Breitbart Party Voodoo

Posted on Comments

“Best photo ever!” Lyndsey Fifield exclaimed after seeing this photo of a conversation at Friday’s New Orleans blogger bash off Chartres Street near the levee:

Lyndsey reacts to Breitbart’s remark — a Tulane alumnus, Breitbart was confirming that New Orleans voodoo is a reality — as Dave Weigel of the Washington Post and political operative Zach Oldham stare in stunned amazement. The conversation continued as Breitbart made several bizarre gestures, their symbolism only understood by the Tulane voodoo cult:

Because I didn’t take notes of the conversation, I cannot confirm that Breitbart was actually performing a voodoo ritual meant to endow cult inductees with online mojo.

Breitbart, Lyndsey and GOP New Media strategist Ali Akbar, who seriously covets the Tulane voodoo secrets. Of course, I don’t believe in voodoo and laughed when Breitbart told me that the mojo has been known to perform strange transformations on Bourbon Street — even in broad daylight.

Oldham snapped this photo Sunday morning in the French Quarter, and claims that it shows a well-known voodoo victim. But you can’t believe that kind of crazy stuff on the Internet . . .

Romney Could Emerge Smelling Of Roses

Posted on Comments

by Smitty

Let Freedom Ring is deeply skeptical of RomneyCare. As I’ve tried to expound before, a radically Federalist tack could be good for both Romney in particular and Conservatives in general.

Here is the rub: if you argue a libertarian hand at the Federal level, keeping to the 10th Amendment and re-constituting the States as managers for the existing entitlement programs, you needn’t waste breath arguing that Socialism really sucks pond water. You can just say, “Hey, not to my taste. Those that want Euro-socialism should move to the Northeast. Those that want capitalism should move to Texas.  Express yourself at your State’s capitol.”

Unfortunately, renewing a minimalist Federal government is a multi-decade, multi-facet problem. Newt sounds all swell and spiffy talking about repealing all of the toxic legislation signed into law by the Obama Administration. Yay, Newt: woo hoo. Yet knocking the tops off of the dandelions does not a weedless lawn make. We really need to ponder long term structural fixes as well, or the Progressives will patiently out-wait the Conservatives.

So whichever candidate articulates the best long-term restoration plan is the one worth supporting in 2012. Mitt can contend that the style of RomneyCare should be expanded to reclaim from DC all of the education, mortgage and Social Security services that have been un-Constitutionally appropriated by the Federal government.

Fantasize about that for a moment: a Federal government that concerns itself with truly federal and international issues, in a balanced budget environment, making war as required with proper declarations. One not given to acts of taxation without representation (or whatever fig leaf you want to put on stealing from the unborn).

The prospects of a morally sound government leave one positively giddy.

His Fedora Still Travels

Posted on Comments

NEW ORLEANS — As Smitty noted yesterday, Da Tech Guy continues his standing offer to travel anywhere to cover a story for $1,000 a week plus expenses. He was kind enough to extend the loan of his casual fedora — my favorite from the Scott Brown campaign we covered together — which has made several guest appearances here at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

Andrew Breitbart and the fedora.

Herman Cain and the fedora.

Please, help Da Tech Guy find the story that will allow him to travel as widely as his fedora has been traveling lately. Other assignments beckon me soon, but I sure wish y’all would send Da Tech Guy down to Savannah to cover the Ray McKinney campaign. It just so happens that the campaign has been making news lately, and Ray has two Republican primary opponents who might like to be interviewed by the founder of the Fedora Brotherhood.

Rule 5 Sunday

Posted on Comments

by Smitty

Rule 5 Sunday dawns, and we’re less than seven months from what will arguably the most anticipated mid-term election in American history. But lets halt the nail biting long enough for a refreshing look at the positive things in life.

Below the Tear Line of Shame we put pictures of scandal fodder.

