Erick Erickson's Blog, page 49

Indiana Hocks a Lugar

We here at RedState were the first national site to endorse Richard Mourdock. We had him at last year’s RedState Gathering. I am personally a big fan.

Tonight, we’d like to congratulate him on his huge win in Indiana against Richard Lugar. We still have the general election to win, but things are looking good.

Congrats Mr. Treasurer!

Be sure to chip in for his general election fund. Even Senator Lugar has already come out on board now and said he’ll support Mourdock.

The Funniest Story of the Day: Eric Cantor’s Implausible Deniability

In what may be the funniest story of the day, Eric Cantor is throwing his own super PAC under the bus.

His denial is implausible once the facts are in full view, but given the blow back he has gotten for his super PAC coming out for a host of squishy candidates who’d spend their time in Washington sucking up to Cantor instead of actually fighting for limited government, Cantor must now urge everyone to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

The Young Guns Action Fund was set up by Cantor’s Deputy Chief of Staff John Murray, top aide Rob Collins, and several other Cantor staffers are involved. When Cantor’s press secretary, Brad Dayspring, was involved in an office altercation a few months ago, Dayspring was removed from the office and placed into the Super PAC.

Certainly, as Cantor partisans note, because the Young Guns Action Fund is a Super PAC, legally Cantor’s role must be limited. But considering John Murray’s role in Cantor’s office was, as the Politico reported at the time, “to increase Cantor’s image outside the Beltway by getting him in front of influential audiences across the country”, it’s a bit silly to pretend there is no relationship.

Now, as Cantor seeks to distance himself, even reporters are having a hard time believing his denials.

It would be a stretch to say that Cantor has nothing to do with the YG Action Fund. The PAC is headed by two top former Cantor aides, John Murray and Brad Dayspring. And the majority leader has donated money to the group, appeared at its events and even helped it raise money.

I await Eric Cantor’s public decision to denounce this Super PAC and publicly say he’ll never help them again.

Remember to Vote Yes to Amendment 1 In North Carolina

Today voters in North Carolina will go to the polls to consider Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment to ensure liberal judges and gay rights activists are prohibited from changing the definition of marriage under North Carolina law. Polls suggest the measure will pass. But then polls suggested the Personhood Amendment in Mississippi would also pass and it did not.

The Republican Primary is largely over in North Carolina, except in some contested seats. Republicans may not want to turn out. I do hope they turn out to vote for Scott Keadle, however, in his race. And I hope they turn out and join Latino voters and black voters as they did in California to support traditional marriage.

In 31 states that have considered constitutional amendments to uphold traditional marriage, all 31 have passed those amendments. Republicans should go to the polls in North Carolina to make sure North Carolina becomes the 32nd state to uphold traditional marriage.

The last thing we need is for Anthony Kennedy to decide that one state out of 32 is an “emerging national consensus.”

In the past decade, spurred on by the siren song of happiness and fairness and claims for equality and progress when men and women in the country already have equal rights to marry, gay rights activists have systematically sought to redefine marriage as something other than what several thousand years of human history have come to define it. They have been helped by liberal activist judges and deteriorating cultural values. In a day when we should be doing all we can to save marriage, we’re on a course to have its meaning eroded.

Over several thousand years, whether by edict from on high or through trial and error, humans settled on the two parent, heterosexual nuclear household as the most stabilizing force in society. In the past few decades, many people have decided that several thousand years of human history can be ignored in favor of unproven claims of happiness, fairness, progress, and an expanded notion of equality. The standard argument is that with divorce already at 50% in heterosexual households, it is not like gay marriage can undermine what is already being weakened. If it’s already broke, why not break it further?

In fact, I take the reverse position — just because people have already devalued marriage does not mean it should be devalued further — particularly by changing long held definitions and claiming that the equal right we all have today to marry is somehow unequal. At no time in human history until the past few decades have people thought marriage should be anything other than between a man and woman. We should not be so quick to further erode the cornerstone of stability in society and slide further down the slippery slope.

Whether you believe it was a god or just nature, we should not think ourselves so unique as to be so brazen to upend the existing order of our nature when marriage, as it exists and has existed has been tried and tested by billions of people over thousands of years.

I hope North Carolina voters will reaffirm what marriage is within their constitutional framework as a sign that 32 states are not quite ready to give in to progressive norms. Oh, and Amendment 1 passing today would make the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC even more awkward than it already will be.

