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Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

The willow is too close to the house.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Giving up is unforgivable.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

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Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

White supremacy is terrorism.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

We will not go back.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

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Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Erick Erickson, RINO

Erick Erickson, RINO

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This post is in: 

I don’t have the patience to read RedState anymore, but reader C sends along a report:

 

So much awesome in the comments to Erickson’s post defending Newt/Perry for attacking Romney over Bain.  Newt is taking hardcore heat for his attacks on Romney (as this tpm clip summarizes), but Perry is echoing him, and Erickson is all in for Perry . . . just so much fun to watch.  One comment is titled, “I can’t believe my ears, Erik Erickson is a Democrat.”  Someone else comments, “Your defense for Perry’s Leftist attacks are based on Democrat attack adds that were run against a fellow Republican in the blue state? Go join Obama you RINO. Stop lying an acting like a conservative when you are clearly not if you like Obama’s class warfare tactics.”  There are acrimonious accusations of ROMNEYBOT!  I can’t tell you how this made me smile: “I have always been a Rush listener but think I will take a break. Those of us who are paying attention to what is happening in our country are desperate to have a President who believes in America and her people. Rush knows Perry is a capitalist and to say he’s acting like Castro, to me is sounding like the left. He says Newt and Perry are sounding like they are libs, what about him? Only a lib would would equate Perry with Castro. He went on a 10 min rant over tearing them down. It makes me ill.”

Reader Interactions

142Comments

  2. 2.

    Jewish Steel

    When I look in my local obituary all I see is Republicans. As the party shrinks away to Whiggian oblivian, it’s gonna go through some weird death throes.

  5. 5.

    Mino

    Reposted from previous dead thread.

    Hah. I look at the Little Green Football blog now and again to see what relatively sane Republican-lites are saying. A lot of their threads run 300-400 comments. The one discussing Man from Bain had 56 comments in 24+ hrs. Shellshock, I guess.

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    Yeah, RedState is kind of amusing to read right now. So many of them are all-in for Perry even as he has racked up a pair of inspiring fifth-place finishes and is currently running a distant fourth in South Carolina. And their attitudes towards Romney almost perfectly mimic the stages of grief. Most of them seem to be somewhere in between Anger and Depression, with a few having arrived at Acceptance.

  7. 7.

    Rommie

    Blue tricycle?

    They’re all going to be so much happier when they can get back to attacking the blah.

    If Mittens ends up damaged goods because of the attack ads on Newt in Iowa, they’ll be delicious tears. He (er, um, those unaffiliated SuperPACs, I mean) didn’t need to bury Newt, the guy does that all on his own. Unforced error.

  8. 8.

    General Stuck

    Wingnuts have Howitzer grade circular firing squads. Dems use spitballs, paper airplanes, and sternly worded blog posts.

  12. 12.

    The Dangerman

    Let me get this straight…

    …if someone attacks ROMNEY, they are a RINO. This would led me to conclude that some are arguing Romney is the true Republican.

    Wow.

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    @The Dangerman: No, that’s not quite it. To the wingnut, it’s perfectly OK to attack Romney just as long as you attack him in the right and proper manner. Attacking him for being a vulture who feasts on the carcasses of small American manufacturing towns is bad. Attacking him for speaking French is good. See the difference?

  16. 16.

    Jennifer

    Perhaps we should bombard CNN with emails about how Erickson has become a liberal hippy. Might be the only thing that would make them take him off the air.

    Of course, now that they’ve doubled down on the stupid by hiring Breitbart attack puppet Dana Loesch, it still won’t redeem their reputation.

    I remember as a kid getting really pissed off by kids’ shows that insulted my intelligence, like Mr. Rogers talking like his audience was full of brain-damaged morons. I had no idea that by the time I was an adult, being a complete idiot would be a prerequisite for a position with a “news” network. Which is probably a good thing – I think I would have ended it all by age 6 if I had been able to see just how much worse it would get.

  17. 17.

    Dustin

    The thing is, I don’t think we need to worry about this firing squad settling down before the election. Old Newt’s attack was/is effective because as much as the GOP wants to pretend otherwise “class warfare” is happening and since the start of the OWS movement public awareness of the problem has gone from the high teens to 60+ percent. This isn’t fratricide, it’s a party’s death throes. The problem is preventing them from effing with election laws long enough ensure demographics do their job.

  18. 18.

    kth

    “Only a lib would equate Perry with Castro”: I’m sorry, I can’t make heads or tails of that. Unless it’s liberal to adopt a POV so far right that Rick Perry seems indistinguishable from Fidel Castro.

    Is this guy still on CNN?

  20. 20.

    JGabriel

    One comment is titled, “I can’t believe my ears, Erik Erickson is a Democrat.” Someone else comments, “Your defense for Perry’s Leftist attacks are based on Democrat attack adds that were run against a fellow Republican in the blue state? Go join Obama you RINO. Stop lying an acting like a conservative when you are clearly not if you like Obama’s class warfare tactics.”

    It’s always a pleasure to see the right-wing Purity Spiral in action.

    It just brightens my morning.

