Exclusive: Red State Founder Erickson Fires Back at Sen. McConnell

Yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on The Laura Ingraham Show and ripped into CNN contributor, radio talk show host, and RedState.com editor Erick Erickson. Erickson has been a consistent critic of McConnell’s; he recently stated in Roll Call that McConnell is “an appropriator before he’s a Republican.” McConnell responded, “That’s entirely inaccurate. I don’t even know who Erick Erickson is, but he has no audience as far as I’m concerned.”

This was essentially an attack not just on Erickson, but on the new media as a whole. It suggests that those on the internet have no credibility, and that they can be talked down to by their betters in the political bigwig world. And it's sheer nonsense, which is why McConnell found himself responding to Erickson in the first place.

Number 4 is a subset of Number 3. Yes in spite of the very tough laws now in place restricting what outside business interests a member of the House or Senate may conduct or what monies the same may accept many members do indeed grow very rich or just rich during their tenure. Senator George Mitchell of Maine is a classic example. A man who had little money when he arrived in Washington was able to erect a large custom designed sea shore residence in Maine. I know of one of the men who worked on this house and it was built as a shore hugging type of building similar to Nelson Rockefeller's larger mansion.
Yet Mitchell is worshiped by the MSM and the DC political culture whores as a great and humane statesman.

I agree with RIghtward.

Romney is actually worse because conservatism will be pushed out and conservatives will have no voice; they will have no party.

McConnell and other GOP establishment types will ‘fight’ Obama meaning ‘spend money’ to elect Romney but they won’t fight Romney, meaning again to spend money against Romney.

Romney is a liberal democrat wearing republican clothing. That’s what the GOP establishment is putting up, why? Because it preserves their perks and positions. They could care less about you except you give them money and vote and do as they tell you.

It is a tragedy I know that we don’t have a candidate for us. But that doesn’t mean we should stay home. It means we don’t vote for Obama and we don’t vote for Romney but WE DO VOTE for conservatives wherever they are on the ballot.

And more importantly it means we flood the Senate with emails. faxes, letters, text messages and jam the Capitol switchboard with telephone calls when the Senate is getting ready to confirm a liberal judge or pass a controversial liberal bill.

It’s important to work for 2014 to increase the conservative influence in Congress and to prepare for 2016 to overturn the GOP RINO Establishment so that conservative candidates will have a shot at the nomination.

I wouldn’t give credit to McConnell as a smooth talking Senator. In Washington circles, yeah, he can probably be considered effective, but in the television age neither McConnell or Boehner are remotely effective. Guys like Mike Pense, Rubio, Paul Ryan, and Chris Christie are more of what I am talking about, effective, pursuasive, able to bring people in to their views. Hastert was fairly effective as Speaker in the sense that he provided the stability and reliability missing in the circus years he was there...compared to the end of Newt’s term, the brief Livingston speakership, and the constant negatives around Hastert’s Majority Leader DeLay.

Under Hastert we did not have an effective voice, though. He pretty much pushed through the Bush agenda and kept things in order...and stayed out of controversial. I don’t consider him to be a great spokesman for a cause.

My initial thought is that we have to get the most effective communicators out front. Those leadership positions automatically get the most airtime and sound bites, and we need the best of the best doing it. We clearly have not had that the past number of years.

“The problem is so much bigger than that, it’s hard to know where to start.”

Spot on!

I would wager that Sen. Mitch Mconnell (as does Speaker John Boehner) knows what a BIG FAT MESS we’re in — he’s riding a tiger he cannot control (or willing to appease the tiger to keep the ride).

Can anyone survive the rise to high office and remain truly honorable?

Is their fate tied to being part of the GOP party borg?

There is strength in numbers but the Big Government Borg appears unable to stop growing.

So, how do we “fight city hall” now?

So, you are telling us, along with Rightward...

"I'm not saying don't show up and vote. Just don't vote for Romney. But...I'm not saying don't show up to vote..." You're not saying to show up, either. I think all this is pretty clever stuff from Media Matters and Center for American Progress. They certainly are using more complex psy ops than they did in '08.

Seems to me that our own disappointment with Romney is a very useful tool for progressives to suppress our vote for other Republicans.

So, why the heck should I trust anything you have to say? How do I know you're not just posting to suppress the conservative vote?

You start by voting Barack Obama out of office.

If you'd care to search and bore yourself to death, I've spent many years (since 1998, even though I can't get my signup date to reflect that) saying I would NEVER never never vote for John McCain and I went into great detail about all the things I had against him. I wrote in 2000 when he was running against Bush. I wrote in 2007. I ended up voting for Romney in the 08 primaries before JM and Huck pulled a fast one and sewed up the nom for McVain.