Morning Briefing for May 8, 2012

RedState Morning Briefing

May 8, 2012

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

1. Operation Counterweight Comes To Indiana

2. Obama Was Against Disavowing. Before He Was For It.

3. Remember to Vote Yes to Amendment 1 In North Carolina

4. Wisconsin Democrats’ Divided House

5. Tax Code Tweak Might Make CNG for Vehicles More Available

———————————————————————-

1. Operation Counterweight Comes To Indiana

Indiana Republicans go to the polls tomorrow to decide whether to re-nominate 80-year-old 36-year Senate veteran Richard Lugar or to pick instead State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, running as the conservative alternative. In the usual course of events, my advice for activists and pundits alike in these races is to not forget that every race is unique, based on the individual candidates, the state or district, and the issue environment of the day. Not every state is Utah or Rhode Island; not every conservative is Marco Rubio or Christine O’Donnell; not every moderate is Chris Christie or Jim Jeffords. Often (but not always), the better candidate wins, whether or not that candidate is the most conservative, the most Establishment-backed, or considered the most ‘electable’ by pundits and political pros.

That being said, the conditions of 2012 – specifically, the now-certain nomination of Mitt Romney as the Republican candidate for president – call for conservatives to take a harder line than ever in supporting Operation Counterweight (William Jacobson’s term), in particular to seek in Senate races what David Freddoso has called “an un-bossable Senate.” Party insiders expect conservatives, Tea Party-style outsiders and single-issue social conservatives to show up to vote anyway for a party whose leader is a man many of us distrust on nearly every issue. Politics, they remind us, is compromise. And that’s precisely my point: it is exactly because one side of the party got Romney that the other can less afford to swallow Romney-like figures in the Senate. That doesn’t mean backing the most conservative candidate in every single race without considering any other factor – but it does mean giving more than usual preference to the more conservative and/or less establishment option in Senate races. It’s not about demanding absolute party purity – it’s about recognizing that Romney has sopped up most of our tolerance for impurity already. If you want a Senate that will hold Romney’s feet to the fire, you have to start by replacing men like Dick Lugar and, in Utah, 78-year old Orrin Hatch.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Obama Was Against Disavowing. Before He Was For It.

You have to love the era of YouTube. Nothing gets past us these days because it’s all on tape! Although somehow people are still questioning what someone said even when it is on tape.

Either way, it makes for great moments in campaign years. Take for instance this little diddy that took place on the Romney trail.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Remember to Vote Yes to Amendment 1 In North Carolina

Today voters in North Carolina will go to the polls to consider Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment to ensure liberal judges and gay rights activists are prohibited from changing the definition of marriage under North Carolina law. Polls suggest the measure will pass. But then polls suggested the Personhood Amendment in Mississippi would also pass and it did not.

The Republican Primary is largely over in North Carolina, except in some contested seats. Republicans may not want to turn out. I do hope they turn out to vote for Scott Keadle, however, in his race. And I hope they turn out and join Latino voters and black voters as they did in California to support traditional marriage.

In 31 states that have considered constitutional amendments to uphold traditional marriage, all 31 have passed those amendments. Republicans should go to the polls in North Carolina to make sure North Carolina becomes the 32nd state to uphold traditional marriage.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Wisconsin Democrats’ Divided House

The Wisconsin Democratic Party had scheduled a unity rally the day after tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Democrat voters will go to the polls to pick a candidate to put up against Scott Walker in the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall. Well, it seems the preferred candidate isn’t going to win and the Democrats have said to heck with unity.

The Unity Rally is cancelled. It won’t happen. There will be no unity from the party leadership on down. It’s every man and union goon for themselves as they try to unseat Scott Walker.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Tax Code Tweak Might Make CNG for Vehicles More Available

Rep. William Cassidy (R-LA) common-sense approach to increasing the role of natural gas as a vehicle fuel, without the grandiose involvement of the Federal government. Unlike the Pickens Plan, this plan does not rely on massive government subsidies or direct payments for vehicle conversion. Instead, it would change the definition of “independent producer” in the tax code, to get around their current prohibition from making retail sales exceeding $5 million per year.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

The Attempted Al Qaeda Bombing & Democrats Silencing Dissident #EERS

Tonight, I’ll have the latest on the attempted Al Qaeda bombing of an American passenger plane. Also, in Georgia, the Democrats have hit on a novel way to silence dissent — go after poor bloggers who do not have the money to fight the lawsuits.

You can listen live tonight on the WSB live stream and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK. The show runs from 6pm to 9pm ET.

Consider this an open thread.

Wisconsin Democrats’ Divided House

The Wisconsin Democratic Party had scheduled a unity rally the day after tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Democrat voters will go to the polls to pick a candidate to put up against Scott Walker in the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall. Well, it seems the preferred candidate isn’t going to win and the Democrats have said to heck with unity.

The Unity Rally is cancelled. It won’t happen. There will be no unity from the party leadership on down. It’s every man and union goon for themselves as they try to unseat Scott Walker.

What’s the matter? Well, it seems the preferred candidate, Kathleen Falk, may not win and the candidate the unions don’t care for, Tom Barrett, does not want to be seen in their presence. While the acrimonious primary has unfurled, voters have decided they just don’t really care any more and any major enthusiasm for a recall is gone.

It’s not like a majority were ever really in favor of recalling Walker. Remember those Senate recalls that didn’t quite go as planned except for the one guy having the affair? Yeah, about the only good thing to come out of this recall is the unions spending all their money on this effort and still losing.

Tomorrow, Retire Dick Lugar

I really do adore Peggy Noonan. I respect her opinion and I love her writing. I take issue with her support of Richard Lugar, however.

Peggy Noonan writes that Indiana should “save the old guy. He has value.” She also says Washington needs grown ups and “we need mature folk involved in our governance, people for whom not everything is new.”

With respect, Mr. Lugar has no more value. He and his cohorts have given all the value to China.

Richard Lugar has been in Washington since January of 1977. I was one. The federal debt was approximately $650 billion. The federal debt now surpasses $15 trillion. And you know what? The grown ups did it. The grown ups, the mature folks, the adults in the room were the ones who did it. Richard Lugar was complicit in this catastrophic balance sheet. He rarely stood in the way of an increase in debt, an increase in spending, a bridge to nowhere, and a future to bankruptcy.

While Richard Lugar was joining the other grown ups in raiding the treasury for pet projects, Richard Mourdock was first in the private sector, then became Indiana’s State Treasurer. He fought the Obama Administration’s GM bankruptcy. He fought the Obama Administration on Obamacare. He helped Indiana balance its books.

The two men are both adults. Richard Mourdock’s parents are both World War II veterans. Yes, his father and his mother. He knows what sacrifice is like. He knows what hard work is like. And he knows that just as his parents quite literally fought for a better world, he must too.

In Washington, “adult” is the term of art for the men and women who reach across the aisle. They cut deals. They save face. They make government work. In their zeal to make government work, the perverse reverse has happened. We now work for the government. We sustain the leviathan. Our children’s children’s children will pay off the debt Richard Lugar helped incur.

I’d prefer it if we stopped sending his ilk to Washington to keep incurring debts for my children and grand children in the name of being grown up.

Morning Briefing for May 7, 2012

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RedState Morning Briefing

May 7, 2012

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

1. Tomorrow, Retire Dick Lugar

2. Conservatives Need to Rally to David McIntosh In Indiana 5

3. Obama Launches Reelection Campaign. Throngs of Adoring Fans Apparently Stuck in Traffic.

4. Obama’s failed policies cause millions of Americans to give up

5. Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

———————————————————————-

1. Tomorrow, Retire Dick Lugar

I really do adore Peggy Noonan. I respect her opinion and I love her writing. I take issue with her support of Richard Lugar, however.

Peggy Noonan writes that Indiana should “save the old guy. He has value.” She also says Washington needs grown ups and “we need mature folk involved in our governance, people for whom not everything is new.”

With respect, Mr. Lugar has no more value. He and his cohorts have given all the value to China.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Conservatives Need to Rally to David McIntosh In Indiana 5

Folks, there are several people running for Congress in Indiana’s 5th Congressional district, but only one of them is a real conservative leader. It’s not that the others are conservative non-leaders. They are moderate to liberal pro-choice, bailout supporting candidates.

Unfortunately, they’ve decided to gang up on David McIntosh to ensure a pro-life, fiscal conservative doesn’t get elected.

The election is Tuesday.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Obama Launches Reelection Campaign. Throngs of Adoring Fans Apparently Stuck in Traffic.

