Top O’ the Briefing
Happy Friday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Anabel’s craving for Cap’n Crunch in the heat of passion was something she felt therapists should have given a name to by now.
Well, it’s been an intense and productive week and I think it may have me feeling a little optimistic. I can’t be sure, because I don’t really do much with positive emotions. Or emotions in general, for that matter.
Whatever is happening, I’m going with it. Should I turn out to be spectacularly wrong about all of this, I will be the first to call myself a paste-eater.
We have been talking and writing a lot about the Republicans taking back the House, and maybe even the Senate, in what promises to be quite a night for them on November 8.
I recently devoted a Morning Briefing to Kari Lake, who is my candidate for governor here in Arizona. I haven’t, however, devoted much time to writing about some of the other gubernatorial races that have suddenly begun looking better for the Republican candidates.
Before getting to them, we’ll take one more look at Kari Lake.
Her Democratic opponent, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, is an ongoing hot mess cry for help. Catherine wrote yesterday about Hobbs’s latest dysfunctional embarrassment:
Democrat Katie Hobbs, Arizona secretary of state and gubernatorial candidate, was quick to amplify claims that “dangerous misinformation” from her Republican opponent Kari Lake was connected to a break-in at her office this week. Police have now reportedly arrested a suspect and confirmed the break-in had no political motivation, so Hobbs did what any self-respecting Democrat political candidate would do — she refused to discuss the new development or her former accusations.
“AFTER accusing my team of coordinating a Watergate-style break-in of her office, Katie Hobbs has now flip-flopped and DOES NOT want to talk about the crime,” Kari Lake tweeted Thursday. “This comes AFTER arrest was made and NO political motivation confirmed.”
Other than the brief period where she hurled unsubstantiated accusations at Lake, Hobbs has been terrified of talking to the press or the voters. Insiders are admitting that her campaign is in disarray.
According to the corporate Democrat advocacy media, it was Lake who was supposed to be falling apart. She was untested and her only claim to political fame was an endorsement from Donald Trump.
Yet it’s Lake who has been even-keeled, polished, and professional at all times. Hobbs has, for the most part, behaved like an emotional teenage girl.
RealClearPolitics (RCP) predicts that Lake is going to win. This would, of course, be a “hold” for the Republicans in Arizona but it feels like a pickup after the way the media has savaged Lake.
Last weekend, Athena wrote about the improving prospects of many of the Republican candidates for governor. We’ve had a few debates since then, and the Republicans are still going strong.
As of this writing, RCP shows Gov. Gretchen Whitmer up in the polls in Michigan but projects that Tudor Dixon will win.
In a word: HUGE.
My HotAir colleague Beege Wellborn wrote yesterday that Lee Zeldin’s relentless finish in New York may unseat unelected incumbent Kathy Hochul. RCP still thinks Hochul is going to win but there has been a lot of optimistic chatter in conservative circles. The New York conservatives I’ve spoken with in the last couple of weeks are very upbeat about Zeldin. They feel that Hochul’s disastrous record on crime will be her ultimate undoing.
Nevada is another governor’s seat that could be flipped Red.
I may wake up tomorrow and find that all my exuberance has left the building. At the moment, however, Republican prospects are looking good.
The Biden administration will certainly put its executive action machine into overdrive next year. A Republican Congress can help thwart that.
A Republican Congress working with a wealth of GOP governors will be even more formidable.
Please consider subscribing to the Morning Briefing here. It’s free and it helps keep me off the streets.
The Mailbag of Magnificence contributions can be sent to [email protected].
The Mailbag of Magnificence
There was much festive bounty in the Mailbag this week. No cookies, though.
Joseph gets us started on this fine day:
Mr. Kruiser,
Thanks for your wonderful insight into the world of politics. I get a kick everyday from your wit and mastery of kicking the crap out of the left. You use words like a knife and pour alcohol in the cuts.
Just like the nuns taught me in grade school.
