s good news for Democrats? That their party base is less fired-up than the Republican grassroots in a mid-term election where turnout is the name of the game?

Ignore that misleading MSM conventional wisdom crap. Go give a little money — $10 or $20, whatever you can afford — to Christine O’Donnell or Ray McKinney or Jim Rutledge.

UPDATE: Pete Da Tech Guy notices that MSNBC was pushing this “big win for Obama” message all morning.

Category: Colorado, Delaware, Election, Georgia, Maryland, Tea Party

Answer: A Rick James Impersonation

Posted on | August 11, 2010 | 11 Comments

by Smitty

Question: What Was Rangel Doing?

He allowed that his violations were “serious,” although not corrupt. “I have always tried to play by the rules,” he said — but also, “I have been losing a lot of sleep over these allegations.”

What does this mean?

It means that Rangel wants a deal. He’s extending an olive branch to the ethics committee. He’s probably been told that he needed to make some sort of statement to acknowledge the gravity of the situation, to not pretend that the committee would string him up over a simple paperwork error.

Via Bluegrass Pundit, an outtake:

He wasn’t keen on talking to cameras after the speech.
What was really going on [NSFW]:

Category: Corruption, Democrats

PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS HQ UPDATE: Buck Beats Norton in Colo. UPDATE: Recount Likely for Georgia Republican Gubernatorial Candidates UPDATE: McMahon, Caligiuri Win in Connecticut Republican Primaries UPDATE: Ray McKinney Wins GA-12

Posted on | August 10, 2010 | 16 Comments

UPDATE 11:33 p.m.: Michelle Malkin reports from Colorado that Jane Norton has conceded in the Republican Senate primary:

It’s official: Norton concedes to Buck, via CBS4Denver: “I fully endorse Ken Buck, and I encourage you to do the same.”

11:50 p.m. ET: Associated Press:

Tea party favorite Ken Buck has defeated former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton to clinch Colorado’s Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate.
The vote Tuesday was seen as another blow to politicians with close connections to Washington. Norton was endorsed by GOP leadership and co-chaired John McCain’s presidential campaign two years ago in Colorado.

Heh. As I wrote on April 5: “It’s an Establishment vs. Outsider battle for the GOP nomination, another chance to kick John Cornyn in the knee.” 

Now, let’s kick John McCain somewhere else.

11:15 p.m. ET: At this hour, with 99% of precincts reported and less than 2,500 votes (0.4%) separating Nathan Deal and Karen Handel in the runoff for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in Georgia, a recount is a near-certainty. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes a surprisingly strong Republican turnout.

Meanwhile, with 76% reporting in Colorado’s GOP Senate primary, Ken Buck leads Jane Norton by more than 10,000 votes (3.1%).

UPDATE 10:40 p.m. ET: Former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda E. McMahon wins the Republican Senate nomination in Connecticut, and will face Democrat Richard Blumenthal in November for Chris Dodd’s seat. Meanwhile, in the hard-fought GOP primary in Connecticut’s 5th District, the Associated Press has reportedly called it for Sam Caligiuri. And in the Democratic primary for governor, Dannel Malloy has defeated Ned Lamont, who in 2006 mounted a Netroots-backed challenge to Sen. Joe Lieberman.

UPDATE 10:50 p.m. ET: Now with 91% of precincts reporting in Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial runoff, Nathan Deal leads by 3,500 votes (0.6%) over Karen Handel. In related news, Allahpundit never links me. But that’s not exactly “news,” is it?

UPDATE 10:20 p.m. ET: With more than 60% of precincts reporting in the Colorado Republican primary for Senate, Ken Buck currently holds a slender lead over Jane Norton, who was endorsed by John McCain. On the Democratic side, Sen. Michael Bennet fended off challenger Andrew Romanoff, who was backed by many left-wing activists.

UPDATE 8:50 p.m. ET: With 88% of precincts reporting, Ray McKinney has 62% can be declared the winner in his GOP runoff in Georgia’s 12th District. The McKinney challenge to “Blue Dog” Democratic Rep. John Barrow is going to be a real bellwether for Republican hopes of taking the House this November. You can read more in the American Spectator feature I did in April about Ray’s campaign.

UPDATE 9:25 p.m. ET: Associated Press catches up in GA-12.

UPDATE 9:35 p.m. ET: Brian Doherty at Reason magazine is in mourning over the results in Connecticut:

Peter Schiff, a GOP Senate candidate who did a lot of outreach to libertarians  . . . is getting crushed by two opponents in today’s primary.

UPDATE 9:40 p.m. ET: In the Georgia GOP gubernatorial primary, Nathan Deal holds a 10,000-vote margin over Karen Handel with 80% of precincts reporting, but it is still too close to call. Tom Graves wins the GA-9 Republican primary, while Rob Woodall leads by 10 points in the GOP primary in GA-7. In GA-13, Mike Crane beats Deb Honeycutt for the Republican nomination.

UPDATE 10:05 p.m. ET: In Minnesota, Tom Emmers runs away with the GOP gubernatorial nomination and, while the Democratic primary is closer, it looks like Margaret Kelliher will face Emmers in November.

