The Other McCain

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

Complete Burn-Out Looms: Random Notes on the Road to the American Dream

Posted on | November 3, 2011 | 33 Comments

“A top Iowa supporter of Herman Cain’s presidential campaign is blaming top Cain aide Mark Block for the campaign’s poor response to allegations that Cain sexually harassed at least two women in the 1990s.
“Jeff Jorgenson, the chairman of the Pottawatamie County Republican Party, said Cain’s campaign has been caught off-guard and that Cain should consider changes, starting at the top.
“ ‘I’m not very happy with the response to these allegations from the campaign itself,’ Jorgenson said. ‘I think Herman Cain needs to take maybe another look at his association with his chief of staff.’ ”
— Aaron Blake, Washington Post, “Top Iowa supporter for Herman Cain blames Mark Block for fumbled response”

Frustration eventually overwhelms even my otherwise inexhaustible energy, and being unable to get a return phone call from the Cain campaign has pushed me into the Burn-Out Zone. Two points:

  1. It’s not their fault.
  2. It’s not about me.

Pursuing the Presidency of the United States is a serious enough business that I understand the utter insignificance of my own complaints. For when the Great Scorer comes to write beside their names, he will mark — not that they didn’t return my phone calls when the Big Story was breaking — but whether they won the game.

Any correlation between the two phenomena is probably accidental.

Also utterly random: A friend called my attention to a story about Shorter College, a Baptist school in Rome, Ga., that is being excoriated for expecting faculty to uphold Baptist standards.

More than 30 years ago, I dated a Shorter coed and we, uh, failed rather drastically at upholding Baptist standards. IYKWIMAITYD.

Anyway . . . just called up my editor at the American Spectator and said I probably won’t be filing anything for them tonight. The Americans for Prosperity “Defending the American Dream Summit” kicks off tonight in downtown DC, and early registration ends at 8 p.m., so I wouldn’t want to miss that. Because there might be refreshing beverages for sale, and friends who want to buy them for me.

Did I mention that Phil Kerpen, vice president of policy at Americans for Prosperity, is the author of the blockbuster new book, Democracy Denied: How Obama is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America – and How to Stop Him? I’m sure my readers have seen my good buddy Phil on Fox News, and want to buy lots of copies of Democracy Denied — now just $15.95 at Amazon! — which will make Phil very, very happy. And when Phil’s happy, I’m happy. IYKWIMAITYD.

So I’m pulling the ripcord, hitting the silk and bailing out on the blog for a few hours, while I go down to hit the D.C. scene, schmooze my sources and try to get over the frustration of going five hours without a call-back from my friends with the Cain campaign. If it wasn’t urgent enough to deserve a call-back by now, it can probably wait another day, I suppose.

Meanwhile, there is more news and still more news but . . . Well, maybe this is God’s way of telling me I need to turn it loose and let Phil Kerpen buy me a refreshing beverage. And if you guys will hit the freaking tip jar, I might even violate my code of ethics and pick up the tab myself.




When burn-out looms, one of the most important symptoms is an overpowering thirst. And I must maintain my health. IYKWIMAITYD.


Category: Fear and Loathing at Defending the American Dream, Herman Cain

Comments

33 Responses to “Complete Burn-Out Looms: Random Notes on the Road to the American Dream”

  1. Bob Belvedere
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 7:17 pm

    You’ve got to let the badger loose now and again or you’ll go mad.  This is one of those times.

  2. Joe
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 7:22 pm

    Bob as usual gives sage advice. 

  3. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 7:25 pm

    Today’s actions
    by President Obama’s Super PAC provided even more proof that Mitt
    Romney is the republican that scares democrats most. This anti-Romney ad buy is
    $100,000 and it’s far from the first anti-Romney attack ad President Obama’s
    Super PAC has produced. The continued paid attacks this early in the election
    illustrate a level of desperation from the Obama administration that makes
    sense considering President Obama’s record of accomplishment is so weak.

    http://mittromneycentral.com/2011/11/02/president-obamas-super-pac-priorities-usa-launches-another-round-of-attacks-on-mitt-romney/

  4. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 7:37 pm

    Sure. he scares them into thinking he’ll lose the nomination, and they’ll have to run against a candidate that can win;   unlike Mitt, the Midwife of Obamacare, who’ll guarantees an Obama victory.

  5. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 7:39 pm

    Before this is over, Politico will have it that Cain was the guy running around all those #OWS “protests,” rapin’ and molestin’ all the happy campers.

  6. Random Neo-Puritan
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 7:51 pm

    But but but but but he knows all the words to Amazing grace!11!!1!

  7. CalMark
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 8:01 pm

    So an official apparatchik of the Republican Partk trashes Cain & Co., to WaPo.  And we’re supposed to take that seriously?

    I can’t respect anybody who talks out of school like that to a leftist rag.  Just another Establishment attempt to take out conservatives.

    And ruin the country.

  8. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 8:07 pm

    Romney’s CO2 regulation raised the price of electricity for the people of MA by 25%.
    Mitt is not a Republican he is a RINO.

  9. Adjoran
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 8:18 pm

    Shame on Mark Block for making Herman Cain tell all those lies!  Shame on him for not shaking the truth out of Cain two weeks ago!  Shame on him for carrying Cain’s water while he knew he had to be lying!

    Yup, all of this big mess is Mark Block’s fault!

  10. DaveO
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 8:33 pm

    Palin will announce her candidacy for POTUS just after the initial Black Friday numbers come in.

    Bachmann: too crazy, too religious – so sayeth the GOP and the MSM
    Perry: too pro-illegal immigration, too slow-witted – so sayeth the GOP and the MSM
    Cain: too inexperienced, too… wrapped up in scandal and handling it poorly. So sayeth the GOP and the MSM

    Gee, that leaves Ru Paul and Mitt Romney, and that other dude who visited China.

