The Other McCain

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

Santorum Resurgent (But Nobody Loves the Future U.S. Ambassador to Vanuatu)

Posted on | February 13, 2012 | 28 Comments

After working on a long (and still unpublished) draft post this morning, I checked Memeorandum and saw these headlines:

Santorum’s Turn
— National Review

Santorum moves ahead in Michigan
— Public Policy Polling

Gingrich Money Hunt Faces Obstacles
— New York Times

All of which stories were published after I sent my column to The American Spectator last night and yet — if we judge by the Memeorandum aggregation — no bloggers are linking my column, which prefigures everything that these other stories are all about.

That’s what happens to writers whom Tabitha Hale decides are “Not Good Enough for BlogCon,” you see: No matter what you do, everybody ignores it, because they know that everything you do completely sucks. Your friends are embarrassed to be associated with you, and next thing you know, you have no friends at all. Hell, even I am ashamed to link my column now:

Several reporters, photographers, and TV camera crews were crowded into a small conference room Friday afternoon at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel in Washington. Hundreds of people were lined up outside the room, waiting to enter the “Rick Santorum Meet & Greet” which the program of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) listed as scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. The appointed time slipped past and, like the crowd waiting in line, some in the media gang inside the room began to grow impatient at the delayed arrival of the candidate, who had given a well-received speech that morning in the hotel’s main ballroom.
“We’re a long way from Iowa,” I remarked to Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley, recalling how few reporters had covered the underdog candidate during the long months he spent crisscrossing the Hawkeye State and speaking to small groups of Republican voters. A mere two months earlier, in mid-December, Santorum had been sixth in the Real Clear Politics average of Iowa polls, with less than six percent. He had somehow miraculously surged to a win in Iowa, then endured a month of disappointing finishes in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada, Now, fresh from triple victories last Tuesday in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri, the former Pennsylvania senator was riding a wave of momentum, attracting the kind of crowds (and swarming media coverage) that follow a bona fide presidential contender. . . .

Whatever you do, don’t read the whole thing, because I suck.

(Yes, I understand that my feelings of worthlessness may be symptomatic of Post-CPAC Syndrome, a type of depression resulting from the realization that it’s another 36o days until the next one.)

Update (Smitty): can we exert enough peer pressure to get Belvedere to come down with Da Tech Guy next year?

Category: American Spectator, CPAC, Election 2012, Rick Santorum

Comments

28 Responses to “Santorum Resurgent (But Nobody Loves the Future U.S. Ambassador to Vanuatu)”

  1. Bob Belvedere
    February 13th, 2012 @ 2:34 pm

    I will be linking – in posting wrapping up your coverage of CPAC – when I get home from work.

    You jumped the gun on this one, not waiting for the evening flurry of blogging.  Many are like me: we read it at work and then link when we get home [I did praise it in a comment I left on another post of your’s].

  2. Bob Belvedere
    February 13th, 2012 @ 2:35 pm

     Also, a number of wait until you post about your TAS columns here at TOM, so we can link both [two hits is better than one, Gonzo-Breath].

  3. Charles
    February 13th, 2012 @ 3:00 pm

    No one linked my post “Newt Gingrich Suffers His Gettysburg in Jacksonville Debate” either. http://www.leftbankofthecharles.com/2012/01/newt-gingrich-suffers-his-gettysburg-in.html

  4. Dan
    February 13th, 2012 @ 3:13 pm

    I agree with Professor Jacobson over at Legal Insurrection.  ONLY AFTER Santorum has demonstrated that he can weather the storm, only then should there be a rushing onto his bandwagon.

    Heretofore Santorum has campaigned in the shadow of other men,who have either been beaten down by that storm, or at the very least, been weighed down under it.   But that now is going to change, and change fast.

    Thunderheads even now approach him.

    The guy that campaigned for Specter’s ill-advised GOP nomination bid, the guy that has voted for a host of things he’ll now have to explain, let that man prove to us that his numbers will not be devastated as have those of others before him.

    I for my part do not have any confidence whatsoever in his ability to stand the strain that will come.  

    We’ll see.

