White House plays Flight 253 blame game

The Prowler reports at the American Spectator:

[A]s it became clear internally that the Administration had suffered perhaps its most embarrassing failure in the area of national security, senior Obama White House aides, including chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod and new White House counsel Robert Bauer, ordered staff to begin researching similar breakdowns -- if any -- from the Bush Administration. "The idea was that we'd show that the Bush Administration had had far worse missteps than we ever could," says a staffer in the counsel's office. "We were told that classified material involving anything related to al Qaeda operating in Yemen or Nigeria was fair game and that we'd declassify it if necessary."
The White House, according to the source, is in full defensive spin mode. Other administration sources also say a flurry of memos were generated on December 26th, 27th, and 28th, which developed talking points about how Obama's decision to effectively shut down the Homeland Security Council (it was merged earlier this year into the National Security Council, run by National Security Adviser James Jones) had nothing to do with what Obama called a "catastrophic" failure on Christmas Day.
"This White House doesn't view the Northwest [Airlines] failure as one of national security, it's a political issue," says the White House source. "That's why Axelrod and Emanuel are driving the issue." . . .

Read the whole thing. Disgusting.

UPDATE: "White House to Critics: Stop Blaming Us While We Look For a Way To Blame Bush."

Apaches at the Tea Party

Writing at the American Spectator:

A few weeks ago, I had a long conversation with a liberal journalist who asked me, "Who do you see as the leader of the conservative movement?" I didn't have an answer, but Richard Viguerie is onto something when he emphasizes the "leaderless" quality of the Tea Party grassroots, quoting a historical study of the Apaches: "You wanted to follow Geronimo? You followed Geronimo. You didn't want to follow him? Then you didn't. The power lay with each individual." . . .

Read the rest at the Spectator, and also read Viguerie's thought-provoking article at the American Thinker.

The lameness of Adam Lambert

Let's face it, he's boring -- which my latest column at The American Spectator is certainly not:

At some point, reasonable people might expect an end to these épater les bourgeoisie gestures, as the bourgeoisie have long since ceased to be shocked by such routine public exhibitions. . . .
More than four decades have gone by since Philip Larkin poetically joked about sex having been invented in 1963, "Between the end of the Chatterley ban/And the Beatles' first LP." Nevertheless, there stubbornly persists within the self-styled "artistic community" the assumption that middle-class Americans are a bunch of repressed puritanical hypocrites badly in need of the liberating influence that only pelvic thrusts, gay kissing and the choreographed simulation of sadomasochism can provide. . . .

Read the whole thing.

(Cross-posted at Right Wing News.)

Mrs. Other McCain rocks D.C.!

Over at the American Spectator, I've posted photos of various bigwigs -- John Fund, Jeri Thompson, Roger Scruton, etc. -- having fun at the annual gala, but the No. 1 celebrity at last night's soiree was Mrs. Other McCain:

Mrs. Other McCain and I with Hannah Giles and Matthew Vadum. I'll post more photos after a while, but first I've got to upload them to Facebook.

No backing down

From my American Spectator article today:

Even while the Hoffman campaign's early-evening "cautious optimism" gave way to concern -- with staffers huddling in the "war room" here at the Hotel Saranac -- one official of New York's Conservative Party was already in a celebratory mood, laughing as he yelled into his cell phone: "Guess who will not be representing the 23rd District? Dede Scozzafava!"
The liberal Republican Scozzafava suspended her campaign four days before Election Day, but still got about 7,000 votes -- a number greater than the margin of victory for the Democrat she endorsed, Bill Owens. Her defeat was victory enough for some conservatives, on a night when the GOP swept the off-off-year gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. And the candidate who drove Scozzafava out of the race struck a defiant tone in conceding his narrow loss to Owens.
"This one was worth the fight . . . And this is only one fight in the battle," said Hoffman . . .

Read the rest. Also read Michelle Malkin's post about her determination to keep fighting.

Like I said, "This isn't over."

NY23: 'Revolution'

At the American Spectator:

Doug Hoffman campaign spokesman Rob Ryan just said the off-year congressional election in this sprawling upstate district represents a political "revolution."
"People have just stepped up to the plate," Ryan said, describing the surge of grassroots volunteer support for Hoffamn. "They're sick and tired of politics as usual. They're sick and tired of the culture of corruption in Washington. They're sick and tired of sending all their money to the IRS." . . .

Read the rest.

UPDATE: Drew M. of Ace of Spades HQ is in town! Somebody tell him to find me at the hotel restaurant. We'll have a mini-Ace-o-Palooza.

How Hoffmania beat Dede-ism

From my American Spectator column today:

Hoffman's conservative campaign effectively doomed the Republican nominee by exposing her liberal voting record in the New York legislature. If Scozzafava was "unable to effectively address many of the charges that have been made about [her] record," that was because the charges were true. After 11 years in Albany, during which she had risen to the rank of minority whip, Scozzafava had amassed a voting record more liberal than many Democratic assembly members. That her policy stances put her at odds with most Republican voters in the largely rural 23rd District was a liability that seems to have been overlooked by the GOP insiders who picked her for the nomination. Once the Hoffman campaign began hammering Scozzafava for her assembly record and positions on national issues, the Conservative Party candidate quickly gained ground against both her and the Democrat, Owens. . . .