PREVIOUSLY: The big battle tonight? Probably the Colorado GOP Senate primary between Ken Buck and Jane Norton. There are also primaries in Connecticut and Minnesota, but my especial interest will be in my native Georgia, where Ray McKinney’s the likely winner in the 12th District runoff, and there’s also a dead-heat contest between Nathan Deal and Karen Handel for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

A good preview of all tonight’s primaries at Swing State Project.

UPDATE: Here’s a story about Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Karen Handel.

UPDATE 8:20 p.m. ET: With 38% of precincts reporting in GA-12, Ray McKinney enjoys a comfortably 61%-39% over Carl Smith.

UPDATE 8:25 p.m. ET: With 37% of precincts reporting in the Georgia Republican gubernatorial primary, Deal leads Handel by a slender 7,000-vote margin.

UPDATE 8:40 p.m. ET: Just 4% of precincts reporting in the Connecticut GOP Senate primary, but it looks like Linda McMahon (48%) winning easily over Rob Simmons and Peter Schiff. In the CT-2 Republican primary, its a dead heat between Janet Peckinpaugh and Daria Novak, and a tight three-way Republican contest in CT-5 between Sam Caliguri, Mark Greenberg and Justin Bernier.

Category: Colorado, Connecticut, Election, Georgia, Minnesota

It’s Time To Call The Bluff On Progressivism

Posted on | August 10, 2010 | 18 Comments

by Smitty

Megan McArdle offers an outstanding play-by-play of the dust-up between Wisconsin’s Wonkish Wunderkind and Krugman.

Krugman is “that fool on television getting payed to play the fool”, and we all get that, including Krugman. The economic models are slightly better than global warming models, I can opine with as much legitimacy as anyone else.

Her follow-up post about Ryan’s Roadmap plan as such, triggers this post:

Nonetheless, I think it’s a really, really important document. Why? Because it is the most honest attempt I’ve seen by a politician to grapple with the challenges ahead of us. Strike that; it is the only attempt that I’m aware of to grapple with what lies ahead of us. Others have been willing to discuss things piecemeal, or delegate the nasty job of balancing a budget to a commission, but as far as I know only Paul Ryan has come forward and said, “Here’s how all the moving parts are going to fit together.”

And what this document shows is that it’s going to be difficult. Regardless of what you think of his tax plans, Paul Ryan has done what liberals keep asking Republicans to do: show us what he’d cut. No, he hasn’t gone through the whole budget with a fine toothed comb and given us the exact funding level for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. If he had, it would be stupid; even the most powerful legislator cannot tie the hands of those in the future completely. He’s offered cuts to domestic discretionary spending and entitlements that would hold the line under 20% of GDP. If Republicans want to shrink the size of government, they’re going to have to sign onto Ryan’s spending plan, or put forward their own, with equally dramatic trimming.

OK, so it’s time to put on the Big Person Pants and just admit that our Shiny Progressive Utopia is a mirage

Do you want to be the one to tell them that they’re going to have to pay higher taxes for the same, or lower levels of services? I’ve been trying to tell them that for years now, and believe me, on the fun scale it’s somewhere between a root canal, and seeing Neil Diamond live . . . at the kind of venue that doesn’t serve alcohol.

But if we’re going to avoid a real, ugly fiscal crisis, the sort that ends up immiserating a bunch of people, someone is going to have to tell them. Someone in Congress, I mean. The deficit commission is not going to accomplish anything if congress isn’t willing to assess its priorities and make some hard choices. You may think that Paul Ryan is too hopeful about some areas of his plan; you may think that it won’t work. All fair enough, and that’s why any starter plan like this has to go through a lot of refining before it’s ready to become legislation. But at least Paul Ryan has a plan, no matter how incomplete or unworkable you think it may be. That’s more than the rest of us can say.

Things we ‘know’:

  • Krugman is a tool.
  • Social Security will not exist for Gen X and later.
  • Ryan’s plan, if anything, is too modest.
  • Progressivism was an experiment in un-Constitutional Federal over-reach.
  • Unlike fine wine, political cowardice does not improve with age.

I, for one, hope that my courageous State Attorney General picks up a head of steam from the ObamaCare suit and runs it straight up the rotten Progressive middle. Calling the Constitutional bluff on the rest of these disastrous entitlements is exactly where we need to go. Seventy years of precedent do not an Article Five amendment make. Social Security and its ugly children were false then, and the bastards are even less sustainable now.

Realistically, you’d have to partition the electorate into an older ‘sealed’ group who are untouchable, a ‘graying area’ where some options may apply, and a ‘sorry kids’ section, including me, where we just admit that the idea was untenable. The distorted mess has run open loop for too long, and anyone who is trying to pussyfoot around the economic realities is some blend of scoundrel and fool.

So let’s behave like adults, face the realities, and move the fracas to assigning the price tag for getting the Federal government out of the business of peddling utopia.

Category: Corruption, Democrats, Economics, Progressivism, Republicans
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