Die Another Day

The tension mounts - will the Cain campaign outlast the Euro?  The central banks have thrown European banks a funding lifeline, so the Euro may even make it to Christmas.

Comments

[Gmax]

Market certainly likes free money into the system. 3.5% up in all three major indexes I think. Are we so far removed from inflation memories that no one is the least bit concerned? I wonder.

[Clarice]

Never say "Die".

[Danube of Thought]

Cain needs a graceful way out.

[Jim,MtnViewCA,USA]

This will not end well, I think.
The divergence in what the bond markets tell us and the what the equities are saying is extreme. To the point where one wonders if the stock markets are being goosed.
I'll bet with the bond guys, but one never knows how things will turn out.

[Danube of Thought]

The Hill:

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) said Wednesday he would advise Herman Cain to let voters “move on” from the distraction of his campaign.

Cain told his campaign this week it is time to “reassess” in light of the resurfacing of old sexual harassment allegations and new accusations this week that he carried on a 13-year affair.

"Beyond reassessing his campaign, he probably needs to understand that he is a distracter for what's going on right now and we should move on," West told WMAL’s radio show “Morning Majority.”

[Neo]

Gun Rights Crusaders Target State Over Definition of "Assault Weapon" article uses fictitious guns from Halo.

Now they want to have "gun control" even in your fantasies.

[Rick Ballard]

NK,

I'll reply to your question from the last thread here because it's more pertinent. The decision by central banks to provide a slight measure of DIP financing to the BK EUtopians is, IMO, another attempt to ensure graceful rather than catastrophic failure. The liquidity injection is just a little morphine to ease the discomfort of a terminal insolvency condition.

TM is correct - the central banks are trying get the euro through Christmas (actually New Year). That's a very iffy proposition.

[Jane]

This will not end well, I think.

WE are just going to kick the can down the road and let inflation roar. 1980 will look like a cakewalk. $10 gallons of gas, here we come.

[narciso]

Warding off the Skydragon, is kind of a fulltime job;

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/sacrament_of_the_bulb/

[Stephanie]

A must read on the problems ascendant with Republicans in general.

LUN

The language can be a little earthy. But pithy.

[narciso]

This link, makes me feel more confident, the white toga crowd is still in evidence, however;

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/284436/cain-wrap-john-j-miller

[NK]

Thanks for your take RickB-- i agree with that. But the Dollar debased EVEN compared to the Euro? Higher food and fuel prices coming?

[Stephanie]

Another piece about Cain.

Seems the media narrative is driving the car wrt the 'reevaluating'. Make of that what you will but remember this:

If someone behaves as if his enemy is correct despite knowing otherwise, he himself has joined the enemy.

(purloined from the comments at PW but worthy of remembering)

This is why we can’t have what we want —a genuine reform-minded outsider instead of a nip-and-tuck-around-the-edges insider playing at being an outsider. Outsiders make the mistakes that insiders avoid and we get panicky about the less than perfectly polished optics which are the hallmark of an insider politician.

LUN

So think about what it is you want or don't want in a candidate. Palin was pushed aside by this very tactic. She wasn't 'establishment' approved and the narrative was crafted that she wasn't 'ready for the job.' And the hive accepted and digested this and spit her out.

Who among you believe that message? Who among you -who claim to be for not politics as usual- can break out of the mindset that has been crafted for your consumption (the hive-mindset that you must be channeled into so as to arrive at the 'right' ie establishment approved decision).

Don't fall for their games.

This is not a race of 'Romney or not Romney;' it is each candidate fighting for your vote. To devolve it to a Shakespearean equation plays into those pushing for the status quo.

And coming to a decision right now about who to support goes against the very reason the primaries were recrafted to their current formulation. Who among us wants to be left with choosing from whoever comes out on top in the first few primaries? That was the problem in the last few primary cycles and the primaries were changed to avoid it, but everyone is still acting like the primaries are still 'whoever emerges after x y and z states vote.' They are not - unless you let the media drive you to fall for that formulation. Again.

[narciso]

Oh, btw, back at the ranch;

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2011/nov/u-s-seals-court-records-border-patrol-s-murder

[Cecil Turner]

I agree with PW. Perception is not reality.

But my perception of reality is: 1) Cain is a fundamentally unserious candidate whose main claim to fame is an unworkable tax scheme (and whose foreign policy know-nothingness is already famous); and, 2) Cain's story on the sex stuff is unbelievable, especially in light of multiple accusers telling essentially the same story (and at least a couple of whom had payoffs of one sort or another).