Please read the whole thing.

NY23: The two-week turnaround

My latest American Spectator column:

What a difference two weeks can make. Toward the end of an Oct. 14 conference call organized by David Keene of the American Conservative Union, congressional candidate Doug Hoffman plaintively asked, "Does anybody know how to get Glenn Beck interested in this?"
Monday afternoon, Hoffman was interviewed on Beck's popular Fox News program, evidence of the surging momentum the Conservative Party candidate has experienced in the three-way special election campaign in update New York's 23rd District.
In the past six days, Hoffman has been endorsed by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Sen. Jim DeMint, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, former National Republican Congressional Campaign chairmen John Linder and Tom Cole…
The complete list of Hoffman endorsers is a long one, and seems to include nearly every Republican except Newt Gingrich and Dede Scozzafava, the later of whom is Hoffman's opponent, and the former her only prominent supporter. . . .

Please read the whole thing. Often in the past few days, I've thought about that Oct. 14 conference call. Lisa De Pasquale sent me a message at 3:07 p.m. that afternoon asking me to be on the 3:30 p.m. call. She didn't even tell me what it was about, but it's never a smart idea to say "no" to Lisa.

Who else was on that call? John Hawkins, I know, was one of the dozen or so bloggers on the call, and he can testify to the sense of urgency that came across so clearly. Hoffman's team believed they had the momentum. What they didn't have was (a) media and (b) money. If they could get the media attention, the money would come.

The next day, Oct. 15, the Siena poll verified that Hoffman was surging. That afternoon, I called Lisa and asked if she could get me contact info for Hoffman's staff, which she did. Early Friday, I got some little tidbits of news from them, and decided to work up a long profile piece that night. That was well-received, so I dug in on the NY23 beat and, by the night of Tuesday, Oct. 20, had already laid out my itinerary for my road trip.

First road trip, that is. I'm planning to go back tomorrow and, good Lord willing, will stay all the way through to Election Night, Nov. 3. Having seen this campaign take off like a rocket in the past two weeks, I don't want to miss the moon landing. So please contribute to the Shoe Leather Fund.

Last week's trip was more than 1,300 miles. At 20 cents per mile, that's $260. However, my 20-year-old daughter's car broke down Monday night, and she'll need the KIA Optima to get back and forth to work and college. So figure $75 a day for me to rent a car, for six days -- leaving Thursday, returning Oct. 4 -- that's $450.

As usual, two packs of cigarettes per day ($5 x 2 x 6 = $60 for the trip) and six cups of coffee a day ($2 x 6 x 6 = $72), plus two $5 fast-food meals daily ($5 x 2 x 6 = $60). It's possible I may be able to get a break on lodging for this trip, crashing free in Lake Placid with the 73wire crew through Saturday, and another reporter who's going up to the 23rd District said I can split a room with him Sunday-Tuesday ($70 x 3 = $210).

Total ballpark estimate = $1,200. Roughly $200 a day, start-to-finish. But don't think about the big numbers. Just think about $5, $10, $20, $50. If the Hoffman campaign could raise $116,000 in small donations in a single day, I ought to be able to clear $1,200 easy in the next few days, even without a Sarah Palin endorsement.

NY-23: I'm leavin' today . . .

Right to the very heart of it, upstate New York, where Doug Hoffman campaign media coordinator Rob Ryan says:

"We need money and we need it now," he said. Fundraising has been "picking up every day," Ryan said, and the Hoffman campaign is "getting donations from across the country."
However, Hoffman is battling against major party candidates, with the national GOP spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for Scozzafava -- angering conservatives like Michelle Malkin -- while the Democratic Party pours cash into the campaign coffers of its candidate, Bill Owens. . . .
The question that has puzzled conservatives for weeks is how someone as far left as Scozzafava -- who has in the past been supported by ACORN -- managed to get picked by the state GOP in this conservative district. Hoffman has said Republican "party bosses, the lords of the backroom, made this selection."
Online activist Michael Patrick Leahy similarly summarizes the process. "The nomination of Scozzafava was orchestrated by two powerful liberal members of the local Republican Party organization," Leahey wrote at TCOT Report, "and was aided and abetted by several politically inexperienced local county leaders who failed to grasp the tactical significance of shunning the Conservative Party and did not fully understand the details of their nominee's record, or her potential vulnerabilities."
Some observers consider it possible that Scozzafava will finish third in the Nov. 3 vote, which would be a sharp rebuke to the GOP leadership in Washington that twisted arms in a failed effort to get more Republican support for the party's liberal nominee. . . .

That's from my latest article at The American Spectator, so read the whole thing. Ever since March 2008, when I decided to head to Pennsylvania and cover Hillary Clinton's campaign, it's been a pleasure working with the great folks at the Spectator.

What's great about being a freelancer is that, if I've got an idea for a story, I basically assign myself to it. So last March, I called up my editor at the Spectator, told him that Hillary would be appearing within a few hours' drive of my house, he said, "OK," and off I went.

