The Other McCain

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

Sean Hannity Flummoxed By Michelle Malkin

Posted on | December 17, 2011 | 30 Comments

by Smitty

At American Power:

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley Endorses Mitt Romney
Well, what’s amazing is Nikki Haley is touted as a “tea party favorite.”

But Michelle Malkin calls Romney a progressive at the video. She calls Gingrich a progressive as well. It’s an excellent discussion, and badly needed. Sean Hannity’s a little flummoxed with Michelle. Should the grassroots be lining up behind Gov. Haley for a Romney endorsement? It’s all about beating Obama, right?


My take on all of the suddenly tight undergarments in the press is that they don’t get the subtle wisdom of the Tea Party. Sure, conservatives learned the lesson of Perot in ’92: excessive purity buys eight years of Bubba in the White House. However, there are a variety of reasons to refuse to coalesce around any candidate until the GOP convention:

  • All of the candidates need a friendly napalm shower to vulcanize them for the campaign proper, when Obama shows just what a transformational, healing unifier he is. The GOP nominee will stand accused of everything short of being a terrorist insurgent from Bulungi. Prep responses now.
  • When the Tea Party lends its support, the nominee had better know that the Progressive Era isn’t restin’, ain’t pinin’ for the fjords, it is effing DEAD. Actual reform had better ensue, or the nominee can expect backlash. Tea Partiers are getting their realpolitik in early.
  • Also dead: the whole cult of personality thing. Personal regard is where you find it, and it’s great if you can be friendly toward your candidate, and they toward you. But they Are Not Your Friend. Whoever gets to come in and tidy up after #OccupyResoluteDesk is going to have to make tough calls. Step on toes that might be connected to your feet. Club your illusions about rapid policy improvements like a baby seal.

Romney is being quite savvy in lining up the Christine O’Donnell and Nikki Haley support. These are the fresh faces that can hopefully give him a personality transplant, at least temporarily.

Category: American Power, Michelle Malkin, Politics, Republicans

Comments

30 Responses to “Sean Hannity Flummoxed By Michelle Malkin”

  1. Lisa Graas
    December 17th, 2011 @ 12:12 am

    And again I say….insert thing I shouldn’t say here. Also…..Rick Santorum 2012. Just sayin’…

  2. ThePaganTemple
    December 17th, 2011 @ 10:00 am

    Nicky Haley is going to want that Romney money bomb in her corner when she runs for re-election. It’s just that simple. She’s smart enough to know if she wants the support of the establishment she has to play the establishment game.

  3. ThePaganTemple
    December 17th, 2011 @ 10:20 am

    And the same with Coulter. She might be thinking she might get a cushy gig, like WH Press Secretary, but its hard to believe she’s stupid enough to think she could get an appointment like that from the likes of Mitt Romney. Bachmann maybe, or possibly Perry, but that’s about it. I have enormous respect for Michelle Malkin for sticking to her principles. Too bad nobody else is.

    Hmmmm. Wonder if Bob Barr is going to be running again next year.

  4. palinsupporter
    December 17th, 2011 @ 11:01 am

    Bob Barr is not running!

  5. Charles
    December 17th, 2011 @ 11:05 am

    Sean Hannity seems to want to circle the wagons before anyone votes in the caucuses and primaries. That might  be the thing to do in March or April. But now? I would remind Sean that it will take more than Hannity-style conservatives to win this election in the fall.

  6. PhilipJames
    December 17th, 2011 @ 11:51 am

    Good for Michelle. Sean is starting to show his shallow level of resolve for Conservatism…  he is heading to the safety corner because it is getting a little messy right now. I think he realized just how close to the typical Rino Republican camp the top candidates are.. no matter what they say.
    Michelle is right…  Romney and Gingrich are NOT Tea Party types and we should all remember that. (Not that any of the others are without their problems)

  7. Dcmick
    December 17th, 2011 @ 11:53 am

    There were two genuine Republicans with the power, the intellect and the sheer force of will to take on entrenched power and impose transformation, reform if you will.

    Both were tried and tested, both faced tremendous challenges, both did what most thought could not be done.

    One turned around New York City, and in the doing “conserved” the city for the nation.

    The other gained control of a House, against the political gale winds of gerrymandered districts and a liberal media howling the entire way to majority status.

