The Other McCain

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

Justice Amy Coney Barrett

Posted on | October 26, 2020 | 2 Comments

Tonight the Senate voted, 52-48, to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. The rhetoric from Democrats was so over-the-top that viewers of CNN or MSNBC might be forgiven if they believed that, upon her confirmation, Justice Barrett immediately obtained the power to cancel everybody’s health insurance and much else besides. The question needs to be asked, “Why?” Not just why Democrats have succumbed to hysteria, but why the process of confirming Supreme Court justices has become so entangled in political drama. We could start this explanation at several points in the past (e.g., when the Supreme Court in the 1930s struck down many of FDR’s New Deal measures as unconstitutional), but the obvious and logical beginning of this history is Ronald Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork in 1987. Senate Democrats, led by Ted Kennedy, then engaged in what has ever since been known as “borking.”

Why did Bork get “borked”? Democrats had lost two consecutive presidential elections by landslide margins (Reagan’s victory in 1984 was one of the largest landslides in U.S. history), but they had never lost control of the House of Representatives and, while the GOP had won a Senate majority in 1980, they lost that majority in the 1986 midterm, when Democrats scored a net gain of eight seats to win a 55-45 majority. Meanwhile, Reagan was still fighting the fallout of the “Iran-Contra” scandal, and Senate Democrats in 1987 were not only eager to exercise their newly gained majority power, but were looking ahead to the 1988 presidential election campaign. Three Democratic senators — Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois, Sen. Al Gore of Tennessee and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware — were soon to declare their White House candidacies, and it was in this highly charged political climate that “borking” began.

Ted Kennedy notoriously denounced Bork’s nomination:

“Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is—and is often the only—protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy.”

Every word of that was a lie, of course. Ted Kennedy was one of the most wicked and dishonest men ever to darken the doors of the Senate. But what the Democrats did to Bork in 1987 was just a warm-up for their dreadful smearing of Clarence Thomas in 1990. Joe Biden presided over that heinous affair as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and if you ever needed a reason to vote against Joe Biden, that was enough.

Guess who did the swearing-in of Justice Comey?

Someone should ask Joe Biden how he likes this “dish best served cold.”




 

Category: Supreme Court

Joe Biden Is Not Barack Obama (and Other Truths the Media Elite Can’t See)

Posted on | October 26, 2020 | Comments Off on Joe Biden Is Not Barack Obama (and Other Truths the Media Elite Can’t See)

In 2016, Donald Trump got 62.9 million votes, or about 2 million more votes than Mitt Romney got in 2012. Who were those voters? Hillary Clinton sneered at them as “deplorables,” and media elites have spent the past four years trying to pretend those voters don’t matter. You see evidence of that kind of make-believe thinking everywhere, including the fervent hope that Joe Biden can “flip” states like North Carolina, Georgia and even Texas. These delusional beliefs are not merely symptoms of Trump Derangement Syndrome, but also a failure to understand what made Barack Obama so successful. It wasn’t just that he was “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” to quote Biden himself. Obama also had an excellent speaking voice, a fact I noted in a 2009 column:

Even his harshest critics will credit Barack Obama for being a tremendous orator. Put him in front of a TelePrompter with a good text, and the man’s sonorous baritone works wonders. For this power, his speechwriters can claim no credit. He could read the ingredients from the side panel of a box of pancake batter (“…dextrose, partially hydrogenated soybean oil with mono- and diglycerides…“) and inspire standing ovations from an audience of adoring Democrats.

Hillary Clinton didn’t have that, and neither does Joe Biden. Whatever else may happen in this election, Biden will not get Obama-level support — from black voters or anyone else — for the simple fact that Biden is not Obama. When you see polls that predict, for example, Biden winning North Carolina with a 4-point margin, you have to realize that the survey sample has been “weighted” according to the pollster’s speculative estimate of the electorate, an estimate that includes (among other things) a guess about how many black voters will turn out. A lot of smart-guy pundits would have you believe that Biden can win North Carolina because he’ll get Obama-level support from black voters there.

To such a proposition, I can only reply, we’ll see.