Kind of cool, especially after so many years of being stuck in the office most days as an assistant editor on the national desk at The Washington Times. Going out on the road to cover a story reminds me of my glorious younger days as a small-town sports editor, rolling down the highway en route to a big track meet or basketball tournament.

That's just more fun than sitting around an office all day, and I do better work when I'm having fun. While covering Hillary in West Virginia, I got a chance to meet Chelsea Clinton, who is nice (and quite pretty in person, with lovely eyes). My Spectator reporting on the Libertarian Party convention was praised as the "best national coverage" by Rocky Mountain News columnist Dave Kopel.

When I went back to Denver for the Democratic National Convention, I got to hang out with Michelle Malkin, Jim Hoft, Andrew Marcus, Stephen Green, Charlie Martin and Jason "Big Sexy" Mattera. Then I went on the road to cover Sarah Palin -- "Sweetheart of the Heartland" and "Stickin' With the Hockey Mom."

Great fun, but kind of expensive for a freelancer. Despite the growth in online media, it doesn't pay as much as the print variety. The occasional shweeet check for contributions to the print edition of the Spectator -- like my 3,000-word feature about IG-Gate in the September issue -- is helpful. Still, I've got to find other sources of revenue, so I also write for Pajamas Media and Taki's Magazine.

Obviously, this spans a wide ideological spectrum. The Spectator is what's called "Movement Conservative," while PJM leans more toward the neo-conservative side and Taki's . . .

OK, some of my neocon friends recoil in horror and won't even click the links to my Taki's articles. However, their brilliant (though radically Nietzschean) editor, Richard Spencer, really enjoys good writing. They let me do fun things like my Gonzo slam on Culture 11, and despite the guilt-by-association factor -- some of Spencer's hard-core paleo friends are aghast at his linkage to me -- it's an opportunity I appreciate.

It's the fun factor of journalism that keeps me from going completely Johnsonoid in this blogospheric madhouse of fierce partisanship. Even in the grimmest of blog-wars, I try to have fun, because if you're not having fun, why bother?

All this is a long way of saying how much I appreciate reader contributions to the Shoe Leather Fund, which help defray expenses of my occasional road-trips to cover the news. Sean in New Orleans kicks in for gas and says, "God Bless." Mike in El Segundo hit the tip jar for a whole carton of smokes. One of these days, I'm going to get smart and start a "Buy Me a Jaguar XJ" tip jar. But a carton of smokes and a 2004 KIA, that's still pretty cool.

By hitting the tip jar to subsidize my reporting, you're enabling me to provide exclusive coverage at a deep discount rate. Undercut the competition, like Sam Walton, see? Chip in California, Barbara in Kentucky, Nathan in Missouri, Jeff in Walla Walla, Washington -- you're the patrons of a new style of journalism, where the readers are essentially the assignment editors.

By deciding whether to pay for the trip, you decide whether I cover the story. Maybe next spring, you can send me to Daytona Beach for Spring Break. Just sayin' . . .

For now, I'm on the road to upstate New York, where I'll be covering Doug Hoffman -- my travel itinerary and budget needs are here -- and you can expect regular updates here.

Finally! Somebody invites me to a major gathering of conservative activists

This Erik Telford "let's not invite Stacy" thing was starting to annoy me, but apparently Telford's influence doesn't extend to The American Spectator, which not only invited me to attend, but invited all my friends, too:

The American Spectator
2009 Robert L. Bartley Gala Dinner
Celebrating Conservative Journalism with a Wink & a Smile
Mix and mingle with prominent national journalists, business leaders, policymakers, and others who champion economic freedom, individual liberty, and the values of a free society.

Keynote Speaker
The Honorable Mike Pence

Barbara Olson Award for
Excellence in Journalism Recipient
Daniel Henninger

Presenters
Alfred S. Regnery, R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. & Other Friends

Entertainment
Alex Donner & His Orchestra

The Capital Hilton, Washington, DC
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Reception: 6:30 p.m.
Dinner & Awards Ceremony: 7:30 p.m.
Dancing to Follow
Cocktail Attire

All that for only $250! Wow! But wait . . . there's more!

Yes, by special arrangement with the American Spectator, I can promise that everyone who attends will have the opportunity to meet Mrs. Other McCain and tell her personally how cool her husband is.

What the heck are you waiting for? RSVP now! You can also call Patrick Pyles at (703) 807-2011 ext. 25 or e-mail Patrick for more information. .

* "Cocktail attire" means that young, atttractive female guests are required to wear their slinkiest and most revealing Little Black Dresses.

Who is S.L. Toddard?

He left a snarky comment on my American Spectator story, and merits a response in the Hot Air Green Room:

Mr. Toddard, what you are doing is what psychologists call "projection." Evidence and facts are irrelevant to your own worldview, yet you wish to be considered a rational, well-informed person, so you project onto scapegoated "Right-Wing militants" your own faults and errors. You should seek professional help.
Quite obviously, a man who drives 570 miles to Clay County, Ky., to find out what's actually happening here cares more about the facts than a man who just sits around ranting about "poison flowing from the right wing media sewer." . . .

Read the whole thing.