    NOBODY else has that stature, that intelligence, that personality, that ego required to seriously even attempt reforming Washington, and the manner in which things are done and understood inside the Beltway.

    One isn’t running this go around after he was rejected last time.

    The other is Gingrich.

    Four years ago we made a mistake when we went with the war hero; we could have went with a guy who was number 3 at Justice, who imagined trying the mafia commission as a single entity, and prevailed, who took on organized crime, who then went on to defeat against Dinkins, then ultimate victory.   And then the battle really began for him.

    Gingrich’s accomplishments display a discipline, {for any of a mind to question his discipline, try writing a book, Gingrich has written two dozen, on various subjects under the Sun}, his track record demonstrates a tenaciousness, a determination to reframe, to think outside the box if you will, that NO OTHER REPUBLICAN of note has demonstrated, or  presently demonstrates.

    Paul Ryan’s accomplishments consist of demonstrating a narrow budgetary expertise that is evident nowhere else.  And consists of proposing budgetary plans rejected by his own party.  Gingrich meanwhile gained control of a legislative chamber first, then imposed his budgetary discipline on an unwilling Senate AND executive branch.

    That’s just a single example of what Gingrich did.

    The only thing that Romney has demonstrated is the ability to campaign like a sneak, and demonstrate to a finality that the GOP doesn’t like him or want him. 

  8. Anonymous
    December 17th, 2011 @ 11:56 am

    I don’t think Hannity understands the purpose of a primary.  Its not meant to be a pep rally for the party.

    If Romney or Newt can’t handle GOP grassroots criticism like Malkin’s, then what are they going to do in the general when the Lefties come out guns blazing? 

    Sometimes, I wonder about the intestinal fortitude on our side.  

  9. Daily Pundit
    December 17th, 2011 @ 12:21 pm

    […] on December 17, 2011 9:20 am by Bill Quick Sean Hannity Flummoxed By Michelle Malkin : The Other McCain Romney is being quite savvy in lining up the Christine O’Donnell and Nikki Haley support. These […]

  10. Leslie Eastman
    December 17th, 2011 @ 1:43 pm

    Hannity strikes me as a GOP tool.  Malkin is the real deal, when it comes to a serious critique of politics ans current events.

  11. Anonymous
    December 17th, 2011 @ 1:49 pm

    Obviously, the Herman Cain and Sarah Palin episodes show that “our” side has no intestinal fortitude.

    People who call themselves Conservative easily let themselves be bullied by so-called Republicans when things get messy.

  12. AngelaTC
    December 17th, 2011 @ 1:52 pm

    Barr just endorsed Romney.

  13. AngelaTC
    December 17th, 2011 @ 1:54 pm

    Not sure how you define discipline, but Gingrich was ousted from the House by his own party because they couldn’t trust him to stick by any single position.   

  14. AngelaTC
    December 17th, 2011 @ 1:55 pm

    She’s got principled fiscal conservative credentials, that’s for sure. 

  15. AngelaTC
    December 17th, 2011 @ 1:56 pm

    Republicans are certainly far more likely to be bullies than diplomats these days. 

  16. Jacob
    December 17th, 2011 @ 2:00 pm

    Sorry, I’m done with arguments over purity, especially since Santorum is anything but a perfect conservative.  We can’t afford a second Obama term, I want the Republican that can knock him off and the only one that can is Mitt Romney.

    I’m not going to wake up with that Sharon Angle/Christine O’Donnell hangover because we decided to get picky. 

  17. ThomasD
    December 17th, 2011 @ 2:41 pm

    Romney is a slower version of Obama .  He’s GWB if GWB never went to
    Texas, and instead remained surrounded by left wing east coast elites.

    Few things would convey the message to all establishment types that the game is changing quite like Romney’s (figurative) head on a pike outside the entrance to the convention.

    Trading Romney for Obama might make some feel better about their future, much like Novocaine makes one feel better about root canal.

  18. Adjoran
    December 17th, 2011 @ 3:03 pm

    Baloney.  You have no freakin’ idea what you are talking about.  Haley has been nothing but a pain in “the establishment’s” butt since she first hit the legislature.  Her fighting with the corrupt Republicans has earned her even more enmity.

    Oh, wait, that’s right – you support Bachmann, who has Wes Donohue as spokesperson in SC, so truth and decency mean nothing to you, nothing at all.