He ought to quit. But not because of perception.

[NK]

OK -- I see Jane agrees that commodity inflation will result from this QEIII bailout Eurocaper.

[NK]

narciso-- thanks for the link. Unreal, the Obamaniacs are accused of a cover up so they proceed to cover up the files. Unreal.

[narciso]

I know they are clueless, but do they need to prove it so consistently

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/opinion/compromise-and-the-supercommittee.html?_r=1

[Clarice]

Correct, stephanie.

[Stephanie]

Cain is a fundamentally unserious candidate whose main claim to fame is an unworkable tax scheme (and whose foreign policy know-nothingness is already famous)

All media crafted.

And his tax scheme is deemed unworkable based on what? That our current crappy system is too systemic to be changed? Too big to fail? At least he's looking outside the box.

I don't look at policy positions put out by candidates -those are dust at their swearing in anyways or as far as foreign policy they are dust as soon as the plan is formulated - real world events take over and drive that car. I look at the ideology that crafts the candidates worldview. Do I trust that this candidate will do the right thing? Are they statist or not? Do they gravitate to government solutions or do they not?

No campaign platform is operative after the voting is done - and to think it is is naive. Guiding principles are what will determine the success or failure of a candidate's final product, but that final product will not be what the campaign soundbites were. They will however be in keeping with his fundamental philosophies about governance and freedom and individual rights.

Everyone kept insisting that Obama's campaign platform initiatives were centrist and that he must be too (certain admissions to the contrary - Joe the Plumber). Is he? Or was his campaign crafted to sell you that and to keep you from looking behind the curtain at his actual worldview and proclivities. How many days was it before the true colors showed through? Less than 30 days and he was pushing through his bailouts and TARP and all the rest of the big gov junk...

And then his polling started to fall cause he sold centrist and delivered socialist.

Lessons learned. For some. It isn't the soundbites that are important. It is the proclivities and worldview that are important.

[Danube of Thought]

"Who among you believe that message? "

I do. But I believe based on my own observations, not because of any narrative created by others.

[Old Lurker]

TK, another way to look at it is as yet another redistribution scheme.

We all know the PIGS followed closely by several more nothern EU countries are spending way more than they can earn. Having consumed all of their own capital and credit and seeing that the cost of capital for a failing country seems to start at 7% but per Greece, 200% as Mel pointed out last week.

So like a broke kid who can get a car loan only if Daddy co-signs, they are begging the strong EU countries to lend their capital and their credit so the PIGS can continue to borrow, spend and pretend.

Since those "stronger" (ha!) EU credits are still socialist failures themselves, eventually this means the PIGS will drag them all down...hence Germany not wanting to play along.

So now they come to the US, asking us to borrow from the Chinese at our low-for-the-moment rates and give that cash to the IMF so the IMF can give it to the PIGS. And it sounds like Uncle Ben is willing to run his printing press an extra shift to ship even more of our imaginary wealth to our euro-socialist role models.

So now when our good for nothing kid wrecks the car bought with Dad's money, he is going to take down Dad and now Uncle too since Uncle threw in to help.

Egad.

Pretty simple...

[MayBee]

Good stuff, Stephanie.

[Cecil Turner]

All media crafted.

Nonsense. The first time I saw Cain was here. Check the cluelessness at 1:20 into the clip. He's holding forth on Palestinians vs Israel, and doesn't even know what "the right of return" means. I was actually with him up to that point, but it was such a telling gaffe that I decided he was unserious . . . and nothing since has changed my mind.

And his tax scheme is deemed unworkable based on what?

I "deem" it unworkable because I don't believe it (or anything close) can be passed.

[Danube of Thought]

Jane, Obama was at -25 on Wugust 23 and -26 on August 31. He's been at -24 several times.

I didn't go back the the pre-bi-Laden killing days.

[Rick Ballard]

NK,

A lot of the commodity fluctuations are being driven by margin requirements and liquidity availability. If the effort to assure graceful rather than catastrophic failure is unsuccessful then we are going to have the worst potential outcome, with accelerating deflation in housing coupled with stronger inflation in food and energy. The political effect will be even worse than what Jane envisioned in referring to the Carter miasma because there will be no balance sheet offset of rising home values to the increases in food and energy costs and, even worse, no corresponding increase in wages due to already very high unemployment rate.

[Stephanie]

It seems to me, our ‘conservative pragmatist’ friends that freak over Cain's supposed ignorance on foreign policy or policy questions reveal their own shallow thinking. Sorry but there it is.