Count me skeptical about “Landslide Joe.” The Trump-hating media elite are projecting their own biases onto the electorate, assuming that their disdain for the president is shared by “swing state” voters whom they’ve never actually met. Maybe they’re right. I certainly cannot rule out the possibility that Biden will win, and if that happens, I’ll be going over vote tallies and exit-poll data like everybody else trying to figure out in hindsight what happened and why. Maybe in such a scenario, attention will focus on the accusations of financial mismanagement by Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, which allegedly drained millions of dollars that Trump could have used for advertising in the final weeks of the campaign. But such hindsight recriminations on the Republican side won’t happen unless Biden wins, and I am not the only experienced campaign-watcher who is deeply skeptical about Biden’s chances.

Byron York covered a massive pro-Trump caravan in Washington, Pennsylvania, that attracted more than 2,000 vehicles, and the thing is (a) this is spontaneous grassroots activism not sponsored by the official campaign, and (b) this got next-to-zero coverage in the regular media. Meanwhile, what about the polls? Once you look past the topline numbers, you find all kinds of anomalous indications that “Landslide Joe” isn’t nearly the commanding front-runner his media fanboys seem to believe he is. Polls in Pennsylvania show Biden below the level of support in Philadelphia that Hillary Clinton had four years ago. If Joe is slipping in Philly, while rural Pennsylvanians are so fired up they’re organizing their own rallies, are we really supposed to believe Trump is down by five points there? And then there’s Ohio:

Brilliant yellow maple trees surround my mother-in-law’s home in rural Ohio, and the roads in her part of the state are lined not only with the colorful foliage of late October but also with signs expressing support for President Trump’s election. Anyone can look at the results from 2016 and see that Trump racked up majorities of 2 to 1 or more in this part of Ohio — 72 percent in Morrow County, 71 percent in Crawford County, 67 percent in Knox County, 66 percent in Richland County, 64 percent in Marion County. In fact, Trump won 80 of Ohio’s 88 counties four years ago, defeating Hillary Clinton by an eight-point margin statewide.
If you believe the polls, Joe Biden is neck-and-neck with Trump in Ohio. Three recent polls (New York Times, Quinnipiac, Rasmussen) showed Biden with a one-point lead, and the current RealClearPolitics average of Ohio polls has Trump ahead with a margin of less than 1 percentage point. But nobody believes the polls, especially when the numbers are starkly contradicted by on-the-ground evidence like the proliferation of roadside Trump signs. . . .

Read the rest of my latest column at The American Spectator.




 

Category: Election, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Polls

Rule 5 Sunday: Jessica Alba

Posted on | October 26, 2020 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

There are any number of excellent TV shows and films one could select from to showcase Jessica Alba, but for my money the best one is the dance scene from Sin City. I’m not skillful enough to post an animooted version, so the still pic is going to have to do.

Shaking it cowgirl style

Ninety Miles From Tyranny: Hot Pick of the Late Night, The 90 Miles Mystery Box Episode #1147, Morning Mistress, and Girls With Guns.

Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Barn Burner Friday, and the Saturday Gingermageddon.

EBL: How The Women’s March Made Her #MAGA, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Democrat Sex Cult NXIVM, Yvonne De Carlo, The Merry Widow, Cosi Fan Tutte, Kirsten Welker, La Cenerentola, Falstaff, Lea Salonga, Le Comte Ory, Der Rosenkavalier, and Paige Spiranac.

A View From The Beach: Sylvia Kristel – Forever Emmanuelle, Fish Pic Friday – Shawna Bonana, ASMFC Institutes Coastwide Menhaden Quota Cut, Tanlines Thursday, Midnite Music, Tats for Tuesday, Your Monday Morning Stimulant, and Palm Sunday.

Bleach Cocktail: Monday Motivator, Tuesday Titillation, Wednesday Whoopee, Thursday Thunder, and Friday Fire.

Proof Positive’s Vintage Babe is Theda Bara, and Red Pilled Jew brings us Women On Boats.

Thanks to everyone for all the luscious linkagery!