New Orleans: Random Man on the Street, and More News You Can Abuse

Posted on Comments

NEW ORLEANS — When everybody’s going for the Big Story in the pack-journalism scrum — Romney wins SRLC straw poll! Ron Paul says wacky stuff! — my counter-intuitive instinct is to look for offbeat angles that nobody else reports.

What an amazing coincidence, huh? And ladies, there’s good news:

So even though conservative heart-throbs like Marco Rubio, Scott Brown and myself are all happily married, there’s still hope for you lonely right-wing gals looking for the Republican man of your dreams (and Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s worst nightmares). He’s a successful entrepreneur — IYKWIMAITYD — and his name is Brian Reilly for Congress.

Kind of weird how so many of these random man-on-the-street types down here in New Orleans all have the same last name, “for Congress.” Quaint local custom, I suppose . . .

Two Shot Dead in New Orleans; UPDATE: Seven Wounded; Who Will Sully Blame?

Posted on Comments

NEW ORLEANS — “Honey, I’ve got good news,” I told my wife in a phone conversation a few minutes ago. “I’m still alive.”

The news wasn’t so good for two people four blocks away from where I was having dinner Saturday night:

The New Orleans Police Department is investigating a 9:15 p.m. shooting in the 700 block of Canal Street, near the corner of Royal Street, according to authorities.
There are reportedly multiple victims.
The French Quarter Festival, parts of which went on Saturday not far from the scene of the shooting, was scheduled to wrap up at 9 p.m. It is not yet known who the victims are, and no other details are immediately available. . . .

The only detail that is immediately available is that I’m alive and well. And my wife is happy about that. Because she has reserved the exclusive right to shoot me dead, a right that she has not yet chosen to exercise. And that’s also good news.

UPDATE: CNN reports:

Two gunmen remain on the loose after a shooting in New Orleans, Louisiana that left seven people wounded, authorities said.
The shootings took place Saturday night, right after the French Quarter festival, which featured weekend musical performances on different stages.
Six of the victims were bystanders, police said.
A 17-year-old man was the intended target and suffered chest injuries, a spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department said. He was one of two teens injured.

Obviously, this crime was committed by enraged Tea Party activists who had been watching Glenn Beck and were incited to murder by Sarah Palin’s SRLC speech. Or at least that’s Andrew Sullivan’s theory, pending an FBI investigation.

Blogging As An Exchange Of Nerve Treading

Posted on Comments

by Smitty

Cassandra at Villainous Company returns the favor with an ugly stereotype:

In all fairness, the biggest proponents of the “that’s all we ever think about and we can’t control ourselves” meme tend to be … men. Why do guys talk about themselves that way?

A few points:

  • The fact that the word ‘meme‘ is employed to talk about this ties the discussion to the contemporary assault on our culture.
  • Boys, of all ages, cannot quit talking about their libido.
  • Men, in stark contrast, while certainly able to discuss the human condition upon occasion, understand the “less is more” rule.

Monty Python, of course, delivers the definitive sketch on the topic:

Boys may, but men do not feel envy for Jesse James, Tiger Woods, Mark Sanford, et. al.: real men are not dogs, spraying their seed about. The Hollyweird-driven notion that men are indeed stupid dogs, treating manhood and sexuality like some crass video game, using female flesh as some sort of assisted masturbation device and then abandoning their offspring, is not without merit. But there is an observer problem at work here; maturing an infantile society, where good taste is mocked as an anachronism, is not helped by perpetuating stereotypes.

So, Cassandra, I’ve taken your brief, casual remark and went much further with it that you intended. I apologize in advance for taking a small statement and going on a bit of a tear. But I think the point important.

Da Tech Guy And The Travelling Fedora Show

Posted on Comments

by Smitty

Da Tech Guy who, it is fair to say, blogged everyone else at CPAC ’10 into the dust, has an announcement and details for his splendid blogging road show.

Having had the privilege of hosting him here at my modest abode, I will say that I can’t think of a more warm, genuine person than DTG. So, if there is an event or political race that could benefit from high-quality reporting at a substantial cost avoidance, do consider getting in touch with this fellow and working the details.