Cain made the mistake of actually giving a complicated question careful consideration before giving the answer that best expressed his view on Libya a few weeks ago.

STUPID! Burn him! He thought before he spouted the pragmatists said.

Or worse yet he deferred to Newt during a debate cause he thought that Newt might have more insight into a certain issue... he's clueless!!!

Pragmatists need politicians that can immediately spout rote, meaningless, perfunctory utterances that sound good. There really are no higher marks for any actual substance in the answer, since no one expects a politician to be held to it.

And God forbid that a candidate realize that he doesn't have all the answers and looks to others for their insight. I wonder, after hearing Newt on that question, what Cain's response would be now? But OMG he can't spit out responses to every nuance fully formed on loan from God.

It’s all about sounding presidential for the sound bite.

You know who sounds presidential as hell? Romney, that's who.

And it comes off as phony and yet the pragmatists all insist that he is the one true candidate. Well yea. If what you want is a candidate. We have one of those and he's in perpetual campaign mode still. Shore does do campaign stops purty though, don't he?

Gack.

[Stephanie]

I "deem" it unworkable because I don't believe it (or anything close) can be passed.

Well. Duh. Not with the establishment being ... well established comfortably on their thrones.

The policy may not pass, but I give big kudos for any candidate that thinks outside the status quo. And will keep pushing for something other than the same ole same ole.

Enough tea partiers in congress and the status quo becomes the status gone. And then it will be workable.

Unless you plan on electing more of the same. In which case you might as well lay back and think pleasant thoughts whilst you get the status quo good and hard.

[Clarice]

Where's that Romney's the only canidate who has the potential to beat Obama today?

I always liked Heraclites..you know "everything is always in a state off flux."

[Tonto]

Speaking (self-appointed) for The JOM Irregulars, congo-rats to Matt and his new bride.

[Stephanie]

Where's that Romney's the only canidate who has the potential to beat Obama today?

Not highlighted on Drudge as beating Obama like Newt is...

Or in first place and soaring like Newt is.

Hmmm.. guess the establishment will just need to try harder.

[centralcal]

I did not see the Baier/Romney interview on Special Report when it aired, but I was able to view the full video this morning. Man oh man, when he crossed his legs emphatically I immediately thought of O'Reilly's body language gal. She would have a field day!

What has rattled Romney? He came across as very edgy to every question Brett asked. Is it Gingrich that has him so defensive? Or more than that, his very static polling?

[narciso]

They could be crowing ahead of time,

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2011/11/30/muslim-brotherhood-says-they-have-the-lead-in-egypts-elections/

It's amusing in the context that Charlie Pierce, in his way of excusing Obama's failure
in relation to Carter, says the former killed
his Khomeini, that's high order category error

[Cecil Turner]

It seems to me, our ‘conservative pragmatist’ friends that freak over Cain's supposed ignorance on foreign policy or policy questions reveal their own shallow thinking. Sorry but there it is.

The "right of return" isn't nuance. It's a very basic point. (The Palestinians outnumber the Jews in Israel . . . even if you only count UNRWA registered refugees, their return would result in a non-Jewish state.) Cain, criticizing the President on national TV for treatment of Israel, doesn't get that. Yeah, my thinking must be pretty shallow. Or maybe he should've spent ten minutes with Wikipedia before the interview.

Well. Duh. Not with the establishment being ... well established comfortably on their thrones.

Give it a rest. 9-9-9 represents a significant tax increase on the poorest Americans (including the almost 50% of the population pays no income tax). You think they're going to vote for it? Democracy and demographics are the problem here, not some fictitious reigning oligarchy.

[narciso]

All good arguments, Cecil, but those aren't really the reasons he's being dismissed, as for the 'Taliban in Libya' remark, well what
else would you call this;

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204002304576627000922764650.html

[jimmyk]

Cain's story on the sex stuff is unbelievable, especially in light of multiple accusers telling essentially the same story

I'm not seeing that, but maybe I've missed something. We've had accusations of (1) a long-term affair; (2) some sort of coming-on behavior (unconsummated); (3) a one-time proposition of sex for a job opportunity; (4) a dinner invitation. This is from memory, so maybe I'm leaving something out or conflating two stories. There is no real pattern of behavior except in the broadest sense. (Compared to Anthony Weiner, for example.)