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Category: Rule 5

FMJRA 2.0: Spiral

Posted on | October 25, 2020 | Comments Off on FMJRA 2.0: Spiral

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

Rule 5 Sunday: Dawn Wells
Animal Magnetism
Ninety Miles From Tyranny
A View From The Beach
Proof Positive
EBL

‘Allahu Akbar’: Muslim Immigrant Decapitates French Teacher
Conservative News Daily
EBL

FMJRA 2.0: Bring Me My Sword Of Burning Gold
A View From The Beach
EBL

Ralph Z. Hallow, R.I.P.
EBL

Can Joe Biden Really Win This Way?
The Rabbit Hole
Pushing Rubber Downhill
EBL

CNN Chief Legal Analyst Masturbates During Video Chat With Colleagues
Dark Brightness
A View From The Beach
EBL

COVID-19 Update
357 Magnum
EBL

In The Mailbox: 10.19.20
357 Magnum
A View From The Beach
Proof Positive
EBL

The Democrat Myth of ‘Voter Suppression’
357 Magnum
Proof Positive
EBL

A Democrat and a Liar
Dark Brightness
EBL

In The Mailbox: 10.20.20
A View From The Beach
Proof Positive
EBL

Is This White Privilege? Florida Lunatic Stabs Cop in the Neck, Doesn’t Get Shot
EBL

Hunter Biden, ‘Allegedly‘
Dark Brightness
357 Magnum
EBL

ROAD TRIP!
EBL

In The Mailbox: 10.21.20
357 Magnum
A View From The Beach
Proof Positive
EBL

Ohio’s ‘Republican’ Governor
357 Magnum
EBL

October in Ohio
EBL

Ohio Is Trump Country
EBL

Ohio Sheriff Offers Free One-Way Tickets to Celebrities Threatening to Leave U.S.
357 Magnum
EBL

Debate Night Open Thread
EBL

Trump Won the Debate, But…
EBL

In The Mailbox: 10.23.20 (Afternoon Edition)
Proof Positive
EBL

In The Mailbox: 10.23.20 (Evening Edition)
357 Magnum
Proof Positive
EBL

Top linkers for the week ending October 23:

  1.  EBL (23)
  2.  357 Magnum (8)
  3.  Proof Positive (7)
  4.  A View From The Beach (6)

Thanks to everyone for all the links!

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Category: FMJRA Award

Jake Tapper: Still Not Over Macho Grande

Posted on | October 24, 2020 | 4 Comments

Has it really been 40 years since Airplane? Perhaps younger readers don’t get the “over Macho Grande” reference, but it came to mind as I watched Jake Tapper have a hissy fit after Thursday’s debate, declaring that President Trump “is running the single most negative, sleazy campaign in American history for a major party candidate.”

 

What evidently set Tapper off was that Trump brought up Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell”:

“Trump and his allies in the media and the members of his family and the Trump allied websites and such are leveling with charges so heinous I’m not going to say them, just nonsense, crap, tied into QAnon, tied into pizzagate, tied into the worst things you could say about a person.”

Who thinks this way? And why do they think this way?

Trump Derangement Syndrome — for Tapper and others in the media echo chamber, November 8, 2016, is a Date That Will Live in Infamy. That scene in the Javitz Center, the agonized disbelief that the American people had rejected Hillary Clinton? They’re still not over it. They’ll never be over it, just like Ted Striker will never be over Macho Grande.




 

Category: CNN, Election, Media Bias

In The Mailbox: 10.23.20 (Evening Edition)

Posted on | October 24, 2020 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

OVER THE TRANSOM
Bacon Time: Are You Regular?
357 Magnum: I, For One, Welcome Our Self-Driving Overlords
Red Pilled Jew: A Long Read With Something Bizarre
EBL: Obama & Biden Put Kids In Cages
Twitchy: People Are Dropping @Expensify After CEO Urges Customers To Vote For Biden
Louder With Crowder: Donald Trump’s Best Thug Life Moments From The Presidential Debate
Vox Popoli: Demoralization Season Ends Early, also, The Storehouse Of Knowledge
According To Hoyt: No, You Can’t Have “Democracy”
Monster Hunter Nation: New SF Novel Gunrunner With John Brown – E-ARC Available Now