Fear & Loathing at Ragged Rock Ridge

We were a few miles out of Sperryville, doing 90 mph along State Route 231, when the acid kicked in . . .

The American Spectator's Annual Pig Roast at Al Regnery's rural estate, nestled among the Virginia foothills of the Blue Ridge, has become notorious as a scene of wicked right-wing depravity. Imagine an event that mixes the worst elements of Haight-Ashbury during the summer of '67, imperial Rome during the reign of Nero, and the infield at the Talladega 500.

Exactly what they do to that pig before it's roasted . . . well, Al doesn't need a bunch of PETA pests protesting next year's event, so I'll leave that part to your twisted imagination.

Among the non-porcine delicacies available, this year's event featured Virginia's own Wasmund's Single Malt Whiskey, of which I tasted a mere half-teaspoon, having sworn off strong spirits after the infamous 2000 Christmas party at Ralph and Millie's.

As usual, the firing range was open, with a choice of firearms and free ammunition for those who forgot to bring their own ordnance. (I fired four rounds from a .40 semi-auto pistol before it jammed. I cleared the jam and handed the pistol back to the rangemaster. "Oh, you can fire more," he said, to which I replied, "Nah. That's fine. I just wanted to be able to say I did it.")

Alcohol, firearms -- oh, almost forgot the tobacco. Richard Miniter, editorial page editor of The Washington Times, was smoking thick black Dominican cigars. But that's not exactly what you'd call "news." No one's seen Rich without a cigar since fourth grade.

Rumors that shortly before sunset I was seen hot-dogging a Yamaha quadrunner up the mountainside at full speed are neither confirmed nor denied.

Road Rage and Earlier Departures
Blog buddies Smitty and Track-A-'Crat had been invited as my guests. They arrived about 3 p.m., but for some strange reason skipped out before five o'clock. However, I didn't know this, because Ragged Rock Ridge is at least 20 miles from the nearest place you can get cell-phone reception.

My own arrival had been unfortunately delayed by a long detour when a Virginia State Trooper blue-lighted me near Front Royal. Most folks would give at least 5-to-1 odds against outrunning a high-performance Crown Vic in a 2004 KIA Optima, but it's not about the car, it's about the driver, and if I'm doing 110 mph and he's coming off a dead start . . .

Well, you do the math. At any rate, when I showed up about 5:30 p.m., the boom-boom-boom from the firing range was so heavy, I thought somebody had accidentally lit the fireworks finale before it got dark. (No fireworks, Al? If I live to see next year's event, we'll do something about that.)

Just as I was getting out of my car, legendary conservative fundraiser Richard Viguerie's big Lincoln Continental came rolling down the muddy driveway, and I signalled him to lower his window. From what Viguerie told me in our brief conversation, I gathered that the proceedings had already descended into the customary bacchanalia, and Viguerie was probably wise to leave before the scene got too weird.

This may explain the early departure of my blogger guests. The annual Pig Roast is not for the faint of heart. Spectator staffers are the most hard-partying bunch of outlaws in the D.C. press corps, and the Pig Roast is for them what the '65 Labor Day run to Monterrey was for the Hell's Angels.

Hannibal Lecter Sends His Regrets
Perhaps I should have warned my guests about the intensity of the Pig Roast experience. When I called Smitty later, he didn't answer; probably too traumatized by the frenzied madness that occurs once every September up on that hill. Folks around Sperryville won't go anywhere near the place at Pig Roast time, what with the rumors of cannibalism, human sacrifice, bizarre pagan rituals and so forth.

Wherever you find guns, cigars and whiskey, good-looking womenfolk are sure to be flocking 'round, and I had my camera handy for the occasion. Of course, most of those photos won't ever see the light of day. At least let's hope it never comes to that. "Extortion" has a very narrow legal definition, and my Samoan attorney is perhaps overzealous in pursuing libel actions. At any rate, out of several dozen pictures taken at the Pig Roast, here are the tiny handful of photos that don't actually show anything illegal, immoral or unethical.

New York conservative activist Nina Rosenwald and Spectator editor-in-chief R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. Although you can't actually see anything unethical in this photo, not all conflicts of interest can be proven photographically.

Spectator advertising manager Catherine Ruddy is single and, even with Virginia's finest single malt available, still prefers white wine. Call 703-807-2011 to place an ad or propose marriage.

Wlady Pleszczynski, babe magnet and editorial director of the Spectator, fends off unwanted advances from the magazine's advertising manager. Wlady handles all letters-to-the-editor, and has been known to reply to letters of complaint with a brief note informing the complainers that he's already reported them to the FBI.

Kerry Picket of The Washington Times and W. James Antle III, associate editor of the Spectator. Notice the Sig Sauer 9-mm semi-auto holstered on Kerry's right hip. Notice the insane fear in Jim's eyes.

Audrey Regnery, myself, James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal, and Alfred S. Regnery, the Pig Roast host and publisher of the Spectator. If Taranto looks like he's had a bit too much of the Wasmund's Single Malt, you should have seen him earlier, when he was reportedly skinny-dipping in Al's catfish pond.

As we were departing the event, Taranto's car was ahead of my KIA on the narrow dirt road, until I pulled a Dale Earnhart move, passed him on a blind curve and left him eating my dust. He ain't been linking me enough lately . . .

