On the Road Again: Stacy McCain Follows the Campaign Trail to Super Tuesday - Granite Grok

On the Road Again: Stacy McCain Follows the Campaign Trail to Super Tuesday

Grok friend, Robert Stacy (The Other) McCain, a devotee of the Hunter S Thompson school of Gonzo Journalism, is on the road again in pursuit of news and unusual angles along the primary trail to Super Tuesday. (Thanks to Bob Belvedere at Camp of the Saints for the picture.)
True to the Gonzo style, Stacy and his escapades are an integral part of the story, which is why Stacy’s writings are always an adventure.

First, let Stacy’s sidekick, Smitty, set the scene as Stacy covered an AFP event in Michigan Saturday: “Are we supposed to believe that this so-called: ’Michigan Prosperity Forum’ is anything other than an organizing event for foul extremists, bent on overthrowing Holy Progress?


As Dr. Melissa Clouthier has reported, Americans for Prosperity is merely a front group for those bad, bad Koch brothers, whose hidebound commitment to pre-Progressive ideas like capitalism marks them as severe in their dangerous commitment to extreme extremism.


‘Prosperity’ is just another capitalist dog-whistle, attempting to rally those of equally archaic mind to the notion of dangerous life outside the protection of the state.

On Friday, of course, Stacy caught up with Santorum at a Catholic fish fry in Walled Lake, MI, and then with a group of nuns at incoln Park, MI after which he filed the following story. Also keep an eye on his articles for a upcoming post from HELL, Michigan, which is particularly appropos, as Stacy has recently taken to referring to the wuss from Massachusetts as “Satan” (you just can’t make this stuff up). Now read on:

Nuns for Santorum

Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist pose for a photo with Rick Santorumin Lincoln Park, Michigan, Friday, Feb. 24, 2012

By Robert Stacy McCain
TROY, Michigan, February 25th
It’s gonna be kind of hard for Mitt Romney to compete with Rick Santorum in terms of his straight-out appeal to Catholic voters in Michigan. At last night’s Lenten fish fry at a Catholic church in Walled Lake, Santorum began by saying, “I love the smell of fish on a Friday night.” Here’s my video showing the kind of rock-star reception Santorum got from the crowd there:

The contrast was obvious to Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press:

A long line of people waited to get inside more than an hour before Santorum was scheduled to visit in Walled Lake, in western Oakland County.
The fish fry organized by the St. William Dads’ Club in a Roman Catholic parish was a venue that contrasted sharply with cavernous Ford Field, where former Massachusetts governor and Michigan native Mitt Romney spoke in Detroit today with tens of thousands of seats to spare.
Santorum, a Catholic, praised the religious tradition of abstaining from eating meat on a Friday, especially during the holy season of Lent.
“I love the smell of fish on a Friday,” Santorum said when he entered the gym to loud applause.
“The only thing I request is when you take that picture, put it up on your Facebook page.”

Santorum was swarmed by well-wishers at Walled Lake, but drew a smaller crowd at the Knights of Columbus hall in Lincoln Park, where some locals in attendance said they had only learned three hours before the event that Santorum would be there. Among those in attendance in Lincoln Park, however, were 12 members of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in full habit — kind of a natural photo-op for the media in attendance:

Joe Klein of Time magazine interviews the sisters. I’ve got audio of an interview with Sister Maria, who is from the Bronx, N.Y., and was quite outspoken in her support for Santorum. But I don’t have time to transcribe that interview now, because Santorum is speaking this morning at the Americans for Prosperity forum here in Troy.

Watching Fox News this morning, I haven’t seen any coverage of Rick Santorum’s campaign in Michigan. So I guess the question must now be asked, “Why does Rupert Murdoch hate nuns?”

Read more of Stacy’s reports from the campaign trail:
(And learn how Grokster Mike inadvertently got Stacy ‘busted’ at Romney HQ.)

 I’m proud to be a sponsor of Stacy’s adventures, and if you like the stories, please top up his “Shoe Leather Fund”, because he gets through plenty of shoe leather (and coffee, gasoline, and tire rubber) in the process of digging out these stories.

Please check out his columns for the American Spectator, too.

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