  5. Anonymous
    February 13th, 2012 @ 3:20 pm

    You know, don’t you, that Newt is a carpetbagger originally from Pennsylvania?

  6. K-Bob
    February 13th, 2012 @ 3:36 pm

    If I had a political blog, and if I were to write about CPAC and Rick Santorum, and if I wanted to properly ascertain who had been covering Rick Santorum’s campaign, even when it was in low numbers,  especially since that would give me the proper background, then I would be happy to link to the American Spectator article by Stacy McCain.

    That’s just the kind of guy I would probably be.

  7. McGehee
    February 13th, 2012 @ 3:44 pm

     I’m no great fan of Santorum, but if he’s the syphilitic camel who can prevent the “nonexistent” GOP establishment from handing Obama a second term, so be it.

  8. Patrick
    February 13th, 2012 @ 4:03 pm

    Cheese meet Whine… Just sayin Stacy. Jebus. I didn’t go either; but I’m not sulking over it.

    ^_^

     

  9. smitty
    February 13th, 2012 @ 4:27 pm

    . . .symptomatic of Post-CPAC Syndrome, a type of depression resulting from the realization that it’s another 36o days until the next one.

    You’re only bummed because you’re not plotting to make CPAC13 better still. We really should, if I may drop the p-word, plan to get more done at the next CPAC. If only as therapy.

  10. Adjoran
    February 13th, 2012 @ 4:29 pm

     But he grew up in France, so . . .

  11. Adjoran
    February 13th, 2012 @ 4:35 pm

     Part of being a contender is the extra scrutiny.  Nobody cared about some of Gary Johnson’s issues, either, but if he had become a contender – hoo boy!

    But with Jacobson, you must realize he is 100% in the tank for Gingrich.  He’s lost all of his considerable credibility over it AFAIC.  No lie is too big, nothing cannot be spun the other way, all Newt, all the time.

    So while his argument may be valid, everyone should know where he is coming from.  He was not so reticent to sell his soul for Newt when the shoe was on another foot, remember? 

  12. Adjoran
    February 13th, 2012 @ 4:49 pm

    Look, these kids running these things aren’t interested in some old guy in a funny hat telling stories about ancient times when only well-to-do people had remote controls for their TVs – and we all only had three channels, seriously!  They have no idea what an “ink-stained wretch” even is, for crying out loud, but they are pretty sure it isn’t as cool as an iPhone.

    Get one of those handsome sons of yours, have Wombat wire him up with a transmitter, and put him out as the face of the blog.  When he’s on a panel, you can tell him what to say with the transmitter.  In between, Tabby and Conor can socialize with him and not feel like they are in the principal’s office.

    Just remember not to lapse into old-guy stories about smoke-filled rooms and whirring webs of newsprint whining to a halt for a re-plating because the ace reporter just brought in a scoop.

     

  13. Anonymous
    February 13th, 2012 @ 4:50 pm

    There is a backstory, Patrick, which I don’t really care to get into.

    However, I keep bringing it up to remind readers of the point that this exclusion was damaging to my reputation, and thus harmful to my career. It was not an imaginary injury, in other words, nor am I of the opinion that the injury was entirely accidental.

    So when tangible evidence of the harm catches my attention, when some of my more important or insightful work is neglected because of the impression that I am an inconsequential nobody — an impression which the cited exclusion conveyed, intentionally or not — I will call attention to it, lest anyone get the mistaken idea that I have misjudged the extent of my injury.

  14. John
    February 13th, 2012 @ 5:55 pm

    Woo-hoo!  The big government loving social conservative has overtaken the big government loving liberal conservative!

  15. smitty
    February 13th, 2012 @ 6:12 pm

    Of the three possibilities, I think that Rick has personally struggled harder, and is therefore relatively less likely to forget it if the Tea Parties put him over the top.

  16. CPAC Hangover « The Camp Of The Saints
    February 13th, 2012 @ 6:13 pm

    […] It’s effecting America’s favorite Gonzo reporter: (Yes, I understand that my feelings of worthlessness may be symptomatic of Post-CPAC Syndrome, a type of depression resulting from the realization that it’s another 36o days until the next one.) […]

  17. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    February 13th, 2012 @ 6:15 pm

    And he likes plural marriage and Scozzafava and Pelosi.  

