The Other McCain

by Smitty (h/t Drudge)

If the Democrats want to keep raising the debt limit, as with this $1.9T proposal, then what is the point of having one?

The national debt either:

• Has some meaning other than the obvious one for the common people,
• Has already snuffed us, so WTF?,
• Is problematic, but the country is in the very best of hands, so be patient,
• None of the ‘experts’ have clue #1.

If the Tuesday election of Brown is any indication, it’s option #2 or #4.

This morning I woke up in my own bed next to my wife who is — even as I write this — cooking breakfast. I’m watching “Morning Joe” in my pajamas and bathrobe. Erin Burnett is one of the guests.

Life is good!

UPDATE: Eight hours on a train home yesterday was followed by the exhiliration of two hours driving. Da Tech Guy insisted on driving everywhere when I was in Massachusetts. Less risk, but more delay. (And dude, if you think that was Dukes of Hazzard, you should ask Ali about NY23.) 

For me, driving fast is a stress-reliever. There is nothing like a high-speed three-lane freeway swerve — jump from the left lane over to the right, zooming past the trundling herd, then hooking it back to the left — to cure what ails you.

You want to improve America’s health? Repeal the speed limit. Your average German smokes two packs a day but lives to be 93 because, whenever things get a bit too tense, he can hit the Autobahn doing 114 mph and not have to worry about dodging the police.

UPDATE II: The National Enquirer wants a Pulitzer for its John Edwards scandal coverage. I’d vote for that.

. . . has there been any news less surprising than the failure of Air America:

Air America Radio, a radio network that was launched in 2004 as a liberal alternative to Rush Limbaugh and other conservative commentators, on Thursday shut down abruptly due to financial woes.
The network once boasted hosts such as Al Franken and Rachel Maddow, but struggled from the outset, including multiple management shake-ups, a bankruptcy in 2006 and sale for $4.25 million the following year.
Air America ceased airing new programs Thursday afternoon and said it will soon file to be liquidated under Chapter 7 bankruptcy. It began broadcasting reruns of programs and would end those as well Monday night.
“The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America’s business. This past year has seen a `perfect storm’ in the media industry generally,” the company said in a statement on its Web site. . . .

Michelle Malkin does cartwheels. Air America offered a product for which there was no demand.  Conservative talk radio exists primarily because Continue reading Not Since the Collapse of Culture 11 . . . →

by Smitty

The Amused Cynic points to a George Will column which ends:

If the Democrats’ congressional leaders are determined to continue their kamikaze flight to incineration, they will ignore Massachusetts’ redundant evidence of public disgust. They will leaven their strategy of briberies with procedural cynicism — delaying certification of Massachusetts’ Senate choice, or misusing “reconciliation” to evade Senate rules, or forcing the House to swallow its last shred of pride in order to rush the Senate bill to the president’s desk. Surely any such trickery would be one brick over a load for some hitherto servile members of the Democratic House and Senate caucuses, giving them an excuse to halt their party’s Gadarene rush toward the precipice.

I don’t foresee the Democrats taking any ‘scorched earth’ approach. No, once they recover from whatever they’re doing to drown their sorrows, the strategic game looks far better.

Make the Republicans appear to be driving, as they have the tempo. Give Mitch McConnell an unlimited supply of rope. Get anything possible passed that can be labeled “ObamaCare” as a fig leaf for the POTUS.

The real problem for the Republicans is the Progressive worm gnawing at their power-lusting hearts. Too few of the GOP in either chamber have rejected the premise of Federal involvement in individual citizens’ medical decisions. Why? My suspicion is that such a train of thought threatens to expose the last century of bi-partisan folly. If the Federal Government hasn’t any business worrying about Smitty’s ticker, then why should it be worried about my retirement, or my income, or mortgage (for non-veterans), or student loans?

Healthcare cuts to the marrow of the question of what tasks are assigned by We The People to which level of government. The bad news about the Federal Government is that it has, with infrequent exception, botched the bulk of tasks undertaken, especially those that involve individual citizens.

This is not to say that State Government would tube things any less, just that the results might be more fixable, given the relative responsiveness of local leaders. The diminished range of the neck making decisions to the hand those decisions affect seems to be a powerful feedback loop.

The GOP, like the Democrats, enjoy maximizing that range, however. The message of the Tea Parties seems to be that there is some possibility for long term GOP survival, but only if the GOP load-sheds the Progressivism that has wrought financial ruin within the last century. If Michael Steele comes to love the smell of napalm burning crappy, un-Constitutional legislation in the morning, he may yet smell some victory.  Also, that napalm needs to immolate the GOP, so that it can rise, a phoenix/elephant/pegasus (?) from the ashes.

When Harry Reid comes by with the rope, Mitch McConnell needs to look at the line, then at Harry, and say: