Tag: ace of spades

#rsrh QotD, Sing It Brother Ace edition.

Yeah, you’ve probably heard how the not-cool Roger Simon* from Politico decided to write ‘satire’ about Paul Ryan.  Normally, when ‘satire’ is in square quotes like that it’s because the perpetrator of said ‘satire’ is actually trying to for ‘nastiness;’ in this case, of course, it was fairly obviously supposed to be a ‘joke.’ One that could have been seen through by anyone with a triple-digit IQ and the ability to think of their political opponents in anything but the most dismissive of ways.

(pause)

Yeah, half the left-sphere fell for it.  Anyway, AoSHQ notes:

One of the biggest problems with online media is that it provides a potentially massive venue for people who are not funny to try to be funny.

…Which can be hell on earth for those of us who ARE actually funny.  Like, say, Ace – or myself, false modesty be damned.

Moe Lane

*…Well, he’s not.

#rsrh @aceofspadeshq has to use small words again…

…with dhimmi self-beclowners… including one spectacular reductio ad Huntsmanian argument.  If you don’t feel like clicking the link, it goes like this: if you’re going to decide that sufficient levels of hanging with Grover Norquist is a troubling sign of dhimmitude, then – due to the influence of ATR – you’re going to inevitably end up supporting… Jon Huntsman, who is the only Republican candidate of the bunch who won’t sign Grover’s tax pledge*.

I suspect that this would generally be considered a suboptimal result by the target demographic in question.

Anyway, there are times when I enjoy posting stuff, and there are times when I feel wearily obligated to post stuff.  The latter applies in this case; honestly, Ace has better things to do than this, and frankly so do I.  Which is why this is going in RedHot in RS, despite the fact that Ace wrote a crackerjack post here…

Moe Lane

*Link goes to Ace because Crooks & Liars doesn’t deserve the traffic.  By the way: if C&L loves you as a candidate, then you’ve done something horribly, horribly wrong.

Jihad-watchers beclowning themselves over Perry/Ismaili thing. [Updated]

Alternative title: Pam Geller loses her anti-Idiotarian Status.

Yeah.  I’m kicking it Old School here: “anti-Idiotarian” is one of those terms of art from the far-off dawn of the blogosphere (which is to say, 2003 or so).  Then again, a lot of the people who are going to be talked about here have been in the ‘sphere for that long; so keep that in mind.  There’s a history here, and it’s not always a nice one.

Give you the background: Pamela Geller – who has been hysterically screaming at the top of her lungs about Islam (admittedly, not always unreasonably) for as long as I can remember – has picked for her latest digital jihad* Governor Rick Perry’s** association with the Ismailis.  At issue (aside from Perry being friendly with Grover Norquist, which apparently is intolerable right there***) is a curriculum that Perry had his education people put together about Islam that involved input from Ismaili groups in Texas: oddly enough, Geller goes off on this curriculum in the American Thinker without actually linking to it.

Remember that Old School thing from the last paragraph?  Well, when you’ve been doing this sort of thing for a while you tend to recognize the tell-tale signs of a snow job.  One of the prime ones?  Not linking to what you’re complaining about. Continue reading Jihad-watchers beclowning themselves over Perry/Ismaili thing. [Updated]

‘alicia_pain18@yahoo.com:’ operative, or nut?

Background: Patterico’s Pontifications and Ace of Spades were blessed, if that’s the right word (it’s not), with an email from ‘Alicia Pain’ that could either be read as a warning to lay off digging in further on the Antony Weiner / Betty / Veronica direct messages story*, or a threat if either continued to do so.  Ace got more out of the author of the email than Patterico did, mostly by responding and using bad language until s/he slipped up and claimed to be working for a client.

Anyway, speaking as a professional, more or less (and for a change)… absent further data, hard to tell.  The email address is throwaway and both Patterico and Ace make their email available but not easily accessible (they’re both Old School), which argues against the ‘random lunatic spouting off’ theory; however, the Internet is full of people who like to make grandiose claims about what they do for a living, what shadowy networks of powerful people they belong to**, and how other people should listen to them when they’re only trying to help.  None of the people really associated with that name on the Internet already seem to be a good fit for either possibility, so I suggest waiting for more info.