Well, I'm off to Kentucky to cover the Sparkman murder, about which Dan Riehl offers his own speculation. Looks like I'm running a bit late, if I want to be filing datelines from Clay County by noon, so I'll probably have to make the run at full speed. If any of those Virginia troopers along I-81 want to try their luck again, we'll see if they can catch the KIA.

Maybe I'll be a tad late getting to Manchester, Ky., but don't worry. Probably just another high-speed detour along the backroads. HTTJYUB.

'You'd be surprised what some of these morons write on the Internet'

Actually, I'm not surprised at all, but I'm grateful the guy who answered the phone was willing to talk when he got a call from me past 10 p.m. on a Saturday. My brief report for The American Spectator:

"Yes, we are concerned about what people are saying on the blogs," a Kentucky law enforcement official said Saturday night, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The murder of Bill Sparkman in Clay County, Ky., has caused bloggers to engage in widespread speculation about the motive for the killing. Sparkman was employed part-time conducting a Census Bureau survey. . . .
The Kentucky State Police are coordinating the investigation of Sparkman's death. Trooper First Class Don Trosfer, based in the agency's London, Ky., Post 11 is the official spokesman for the investigation, but was unavailable for comment late Saturday.
Another law-enforcement source, not authorized to speak about the case, said state and local officials are working closely with the FBI on the investigation. Internet gossip is a source of concern, he said.
"You'd be surprised what some of these morons write on the Internet . . . that they wouldn't say to somebody's face," the official said in a brief telephone interview. . . .

Read the whole story. Two phone calls and a little research was all it took to get that story. Oh, by the way: Bill Sparkman worked for a decade as a reporter in his native Florida. He deserves some decent journalism, and not baseless rumor-mongering.

UPDATE 1:50 a.m.: Well, folks, it looks like I'm going to be Kentucky-bound to cover this story in person -- another one of those double-dog-dare-ya adventures in shoe-leather reporting.

Thanks to TB in North Carolina, BD in Maryland, AL in Rhode Island, a big thanks to JS in Virginia, and a huge thanks to Nathan in Missouri, the Shoe Leather Reporting Fund quickly collected enough to get me to Kentucky and back.

Additional contributions are welcome, to enable me to extend this trip. Just got off the phone with the lady at the desk of a hotel near I-75, about 20 miles from Manchester, Ky. A single room is about $95 per night, tax included. If you figure 2 packs of smokes/day at $5 each, five cups coffee/day at $2 each, continental breakfast comes with the room, so two meals/day at $5 each -- the basic daily expenses come to $125. Of course, I've got regular bills to pay, but I'll worry about that later.

Just think about Andrew Sullivan sitting there in Pathum, Thailand -- I'm not kidding -- lecturing Michelle Malkin (!) on conservatism:

By the way, there is nothing conservative about Southern populism.

OK, Sully, enjoy your Thai holiday, while I get my 2004 KIA ready for a 500-mile road trip to Clay County, Kentucky (Monday's forecast for Manchester, Ky.: High 70F, low 47F, cloudy, 20% chance of rain) and let me show you how it's done. You just go on back to speculating about Sarah Palin's uterus and leave Kentucky to me.

C'mon, dear brothers, can I get an "amen"?

CORRECTION: I don't think Sully's actually in Thailand. His "View From Your Window" feature seems to be about readers e-mailing him photos of the view from thir windows, rather than his own global photographic travelogue.

My mistake and I'm happy to correct it. Harvard-educated, obstretric-obsessive, AIDS-infected, dope-smoking British immigrants don't have a monopoly on jumping to incorrect conclusions, you know.

BTW, some people have a crazy hunch this Kentucky thing might involve teenagers and the horrorcore rap scene. Maybe they're wrong about that, too . . .

A Civility Lesson for Young Gentlemen: The Art of Courteous Correspondence

Technology advances, but the requirements of courtesy endure. As print journalism has given way to online, and as the e-mail has supplanted the written letter, it is unfortunate that civility has suffered.

Once upon a time, the "poison pen" letter -- through which defamation was carried on by secret correspondence -- could lead to bloody duels, if ever the identity of the author could be discovered by the target of his falsehoods.

So when some vile creature with a Hotmail account sought to attack me by sending an e-mail to my editor -- in response to an AmSpecBlog post, and specifically demanding that I never be published in the print edition of the American Spectator -- he perhaps little suspected that his malicious missive would be forwarded to me by my dear friend Wlady Pleszczynski.

