"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
31 August 2007Just a gut feelingMcGehee shut down comments last night to avert the "risk [of] having this site hijacked overnight by trolls," the result of his having deleted a comment from someone wishing to promote the campaign of a Presidential candidate. McGehee doesn't name the candidate in question, but I suspect his name rhymes with "Don Gall." Posted at 8:32 AM to BlogorrheaThat's why I will always have comment registration and moderation. Posted by: Andrea Harris at 9:02 AM on 31 August 2007Actually it rhymes with "Dike Guckabee." And I'd like to think "Guckabee" would rather not be represented by somebody like that. Posted by: McGehee at 10:44 AM on 31 August 2007Mr. McGhee apparently is thin-skinned and arbitrarily decided to deprive his readers of a thoughtful presentation of BOTH FairTax AND Huckabee - both of whom were mentioned as a central context of his babbling. If the following comment had no substance, information, and just said something spammy and stupid, I'd respect his action. You decide. Here's the post. Hope you find it more stimulating than "brain dead" McGhee did. ******************************************************************* Oh, and it's McGehee. Comment continues below. Mike Huckabee is an adroit public speaker. He communicates his message in life-like, cogent terms, with compelling examples like the story he told (at the Ames Straw Poll) of what his then-11-yo daughter entered into the "Comments" section of a Visitors Book after visiting the Yad Vashem holocaust museum: Why didn't somebody do something? Very effective. Huckabee is all about calling his listeners to "do something," to awaken them to their own empowerment, and summon them to action in order that "Main Street," and not "Wall Street," will prevail in guarding the values and beliefs upon which the Republic was founded. Huckabee puts his listeners at ease, and reassures them, articulating clear concepts in a natural, easy style (no doubt something well-cultivated as a pastor). Hes not angry or demanding, like a Ron Paul, nor is he as rigidly-scripted as Romney, and his large brown eyes peer through a humble demeanor, drawing a striking contrast to a somewhat mechanical-squinty Brownback. One can easily imagine sitting comfortably with this man over a cup of coffee at the Main Street Cafe. Most importantly, perhaps, Huckabee convinces many that he is ONE with the FairTax grassroots movement. While many - like Romney, and others, who are invested in the current income tax system - seek to demagog the well-researched FairTax plan, its acceptance in the professional / academic community continues to grow. Renown economist Laurence Kotlikoff believes that failure to enact the FairTax - choosing instead to try to "flatten" what he deems to be a non-flattenable income tax system - will eventuate into an irrevocable economic meltdown because of the hidden aspects of the current system that make political accountability impossible. Romney's recent WEAK response to FairTax questioning on This Week with Geo. Stephanopoulos drew a sharper contrast between Huckabee and all other presidential front-runners who will not embrace it. Huckabee understands that what's wrong with the income tax can't be fixed with "a tap of the hammer, nor a twist of the screwdriver." That his opponents cling to the destructive Tax Code, the IRS, preserving political power of granting tax favors at continued cost to - and misery of - American families, invigorates his campaign's raison d'etre. Of the FairTax, Huckabee asserts that it's... SIMPLE, easy to understand A detailed benefits analysis of the plan (from The FairTax Book) explains Huckabee's ardent advocacy: FOR INDIVIDUALS: FOR BUSINESSES: FOR THE COUNTRY: While passionately supporting FairTax, Huckabee understands that, if elected President, Congress will have to present the bill for his signature. His call to action goes beyond his candidacy, Main Street will have to demand that their legislators deliver the bill. When I told him to take it "somewhere else" I didn't mean here. Sometimes there's a downside to sending trackbacks, no? Posted by: McGehee at 10:30 AM on 1 September 2007Considering some of the glurge that's shown up here in recent weeks, this stuff is actually fairly mild. As an example, try the comment to this post, which was also sent here and promptly sent packing. All the fury of the Unabomber with none of the technical skills. And unlike Ian, this guy doesn't even pretend to be relevant. Posted by: CGHill at 11:23 AM on 1 September 2007Now I'm sure: I HATE Huckabees. I've done political communications work. Did pretty well at it, too - about 80% of my candidates won. (The problem for me was the slime you wind up dealing with. The only decent people in the business are some of the earnest supporters, not the candidates nor their backers.) I got to witness a LOT of dumbass advice, but I never until now have observed a political adviser track someone down on the 'net, attempt to humiliate him, and then SHOVE the candidate's talking points down some blogger's throat. I am amazed that someone out there thinks this is a GOOD idea. Posted by: Mister Snitch! at 11:33 AM on 1 September 2007Oddly enough Charles, since my reaction to Ian's comment is the topic of your post, his comment is considerably closer to being on-topic here than it was on my site. And Ian seems utterly unaware of the impact his advocacy has on his candidate -- assuming of course he's a sincere supporter, which he might not be -- by demonstrating so little grasp of the concept of ownership. What he's doing is the blogosphere equivalent of posting "Vote for Huckabee" signs on other people's private property, and then shrieking "censorship" when those signs are removed. Posted by: McGehee at 11:44 AM on 1 September 2007Mr. McGhee apparently is thin-skinned and arbitrarily decided to deprive his readers of a thoughtful presentation of BOTH FairTax AND Huckabee - both of whom were mentioned as a central context of his babbling. Ian also lacks reading comprehension skills, by the way -- nowhere in my post was Huckabee ever mentioned until he came along. Posted by: McGehee at 11:47 AM on 1 September 2007Of course, the advantage I have here is that everyone overestimates my clout, which means that anyone attempting to wedge actual issues, or even non-actual issues, into the midst of the drivel will be disappointed in the results. In terms of distribution, The Daily Bitch has far greater reach than I do; on the other hand, if someone tries this sort of thing on Monty, she'll politely tell him to go fart up a flagpole. Maybe not so politely. Posted by: CGHill at 11:47 AM on 1 September 2007...okay, he's mentioned in passing in the excerpt I posted, so "central" to the context that I completely overlooked it until just now. And I notice that by expunging the reference I haven't changed the meaning of the paragraph in question one tiny little bit. Central. Yeah. Posted by: McGehee at 11:50 AM on 1 September 2007I used to work with Don Gall. He was the marketing manager for a firm I was at in 1999. I wouldn't vote for anyone who rhymed with him. Posted by: triticale at 6:27 PM on 1 September 2007I'm not sure why McGehee would presume that candidate Huckabee would not like to be represented by "someone like that" (moi). Could you elaborate? Or, will we just keep repeating the mantra, "spammer" to minimize the content. I distilled the bullet-points in my posting from my own reading of The FairTax Book. These are published as a public service because so many go out there and babble without having ever done the work of actually reviewing, and summarizing, the FairTax plan's predominant themes and features. The composition is mine. The links are from my own research, organization, and recall. McGehee should take a look around at the parroting of postings on the blogosphere, and then lecture me on "ownership." And while he meanders on about what constitutes blogosphere legitimacy, "Rome continues to burn," (as he would have learned, had he bothered to listen to my cited "irrevocable economic meltdown" link). The situation is serious and demands the widest possible attention, and appeal to action. --------------------------------------------------------------- These are published as a public service On other people's private property. Posted by: McGehee at 6:32 PM on 8 September 2007 |