The Other McCain

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Stupor Committee A Study In Farce.
Yet Mitt’s Ad ‘A Deceitful And Dishonest Attack’? Maybe Santorum Can Help

Posted on | November 22, 2011 | 11 Comments

by Smitty

Hensarling:

Ultimately, the committee did not succeed because we could not bridge the gap between two dramatically competing visions of the role government should play in a free society, the proper purpose and design of the social safety net, and the fundamentals of job creation and economic growth.

Well, that is about as dispassionate, and un-finger-pointy as you can get. Socialism, misery codified as policy, is dying, and demands company. The good news is that the enumerated powers are as straight as a plumb line, showing which federal tasks should be retained, and which should properly be returned to the states. The bad news is that the federal graft has been too tempting on both sides of the aisle to permit proper carrying out of what must be done.

And yet, for all the billions and trillions of illegitimate acts by this Congress, to say nothing of the Administration, we’re supposed to get excited if Mitt Romney, arguably, packs an ad more tightly with information than necessary, and leaves some significant contextual details for the text of the post.

See, the snippet used in the Romney ad referencing talking about the economy being a losing plan was actually from a campaign stop where Obama was quoting a John McCain staffer in 2008.

Oh, that #RebelRomney.
One is tempted to think that the kerfuffle over the quotation sourcing was a test on the part of the Romney campaign which the Obama campaign is failing. More attention is drawn to the ad, and the catastrophic absurdity of this administration by pointing out the dodgy choice of quotation. Anyone who has read the Obamateurism posts at Hot Air knows that, if we had $100 for every time that #OccupyResoluteDesk had said the kind of thing for which we’ve seen Herman Cain pilloried, neither the deficit nor the debt would be of particular concern.

Unfortunately for Mitt, the air of inevitability, the slick soundbites, the centrist posturing, and the media echoes coming from their location in the tank trigger associations with none other than BHO’s 2008 campaign. “Repeal ObamaCare” looks good on a bumper sticker, but if the motive for doing so isn’t founded in a sincere desire to go after federal entitlements hammer and tongs, then we can expect the bad ideas informing both RomneyCare and ObamaCare to return like a communicable disease in an ObamaVille.

What is needed perhaps, is someone who has some experience, yet runs with more of and outsider feel. Someone with character as impeccable as Romney, but who manages not to exude the Ruling Class smarminess. Who doesn’t sound like a condescending Tom Brokaw acolyte when he speaks. Who is not running a ball-control offense campaign, as if winning means avoiding mistakes. I mean, of course, Rick Santorum.

Having the last burst of attention right before the caucuses could give him the momentum he needs to win Iowa — so, why is his boomlet next?
“Some would say because I’m the only one left to get a boomlet,” Santorum says while laughing. “I would say because if you look at the attention that’s been paid to the other candidates, and the knowledge that people have of other candidates, I think we are probably the least known candidate in the race here in Iowa and so as people are looking around … my strong sense is that people are going to start examining the only candidate they don’t know much about, and I think when they do, obviously I feel confident that we will do well.”
He says he also hears quite often, “We love you Rick. We think you are great, but we are not sure you can win.” He asks those voters to keep him on their list, and as candidate after candidate has their moment in the sun and then plummets, he believes they will come back to him.
“I see a momentum and it won’t be a momentum moved by the press, it will be a momentum by folks that are actually taking the time to analyze the candidates,” Santorum says. “From the very beginning of this campaign I’ve described this as being on an episode of ‘Survivor’ and you just want to stay on the island and be able to be there and hopefully be the last person standing when it comes down to caucus day. That’s been our game plan, that’s what we have been working on, working under the radar.

Barack Obama represents the culmination of a century of Progressivism. It’s all been crap. Does Mitt Romney represent a sufficient break from the Progressive tradition to recover America? The bets seem rather hedged in Mitt’s case. Hence the search for alternatives. Newt? Who would argue he’s less of an insider than Mitt? Does the scholarly delivery indicate Newt has done enough soul-searching to repent of his wayward ways? Maybe.

Santorum offers a solid, conservative candidate, in contrast.

Update: hopefully the left will spring to the defense of this personally insulting introduction of Michele Bachmann. Or is this old tune the new tone? Via Riehl.

Update II: linked at The POH Diaries.

Update III: linked at The Rio Norte Line.

Category: Barack Obama, Budget, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum

Comments

11 Responses to “Stupor Committee A Study In Farce.
Yet Mitt’s Ad ‘A Deceitful And Dishonest Attack’? Maybe Santorum Can Help”

  1. Anonymous
    November 22nd, 2011 @ 4:41 pm

    The Stupor Committee was a success and the epitome of compromise in that both sides got half of what they wanted.

  2. The 'Real' Super Committee That Doesn't Fail - The POH Diaries
    November 22nd, 2011 @ 4:56 pm

    […] can argue the merits of the stupidsuper committee some other time. The point is, I believe that the left is getting exactly what they […]

  3. jonathan.camp
    November 22nd, 2011 @ 5:00 pm

    Sorry to do this, but it’s “plumb line” not “plum line.”  Normally I’m not a spelling nazi, but for some reason that mistake just irks me.  It’s even worse since you linked “plumb line” in the dictionary too. 😉

    And yeah, the Stuporific Stupendous Commitee should never have come to be in the 1st place.  Its failure was preordained.

  4. smitty
    November 22nd, 2011 @ 5:02 pm

    You’re right, it is worse, and I thank your for bringing it up.

  5. JeffS
    November 22nd, 2011 @ 5:14 pm

    You want stupid from the Stupor Committee?  I’ll give you stupid by the Stupor Committee: All the proof they needed All the proof the Super Committee needed to see entitlements are the problem.

    H/T Hot Air.

  6. Anonymous
    November 22nd, 2011 @ 5:55 pm

    The purpose of forming the Stupor committee was to provide cover for raising the debt ceiling. It didn’t fail.

  7. In a word, the Congressional Stupor Committee failed because of… « The Rio Norte Line
    November 22nd, 2011 @ 6:23 pm

    […] – Admiral Smitty has this. 55.957870 -3.199357 GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); […]

  8. Finrod Felagund
    November 22nd, 2011 @ 8:13 pm

    Santorum has his own set of negatives that people will bring up as well, such as trying to defund the National Weather Service in favor of Accuweather which is in his home state of Pennsylvania.
     

  9. Tennwriter
    November 22nd, 2011 @ 10:56 pm

    Defunding gov’t agencies is a good thing.

  10. McGehee
    November 23rd, 2011 @ 12:41 am

    In principle perhaps — but Accu-Weather’s business model is based on using government-generated information to create products it can sell at a profit — but only by prohibiting NWS from giving identical products away to the public that’s already paying for them.

  11. Romney Delenda Est! « The Camp Of The Saints
    November 23rd, 2011 @ 5:11 pm

    […] makes some very good points in his look at the Romney Campaign’s deceptive quoting of Little Barry in it’s latest […]