I agree Cain is substantively a flawed candidate. I'm not persuaded his flaws are worse than those of Romney, Newt, Perry, et al. I'd just prefer that comparison to be sorted out on the merits rather than based on salacious and unsubstantiated claims.

[narciso]

The difference between the 80s and now, is that Bearden,Kaplan, Bonner, et al, really did show the nature of the people we were supporting, something Tim Weiner only retroactively noticed, but they didn't care

http://www.memri.org/report/en/print5598.htm

[Cecil Turner]

All good arguments, Cecil, but those aren't really the reasons he's being dismissed . . .

I'd suggest that one helped start the meme. But more importantly, it directly answers the claim that it was all "media crafted." That was a prepared speaker, with a friendly interviewer, going over material the subject of which he knew in advance.

And the subsequent gaffes just reinforce the rap (sometimes unfairly, as the WSJ article points up).

[MayBee]

I'd just prefer that comparison to be sorted out on the merits rather than based on salacious and unsubstantiated claims.

YES!

[centralcal]

I totally agree with your comments, jimmyk.

[Benjamin Franklin]

"Not highlighted on Drudge as beating Obama like Newt is...

Or in first place and soaring like Newt is."

I like your thinking....

[daddy]

2 Headlines from todays ADN that struck me as comical:

(Alaska Native) Groups challenge another permit for Shell Arctic drilling

Native corporation may fly fuel to iced-in Nome

How's this for a Protest Chant:

Don't Drill, Give us Oil
Don't Drill, Give us Oil
Don't Drill, Give us Oil
And be quick about it!

[NK]

RickB-- alas I agree with your 2:03pm take of how the world will look in 2012. Ugly. The only bright side is that it will make the Obama campaign look like the sick joke it is.

[Clarice]

JimmyK:I'd just prefer that comparison to be sorted out on the merits rather than based on salacious and unsubstantiated claims.

MayBee:YES!
Me: Yes again.

[Danube of Thought]

"Hmmm.. guess the establishment will just need to try harder."

I forget. Is Newt establishment? Are primary voters establishment? It's all so confusing...

[narciso]

daddy, Since we're at opposite ends of the McClatchy octopus, very dark humor is the proper response,

I rarely quote Allahpander, specially with a link from Ace, about that Center Seat interview

In fact, Romney has the same basic idea about immigration now as he had in 2006. We’ve been over his dispute with Gingrich over immigration before: Essentially, Mitt thinks Newt’s plan to let some longtime residents attain legal non-citizen status is “amnesty” even though his own plan imagines letting some longtime residents become citizens provided they go to the back of line. Why one of those ideas should be deemed significantly more lenient than the other is beyond me. Romney’s has the advantage of not creating any “second class” status for longtime illegals, but he’s willing to grant full citizenship benefits to those who stick it out whereas Gingrich is not.

[Danube of Thought]

He's down to 43.2 and 51.4 at the RCP average.

[daddy]

Yay!!!

I don't have to pay for a vasectomy:)

[Cecil Turner]

I'm not seeing that, but maybe I've missed something.

No, or only that your number (4) was interpreted as "coming-on behavior" as well (to the point of refusal to identify the lady in question). (And I'm not sure we counted the lady who settled the first claim but remained silent about it.) And if the point is that there's not much "there" there, I quite agree. Except possibly for the job action (which I found unbelievable) and the unknown one, there's nothing that approaches sexual harassment. But Cain's flat denials are in rather stark contrast to his lawyer's observation about "consenting adults," and I found him unbelievable. For what little that matters.

I agree with you (and his lawyer for that matter) about this not being an appropriate political attack nor an appropriate way to sort candidates. And I think he rates about third (after Perry and Gingrich . . . about tied with Romney) in a very weak field. But his handling of it hasn't been very deft, either.

[(Another) Barbara]

If I have reached a different conclusion from yours, Stephanie, then I am to be deemed a shallow thinker and a person being fooled by some entity called The Establishment? Pul-lease.

Disagreement about the merits of each candidate and/or his electability is expected and acceptable. Implying that your side is smart, independent and discerning while others are shallow-minded lackeys is not.

[daddy]

OT

Cool Archeo-Science story:

A Viking legend which tells of a glowing "sunstone" that, when held up to the sky, disclosed the position of the Sun on a cloudy day may have some basis in truth, scientists believe.

[narciso]

Some promises, like those made in his memoir
he does keep;

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/11/obama-islamophobia-review/

[MayBee]

But his handling of it hasn't been very deft, either.

I agree, but at the same time I don't think the deftly handled scandal really exists.
I really can't think of one.

