Author: Moe_Lane

Hodes the hypocrite finally DISCLOSEs Vancouver junket.

(H/T: Red Hampshire) It has been confirmed: Senatorial candidate Rep. Paul Hodes (D, NH) did in fact attend in person the Canadian trial lawyer fundraiser that was mentioned yesterday by both myself and others.  Interestingly, the Hodes campaign isn’t really trying to push back on this: they’re simply admitting that he went abroad in person to pick up trial lawyer lobbyist money.  I wonder why?

Today, Paul Hodes fought to end the influence that corporate and foreign special interests have in American elections by supporting the DISCLOSE Act. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, foreign corporations, Wall Street banks, and oil company CEOs have been given a green light to spend unlimited money anonymously in order to influence our elections. The DISCLOSE Act ends these corporate loopholes and forces Washington special interests to play by the same campaign rules that govern the actions of middle class Granite Staters.

Ah. Of course.  You see, there’s dirty corporate lobbyist money, and then there’s what Democratic politicians have to travel to Vancouver to pick up.  Hodes, being one of the latter, can clearly see the difference – the only problem is that ‘middle class Granite Staters’ might have their own opinions on the difference.  Best to just stare right ahead, say nothing that you have to, and hope that the controversy about your hypocrisy dies down quickly, no?

Such courage, the man shows.

Moe Lane

PS: The GOP primary hasn’t happened yet.  Feel free to pick one.

Crossposted to RedState.

Sex nerds.

I was trying to figure out what was nagging me about this entire Pick-Up Artist (PUA) thing that Little Miss Attila linked to here and here, and it finally came to me (if you’ll pardon the pun): these PUA people are sex nerds.  Which is to say, they are people who show the classic signs of nerdity – an obsessive focus on a particular topic, meticulous research, careful experimentation on how to maximize their skill levels, and a fundamental indifference to how larger society reacts to them – but who have decided to focus on having sex with women, instead of on comic books, science fiction movies, baseball scores, or the likely makeup of the 112th Congress.  Looking at the comments sections of some PUA blogs, I have to wonder how many of them have Asperger’s*.  Or who would claim to have Asperger’s if they were more mainstream nerds, which is not quite the same thing.

Observing this probably makes me a hater, or a beta male, or whatever it is that PUAs call mundanes.  Yup, that’s another sign.

Moe Lane

*Indeed, people who actually do have Asperger’s – it’s one of those conditions that is often self-diagnosed, which means that it’s the semantic equivalent to “I’d rather come up with a medical reason for my rude behavior than actually correct it” – might find some of these techniques almost therapeutic.  Not that I am qualified to diagnose anybody, up to and including myself.

PS: Full disclosure: I am a nerd.  Yes, you’re all shocked.

#rsrh Out: liberaltarianism. In: libertarian centrism!

(Via Instapundit) Oh, God, not this again.

Reason has an interesting debate on the question of libertarian political strategy. Should libertarians seek to forge an alliance with conservatives or liberals or neither? Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg and Tea Party leader Matt Kibbe argue for reconsituting the libertarian-conservative coalition that was badly frayed if not completely severed during the Bush years. Cato Institute scholar Brink Lindsey argues against that view. Although I am much closer to Lindsey’s political views than Goldberg’s, I find myself agreeing somewhat more with Goldberg’s position in this particular debate.

Yup!  He should be. Continue reading #rsrh Out: liberaltarianism. In: libertarian centrism!

DCCC retreating on November results.

Again.

It’s not quite counting coup on my part – I had suggested that by about June the DCCC would be bragging about how they’ll keep us from getting enough votes for veto overrides – but I am pleased to see that the slow march by the Democrats towards objective reality is continuing.

Slowly.  Slowly is good.

…the last thing Dems need is a group of major donors convinced that another check will just be throwing good money after bad.

But the goal posts keep moving. At other times over the last 2 years, Dems have said their goal was to limit losses to fewer than 10 seats. Dems later said they would gladly take a 15-seat hit, assuming the environment might worsen further. By Feb., Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), who leads the DCCC’s incumbent retention program, said they party would lose fewer than 25 seats.

[snip]

On Tuesday, DNC chair Tim Kaine acknowledged the possibility of losing the House. But, he said, that’s not anything new, citing an average loss of 28 seats in midterm elections for an incumbent party — though he hinted that party losses might be much greater.

Continue reading DCCC retreating on November results.

#rsrh We all look alike to the WaPo.

You can practically see the bafflement on the page:

While many conservative organizations immediately decried a federal judge’s decision last week to invalidate the federal ban on recognizing gay marriages, tea party groups have been conspicuously silent on the issue.

The silence is by design, activists with the loosely affiliated movement said, because it is held together by an exclusive focus on fiscal matters and its avoidance of divisive social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Privately, though, many said they back the decision because it emphasizes the legal philosophy of states’ rights.

Before we go any further: if you look at what happened last week, what happened was that the judge declared Section 3 unconstitutional, and did not address Section 2. Essentially, that means that if the ruling is not appealed then the federal government is no longer obligated to treat only opposite-sex marriages as legitimate. It does not mean that states are now obligated to recognize other states’ same-sex marriage licenses – and, at any rate, the ruling is expected to be appealed anyway. Continue reading #rsrh We all look alike to the WaPo.

#rsrh Stephanie Heseh-Sandlin the vampire, sayeth… YouTube?

I get sent the most quirkiest stuff, sometimes. Possibly because I’m quirky, myself.  Or just plain goofy; that works, too.  Anyway, if this was anybody besides YouTube, I’d call this a sardonic commentary on Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin’s re-election prospects:

…but since it is YouTube I can only conclude that the comparison of Herseth-Sandlin’s campaign to the Undead is purely unintentional.  Completely accurate – down to the vulnerability to sunlight – but unintentional.

Moe Lane

PS: Kristi Noem for Congress.

Giannoulias, Fisher go abroad to raise money from trial lawyers.

Along the way, they ran over a polar bear cub with their SUV, then tied it to the bumper with an American flag and dragged it along for a couple of miles.

…while smoking cigarettes.

Giannoulias:

The Giannoulias Democratic Illinois Senate campaign confirmed Monday–after prodding from the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee–that Alexi Giannoulias was in Canada on Sunday attending a fund-raiser at a trial lawyer convention in Vancouver that would benefit his Senate campaign.

Fisher:

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Lee Fisher was in Canada yesterday to attend a reception with a group of American trial lawyers that is supporting his campaign, the Fisher campaign said today.

The Giannoulias campaign didn’t want to admit to the fundraising junket at all, while the Fisher campaign tried the novel technique of trying to frame it in terms of a fact-finding tour about lost Ohio jobs (apparently, Rob Portman has amazing powers over space and time; either that, or he mentally dominated Lee Fisher into losing jobs for Ohio).  I don’t see why evasions and lying – excuse me; ‘jokes’ – are necessary, here.  Trial lawyers are some of the most loyal Democratic donors in existence: they’ve paid out millions (if not billions) in campaign contributions, and get hundreds of billions in protection and opportunities* in exchange.  Shouldn’t the Democrats be proud of their patrons?

Moe Lane
Continue reading Giannoulias, Fisher go abroad to raise money from trial lawyers.