  18. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    February 13th, 2012 @ 6:17 pm

    I like Rick Santorum, but if he is going to purge the GOP of libertarians, he going to find himself in Loserville.  I do not need Rick to redo what cost him re-election in Pennsylvania (and a 19 point butt whoopin).  

  19. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    February 13th, 2012 @ 6:18 pm

    Jacobson is for Newt.  But his scrutiny about Romney (and Santorum) is nothing compared to the hell storm the Democrats intend to unleash.  Better they toughen up now.  

  20. Bob Belvedere
    February 13th, 2012 @ 7:01 pm

    But who can I get to make the mask?

  21. Rob Birch
    February 13th, 2012 @ 7:41 pm

    Keep on truckin’! Just like Ron Paul 🙂

  22. Anonymous
    February 13th, 2012 @ 8:10 pm

    Jeff W and I were talking about this as well. I’m thinking that with a little bit of pre-planning and a couple Costco runs, we could host a pretty decent party our own selves without having to pay #UnsustainableBarTab prices.

  23. ThePaganTemple
    February 14th, 2012 @ 7:21 am

     That’s interesting. Did he also move there as an adult and take up missionary work there? I’m assuming he must have become fluent in the language, huh?

  24. ThePaganTemple
    February 14th, 2012 @ 7:25 am

     Funny thing about those college professors, they tend to be highly intelligent, functional, and methodical in their decision making and reasoning process. They also tend to be at least half-crazy, but Jacobson is after all a conservative, so he seems to have avoided that malady. On top of that, he’s a legal scholar, at Cornell, at top-notch university. So I would say his opinion is at least worth considering.

  25. ThePaganTemple
    February 14th, 2012 @ 7:29 am

     I think we’re in loserville regardless of who wins the nomination. Unfortunately perception is reality, and with Mitt, the perception is he’s a Wall Street shark, while the perception of Santorum is he’s a religious fanatic who would spend his time pushing a Right-To-Life Amendment the majority of the country, including yours truly, would never support. And then there’s Gingrich who is as disliked by as large a percentage of Republicans as Mitt. And then we have Ron Paul. Yeah, we’re screwed.

    Strike that, we’re not getting screwed, we’re getting gang raped.

  26. Anonymous
    February 14th, 2012 @ 7:59 am

     I hear ya Stacy. I think I might know who was involved. Same ones that were involved in the attempt to smear me. No biggie. I told the truth about those idiots. As did Debbie Schlussel. But she’s crazy according to them. She lives near me, I know she’s not crazy. Why I defended her.  I also notice that the two who smeared me, aren’t blogging anymore. At least Jenn Q Public isn’t. I could care less. I’m the real deal and those who know me personally know this.

    I just despise Identity Politics on the left AND the right; and I’m not a fan of unjustified and undeclared wars which are of the Wilsonian type. Because of this, I got branded an Anti-Semite and a racist.

    Comes with the territory. I could against you the fact that you removed my blog from your blogroll, without hearing my side of the story. Which I felt was pretty damned low.  But I won’t. water under the bridge IMHO.

     If you ever want to put me back feel free. Stand up to the right-wing fascists for a damned change. 

    Anyhow, I would just keep writing and to hell with the idiots.

    -Pat

  27. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    February 14th, 2012 @ 12:36 pm

    Stacy and Smitty:  Tell me Rick Santorum is not going to screw this up and blow it.  I can’t deal with any more conservative hopes self destructing.  

  28. ThePaganTemple
    February 14th, 2012 @ 4:55 pm

     You’ve got it all wrong. Santorum isn’t going to screw things up, because he can’t. The people who screwed things up already are the people who moaned and waxed poetic about wanting a real conservative candidate, and then when they had the chance, didn’t support her. Me, I’m done with it. I just hope no conservative justices die off over the next five years. Also no liberal ones, because it would be just as bad to replace an old bat like Ginsburg with a young prog that will be around decades. Don’t blame me, I didn’t do it.