    Yep, Palin was right to wait.

  11. richard mcenroe
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 8:35 pm

    Slipped Stacy a Hamilton so the badger deploys easier.

  12. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 8:37 pm

    “More than 30 years ago, I dated a Shorter coed and we, uh, failed rather
    drastically at upholding Baptist standards. IYKWIMAITYD.”

    I’m not surprised she didn’t want to be stuck with a Shorter Baptist standard. You lucky dog.

  13. richard mcenroe
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 8:40 pm

    SO sayeth everyone except the people still donating and polling for Cain…. thank god they don’t count.

  14. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 8:59 pm

    Kennedy kills them, Clinton rapes them, Edwards breeds them, Jackson pays them, so let’s lynch Cain.

  15. Garym
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 9:10 pm

    Romney Sucks.

  16. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 9:32 pm

    Rush’s comments on this whole “handling” business are worth a listen.  Go over to TheRightScoop and check ’em out.

    This is why, in  a court, the defense must be provided everything the prosecution knows.

  17. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 9:42 pm

    Just reading this post made me thirsty. *heads for the refrigerator*

  18. CalMark
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 10:06 pm

    You are correct.  But “sexual harassment” is a thought crime, exempt from the Constitution.  It’s not about provable actions, it’s about “feelings” and “perceptions.”  Which is why it’s impossible to defend against. 

    And the “evidence” (especially from the “Tailhook” 1990s) is usually just the accuser’s opinion.  So  in effect, there is no “evidence.”

    What is scary about this is it resembles a Soviet-style show trial, which is what Chicago politics is all about.  It’s a vicious town (I lived there and saw lots of bad political stuff).    I wouldn’t be surprised if “evidence” is being fabricated behind the scenes right now, and the delay in the “victim” with the Clintonista lawyer “going public” was to convince her to go along. 

    Who’s to say it’s untrue?  Cain wasn’t part of it, and the attorney conveniently “lost” his records.  So anything the D.C./Chicago-based NRA says is gospel.  And who controls D.C. and Chicago?

    Just sayin’. 

    I’m mad as hell, in case people can’t tell.  I’m sick of these Soviet-style smear jobs.  And of Republicans (hello, Michelle Bachmann–in the long run, this will be your ruin, you phony) joining in the chorus to trash Cain.

  19. DaveO
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 10:24 pm

    Reading Ace and a couple other non-Cain-supporting sites, the latest problem for Cain is his supporters are too supportive of Cain. Which is like declaring the air in one’s tires is just toooo… airy.

    What’s the phrase? Redcto ad absurdum?

  20. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 10:24 pm

    Did you like the Willie Nelson/George Jones theme music?

  21. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 10:37 pm

    More like “rectocranial inversion”, amirite?

  22. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 10:39 pm

    No argument for nominating Romney makes sense the fact that his team makes excellent ads is a good reason to knock him out of the race so that talent can be applied to good purpose rather than trying to make Romney president.
    Romney is a SD sleeper agent. 

    http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/11/who_is_mitt_romney_conning.html

  23. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 10:39 pm

    Here in Virginia, “sexual harassment” is pretty narrowly defined by statute, and what was allegedly going on doesn’t fit. There’s no there there, which is why Politico and all these other yahoos have nothing to peddle but rumors, innuendo, and rumors about innuendos.

  24. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 10:39 pm

    I didn’t read it as a “trashing,” so much as a bland statement to the effect that “he has to do a better job.”

    It kinda sucks, but it’s always true, too, since EVERYONE needs to do a better job, on whatever they are doing.

  25. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 10:40 pm

    I was actually listening to some electronica by Conelrad, but there’s nothing wrong with Willie & George.

  26. andycanuck
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 10:46 pm

    Is taking “a little something special” in your tea one of the Virginia standards, Wombat_socho?

    http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/11/02/iowa-radio-host-calls-herman-cains-behavior-awkward-if-not-inappropriate/

    I sense many apologies coming to the Cain campaign in the near future.

  27. Anonymous
    November 3rd, 2011 @ 11:47 pm

    Subject/verb mismatch. Fooey.

  28. Anonymous
    November 4th, 2011 @ 12:50 am

    According to anonymous sources, of course!

  29. Anonymous
    November 4th, 2011 @ 12:52 am

    Nope. Although I am reminded of a crude Russian idiom having to do with tea that, very broadly translated, means “Quit f*cking around/get busy!” It’s been on my mind since I saw that asinine story.

  30. Bob Belvedere
    November 4th, 2011 @ 8:53 am

    Manchurian Mitt?

  31. #OccupyDC ‘What Democracy Looks Like’ : The Other McCain
    November 5th, 2011 @ 6:01 pm

    […] DC ProtestNov. 4: #OWS Protesters Attempt to Storm AFP Defending the American Dream SummitNov. 3: Complete Burn-Out Looms: Random Notes on the Road to the American DreamCategory: Fear and Loathing at the Defending the American Dream SummitComments /* This spot rotates […]

  32. ‘I Went Down to the Demonstration to Get My Fair Share of Abuse …’ : The Other McCain
    November 7th, 2011 @ 7:25 am

    […] Dream Summit,” I explained that constant campaign coverage and other frustrations had brought me to the edge of complete burn-out:When burn-out looms, one of the most important symptoms is an overpowering thirst. And I must […]

  33. Red
    November 7th, 2011 @ 9:06 am

    RSMcCain: That’s a 99%er I can support 😀 (No offense Stacy). I’ve got to get back to my own personal protest of bad t.v., “Occupy Couch!”.