Randall writes:
Stephen,
I’m a little less than timely in sending this, but I wanted to remark on the inclusion of the Thin Lizzy “Jailbreak” video in a recent Morning Briefing. I’m an old school hard rock/metal-head, still listening to the music from my teenage years in the mid-to-late 70s. Definitely have some more current bands in the playlists, but I usually revert to form with the vintage stuff. My youngest kid, age 14, has for years now been a fan of Thin Lizzy, and started at age 10 asking for requests whenever we were together in my car. The go-to favorite was always “Cowboy Song”, but seeing the video in the Briefing, I put on the Live and Dangerous album on the way to his soccer game. With the opening chord in “Jailbreak”, he turned to me and said, “Excellent pre-game choice!” He and I don’t agree on a lot of music….but Thin Lizzy always keeps us banging down the road together.
Of all the rock stars who killed themselves with drugs and alcohol, I think Phil Lynott’s death bugs me the most. I freakin’ LOVE Thin Lizzy. “Cowboy Song” is another one of my faves that I try to break speakers with. I’ll include the vid in the MB soon. Feel free to drop me a note and remind me if I forget.
Your kid has exquisite taste and you should probably get some sort of parenting trophy.
This is from Janice:
About that second line… “There is nothing to understand or get.”
Phew. Well that’s a relief.
And a nod to the guy who mentions withdrawal after James Taranto stopped “Best of the Web.”
I loved the “World’s Tiniest Violin” and mentions of “kerfuffle” in those days. I think he linked to Insty and that’s how I fell in with what became the PJM cabal’s lighthouse on the cliffs.
It matters not how you got here — Uber, Instapundit, drunken party bus — I’m just glad you’re here, Janice. And since Taranto isn’t using it anymore, I might just start referring to myself as “Best of the Web.”
I’m going to calm this worry of Grace’s:
Behind that cardboard cutout Oval Office lurks something much much worse.
BO and that Rice woman are calling the shots and it is Moochall who is being groomed to step in as leader of the free? world.
THAT is what keeps me up at night.
This is a topic that comes up often. I know that a lot of conservatives fret about a return to politics by the Obamas. A hot friend of mine said something several years ago that I’d not considered before but immediately believed to be true: the Obamas want to be Hollywood celebrities, not politicians. That’s why they signed the deal with Netflix right away. The White House was just a back door for them to get into the entertainment biz.
Renee starts off well here, then nags me:
I was self-remarking just yesterday a.m. about how the great KRUISER had created the most unassailably perfect moniker ever assigned to an ersatz annotator by labeling Biden’s (now former) Press Secretary the less-than-memorable Jen Psaki: “Spokesditz”. You had absolutely nailed it! The look-the hair(color and all), the voice-the carriage—perfect! THEN, just the very next day in this morning’s Briefing you carelessly allowed your genius to be diffused by mis-applying said moniker to the visibly unrepresentative Karine Jean-Pierre. Spokesditz Lite, or Spokesditz ll, maybe. Mark Twain famously said, “The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug”. Who knows? Maybe one day Jen Psaki: Whitehouse Spokesditz will be recalled with similar approbation to one ELVIS: King of Rock & Roll.
On its off days, my genius is still at critical mass. You also have to realize that all Democrats look alike to me. Seriously, I can’t tell the difference between Mayor Pete and Mazie Hirono. I suppose that if KJP were to get her own nickname it could be HISTORIC Spokesditz.
Our penultimate email today is from Steve:
Kruiser,
As someone who only in the last year discovered PJ Media I have to wonder on all I have missed out on before. This morning’s non-sequitur line resulted in a nose coffee enema that kepi me both laughing and cussing at the same time.