How many FReepers voted for Romney in '08?

Then I voted for McCain in 2008.

And I did the right thing. We came astonishingly close to keeping BO out of office. We would have lost by fifteen pts instead of four if not for Sarah Palin...BO only won 53% of the vote. A win, but not a landslide.

I understand how furious we are that we had no good conservative candidates this time. I voted for Gingrich in the primaries and donated to Santorum. I'm old enough to remember Gingrich in the Contract for America and I admired him for that, but am also dismayed at his erratic and narcissistic behavior. Santorum is a good guy, but he just could not run hard enough and fast enough. We are stuck with Romney just like we were stuck with McCain. Politics sucks. We know what is good, and all we get is Romney.

I'm not filled with hate for Mitt Romney and I'm going to vote for him for president in November. I don't waste my energy the way I did about McCain.

And I am suspicious of people here who waste so much energy trying to keep FReepers from getting involved in elections.

RightwarHo (how's that for a name some liberal shill would make up?) hasn't been here a year, but he knows enough to tell us not to vote or donate or work.

Heh.

>”...How do I know you’re not just posting to suppress the conservative vote?... “

Why do people believe in the resurrection? Is it because they are told by others or because their inner self believes?

I don’t and should not have any claim to what you believe. I express my inner convictions.

My inner convictions are “Romney is a slime bag, a weasel con artist”.

What are yours? That’s what you have to address, your inner convictions.

If you support Romney, I would be happy to read about it as long as it’s not “Anybody But Obama” or he’s an accomplished capitalist etc.

But I have yet to see any RomBot defend this sleaze bag. His history is that of a democrat liberal who wears republican clothes. He’s a walking lie of a person who will backstab those that are gullible enough to believe what he says.

re: If you support Romney, I would be happy to read about it as long as it’s not “Anybody But Obama” or he’s an accomplished capitalist etc.)))

Why not?

Obama is purely evil, and all his little minions who head out over the internet who say otherwise are purely evil, too. Especially the ones who get paid by Media Matters on blog and conversation sites to do so...

I'm voting for Romney because he's not Obama, and he is far better than Obama, and he's Anybody But Obama. You don't like me saying what is obvious, that we have a clear choice between what we don't want and what will kill America quickly? We have that choice every election cycle, and whining won't change it.

I'm not supposed to campaign for Romney on FR, I think that's the rules. But I'm watching him and his appeal is far above the golfer, the Muslim-lover, the Christian-hating, America-hating present administration.

I like his wife. His history is transparent and not secret. He's bland and irritating and tries too hard to be nice...but I'm supposed to be praising him so you can complain to the admin that I'm campaigning for him. He does have executive experience, and political experience, and a lot of life experience. I wish he had military experience, but he doesn't, but how do you like Obama's attitude to our armed forces, you know--the corpse men?

But you said I'm not allowed to notice how awful Obama is...or whatever. You want people around here to forget the really ghastly prospect of a second Obama term...like you might be pulling for Obama? Maybe?

How's that? Life is full of nasty tradeoffs. It is patently absurd to say that Romney is anything as bad as Obama.

Bush tried to force amnesty on us with the help of McCain, etc...and I ended up voting for McCain. I also got a poisonous taste of Bush betrayal that I still live with. But if Bush were running against Obama, I'd vote for him. I'd vote for Paul. I'd vote for McConnell if he were the candidate.

I wouldn't stay home. I love my country and it's in terrible trouble.

Exactly...re: your post #27.

Why should we blame the mess on a single individual in the Senate, or in the House?

And I said this not being a fan of McConnell, but I’m too aware of the mess overall that our party and country are in, to go there.

Eight GOP senators voted with Harry Reid and the Dems on a bill the House GOP is fighting, and in so doing sided with Obama.

C’mon. I ‘m supposed to believe that a different cast in charge could stop something like that??

When even Sarah Palin-backed winners, tea partiers all supposedly, endorse and work for Romney early on and aren’t having to be dragged there kicking and screaming, there you have it.

That’s why I pinged you for comment.

It is patently absurd to say that Romney is anything as bad as Obama.

Bush tried to force amnesty on us with the help of McCain, etc...and I ended up voting for McCain. I also got a poisonous taste of Bush betrayal that I still live with. But if Bush were running against Obama, I’d vote for him. I’d vote for Paul. I’d vote for McConnell if he were the candidate.

I wouldn’t stay home. I love my country and it’s in terrible trouble.

_________________________

Ditto!

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