It seems that it’s not only Barack Obama’s position of football spiking that has taken a turn in an election year. Apparently the enthusiasm that resulted in huge stadiums full of adoring fans in 2008 has also changed quite a bit.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Obama’s failed policies cause millions of Americans to give up

The April unemployment report brought attention to the millions of Americans suffering in silence as a result of President Obama’s failed economic policies.

The Romney campaign has released a new video “Silence” highlighting the terribly disappointing April unemployment report.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Several media outlets have run stories about a rumored gathering of conservative bloggers, writers, and others last week. You can find pictures on Facebook. You can find a list of names. The words “off the record” seemingly have little value. Much of the information came from invitees.

. . .

While I do not claim to be a traditional journalist or reporter, many of the traditional rules of the media have always applied to blogs since I started and even now as I and others move on to television and radio. Off the record means off the record. If some breach the trust, others should not.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Several media outlets have run stories about a rumored gathering of conservative bloggers, writers, and others last week. You can find pictures on Facebook. You can find a list of names. The words “off the record” seemingly have little value. Much of the information came from invitees.

I started blogging in October of 2003. In July of 2004, I started blogging at RedState. Along the way I’ve done some really stupid things I’m not proud of and some really cool things I am very proud of. Some of what I’ve done others have questioned, but I have never held myself out to be a reporter. I’m a conservative activist. Though I often report on what the conservative movement is doing, my primary goal is to affect what the conservative movement does.

One of the fascinating things to me as my career at RedState and elsewhere has advanced is the number of conservative voices going into traditional media forms who originated at conservative blogs and online sites. It seems most of the newer voices and faces on the left have come from traditional left-wing print publications and moved into television and radio. Though there are a few exceptions, I think more conservatives have moved into television and radio directly from blogs and new media websites than the left.

While I do not claim to be a traditional journalist or reporter, many of the traditional rules of the media have always applied to blogs since I started and even now as I and others move on to television and radio. Off the record means off the record. If some breach the trust, others should not. One of the only significant times I can think of in which I deviated from that was the off the record meeting of evangelicals in Texas earlier this year. The attendees themselves had already designated one of the attendees to talk to the media. In my one post on the matter, I explained what happened without using names and only did so, with thanks from the attendees, after several others had run to traditional news outlets to give less than honest descriptions of the meeting. Even in that post, I left out names, major details, and asked for permission before I even did it.

There is no rule book for blogging, but there are best practices and the individual ethics of bloggers. Those practices have evolved over time.

Here now nine years after I started blogging, let me tell you something I have noticed. The people who are the loudest haphazard voices and bitterest voices among the longest serving crop of bloggers on left and right are the ones who never grew up. They hold proudly to the standards and cavalier attitude many of us possessed when we first got started and are angry when they see their peers doing more and having more influence and impact than they are. They wonder why they don’t get invited to meetings, conventions, and the like when others do and instead of realizing it is them, they conclude everyone else is selling out.

Peter Pan never grew up. Bloggers must.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a dear friend on radio all of you know. Obviously a great many people were more than skeptical of me, a conservative blogger, signing on with CNN. His advice really solidified my wake up and grow up moment online — have fun, don’t go along to get along, but be respectful and reasonable. If your opinion isn’t what most would consider reasonable, at least explain why your unreasonable opinion is reasonable to you and, above all else, try always to stay on offense.

Most humorously, at CNN a polar opposite of this friend gave me identical advice.

As I’ve grown up online, I’m one of the uncommon few who has moved on to both television and radio. I have been blessed. Along the way, I find others who are making the transition too, but still others who have been toiling away in the blogosphere for years who have refused to make the transition, or been unable to despite their hopes, and they may look at me and others like me and think we’ve sold out or decided to go along to get along. But I look at them and think what a waste of talent and energy. Some don’t want to transition, but have grown up and matured in their style and interpersonal relationships. They want to have an impact and they do. Hats off to them. But there are others who are dragging those folks down and the rest of us too.

Sadly for them and the rest of us who get invited to nice places to meet nice people off the record, as long as the rest of us keep humoring them and their antics, those invites won’t come for any of us.

It’s the May The Fourth Show #EERS

Yes friends, it is May the Fourth and we have a special free for all Friday night in store for you.

You can listen live tonight on the WSB live stream and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.

Consider this an open thread.