How should a gentleman respond to such an attack? With the utmost possible civility, to wit:

Dear Mr. D----:
You are entitled to your own opinions, but not to your own facts. To say that my "blogs provide nothing but red meat for people that could really use a bit less red meat" is contrary to fact, as I have repeatedly used AmSpecBlog to REPORT NEWS of which the readers might otherwise have been unaware, to wit:

• What Has Amtrak's Interim IG Been Up To?
• Could ACORN Video Maker Be Prosecuted Under Maryland Law
• RightOnline: Changing the World, One Mind at a Time
• Senators Seek Answer From ITG About IG
• Alaska Blogger Who Pushed Palin 'Divorce' Rumor Resigns From Anchorage School
• IG-Gate Update: 'No Doubt' Political Pressure Led to His Firing, Walpin Says

As for my inclusion in the print edition, if you'll turn to page 46 of the September issue, you'll find my article, "The War on Watchdogs," about the brewing Inspectors General scandal. At 3,000 words, it is the most extensive print article written on this topic to date, and is now available online in its entirety.
If you were actually a reader of the magazine, you would have already known this, just as, had you been a regular reader of AmSpecBlog, you would have known how much exclusive news reporting I have done there.
The discrepancy between your opinion and the demonstrable facts prompts me to ponder your motive in writing to my editor (whom I CC with BCC to others, including my personal attorney). It would be a matter for a jury to decide whether, as a matter of law, you have endeavored by libelous assertions, transmitted in such manner to my supervisors, to deprive me of gainful employment. Yet I will content myself to have been vindicated by the facts, and will ask only that you cease further efforts to disseminate these unjust and defamatory falsehoods against me, as I desire only to remain
Your most humble and obedient servant,
--
Robert Stacy McCain
Co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of DONKEY CONS: Sex, Crime & Corruption in the Democratic Party

Honesty, courtesy and courage will always triumph against a lying coward.

IG-Gate EXCLUSIVE in September 2009 print edition of The American Spectator

"The War On Watchdogs" is the most in-depth, comprehensive print article on the inspectors general scandal published to date, including this excerpt from near the end:

IN JUNE, THE HOUSE PASSED the Improved Financial and Commodity Markets Oversight and Accountability Act, which would give the president authority to dismiss and replace inspectors general at five financial regulatory agencies. . . . The bill was sponsored by Rep. John Larson (D-CT), who argued that making these IGs presidential appointees would make them more "independent" and "ensure better performance from government agencies." The IGs themselves strongly disagreed, testifying in opposition to the bill. . . . The Larson bill was also criticized by Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, which tracks government watchdogs. "I think you can be more independent reporting to a bipartisan board than being at the mercy of the president's good graces," Brian told the Washington Post.
If the Larson bill was opposed by the IGs themselves, and if presidential appointment might actually undermine, rather than enhance, the watchdogs' independence, what was the legislation intended to accomplish? That question was posed to me by a Republican congressional investigator who pointed out that Larson is a prominent "Friend of Chris"-- that is, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) who has come under intense criticism for his close, and perhaps corrupt, ties to the financial industry. Being a "Friend of Chris" may be entirely coincidental to Larson's IG bill, but it is certainly a curious coincidence at a time when the scandal-plagued Dodd is preparing for a tough 2010 reelection bid and will need more help than ever from the banking, investment, and insurance firms that have so generously contributed to his campaigns in the past. This is just one of several coincidences -- like the First Lady's relationship to AmeriCorps and the vice president's relationship to Amtrak -- that seemed to cluster around the IG story as it developed in the weeks following the White House ultimatum to Walpin. . . .

The entire article is nearly 3,000 words, so read the whole thing. The complete September issue is also now online, but you can get The American Spectator's exclusive coverage three weeks earlier by subscribing to the print edition now.

PREVIOUSLY at American Spectator Online:

• Sept. 11: What Has Amtrak's Interim IG Been Up To?
• Aug. 7: Senators Seek Answer From ITC About IG
• July 28: IG-Gate Update: 'No Doubt' Political Pressure Led to His Firing,Walpin Says
• July 26: SIGTARP Neil Barofsky vs. Geithner's 'Black Hole' Bailout
• July 24: IG-Gate: Why the Matsui Question Matters
• July 23: IG-Gate Update: Did Dem Congresswoman Intervene With Obama in Walpin Case?
• July 22: SIGTARP Barofsky Shows Why Watchdogs Are Important
• July 21: IG-Gate: Democratic Staffers 'Useless' in Investigations, SayRepublicans
• July 20: IG-Gate: Connecting the SIGTARP Dots
• July 20: Behind Closed Doors
• July 17: Amtrak IG: Important Background
• July 14: IG-Gate: Sincere Doubts
• July 14: The Little Scandal That Could
• July 9: Democrats Question AmeriCorps Official's Stonewall on IG Case
• July 1: Malkin on IG-Gate: Does the Endangered Species Act Include Watchdogs?
• June 26: Grassley: Amtrak 'Systematically Violated' IG Law
• June 25: Eleanor Acheson: Lobbyist
• June 25: Obama Plays Hardball With Watchdogs
• June 23: Amtrak IG Probe: Who Is Eleanor Acheson?
• June 19: IG-Gate: Domino Theory
• June 18: AmeriCorps Scandal Won't Go Away Soon

I can neither confirm nor deny . . .

. . . being The Prowler, whose identity has long remained a closely guarded secret of The American Spectator. Not even Sidney Blumenthal nor federal grand juries have been able to discover the identity of this Argus-eyed investigator of things sinister, hidden and usually Democratic.

