"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty
It looks like the effort to out-Biden Biden didn’t work:
Reporting from Chicago – Former Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich long has thought that his best chance of beating the sweeping federal corruption charges against him was to take his case directly to the public — whether through media interviews, writing a book or glad-handing people on the Continue reading Blagojevich to Return to Rock’n’Roll →
by Smitty
An inadvertantly funny title from Rick Moran: “WHY CONSERVATISM IS DISCONNECTED FROM REALITY”. Emphasis mine throughout.
I debated whether or not to make this a piece about “some conservatives” eschewing reality for an alternate universe or if I should make it about much of modern conservatism’s disconnect from the reality Continue reading And the Rick Played On →
by Smitty
Jimmie Bise over at the Sundries Shack is having too much fun. I’ll admit to having been remiss in picking up on The Delivery.
Dealing with the podcast itself is challenging. I have an iPod shuffle. I love Jimmie. But can I really drop the Motörhead for Jimmie? This is a serious dilemma.
By the time he gets to discussing late night television, he’s really on a role. If he gets Craig Ferguson, I demand a reading of the first chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the heaviest Scottish brogue available.
Jimmie is wrong about Howard Stern. HS is about the worst exercise of the 1st Amendment imaginable. Thanks for not being HS, Jimmie.
Aside: Stacy is on the road again. Your continued support of his blogging efforts (and all of your contributions support him) are appreciated.
by Smitty
The Future of Capitalism mentions a Watertown Daily Times report about the Amish in the context of health care:
The Amish, as well as some other religious sects, are covered by a “religious conscience” exemption, which allows people with religious objections to insurance to opt out of the mandate. It is in both the House and Senate versions of the bill, making its appearance in the final version routine unless there are last-minute Continue reading Among the Reasons For Discomfort When Some Call the US a Christian Nation →
An eight-hour train ride on two hours sleep? Yeah, I can do that, for a “far-right teabagger”:
Martha Coakley is running to fill the rest of Ted Kennedy’s term, and her opponent is a far-right tea-bagger Republican. . . .
The special election is coming up on Tuesday, and it’s going to be close. Read Vicki’s message below, then make a contribution of $25 or more to Martha Coakley’s campaign today.
Thank you,
Chuck Schumer
(Hat-tip: Hot Air.) See? All Chuck asks is for Democrats to give him $25 or more to stop that “far-right teabagger” — and all I ask is for you to give me $25 or more so I can cover that “far-right teabagger” while he stomps Martha Coakley into whiny little liberal smithereens. We’re all teabaggers now! Some quick reads while I’m riding the rails:
Today’s contributors to the Shoe Leather Fund include Dudley in Richmond, Fredric in New Jersey, William in Falls Church and Nathan in Missouri. Here’s hoping you’ll chip in — every $5 or $10 helps pay the medical expenses if I get beat up by Coakley’s staff.
For the next six days, I’ll be crashing on the Massachusetts sofa of Da Tech Guy in between our road excursions to cover Scott Brown’s final push to victory Jan. 19.
Jumping in Pools gives this spin a thorough fisking, but here’s just a taste of Kos in whistle-past-the-graveyard mode:
Brown has been caught in a vice. His support from teabaggers was critical to becoming competitive . . .
On the other hand, that conservative support has come at a cost. . . . The teabaggers demand ideological purity, and he’s had to deliver. . . .
That interpretation is nonsense, of course. I hashed this out yesterday: It’s Massachusetts, and Brown’s conservative supporters understand that. Nobody expects Scott Brown to vote like Jim DeMint or Tom Coburn.
Acceptance of the Kos spin requires a false perception of “teabaggers” and other conservatives as rigid, irrational, ill-informed fanatics. It also requires a severe misunderestimation of how broad-based the anti-Obama backlash really is, as Ed Morrissey says: “Democrats in Massachusetts appear demoralized, independents are fleeing, and it’s the GOP that has the energy at the moment.”
At least none of those dangerous “teabaggers” have started shoving around reporters, eh, Kos?
UPDATE 4:45 p.m. ET: Michael “I Work For Me” Meehan admits he was “was a little too aggressive” with John McCormack — a convenient admission, considering that the incident was caught on video and photographs.
PREVIOUSLY: What else can you say about this photo?
A campaign aide to Martha Coakley has just shoved reporter John McCormack to the ground. Coakley sees it and . . . keeps walking.
(Via Legal Insurrection, the Weekly Standard and Hot Air.)
UPDATE: OK, wanted to get that posted as quickly as possible and now will fill in the background with updates. This incident had been mentioned in an earlier post, but as William Jacobson says, this photo could decide the election. Like the beating of Kenneth Gladney by SEIU thugs, it illustrates the blatant lawlessness of the Democratic Party in the Obama age.
UPDATE II: McCormack believes the goon who shoved him is Michael Meehan, an experienced political operative and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee staffer reportedly sent Monday “to assist the Coakley camp with messaging.”
Heh. Yeah, we got that message.
UPDATE III: McCormack’s account of the incident makes clear that the campaign staffer was trying to prevent him from asking more questions about Coakley’s dinner last night with health-industry lobbyists. Because Democrats are all about transparency.
UPDATE IV: Irony with compound interest — Jim Hoft reports that President Obama recently appointed Meehan to the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Clearly, Meehan is all about protecting the freedom of the press.
UPDATE V: DSCCC spokesman Joseph Goebbels Baghdad Bob Eric Schultz issues a statement: “It is no surprise that Washington Republicans are trying to use every dirty trick they have to throw the Coakley campaign off their stride . . .”
Reporter asking questions = GOP “dirty tricks.”
UPDATE VI: Chris Good of the Atlantic Monthly:
When McCormack asks the staffer whom he works for, the staffer replies, “I work for me” . . . which would be a sweet line if delivered by Clint Eastwood or a member of organized crime.
Hmmmm. Is he trying to say the Democratic Party is disorganized?
Also blogging about the Coakley campaign’s committment to transparency, accountability and freedom of the press: Dana Loesch at BigGovernment.com, Stogie at Saberpoint, Moe Lane at Red State, and Dan Collins at Piece of Work in Progress, plus more at Memeorandum.
Thanks to Richard McEnroe of Three Beers Later for calling my attention to Iraq Veterans for Congress:
Thanks to the support of more than four thousand Americans from across the country we are proud to report that we have raised more than $100,000 to support our mission:
Recruit, Fund and Elect to Congress conservative Republican Iraq Veterans.
The more we can raise — the more conservative Iraq Vets we can get elected.
One of those candidates is Florida 22nd District candidate — and my fellow Atlanta native — Allen West: