Quote of the Day (September 30, 2011)

Erick Erickson Finally Explodes
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Mark America:

“Erickson has reduced his own stature to that of a petulant child screaming ‘Now!’ It’s a sad spectacle, and I really don’t care to watch it much longer, because I hate to see people self-destruct.”

- JP

On the RedState kerfuffle

Two wrongs still don't make a right.
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For those who have not followed the RedState fiasco, Stacy McCain has the Cliff notes version here.

The most troubling aspect of the kerfuffle is not that Erick Erickson did not want to go against his employers. Some say that undermines his credibility, but we don't buy into that. And though the flavor-of-the-month mentality regarding political candidates at RedState can be frustrating to Palin supporters, that's the way it's always been there, and it's not the worst part of this mess.

The real problem for us is the low-down personal attack Erick made against Jamie Radtke. Her campaign manager was wrong to give Politico a copy of a private email Erick sent to Radtke trying to explain why his support for her candidacy had gone soft. But that is nevertheless no excuse for implying that she was "drunk" when she delivered her introductory remarks for Stephen Bannon at the RS event. If Radtke knowingly allowed her campaign manager to divulge the email or put him up to it, then she deserves to be criticized for it. Attempting to paint her an an alcoholic doesn't fall under this category of criticism. Demonizing a conservative candidate you may disagree with or feel may have wronged you is all too Alinsky.

All of this springs from the primary race in Virginia between Radtke and George Allen -- an important contest, to be sure. But is it really worth the damage Erick and RedState are doing to themselves? Many Palin supporters are backing Radtke in part because she has been very pro-Sarah, but Allen has also made some very supportive remarks about Gov. Palin in the past. You editor was supporting Allen for the GOP presidential nomination in 2007 before his campaign crumbled because of one ill-advised comment he made. When a Democrat operative has a video camera pointed in your direction, it's smart not to say anything that can be used to destroy you. We've also seen tweets and e-mails used to take people down, and blog posts are no different. This is a lesson someone as smart as we know Erick Erickson to be should have learned.

What undermines Erick's credibility is not his citation in the email of his bosses' political preferences. That could have been just a BS excuse meant to try to placate Radtke. It's the attack on Radtke's character that undermines Erick's reputation and that of RedState by extension. If handing an email over to a website which loves to diss conservatives is a Radtke character flaw, then that should have been the focus of Erick's response, not the gratuitous attacks he threw against her. Even "drunks" can figure that much out.

- JP

Quote of the Day (June 19, 2011)

On Jon Huntsman: See, I Told You So
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Erick Erickson, at RedState.com:

“Did Jon Huntsman violate the Hatch Act, a federal law prohibiting political appointees from engaging in politics? It does not look good for Huntsman and you can bet that, should he be the nominee, the media will do to him with Hatch Act allegations what they’ve done for two years to Sarah Palin. At least with Huntsman it will be deserved.”

h/t: John Nolte

- JP

Dan Riehl flays Erick Erickson for defending the indefensible

"Redstate is a DC and establishment-centric blog and always has been"
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In a Monday post at Riehl World View, Dan Riehl woodsheds Erick Erickson for defending the indefensible:

Unfortunately, Redstate editor Erick Erickson made a woefully misguided post in defense of John Ziegler after Ziegler posted yet another one of his manifestos, this one aimed at the Palins and published by the Daily Caller. I'm assuming the Stalker Weekly rejected it first and DC picked it up. They're always trolling for a negative Palin story to drum up traffic. From Ziegler's pre-criticism rebuttal, I suspect we learn his true motivations. There's a documented history of his turning on people while claiming he isn't whenever he has been met with rejection.

(Ziegler) -- I sent them an e-mail saying that I no longer thought me working for them was a good idea. I did make a proposal of various things I could do for them in late 2009 (including a new movie similar to the one about to be released) but I am not even 100% sure they got that and after she later decided to work for Fox News those options were no longer viable or interesting to me.

Ironic that this comes out just as "The Undefeated" is released, wouldn't you say?

It's doubly unfortunate that Erick felt the need to attack many honest conservatives in his weak and poorly thought out defense of Ziegler, compounded by some Tweets. Intelligent and insightful observers always knew the day would come when Ziegler turned: it's his MO. Erick sure has some strange friends given the title of his post.

On John Ziegler: How Easy We Trash Our Friends

I’m ... titling this post over the angst of those coming in via twitter and email about John Ziegler’s work. We should be better than that and ... maybe consider his sincerity instead of descending with lefty like(sic) relish directly into attacks on his motives. The reaction to his work has way too much a resemblance to how the Soviets treated the Trotsky supporters. I’m sure some are busy in their basements tonight digitally photoshopping Ziegler out of their photos.

Heavens! "We should be better than that" given the facts? Actually, Erick should have been better than that and did some thinking, and, or his homework, before posting. This is the second time in a week he's demonstrated a lack of one or the other, if not both...

[More]

By way of disclaimer, your editor has crossed swords with both Dan Riehl and John Ziegler in the past, ironically bother on matters related to CPAC, but for different reasons. On the other hand I had a good working relationship with Erick while a front page contributor at RedState a couple of years back and left on good terms.

That doesn't alter the fact that I agree with Dan here. Even though Erick is one of the good guys, he has made a bad decision without gathering all the required information. Plus, the entire premise of Erick's argument that we shouldn't "trash our friends" is a fallacy. In order for it to work, a friend has to be a real friend. Ziegler's only friend is Ziegler, and he stabbed Sarah Palin in the back just as he has stabbed so many of his former associates in the back. He would do the same to Erick if it suited his purposes.

Erick, who are you going to believe about Sarah Palin -- Mark Levin (whose credentials and judgment speak for themselves) or John Ziegler and the nest of PDS cases you should have kicked off of RedState (or at least fairly applied your own website's standards to) years ago? You're still one of the good guys -- one of the best, in fact -- which makes it all that more of a shame that someone is giving you bad advice.

Related: John Nolte knocks down Ziegler's arguments, one by one. Ed Morrissey challenges Ziegler's argument on his electability point and has an online poll up where you can vote your opinion.

- JP

Fair weather Palin supporters

It's time to stop allowing the ruling class elites to pick our presidential candidates
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It has been interesting and somewhat sad to watch the support for Sarah Palin among some of those who have claimed to support her wax and wane like the changing of the seasons. Eric Erickson, editor of RedState.com is a textbook example. His support for Gov. Palin weakened when she decided not to participate in last year's CPAC conference, choosing instead to keynote the Tea Party National Convention and speak at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. Erickson's support for the governor got stronger after she hit home runs at both events with her speeches, and it grew even stronger when the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate endorsed some candidates that Erickson also favored.

But now Erickson is hedging his support for Gov. Palin again with a recent RedState post promoting Indiana Congressman Mike Pence for President. Erick's timing couldn't be worse. His post comes on the same day that Indiana political pundit Brian Howey reads the tea leaves to opine that Pence will likely run for governor of the Hoosier State, not POTUS, as Ian Lazaran points out.

Though Erick does acknowledge that Pence's path may more likely run through the governor's residence in Indianapolis than the White House and admits that sitting U.S. House members are very long shots to win the presidency, he still hopes against hope that Pence will do "something extraordinary" and run for president. Erickson ignores what Congressman Pence clearly recognizes: he needs to get some executive political experience under his belt before he goes for the gold.

The RedState head man says he likes Pence because he "bridges the gap between the establishment and the grassroots." But traditionally that gap is bridged by a vice presidential selection, not the candidate at the top of the ticket. It was Ronald Reagan's choice of George H. W. Bush which won him the support of the GOP establishment in 1980. In that year and again in 1984, we saw a movement conservative clear the path to the White House by throwing the establishment a bone. These are the rare exceptions, as in more recent years the conservative grassroots were thrown bones to make establishment candidates more palatable, such as Dan Quayle in 1988 and 1992, Jack Kemp in 1996 and Dick Cheney in 2000 and 2004.

Like many other conservatives who seem to switch candidates like partners at a barn dance, Erick was swayed to back Mitch Daniels, at least until Daniels showed he was willing to roll over on social issues. Now there's no disputing that still "it's the economy, stupid." But you don't throw the social conservatives under the bus, either, because at some point along the route, you may need them to get out and help push the thing over at least a few of the bumps in the road. So now Erick's barometer has swung over to Pence, just as the former RSC chairman seems to be laying the groundwork to announce that he's going to run for governor.

We're not out to slam Erick Erickson. Our editor worked for and with him for six months at RedState, and Erick proved over and over again to be a good man, one of exceptional character. But in our opinion, he is representative of a number of conservatives who make the mistake of letting the left, its captive media and the squishy GOP establishment unduly influence their opinions of Gov. Palin. George Will and Charles Krauthammer may be big shots inside the beltway, but in most places on the American map, what they say is of little consequence. It's long past time to take a stand and stop allowing the ruling class elites to pick the GOP's presidential candidates. They have been doing this every four years since 1988, with predictably disastrous results.

Erick also makes the mistake of overlooking one basic fact. Should some conservative other than Gov. Palin wind up getting the GOP nomination, that candidate will be subject to all the vilification the left can muster and its media accomplices can spread around. What makes him think any other conservatives would be less "radioactive" than Sarah Palin after the elites have had their way with them? Can he not remember how they treated Ronald Reagan back in the day? George W. Bush, who was just Conservative Lite® -- not a movement conservative by any stretch of the imagination -- was hammered harder than even Reagan was. So the "radioactive" argument against Sarah Palin just doesn't hold its heavy water.

No one has been challenging the ruling class like Sarah Palin has been doing for two years now. She's been leading the charge against the Obama administration's ruinous policies, the media's corrupt lies and the Vichy Republicans' traitorous corrosion. She puts herself on the firing line nearly every day, which is why she draws so much fire. But she's still standing strong and championing Reagan conservatism. No one else comes close. That's one of the reasons why we began supporting her since we learned about her and why we continue to do so. She's a fighter, and that's exactly the kind of leader conservatives need right now. What she needs in return are not fair weather supporters. She needs common sense conservatives who will stand by her as she has stood by us and our shared principles.

- JP

Quote of the Day (August 31, 2010)

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Erick Erickson at Redstate.com:

"Lisa Murkowski is conceding the senate primary in Alaska to RedState and Sarah Palin endorsed Joe Miller... Conservatives, led by Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin, are potentially creating the most conservative Senate Republican Conference in the last thirty or so years: Sharron Angle, Ken Buck, Mike Lee, Joe Miller, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Pat Toomey will be joining Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn, and David Vitter."

- JP

Quote of the Day (August 25, 2010)

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Erick Erickson at RedState.com:

"Last night on CNN I suggested that Palin’s endorsements only matter in some cases like Nikki Haley’s, but overall were no more impactful than other endorsements. Glad to say I was wrong. She’s five for five last night... And there are a number of state legislative races in Alaska where her support was critical. Well done, Governor! Now let’s get Joe to Washington."

- JP

Quote of the Day (July 13, 2010)

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Erick Erickson at Peach Pundit:

"Sarah Palin’s endorsement ensures Handel a spot in the runoff. Deal may not like it. Johnson may not like it. Oxendine may not like it. But Palin sealed the deal (pun intentional to rub it in) and puts Handel into a runoff."

- JP

RedState's Erickson endorses Joe Miller

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One day after Tea Party Express joined Sarah Palin in endorsing Joe Miller of Alaska for the U.S. Senate, RedState.com's Erick Erickson has also boarded Miller's bandwagon:

Joe has an uphill battle, but he is right on the issues. Murkowski is disputing his candidate comparison, but he is on the money.

Murkowski is opposed to full repeal of Obamacare.

Murkowski is pro-choice.

Murkowski did support TARP.

Murkowski is weak on border security.

Joe Miller stands on the opposite side of Murkowski on all those things.

Friends, we did great work getting rid of Bob Bennett. Now we need to do the same to Lisa Murkowski. Let’s join Sarah Palin and Joe Miller and keep cleaning up our own side before the Democrats try to tar and feather good conservatives with guilt by associating with the likes of Lisa Murkowski.

Joe is the underdog in this race, but with influential conservative voices speaking up to support him, the playing field is getting more even. Look what Todd Palin has started!

- JP

RedState: We know who paid Will Folks to smear Nikki Haley (Updated)

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Erick Erickson at RedState.com drops a bunker buster on the rat hole where Will Folks hides:

Who paid Will Folks? He was alleged[ly] offered money. A LOT of money. In fact, RedState now confirms through a whole heap of sources that he’s been trying to sell this story for a year.

We know who bit.

We know who didn’t bite.

We know who paid Will Folks to push this story out there.

So who was it already that paid the dirtbag for his bag of dirt?

Erickson, tease that he is, isn't saying just yet, but he promises that all will be revealed in due time. Since the gullible media let Folks string them along, says Erick, RedState is going to string the media along for a little while.

And everyone else along with them. But it sure sounds like good news for Nikki Haley and bad news for Folks The Farce. Like Gov. Palin said to Nikki when Folks crossed fully over to the dark side to try to destroy her, "Hang in there!"

Update: Erickson thinks it's Andre Bauer's campaign that is paying Folks.

- JP

Some DeVore supporters losing patience

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Even some of Chuck DeVore's staunchest supporters are getting impatient with their candidate's failure to climb out of the cellar in the California GOP primary for the chance to challenge Sen. Barbara Boxer in the general election.

CNN contributor Erick Erickson, who has been promoting DeVore on his website RedState.com, said on CNN's "John King USA" tonight that if DeVore doesn't manage to surge in the polls in the next two weeks, "I'll be with Carly Fiorina because Tom Campbell is that bad":

You can view a video of the segment here.

DeVore is currently running fourth in a three person race. According to the lastest Survey USA poll, Campbell gets 35 percent of the poll, followed by Fiorina at 24 percent. 23 percent are undecided, and Campbell only manages 15 percent.

Many of Fiorina's backers are calling for DeVore to drop out of the race and join Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, the National Right To Life Committee and others by endorsing Fiorina. They fear that if DeVore remains in the race, he and Fiorina will split the right-of-center vote, allowing liberal Republican Campbell to easily win the primary.

- JP

Erickson disses Palin in trying to make the case for DeVore

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This is a post we wish we did not have to write. Criticizing a friend and former colleague from our days as a RedState contributor brings us no joy. But after reading Erick Erickson's front page post "I’m staying with Chuck DeVore," we could not let it go unanswered.

The piece is so heavily laden with condescension that, frankly, we had to check the byline twice to believe that this stuff was coming from Erick. This seems so out of character for Erick that we wonder if someone else had posted it using his name. In the past, he has been both supportive and critical of Sarah Palin, but in every instance he was fair. Even when he slammed the governor for speaking at the National Tea Party Convention and SRLC instead of going with the flow to CPAC, he at least tempered his criticism with follow-up posts based on personal observations.

But Erick's DeVore piece directly insults Gov. Palin's intelligence:

"You can say all day that she doesn’t have the 'intellectual curiosity' to be President — which is to Palin as 'Cheney’s gravitas' was to Bush — but you cannot deny this woman is fundamentally conservative, Christian, and would be a heck of a lot better than the present guy in the White House. For all of you who deny her intellect, you cannot deny her gut is conservative."

Conservatives never look more ridiculous than when they mimic left wing memes, and the old "intellectual curiosity" fake pearl comes right out of the DKos/DNC plastic jewel box.

That Sarah Palin is intellectually curious is a fact that she has proven time and again. She been photographed holding one of her two copies of Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny, and lest one believe that book was nothing more than a prop, Gov. Palin has cited Thomas Sowell, the Cato Institute's Michael Cannon, Dr. Stuart Weinstein of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Thomas L. DiLorenzo of the Mises Institute, and a number of Heritage Foundation scholars in her op-eds on Facebook and in newspapers from The Wall Street Journal to the Washington Post.

In her arguments, she has challenged and refuted President Obama and no small number of his surrogates, from Vice President Joe Biden to Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel on issues from energy security to health care rationing.

She has been praised for her intelligence by politicos from Charlie Black to Newt Gingrich, pundits from Fred Barnes to Camile Paglia, and intellectuals from Victor Davis Hanson to Yuval Levin.

We still can't believe that Erick even brought up the left's "intellectual curiosity" straw man when there was no reason to do so in the context of his argument. It was completely gratuitous and the sort of thing we would expect from The Huffington Post, not from RedState. When will conservatives learn that repeating leftist talking points, unless one is making an argument to refute them, only serves to do damage to the conservative cause? We know Erick is no elitist, so it is puzzling to see him going down the path already well worn by David Frum, Kathleen Parker and others of their ilk. We know that Erick is better than that.

As for his argument for Chuck DeVore, Erick never mentions that California is a blue state. It's not your father's California, nor is it Ronald Reagan's anymore. There are Conservative bastions there, but it has become difficult for a conservative to win an election of national significance in the land of fruits and nuts. No Republican was won a race for the U.S. Senate in California since Pete Wilson did it back in 1983.

You can safely bet that the Golden State's shift leftward was one of the primary factors Sarah Palin weighed in her decision to endorse Carly Fiorina. Just as Scott Brown was about the best conservatives could have reasonably hoped for in a U.S. Senator from blue Massachusetts, Gov. Palin reasoned that Fiorina is the best we can expect to defeat Barbara Boxer with in California. And defeating Boxer is one of the keys to prying control of the U.S. Senate out of the hands of the overreaching Democrats. Against Boxer, Fiorina's poll numbers are trending upward, while those of Devore and Campbell are in decline. This too, was likely part of the Palin political calculus.

All of the positive things Erick had to say about Gov. Palin in his diary were reduced to just backhanded compliments because he played the "intellectual curiosity" card from the bottom of the left's stacked deck. It's a place where Erick didn't have to go, and we are sadly disappointed that he felt the need to go there. As we said, we have always rated Erick as better than that, so we're at a loss to explain why he did it. If you can't make the case for DeVore without dissing Sarah Palin, then perhaps you have no case at all.

- JP

Erickson: Sarah Palin Outlasts Jon Meacham’s Pretentious Posterior

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With the news that The Washington Post Co. is putting Newsweek up for sale after several years of drastic losses in revenue, RedState.com pundit-in-chief Erick Erickson observes that the weakly magazine's editor Jon Meacham has finally been successful at something -- driving Newsweek "into the ground":


“
Meacham and the rest of the Newsweek gang decided to turn Newsweek into leftwing political pornography in order to get access to Barack Obama. Increasingly, their audience has shrunk to a few blocks on the Upper West Side, various newsrooms, Democrat offices in Washington, and some college libraries.

[...]

Apparently, literary intimate acts with the Obama White House while also attacking Sarah Palin just cannot sustain traffic in the already over saturated marketplace of leftwing propaganda...

”

At least Meacham, says Erickson, has not been willing to go to the extremes of Larry Flynt "except when it comes to bashing Christians."

Erick Erickson: Trey Grayson is Attacking Conservative Ideas and Sarah Palin

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RedState.com top gun and CNN contributor Erick Erickson shoots down Trey Grayson's hot air balloon:

The man has refused to take a substantive position on bailouts, etc. for the longest time. He’s peddled false smears against Paul that Paul is pro-choice. In fact, Rand Paul is very much pro-life, but thinks because abortion is a non-constitutional issue contrary to Roe v. Wade, it is an issue for the several states to ban and not for Congress, except for the bit about defunding federal payment for abortion, which he gladly supports doing.

Then there is the latest...

[...]

Now Trey Grayson is attacking Sarah Palin because Palin endorsed Rand Paul. Grayson says Palin is unfit for office and he questions her judgment.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Republican that D.C. Republicans say we should all get behind.

Not me.

Us neither. Good on you, Erick.

- JP

Quote of the Day (March 26, 2010)

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Erick Erickson:

"When Josh Marshall says ['We all see this'] what he means is that his sympathetic allies in the media will spend more time covering scurrilous accusations about violence on Democrats than they’ve ever devoted to people burning down Sarah Palin’s church or the Texas Governor’s Mansion or the violence inflicted by leftists during free trade meetings, or the death threats against Republicans during the Bush years, etc."

- JP

Quote of the Day (February 7, 2010)

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Erick Erickson:

"Governor Sarah Palin took to the stage at the National Tea Party Convention on Saturday night and hit it out of the park. She hit all the notes perfectly. She threw in some great lines. But above all else, she proved herself authentic, sincere, and in touch with conservatives and independents."