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: No Jab No Fly
American Conservative: Waco Whitewash King Vindicates Presidential Debate Commission
American Greatness: New Poll Shows Trump Taking Lead In Arizona, also, Biden’s Campaign Blew Up In A Bad Way
American Power: What We Learned From Tony Bobulinski
American Thinker: Figures Don’t Lie But Liars Figure – Unemployment Figures Drastically Favor Republican-Led States
Animal Magnetism: Rule Five Barn Burner Friday
Babalu Blog: Ana Martinez Sues Netflix For Defamation Over Portrayal In Wasp Network
BattleSwarm: LinkSwarm For October 23
Cafe Hayek: Leave Google Alone
CDR Salamander: Fullbore Friday
Da Tech Guy: Under The Fedora, also, Jews Protecting Muslims Visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque From Palestinians
Don Surber: Obama Shrank Democratic Map, also, Debate Lifted The Lid On Biden’s Fake Campaign
First Street Journal: The Libertarian Party Lies To Us, also, We Need To Stop Pretending That #BlackLivesMatter
The Geller Report: Rep. Paul Gosar Calls For Defunding NPR Over Refusal To Cover Hunter Biden Laptop Scandal, also, Trump’s Approval With Likely Black Voters Surges To 46% After Debate
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post Of The Day, also, Relativity
Hollywood In Toto: Mighty Ira Explores Free Speech Rights From Skokie To Charlottesville
JustOneMinute: Debate Post-Game
The Lid: Video Proof Biden Said He’d Ban Fracking
Legal Insurrection: Another Trump Middle East Breakthrough, also, Biden’s Debate Pledge To Transition Away From Fossil Fuels Could Cost Him Pennsylvania, Other Energy States
Power Line: Biden’s Biggest Asset Is His Lie-ability, also, Nice Job By Trump
Shot In The Dark: Our Culturally-Illiterate Elite, also, It’s Your Fault, Peasants
STUMP: Mortality With Meep
The Political Hat: The Newspeak Dictionary Is Real And Woke
This Ain’t Hell: Valor Friday, also, Are We Back To Helping The Taliban?
Victory Girls: Biden Lied – Hunter Raked In Cash From Red China
Volokh Conspiracy: Why The Constitution Requires Including Illegals In House Reapportionment Counts
Weasel Zippers: GA State Rep Thinks “Coyotes” Are Actual Dogs, also, David Hogg Is A Student At Harvard (That’s The Joke)
The Federalist: If You Don’t Know That “Coyotes” Are Human Smugglers, Shut Up About The Border, also, Trump Secures Historic Third Middle East Peace Deal
Mark Steyn: Election Day Minus Eleven

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Category: Linkagery

In The Mailbox: 10.23.20 (Afternoon Edition)

Posted on | October 23, 2020 | Comments Off on In The Mailbox: 10.23.20 (Afternoon Edition)

— compiled by Wombat-socho

Silicon Valley delenda est.

OVER THE TRANSOM
Bacon Time: Join My 2020 Election Pool
Bleach Cocktail: National Review’s Kevin Williamson Asks, “Who Among Us…”
357 Magnum: Since They Can’t Blame The Cops
EBL: Make The Left-Wing Radicals Stop
Twitchy: Liz Harrington Leaves Christine Amanpour Speechless During Interview About Hunter Biden’s Laptop
Louder With Crowder: Ohio Sheriff Offers to help Celebrities Leave The Country If Trump Is Re-Elected
Vox Popoli: If You Didn’t Know The Polls Are Fake,  also, NPR Is Just Very, Very Busy
Stoic Observations: Taking The Test