  19. John Higgins1990
    December 17th, 2011 @ 3:11 pm

    I voted for Perot in ’92, and am not ashamed. 
    I voted for McCain in ’08, and hated myself.
    I won’t ever “hold my nose” and vote again. 

  20. Adjoran
    December 17th, 2011 @ 3:13 pm

    Throwing Haley under the bus proves these people are not for reform at all.  Groups like TPX and Freedom Works were elected by any Tea Party attendees or anyone else.  They exist to promote themselves and their influence and probably to make money.

    If you don’t support Haley, you aren’t for reform.  PERIOD. 

    Once again, the Purity Police is willing to dump on a conservative reformer because of a disagreement on one political issue.  This reflects neither any practical sense of possibility nor sufficient maturity to be a reform-leading movement.

  21. ThePaganTemple
    December 17th, 2011 @ 3:25 pm

    I stand by what I said, every word of it. There is absolutely no other reason for Haley to support Romney. If she’s not satisfied with the others, that’s fine, she could just say what a lot of the others have said, “we have a strong field and I just want to wait and see who prevails, and at that time I will support whoever wins the nomination.” Then she’d be on solid ground, even if that nominee turned out to be Romney. But sorry, this shit smacks of a deal.

  22. ThomasD
    December 17th, 2011 @ 4:01 pm

    Your argument would be all well and good, except that it could just as easily be applied to Haley’s (and others) approach to Gingrich.

    Haley can certainly choose to support whomever she wishes, and really only the voters of SC will get a say.  And, more importantly, hopefully they will base their assessment of her on what she actually accomplishes, as Governor, for the people of SC.

  23. ThePaganTemple
    December 17th, 2011 @ 4:34 pm

    Another one bought off.

  24. ThePaganTemple
    December 17th, 2011 @ 4:36 pm

    Absolutely wrong. When you back a reform movement, you expect just that-reform, not payoffs.

  25. Dcmick
    December 18th, 2011 @ 12:47 pm

    Try writing a book, and that will give you a real understanding of what mental discipline consists of.

  26. Dcmick
    December 18th, 2011 @ 12:49 pm

    There’s a great many things that a Hannity doesn’t understand, and what’s more, is incapable of understanding.

  27. Dcmick
    December 18th, 2011 @ 12:51 pm

    Malkin also suffers from defects.

    The foremost of which is her penchant for being a scold, as if she were more highminded than all others.

    It’s one thing to call for strict purity on all essentials from the outside.

    It’s another thing to enter a world where nothing can be done without political persuasion or compromise.

  28. Dcmick
    December 18th, 2011 @ 12:56 pm

    Yes, and politicians who campaigned on reform and then fail to deliver, bring the entire notion of democracy into disrepute.

    EACH and EVERY election has now become akin to a jury trial, where the jurors, {the voters} have to make an initial assessment on CREDIBILITY.

    We can no longer take anything that a politician says at face value, WHICH ERODES and ultimately OBLITERATES the ability of the citizen to exercise audit over the actions and inactions of his representatives.

    What is going on in Washington is TREMENDOUSLY unhealthy for America’s body politick.  And we will surely reap a whirlwind if we allow it to much continue.

    Which means that the ENTIRE ROMNEY candidacy, his entire morbid quest to exalt himself, is WOUNDING America’s democratic institutions and instincts.

    He’s a menace, and yet some are out there applauding this masterpiece of mendacity as the touchstone of truthfulness in the GOP.    Steyn for instance rips into Gingrich as being a totalitarian, failing to note that genuine totalitarians gain power by FRAUD, BY FALSEHOODS, by lies, by concealing who and what they are, by pandering and by saying one thing to one audience and yet another to one different.

    Unbelievable!

  29. Bob Belvedere
    December 18th, 2011 @ 5:06 pm

    I will ask Newt’s ghostwriter.
    http://acidfreepulp.com/2011/12/17/the-elusive-ghostwriter/

  30. Bob Belvedere
    December 18th, 2011 @ 5:10 pm

    I like the pike idea.  We’d need a few of them, however.  For Cryin’ John Boehner, Granny Mitch McConnell, Newton Leory Gingrich, John ‘Grumpy’ McCain, Miss Lindsey Graham, et. al..