- JP

Convention naysayer criticism tempered a bit

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Some of those in conservative circles who were at first critical of Tea party Nation, the convention they organized and Sarah Palin for agreeing to keynote the event are backing off a bit now that the whole affair appears to be a success.

One of those was Red State's Erick Erickson, who -- though he still has some concerns -- decided to go to Nashville and see for himself what's going on. He discovered that "it turned out okay":

The best thing to happen to the tea party movement is Sarah Palin. It is very clear she did not know the circumstances involved in finding the money to get her to Nashville. It is also very clear that the money is not going to her — it is going to the cause. She’ll use this money as part of a war chest to help elect likeminded people.

[...]

Sarah Palin’s governance shows she not only talks the talk, but walks the walk. As her voice grows, many of the voices of the alleged tea party leaders will diminish. Palin’s history is one of a woman who gets involved and leaves places better than she found them. The tea party movement will be left better off by Sarah Palin.

We think that it's great that Erick went down to Nashville. He's one of the good guys, and we believe that he's taken a big step toward putting an end to the conservative circular firing squad.

Some of the other critics still can't bring themselves to admit that they may have rushed to judgment. Melissa Crouthier is one of them:

"Sarah Palin is going to have to defend the moronic decision to invite Joseph Farrah who waxed eloquent about the Birther nonsense."

No, Dr. Croutier, Sarah Palin does not have to defend anything or anybody. She was invited to speak at the convention, and so was Farrah. She didn't invite him. If Farrah and Tancredo say stupid things, then they are the ones who shoould be held responsible for their own words, and no one else.

Dan Riehl is another:

"On the one hand, she is said to have problems with CPAC for their allowing the John Birch Society to have a booth; but then she turns around and backs Rand Paul, who is about as aligned with the Birchers as any politician, save for his Father, right now. There is something terribly inconsistent there."

No, Sarah Palin never said that her problem with CPAC was the John Birch Society. Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said, "We support those who advance our core beliefs and lead by principle." It was Politico that quoted an anonymous source who claimed that the Birchers were behind Gov. Palin's decision not to attend CPAC. Politico has also cited an anonymous source who claims the Palin decision had something to do with the ACU-FedEx dust up. So who is being inconsistent here? Everything that comes from Politico has to be taken with at least a grain of salt. Props to Erick for taking the trouble to go to the convention and get the facts for himself, rather than just continue to hold opinions based on hearsay. Too bad about that "scammy" comment, though.

Sarah Palin will deliver an address tonight in Nashville which will be most the anticipated convention speech since her remarks to the Republican National Convention in 2008. she rose to that occasion, and we have no doubts that she will rise to this one as well.

- JP

The RedState Sarah Palin Interview

Our friend and former colleague Erick Erickson interviewed former Governor Sarah Palin Tuesday afternoon. Because Erick didn't receive his copy of Going Rogue until 10:00 a.m. and had some other pressing duties on his plate, he only had time for a quick scan of the book.

In our opinion, it worked out really well, because Erick mostly asked the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate questions that were submitted by RS readers, making the RedState interview stand apart from most of the others. Here are a couple of excerpts:

I did not want to sound like Katie Couric and ask what she’s read, but I broached the subject and she went right into mentioning Thomas Sowell and Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism. She said she has read some of the foundational stuff, but she sees no need to focus on the old writings. She likes “the modern stuff too.” Her preference is policy and application, focusing on writers who are not just following up on foundational conservative ideas, but applying those ideas too.

[...]

She said China is a rising super power and we should treat it as such, but recognize there is an unbalanced trade situation right now complicated by our reliance on foreign energy sources at a time China has a voracious appetite for more and more energy of its own. “We should be selling energy to China,” Gov. Palin said.

Read Erick's full recap of his interview with Sarah Palin at RedState.com.

- JP

Quote of the Day (October 22, 2009)

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Erick Erickson:

"Palin Wins. Pawlenty Fails."

Will we have lots more reaction to Sarah Palin's endorsement of Doug Hoffman? You betcha!

- JP