ISTM the results (whether the scandal goes away or harms the candidate) is completely unrelated to the handling of the accusation.

If someone can think of the well-handled scandal, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

[Jane]

I'd just prefer that comparison to be sorted out on the merits rather than based on salacious and unsubstantiated claims.

You know, everyone on our side should repeat this with every dirty trick the administration tries to hurl at us.

I'm not a huge fan of Gingrich but it might be worth having him president for 4 years (or 8) to watch him chew Obama up and spit him out in the debates. (Altho I am willing to bet that Obama will bomb Iran rather than debate Gingrich.)

[Clarice]

I think Ted Kennedy handled the Kopechne thing well-lie through your teeth; have colleagues and cops who'll do the same and fix the judge. But maybe that scandal hiring requires that your brother be the president and the entire press corps and state LE apparatus be in your family's pocket.

[Clarice]

*that scandal HANDLING*

[Porchlight]

If someone can think of the well-handled scandal, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

I think it may be akin to the perfect murder; the well-handled scandal is the one that never blew up because the candidate's people were able to fend off the story and it died.

Then again maybe that only happens to Democrats.

So perhaps we are looking for the well-handled Republican scandal? How about Bush's DUI? The TANG memos?

[MayBee]

Clarice comes up with a well-handled scandal.

Porch- do you think the DUI and TANG were well-handled? I'm not sure I can give you credit for those without further explanation.

So far, Clarice is winning this competition.

[Jim,MtnViewCA,USA]

Just followed the link over to PW and the discussion in the comments.
I'm leaning in the Steph direction. For example, how can someone not have heard of "right of return"? Yet, I would prefer to vote for such a person if I am confident they would come to a correct outlook after learning and researching the issue.
My level of trust in the insiders it at all time lows. I'll take the problems that come with an outsider over the problems that come from electing an insider.

[NK]

Clarice-- you left out killing someone the day before the first moonwalk. I always wondered if teddy survives politically if he killed her any other weekend when Neil Armstrong wasn't taking a giant leap for mankind.

[Porchlight]

Porch- do you think the DUI and TANG were well-handled? I'm not sure I can give you credit for those without further explanation.

Well, he won both elections. So that's a big chunk of my criteria, I guess.

In the case of the TANG memos, my memory is that the administration pretty much refused to discuss it. Then the Freeper story blew up and ol' Dan got in big trouble, which kind of saved the admin from having to do much more. So perhaps they got lucky in that case.

[Cecil Turner]

If someone can think of the well-handled scandal, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

A fair point, but I think if I had a couple of settled [sexual harassment?] lawsuits out there, I'd at least expect the subject to come up. AFAICT, he didn't.

[Clarice]

IIRC, those cases were settled after he left the association and he wasn't party to the settlements nor did he know of them--the complaints BTW were all in house.

[Cecil Turner]

In the case of the TANG memos, my memory is that the administration pretty much refused to discuss it.

Yes, they even goofed up the release of the data showing he had sufficient points for the years in question. For an absolute nothingburger of a case, it got a lot of play.

[daddy]

Yesterday American Airlines, today Pan Am Airlines:(

Oh when will it end, when will it end?

[MayBee]

A fair point, but I think if I had a couple of settled [sexual harassment?] lawsuits out there, I'd at least expect the subject to come up. AFAICT, he didn't.

That's true, but I'm not sure what that might mean on a practical level. If he would have just said, "Yeah I had these two cases now let me eat my waffle" do you think it would have gone away?
The third and fourth "accusers" and the affair lady could still have come out.

[MayBee]

For an absolute nothingburger of a case, it got a lot of play.

And it went on for years. Bush started releasing military records in 2000 in order to try to quell it, but it was still a scandal in the 2004 election.

[rse]

rick-

If the euro were just about trade and bureaucrats this would be easier to deal with because the focus could just be on the fact that it is not working, can't, and postponing reality is making situation worse. But this was the successor template to the USSR by a political class that still wants control and abhors free markets. That's why BO wants to throw them a lifeline and keep pushing on AGW. Reality is not supposed to get in the way of the consensus of the elites.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vnjagvet]

Where has the National Enquirer been on L'affaire Cain?

[MayBee]

Porch- I am going to award you a "Participant" medal on this. xoxoxo

[Clarice]

Results from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling poll of Florida GOP primary voters: Newt Gingrich (47 percent), Mitt Romney (17 percent), Herman Cain (15 percent), Ron Paul (5 percent), Michele Bachmann (4 percent), Jon Huntsman (3 percent), Rick Perry (2 percent), and Rick Santorum (1 percent).