The fact that The Prowler has been sleuthing around with sources unnamed for longer than I've been writing for the Spectator might be seized upon as a clue. And the fact that The Prowler is able to get inside dirt from the White House counsel's office -- the inside story of Valerie Jarrett's involvement in the Van Jones debacle, no less -- might also have evidentiary value.

Yet such are the Spectator's concerns for the security of The Prowler that anyone who wishes to be associated with this prestigious publication must undergo a blood-oath ritual, swearing in a graveyard at midnight never to aid the persistent attempts by our nation's enemies to identify The Prowler. Therefore, if anyone wishes to suspect me of being that mysterious phantom, I am forbidden even to deny it.

However, if you wish to subscribe to The American Spectator, you may one day have an opportunity to meet The Prowler, who always attends the magazine's annual gala dinner -- this year's lavish soiree will be Nov. 19 at the Capitol Hilton -- although he is recognized only by those who have sworn the blood oath. The Prowler might be that elegant fellow drinking extra-dry martinis at the gala reception, or entertaining his dinner companions with subtly ribald jests. Although the uninitiated guests won't recognize The Prowler, they'll nonetheless be able to tell their friends they were at the same gala with him.

By the way, the September issue of The American Spectator -- available for $6.95 wherever fine publications are sold -- features my 3,000-word in-depth article about the IG-Gate scandal, entitled "War On Watchdogs," beginning on Page 46.

Subscribe to The American Spectator now. The Prowler awaits you . . .

Author: U.S. will take 'a long time' to recover from bailouts and deficit spending

Tuesday night, I attended an America's Future Foundation event featuring Johan Norberg, author of the new book Financial Fiasco: How America's Infatuation with Home Ownership and Easy Money Created the Economic Crisis. I interviewed him for The American Spectator:

Politicians, regulators and central banks in several nations -- including the U.S. Federal Reserve -- helped create the crisis that led to last year's massive Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout, Norberg said.
"They distorted all the incentives and inflated the bubble," the Cato Institute senior fellow explained . . .
"I'm afraid we're going to live with the consequences for a long time," he said. "The bailouts . . . the debts -- we won't be able to pay them back. We're going to pay for it for a long time. And it's not just what it costs, it's what we’re buying."
Norberg said the TARP bailout would have the perverse effect of encouraging lenders and other financial institutions to engage in the same kinds of risky behaviors that led to last year’s meltdown.
"If bankers make stupid mistakes and we bail them out, it encourages them to take big risks in order to make short-term gains, knowing that if they lose out, they can always send the bill to the taxpayers," Norberg said. . . .

You can read the whole thing. Norberg spoke yesterday at a book forum at Cato (video at the link) and you can buy Norberg's book:

Things they never write about dead liberals

If tomorrow Eleanor Clift were run down by a bus while crossing K Street -- perish the thought! -- her obituary would not include this sentence:

Though known as a liberal, Clift developed relationships with folks on both sides of the aisle and had sources everywhere.

And yet Lynn Sweet, who proudly counts the departed Robert Novak as a colleague, feels compelled to write this about him:

Though known as a conservative, Novak developed relationships with folks on both sides of the aisle and had sources everywhere.

Why? Are conservative journalists so notoriously partisan in their friendships as to eschew all social interaction with liberals? Was this the habit of, inter alia, William F. Buckley Jr.? Indeed, no, as one of Buckley's best friends was the notoriously wrongheaded liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith.

So then, as we might more readily believe, is Sweet's telltale sentence yet another case of liberals projecting their own faults on the demonized Other? That is to say -- and I'll drop the just-asking-questions mode to say it directly -- liberal journalists notoriously ostracize any member of their profession who fails to embrace the appropriate ideology. In fact, this habit is not limited to liberal journalists merely, but rather is common among liberals everywhere, who treat conservatism as a sort of moral failing that makes the right-winger socially unacceptable.

For example, you should have seen the fear in the eyes of a certain young Democratic congressional staffer when, a couple of Fridays ago, I spotted her at the Union Pub and approached her cordially as if she were my dearest friend in the world.

Oh, I understand, sweetheart. You don't want your friends to start wondering if you've been accidentally disclosing facts to a conservative reporter. But a good reporter never burns his sources, so far be it from me to suggest that you had anything to do with this little nugget, or that you told me anything useful to my 3,000-word IG-Gate story in the September issue of The American Spectator.

So my dear Democratic friend who is not -- repeat, is not -- leaking sensitive inside information to me, please don't panic when, later this week, I drop by your office to hand you a newly-printed copy of the September issue and thank you for your non-cooperation.

Explain it however you want, darling, but if I get hit by a bus, don't tell anybody that I had "relationships with folks on both sides of the aisle."

"Plausible deniability." IYKWIMAITYD.

IG-Gate Update:Walpin wonders about Matsui's role

Guess who reads The American Spectator?

In a telephone interview today, Walpin said he noticed last week's report that Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) had contacted White House officials in March, publicly vowing that sanctions against Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson didn't prevent the city from getting its share of bailout cash.
Questions about what role Matsui may have played in Walpin's dismissal are being asked on Capitol Hill, and the ex-IG himself is curious about the Sacramento congresswoman's intervention, which drew attention after it was highlighted by California blogger Eric Hogue.
On the larger question -- whether political pressure over his investigation of Mayor Johnson's St. HOPE Academy was a factor in the June 10 quit-or-be-fired ultimatum from the White House -- Walpin is certain.
"I have no doubt about that," Walpin said. . . .