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
Adam Piggott: Is The Pope A Catholic? also, Bring Out Your Misogynists
American Conservative: Red China Shows The Weakness Of Strong-Arm Diplomacy
American Greatness: Mitt Romney Announces He Didn’t Vote For Trump, also, World Series Ratings Crash, Ratings At All-Time Low
American Power: Governor Kristi Noem Pushes Back
American Thinker: 10% Joe – From Grandfather To Godfather
Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily Urban Disintegration News
Babalu Blog: Catholic Priest In Havana Condemns Socialist Tyranny
BattleSwarm: Silicon Valley Billionaires Dump Tons Of Money Into Texas Senate Race
Cafe Hayek: Unreal Assumptions
CDR Salamander: Great Power Competition Is Singular, Not Plural
Da Tech Guy: The Brady Effect Comes To Tampa, also, I’m Worried That There Won’t Be A Peaceful Conclusion To This Presidential Election
Don Surber: “You Both Have Insulted 60 Minutes And Me”, also, Thirteen Trump Rallies, 167,000 Voters
First Street Journal: More Murders In Philadelphia. Ho Hum. also, Can We Have Pope Benedict XVI Back?
The Geller Report: Hunter Biden’s Laptop Contained 40-50 Pics Of Child Endangerment With Young Family Member, also, Democrats Plan “Mass Mobilization” After Election If Biden Loses – Arson, Rioting, & Violence
Hogewash: Team Kimberlin Post of The Day, also, The Silicon Curtain
Hollywood In Toto: Trump Derangement Sinks Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
The Lid: Hunter Biden’s Ex-Partner Confirms Email, Cash From Red China, Says Joe Biden Was “The Big Guy”
Legal Insurrection: “I Don’t Have To Discredit You, You’re Discrediting Yourself, Lesley” also, Hunter Biden Partner Bobulinski Calls Joe Biden A Liar
Power Line: The Biden Influence Empire Is Unraveling, also, Trump Moves to Fill Judge Barrett’s Court Of Appeals Seat
Shark Tank: Palm Beach Democrats Exposed For Pushing Anti-Loomer Election Hoax
Shot In The Dark: Expect 30 Minutes Of Tina Smith Ads Every Hour For The Next 12 Days
The Political Hat: Euthanasia In The Age of Corona-Chan, Promoting Suicide As An Alternative, Suicide Via Zoom, & Suicide By Involuntary Proxy
This Ain’t Hell: Starship Troopers Off The Marine Commandant’s Reading List, also, A Dark Day For Naval Aviation
Victory Girls: Thirsty Media Chokes On Giuliani Pranks
Volokh Conspiracy: The Amazing Randi RIP
Weasel Zippers: Obama Rally For Biden Is Just Him, A Bullhorn, & Seven People, also, Harris Says Trump Killed 67% Of America With COVID
The Federalist: Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Joe Biden’s Latest Scandals, also, Big Tech Slept With Red China & Brought Venereal Censorship Back To America
Mark Steyn: Election Day Minus Twelve

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Category: Linkagery

Trump Won the Debate, But …

Posted on | October 23, 2020 | 2 Comments

BERRIEN COUNTY, Michigan
“C’mon” — Joe Biden used that seven different times during Thursday night’s debate, sometimes as “c’mon man,” other times as “c’mon, folks.”

It’s a tic, a mannerism, a habit, and you could see Biden get rattled after he made the mistake of bringing up Rudy Giuliani, which opened the door for President Trump to talk about Hunter Biden’s laptop. To this, Biden replied with his canned “Russian disinformation” response, and Trump was astonished: “You mean the laptop is now another Russia, Russia, Russia hoax? You’ve gotta be kidding. Is this where you’re going?”

Of course, Biden’s biggest error was on energy policy:

“I have never said I opposed fracking,” Biden maintained. He challenged Trump to show the tape. The moment the debate ended, Trump did just that by tweeting out video of Biden pushing for a ban on fracking on numerous occasions. Biden, who boasted “my reputation is for honor and telling the truth,” did not tell the truth here. More importantly, the energy issue revealed the extent to which the Democratic nominee embraces fringe positions.
The former vice president’s shocking statements on oil raised an important question: Is the Unabomber Joe Biden’s energy adviser?
“I would transition from the oil industry, yes,” Biden, taking the president’s bait, admitted. “The oil industry pollutes.” He argued, “It has to be replaced by renewable energy.”

No honest person could argue that Biden won the debate, and the question therefore becomes, how much of a difference will Trump’s debate victory make in the election?

Consider this: More than 50 million people have already cast their ballots in early voting; that’s about 40% of the entire vote in 2016. In other words, a substantial number of votes cannot be effected by the debate, or by anything else that happens in the final 10 days of the campaign.

What we can expect, however, is that Trump’s success in Thursday’s debate will blunt the “Landslide Joe” message from the media. Texas obviously is now safe for Trump, and Pennsylvania is still within reach. While it looks like Biden might carry Wisconsin and Michigan, if Trump can win Pennsylvania, Biden’s path to 270 becomes sketchy.

A week from now, expect to see the major polls adjust their numbers toward Trump. Predictions of Biden possibly winning Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio and Iowa were always wishful thinking, and pollsters know this. Suddenly, their forecast models will get readjusted, so that they don’t end up with egg on their faces Nov. 4.




 

Category: Debates, Election
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