A little sherbet to lighten the day

[Clarice]

The Bush administration was utterly unable if not unwilling to deal with any of the outrageous allegations against Bush..from the TANG b.s. to the Bush lied hockum. Some nights I went to bed thinking I was working harder to fight the lies than the entire well paid press office. An honest assessment should have signalled to Bush he needed a better press spokesman than he had particularly as he was always so tonguetied. He never got around to that until his second term was almost over.

[Barbara]

Yesterday American Airlines, today Pan Am Airlines:(

I just can't believe it. So sad.

[centralcal]

Neo-neocon blogging at The Tatler underscores the Ginger White phone call/texting allegations that were either FROM or TO Cain. In other words, it isn't exactly clear how many of those (if any) were initiated by Cain.

I think people need to be very careful, in light of Ms. White's past history, in assuming quickly her "credibility." Our own commenter, Stephanie seems quite convinced that she had interactions with this woman and experienced almost harassing behavior.

I make these comments, not because I am on the Cain train, I am not, but because we need to be very alert to every scandal allegation and tread carefully.

[JM Hanes]

Stephanie:

"[O]ur ‘conservative pragmatist’ friends that freak over are deeply concerned about Cain's supposed ignorance on foreign policy or policy questions reveal might have their own shallow thinking a legitimate point about minimum standards."

Fixed it for ya.

"Do I trust that this candidate will do the right thing? Are they statist or not? Do they gravitate to government solutions or do they not?"

So much for all those pesky questions about whether or not he might actually be able to govern effectively, let alone conduct foreign policy without an ear bud! How badly can he screw up, if he's got the right instincts, when he can rely on all those career professionals to fill in the blanks for him, eh?

[Porchlight]

Porch- I am going to award you a "Participant" medal on this. xoxoxo

Thanks MayBee. ;)

[Danube of Thought]

I shared that deeply frustrated feeling about Bush's unwillingness to defend himself, or to have anyone do it for him. One may think Jay Carney inept, but he is a genuine star compared to Scott McClellan.

I would say Clinton handled the Gennifer Flowers thing pretty well, but in general I think the reason it's hard to recall well-handled scandals is that if they're handled well we don't remember them as scandals.

ADP says 206,000 new private-sector jobs in November.

[Jack is Back!]

Clarice,

And counter all that with the way Clinton and his war room handled the bimbo explosions which were much more realistic and noteworthy. I mean Flowers, Jones, Willey, (the lady he raped - what was her name). And the way Begala, Carville and Sid the Slanderer came after the women and used their functionaries in the media to do their bidding.

When it comes to closets full of womanizing skeletons no one can even touch Clenis.

[Porchlight]

The Bush administration was utterly unable if not unwilling to deal with any of the outrageous allegations against Bush..from the TANG b.s. to the Bush lied hockum.

Generally speaking they didn't fight back hard enough, I agree. But I would make a distinction between charges against the Bush administration and charges against Bush the person/Bush the candidate. "Fighting back" isn't always the wisest course when charged with personal misbehavior, especially in the distant past. I maintain they took the correct approach with the TANG memos.

With the DUI, what was Bush supposed to do? The truth was, that was years ago before he sobered up, and had no bearing whatsoever on his fitness to be President. That's what his campaign said, and he survived it.

[MayBee]

I would say Clinton handled the Gennifer Flowers thing pretty well

I agree if well-handled means he made it go away and got a lot of people to believe him.

But what he did to handle it was
a)lie about it
b)bring his wife on tv to lie about it
c)send his two political advisers out to smear her in the press

[MayBee]

The DUI might have been well-handled, but that goes against the "get out in front of it" school of thought.

But I think that scandal also died on the vine because election day came and didn't go away for another 3 months, creating a more exciting scandal.

[daddy]

"daddy, Since we're at opposite ends of the McClatchy octopus, very dark humor is the proper response,"

narciso,

That reminds me that on the Engineering panel of the Boeing 727, the configuration of the Fuel Pumps that were powered by the Essential Bus, were affectionally termed "Seattle- Miami."

Amid the bunch of them, they were the one on the top Left and the bottom Right, and the only 2 that would still work if you were down to your last gasp of electrical power.

So "Seattle-Miami" ref's always amused me, and your McClatchy "Seattle-Anchorage" had me LOL this morning as well.