“Kendra was plagued by a recurring dream in which a Wayne Newton impersonator mesmerized her with nothing but a Speedo and a couple of Shake Weights”
Not sure what that says about me, but please keep up the great reporting, the fun opening lines, and of course the “Everything isn’t awful”. Work prevents me from joining in morning liberation most of the time, but am there in spirit. I, as it seems like many other, look forward to this information and escape you provide every day. Well done, sir, well done
Thank you very much for that, Steve. Worry not, I’m just getting started here. Whatever you might have missed before you got here won’t matter once the 2023 party starts. Just remember to stay properly hydrated.
We will finish with this from David:
Kruiser,
Lately I’m enjoying the Mailbag of Magnificence as much as the Morning Briefing. Not more, just as much. Keep them both up!
Dude, imagine how much more you’ll enjoy both when you realize that THEY’RE THE SAME THING.
Seriously though, glad you’re having fun with it; so am I.
OK, you all know that I don’t like to be sincere or emote, but I really can’t thank all of you who write to me enough. I feel that we really have something going now for when I finally get sent to the gulag. Hit me up over the weekend for Tuesday’s Mailbag. Have a great one!
Everything Isn’t Awful
Cuddle time.. 😊 pic.twitter.com/hpMYnnwF9J
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) October 27, 2022
PJ Media
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Ted Cruz Electrifies at Herschel Walker Rally
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BINGO. ‘Save Our Democracy’ Is the New ‘Russia Collusion’
Is Killing 100,000 Americans an Act of War?
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IT’S BEGUN: Elon Musk Lays Down the Law in Memo to Twitter Advertisers
Is This Joe Biden’s Biggest Lie Ever?
Zuckerbust! Meta Loses $100 Billion in Just Over a Year
Uh-Oh: Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Is in Big Trouble With the State of Washington
We Now Have the First Poll Since the Fetterman-Oz Debate
A New Low: White House Aides Turn a Press Op Into a Circus Stunt
Oregon’s Crazy, Upside-Down Governor Race Features ‘Blue-on-Blue’ Civil War
Whitmer’s Administration Closes an Adoption Service
Democrat Senator Admits ‘Trump Was Right’ About TikTok
On Fetterman, Left-Wing Media Insists the Parrot Isn’t Dead. It’s Just Resting
Russia Threatens to Target Starlink Satellite System in Bid to Cripple Ukraine Communications
Townhall Mothership
Trump Mocks Biden While Teeing Off A Round of Golf at Controversial LIV Event
The Media Asked Kari Lake About the Break-in at Hobb’s Campaign HQ…and It Didn’t Go Well
Good luck with that…Obama Attempts Damage Control in Pennsylvania After Shaky Fetterman Debate
State Republicans Expand Voter Outreach to Minority Communities
Texas sheriff praises armed mom who defended family from burglar
Cam&Co. D.C. discriminating on concealed carry?
ABC News touts gun control as major issue, but it’s not
Lee Zeldin has Kathy Hochul’s number
The literary world comes out for censorship
L.A. City Council censures its own members over racist remarks
Matthew Perry Backtracks on Bizarre Dig at Keanu Reeves in Book
IN MY ORBIT: Kira Davis Is the Parent’s Voice and the Parent’s Choice for Capistrano School Board
Kira. People of Color Hardest Hit
Joe Concha does some quick fact-checks on Biden’s latest economic brags
Whitmer’s lie about kids being ‘out of school for 3 months’ used in POWERFUL pro-parent ad (watch)
Mayra Flores uses Jill Biden’s ‘taco’ comments to OWN Dem-controlled Congressional Hispanic Caucus
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Smells Like Onion
Is It Just Me, Or Do The Sex Dreams About Santa Start Earlier And Earlier Each Year? By Derek Ralphs https://t.co/Tbyo5zC5Jx pic.twitter.com/qmoSfjDqpA
— The Onion (@TheOnion) October 27, 2022
The Kruiser Kabana
Kabana Gallery
Shepherd and Sheep, 1888 #camillepissarro #danishart https://t.co/ZKIyjkEfT5 pic.twitter.com/FpzUYCqSWi
— Camille Pissarro (@artpissarro) October 27, 2022
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