Read the whole thing, and expect updates.

UPDATE 5 p.m.: Eric Hogue's all over the involvement of Matsui in IG Gate, with audio and lots, lots more.

The Mother of All IG-Gate Updates

On the Internet, stuff gets scattered around so that you never see it all in one place. Today's IG-Gate Update at the Hot Air Green Room pushes the story forward:

Behind closed doors on Capitol Hill last week, I asked a Republican source about the investigative efforts of Democratic staffers for the House Oversight Committee.
"Honestly?" the source said. "They're useless."
More than three weeks have passed since Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) joined the committee's ranking Republican, California Rep. Darrell Issa, to launch an investigation into the case of former Amtrak inspector general Fred Wiederhold Jr. . . .
Despite the "grave concerns" expressed by Towns and Issa three weeks ago, however, Republican sources on Capitol Hill have complained that Democratic staffers on the Oversight Committee have not shown much zeal for the investigation. Sources say Democratic staffers have skipped meetings and conference calls to which they were invited by GOP investigators, who are attempting to work with Grassley's staff in order to prevent unnecessary duplication of efforts. Sharing documents and scheduling interviews with witnesses, allowing Republican and Democratic investigators from both chambers an opportunity to question these witnesses, is a demanding logistical task. And GOP staffers complain that this task seems to be lacking in terms of bipartisanship. . . .

Read the whole thing, because toward the end, I make this point:

This is a huge story, involving multiple investigations, and 1,200 words here don’t even begin to summarize the 1,400 words there [at The American Spectator on Monday], to say nothing of the 400 words I did last night about the SIGTARP report.

Like I said, read the whole thing, and follow the links, because this is one big sprawling mother of a story. The best I can do in any single chunk is to bring in new facts, new quotes, new angles, and link to as much other the other stuff as possible. (That Green Room article includes more than 25 links, including the link to the Spectator article, which has more than a dozen links.)

If you'll go to Bob Belvedere's WWU-AM and scroll down, he's got a huge IG-Gate link dump with my reporting, Byron York's reporting, columns by Michelle Malkin, reports from ABC News, the Washington Post, etc. There's a lot of stuff out there, in other words, and you need to see it all if you want to try to understand this thing.

"Try," I say, because I don't even claim to understand it all yet. My sources talk about things and sometimes I can tell they're trying to drop me a hint of something they want me to write about, e.g., "Who Is Eleanor Acheson?" It's important to ask the right questions, as one of my sources said.

On the one hand, there is the temptation to focus on one aspect of the story -- the Washington Times keeps calling this "WalpinGate," which is too narrow -- but on the other hand, you've got to be careful not to waste time playing "connect-the-dots" with things that might not really be connected. Yes, there's a pattern, but that doesn't mean there's a conspiracy.

Still, as I predicted on June 18 -- right after Michelle Malkin's first column on the Walpin case slapped me upside the head -- this story isn't going away anytime soon. June 18 was the same day IG Fred Wiederhold delivered his report to the Amtrak board and suddenly retired, and also the same day Chuck Grassley made public his letter about the International Trade Commission IG, Judith Gwynne.

So barely a week after Walpin got his June 10 quit-or-be-fired ultimatum from White House lawyer Norm Eisen, there were two other IG cases. Then we have the case of the watchdog who's still hanging tough, SIGTARP, Neil Barofsky. The bailout watchdog showed yesterday how much trouble he can cause, and it's therefore no mystery why Treasury's giving Barofsky a hard time. (My money's still on Barofsky as the IG most likely to get a Cabinet secretary sent to federal prison.)

IG-Gate is a big mother, you see. Because I'm on deadline for a print magazine article, there's no time for me to do a complete aggregation now, but here are the major IG-Gate articles I've done so far:

• July 21: IG-Gate UPDATE: Behind the Scenes of the Investigations
• July 20: Behind Closed Doors
• July 14: The Little Scandal That Could
• July 9: Democrats Question AmeriCorps Officials Stonewall on IG Case
• June 28: Media & IG-Gate: Question the Timing?
• June 28: NTC Special Report: Obama vs. the Watchdogs
• June 25: Grassley: Amtrak 'Systematically Violated' IG Law
• June 25: Obama Plays Hardball With Watchdogs
• July 19: The 'Domino Theory' in the IG Scandal

Each of those items is chock-full of links to other items. As you can see, just six weeks into this story, there's a lot of stuff out there -- and, no doubt, a lot more to come. Just keep hitting the tip jar.

One of these days, I plan to hit the American Spectator with the mother of all expense reimbursement requests -- "$800 for fireworks?" "Promotional activity. Perfectly legitimate, Al." -- but in the meantime, Daddy needs a new pair of shoes.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! Just in case you're wondering why Professor Reynolds loves this story so much, I once again remind you to read the whole thing. The professor's drooling at the prospect of The Mother of All Chris Dodd Updates.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out the IG-Gate Rule 3 memo, which offers more tasty watchdog morsels.