[GMAX]

Open letter to Zero from Leon Cooperman. Not known as a firebrand Republican, he writes a scathing letter to our divider in chief. Read it and know that steam is rising everywhere:

http://www.thestreet.com/tsc/common/images/pdf/Omega%20Advisor1.pdf

[Porchlight]

True, MayBee, about election 2000. But the DUI didn't hurt him enough, at any rate, to change the outcome.

My understanding of "get out in front of it" is not that you disclose something before the media gets hold of it, but that you plan for an eventual leak, you prep your people, you have a statement and game plan ready to go, and you don't delay. Etc.

[Neo]

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Politics today needs to be changed.

Next, we will all receive a "participation trophy" in the mail from the IRS.

[Ranger]

Open letter to Zero from Leon Cooperman.

As Instapundit would say, another rube self identifies.

[Soylent Red]

And God forbid that a candidate realize that he doesn't have all the answers and looks to others for their insight. I wonder, after hearing Newt on that question, what Cain's response would be now? But OMG he can't spit out responses to every nuance fully formed on loan from God.

Cain vs. Newt...

I don't doubt for a moment that Cain's heart is in the right conservative space, but he has on several occasions given off the appearance of being ill-informed.

In and of itself, maybe not a deal breaker, but consider...

We are up against a guy who has been and will continue to be touted by MSM, who like it or not control the narrative for a vast proportion of the population, as the smartest man ever to grace us with his leadership. If only we were worthy of him, etc. We cannot feed that meme with a candidate who, whether there is truth in what he is saying or not, appears to not know what he is talking about.

Also, after the right of return gaffe, Cain should have been painfully aware of the scrutiny that would follow on every single foreign policy statement he makes. I think it is safe to say that if you cannot recognize a mistake and work to avoid a similar mistake in the future, you are setting yourself up for failure in a Presidential bid.

Newt, OTOH, has his facts down pat, despite the fact that he is a compromiser and dealmaker at heart. But he has the intellectual firepower to authoritatively stand in front of Obama and tell him he is wrong and why on national TV, and make it stick in the press (or at least lay the groundwork for others to press his case). That's going to count for a lot in the upcoming general.

Newt also, until very recently, seems to be the only viable candidate who has correctly identified the enemy as Obama and his MSM enablers, as opposed to the other Republican candidates. That counts a lot in my book too.

Bottom line is that either would make a good President, probably. It's which one is a better candidate and presents a smaller target vis Obama's perceived strengths. By six months from now, the craving to elect a person who is competent to govern will be overpowering. Cain has made himself a big question mark in that category. We have to avoid people sticking with the devil they know. Cain may be perceived as too big of a gamble in the eyes of people who want a government that knows what it is doing.

Get Tea Partiers into Congress and all of Newt's conservative negatives will be held in check.

[Barbara]

Excellent analysis, Soylent.

Belated Happy Birthday!

[JM Hanes]

Stephanie:

"No campaign platform is operative after the voting is done - and to think it is is naive."

If you want to use BHO as a cautionary tale in naivety, then consider the one thing that hasn't changed too. Obama has run the Oval Office exactly the same Chicago Way he ran his campaign, so if you're looking for an unprepared, off-the-cuff, President, that would make Cain your best shot.

I don't necessarily see Cain's current straits as a manifestation of that weakness, though. Maybe he should have seen some of the NRA stuff coming; maybe some of the allegations came as a surprise to him too. Starting with the fact that an unsympathetic press will give Republicans no quarter, the problem with putative sexual scandals, in particular, is that there really isn't any good way to handle them, if there's even a whiff of truth to the stories, and almost no way to handle them at all when serial accusers keep coming forward out of nowhere. That's why such potential misconduct is at the top of oppo researchers' task lists, in the first place. Ironically, the most likely to survive are admitted womanizers like Newt, whose infidelities just aren't news any more.

[Benjamin Franklin]

Cooperman....former Goldman Sachs and current HEDGIE.....

"Leon G. Cooperman, CFA, is uniquely situated to discuss the gulf between Wall Street’s buy and sell sides. Cooperman has presided as founder and chairman over the hedge fund Omega Advisors, Inc., since he left Goldman Sachs & Company in late 1991"

"Class Warfare". indeed.

[Rocco]

A new White House Insider. The plot thickens!

[Stephanie]

Neo-neocon blogging at The Tatler underscores the Ginger White phone call/texting allegations that were either FROM or TO Cain. In other words, it isn't exactly clear how many of those (if any) were initiated by Cain.