Moe Lane

Continue reading ‘alicia_pain18@yahoo.com:’ operative, or nut?

#rsrh Thought of the Day, Ace on Stupidity Taxes edition.

Not the lottery*, but the price of doing business with people whose vote inexplicably counts as much as yours does.  Ace of Spades, in the process of explaining why positions taken before a consensus changes need to be perhaps given a little forgiveness**:

I give Tim Pawlenty a break on his cap-and-tax nonsense, too, because, if you remember, a short five years ago it seemed like we were pretty much destined to lose completely on this fight. I didn’t (and still don’t, actually) mind a little window-dressing to let Environmental Saps think we’re really working on cars that run on sunshine and pixie-sweat.

I think of that as the Stupidity Tax — the tax we must all pay to the stupid to be left alone from their plodding economic manslaughter. Obviously you want to pay as little in Stupidity Tax as possible, but sometimes, your choice is really between a low-ish Stupidity Tax (offered by a Republican giving dumb squishes some window-dressing) and a very, very high Stupidity Tax (offered by idiotic liberals who really believe this crap).

Anyway, that situation, too, has changed quickly, and I am willing to grant Pawlenty forgiveness — a temporary insanity plea, if you will — so long as I never hear this crap coming from him again. (Except for some window-dressing Stupidity Tax.)

Continue reading #rsrh Thought of the Day, Ace on Stupidity Taxes edition.

Microcosm of the conservative/liberal 2010 strategy.

Perhaps ‘microcosm’ isn’t the best word; ‘personification’ might work better. The background: the Hill asked two bloggers – one from the Right, and one from the Left – to answer the question “Like Sen. Graham said, will the Tea Party movement die out?” The blogger on the Right was Ace of Ace of Spades, and contrary to his own self-deprecating later observation he answered the question perfectly well (and without venom, which will be important later on):

As a visible movement, getting media play and offering candidate endorsements, it might die – if both parties conspire to ignore its will and marginalize its agenda, as parties often have in the past, Tea Partiers might become convinced it’s futile and might lose the key ingredient for an energetic, vital movement: *hope* that it could actually succeed. Any movement can have the heart torn out of it.

But were that to happen, the Tea Party wouldn’t die so much as hibernate, waiting for the next Ross Perot or Rick Santelli to call the dormant order to arms once more. And with the Baby Boom generation on the cusp of retirement, and shiftless borrowing slated to equal nearly all of American productive output by the end of the decade, the calls to arms will grow louder and more urgent, not less.

As for his ‘opponent’ (they in fact wrote their pieces without knowing what the other would be writing): I’ll save you the tedium by just writing out the invective*.

…not have a coherent vision…blind hatred…revulsion of shared responsibility…rampant misinformation …conspiracy theories…right-wing fringe that predictably overheats…John Birch Society…militia movement…far-right faction…”death panel” smear…follow-up attack…far-right candidates…meager impact…right-wingers…

Continue reading Microcosm of the conservative/liberal 2010 strategy.

‘One (hundred) seat at a time…’

House Minority Leader John Boehner made a comment late last week that raised an eyebrow or two:

When pressed for a number, Boehner said he believed the GOP could win as many as 100 seats in this fall’s elections.

“At least 100 seats,” Boehner said when asked how wide the playing field for districts is. “I do,” the top House Republican answered when asked if he thinks there are 100 seats in the U.S. “that could change hands.”

Much as I hate to contradict Rep. Boehner, we must fight inaccuracy in all its forms.  There are not currently one hundred Democratic-held seats that could change hands, and he should have known better than to claim that in this media atmosphere.

There are currently only ninety-nine. Continue reading ‘One (hundred) seat at a time…’

Actually, somebody *should* buy up AosHQ. #rsrh

I say that professionally; or semi-professionally; or semi-hemi-demi-professionally.  Ace of Spades HQ is a strong site with a good crew and an engaged readership.  Pretty… freewheeling; but worth the acquisition, I would say. Definitely worth advertising at.

I note all of this because it’s not Ace’s fault that this story is so messed up.  I challenge anybody to report on it without going a little gonzo, frankly.

[UPDATE]: You could do worse than acquire Joy’s site, too.  Old-school respectability is worth something, even if ‘old-school’ is defined as ‘more than five years’ worth of posting history.’