Exactly... it is classic misdirection combined with the telephone game. If someone wants to take the results of the telephone game and apply the ending results to how they vote, they are responding shallowly and being led by the resulting narrative and not source documentation. I see many commenters on the web just take the fact that there were texts, fill in the blanks that texts are two way conversations and voila! Cain was in inappropriate texting convos at 4 am eleventy!!! When in fact she could have texted at 4 am that she had the sheriff at the door and he could have responded several hours later. Texting implies immediacy of responses and a back and forth, but in reality it is not. Kinda like Words with Friends... you get a game going and it can take days to play when the actual time spent playing is actually very little (and you have the luxury of responding at all hours and at hours that are convenient to each player).

Allowing the media's superfluous commentary that they so graciously supply to fill in the blanks between facts in stories (up to and including modifiers and descriptions) and acting upon that commentary - following through to the conclusion you are being directed toward - is shallow is what I mean. Most people don't take the time to discern the difference and the media and the narrative drivers bank on that.

[narciso]

Exactly, Stephanie, this is what they want projected on the Cave wall to cite Plato, once again, a few times I've gotten caught up in it, that bit with the nuclear weapons, but
I've seen this film already, in subtitles, they've run it as matinee and a feature, in daddy's neck of the woods, for the last three years,

[Jack is Back!]

OT:

A young man who graduated from our local Catholic elementary and middle school and a senior at our Catholic HS in St. Augustine has been accepted to the Air Force Academy. We worked hard to get him in by mentoring and networking with alumni to get the right kind of interview smarts. Also, a young JrROTC cadet from our local public school who attended our Vets Muster got an appointment letter also. So, things are looking up for our next generation of leaders.

Soylent, agree completely with your thoughts. Herman Cain can't even come close to duplicating the lack of morality as that of Clinton, Kennedy or Johnson. The only reason Carter had no accusers is because it was probably too embarrassing for them to come out and admit some kind of "lust" with old Peanut.

[Sara]

Results from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling poll of Florida GOP primary voters: Newt Gingrich (47 percent), Mitt Romney (17 percent), Herman Cain (15 percent), Ron Paul (5 percent), Michele Bachmann (4 percent), Jon Huntsman (3 percent), Rick Perry (2 percent), and Rick Santorum (1 percent).

Are Floridians confused? I saw a poll 2 days ago that had Cain up 41%, the rest in normal numbers.

[Danube of Thought]

"...if well-handled means he made it go away and got a lot of people to believe him."

In The political arena, that would be my test.

Juanita Broaddrick was the rape victim.

[centralcal]

Ron Paul has a doozie of an ad completely chewing up and spitting out Newt (all in Newt's own words of course). No linky, but it is on Drudge in red print.

[Stephanie]

I don't doubt for a moment that Cain's heart is in the right conservative space, but he has on several occasions given off the appearance of being ill-informed.

Yes he has. I don't dispute that. I just take that old Rumsfeld maxim to heart about known knowns and known unknowns and unknown unknowns.

I stay pretty informed on politics (well duh I read political blogs) but until this latest dust up I had never done more than ear service to 'the right of return' and had not really researched the particulars. I couldn't give you particulars on the state of affairs about Taiwan right now, but I know it is a problem, too.

That said, I would hope that if I were to be sitting in the big boy chair, that I had put in place people that were on top of stuff like that and could give me the particulars so that I could adequately make a decision that would be necessary and proper. The scary part of this is the level of infiltration in CIA and State of Israel haters and the comfort level you have to have to rely on a large network of people with their own agendas working to skew policy this way and that and still be able to separate the wheat from the chaff from the bullshit agenda.

What it comes down to is having someone in the big boy chair that has the ability to discern the big facts and can distill problems to their essence while recognizing the difference between shit and shinola. Which is a rare trait.

I get aggravated with Hannity and talk show hosts a lot, cause it appears not to be one of their strong suits. For example, a caller can call and Hannity will miss the mark on the point the caller was making and draw the wrong thrust from the argument for further discussion and go off on a tangent that the caller wasn't intending. And I end up disappointed cause the thrust of the call sounded intriguing, and it ends up a waste of a call because the point the caller wanted to focus on wasn't.

[Barbara]

Ron Paul ad against Newt Gingrich - LUN

[MayBee]

In The political arena, that would be my test.

So when people say "Cain proved he wasn't fit for the presidency because he didn't handle this scandal well", are they really saying "He is not a good enough liar"?