    .

  21. 21.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @kth:

    “Only a lib would equate Perry with Castro”: I’m sorry, I can’t make heads or tails of that.

    Don’t try too hard; you’ll go mad.

  22. 22.

    amk

    redstaters are head bashing over this perry?

    Perry flubbed his three departments once again, NBC’s Carrie Dann reports. During a radio interview this morning, he was asked which federal departments he would shut down. Perry listed: “Three right off the bat: Commerce, Interior, and Energy are the three that you think of.” Problem: Those are NOT the three he had previously not been able to name. He swapped Interior for Education. He has not previously said he would eliminate Interior.

  23. 23.

    Cricket

    That was a fun read. Internecine warfare is much more enjoyable as a spectator sport.

    I am thinking back to 2008, when there was much talk of how the Democrats were going to be so divided and demoralized because of the battle between Clinton and Obama. And yet the Dems were able to pull it together during the general thanks to having a great candidate and everyone in the party, including Clinton, making a big push for unity. I wonder if the GOP will be able to do the same thing?

    The big difference seems to be that Clinton and Obama were extremely close on the issues and that most Democrats were fine with voting for either one of them. There were noises from some liberals about not voting for Hillary and of course there were the PUMAs, but those were definitely fringe. The animosity towards Romney from conservatives, on the other hand, is very much based on distrust about his core beliefs and record. The amount of “Not-Romney” fervor seems very intense. If Romney wins the nomination, it will be interesting to see how well the GOP can get their ducks in a row.

  24. 24.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    The trick will be to figure out a way to keep this going for 11 more months.

    Fortunately, those SuperPACS have lots of cash to spend. It’s gonna be good for a long time.

  25. 25.

    scav

    Got another possible brain-spinning conundrum coming up. They’re going to be serving actual gold flakes in some desserts at the Golden Globes awards ceremony. Attacccckkkkk! as worthless Hollywood Communist Elitist Parasitic Scum! or DDEEeeeeFfffeeeennnndddd!!! as Symtomatic of the Class Envy and Warfare against our Hard-working Job-Producing Betters?

  27. 27.

    Nylund

    @The Dangerman: No, no, no…what makes one a RINO is turning against the notion that the best form of capitalism is one where the rich plunder the pensions of workers in order to add to the hundreds of millions of dollars they already have.

    Pretty soon, the only way a candidate will be able to prove their not a RINO is for them to just march into the houses of the poor and rob them directly at gun point. Anything less will be considered socialism.

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Cricket: A lot of Obama vs. Clinton fight was also that people were strong supporters of their person. In the case of the GOP, it seems that a lot of the energy is going into being against the other candidates as opposed to supporting their own.

  32. 32.

    Egg Berry

    random question: does anybody really believe there’s no coordination between the campaigns and the PACS/Super PACS?

  33. 33.

    Sarah Proud and Tall

    From the comments:

    It’s become apparent to me that the GOP has been infiltrated by leftists. Further, it would appear that it began a long while back. After the bloodletting of ’06, many real conservatives lost their seats and the ‘fifth columnists’ were the survivors, because the political left didn’t target them as aggressively. In the backlash against the wave of socialism that occurred in ’10, the GOP retook the House of Representatives, but those survivors were now the senior members of the majority party and took leadership positions. This is when I began studying and realized that this had been a long time in the making. These are the people who have been selecting who our candidates are. After this cycle is over. I think serious thought needs to be given to giving it up and starting over.

  34. 34.

    Cricket

    @Omnes Omnibus: True. I remember a lot of love for both Clinton and Obama. Most of the Romney supporters seem to be defaulting to him because they see the other candidates as unelectable.

    I love the smell of low enthusiasm in the morning….

  35. 35.

    GregB

    @Cricket:

    I am proud to say that I was at the Unity event that Hillary and Barack held in Unity, New Hampshire.

    I wonder if the GOP is preparing a fence mending rally in Intercourse, PA?

    These internal GOP flame wars can’t continue enough.

    It should also be noted that the GOP is tipping their hands here. According to them, cultural warriors like Perry and Newt are Castro leftists all because they dare to question Mitt’s vulture capitalist ways.

    This is the moment where some smart folks can point out to a lot of idiot right wing Bible thumpers that they have been really suckered for a long time by the money jackals of the GOP.

    It’s all about the money. Money, money, money.

  36. 36.

    Gus diZerega

    To a fascinating degree this resembles the tone of arguments within the old Communist Party in the years before the Russian Revolution and to a great degree afterwards:disagreement was always touted as evidence the other “objectively” supported the class enemy. Disagreement was always a sign of disloyalty.

    The conservative movement today is totalitarian to its core.

  37. 37.

    JCT

    @trollhattan: FTW! Holy crap the tears are so copious your pony can take a fucking bath in them.

    Reading that thread all I could hear was “NOM NOM NOM, crunch crunch, crunch” as the cannabalism commenced. I like the visual of Cowardly Ewick standing athwart the bleached bones of his beloved party.

    So, so sorry for them. I guess this is what happens when you substitute blind hatred of the “other” for all other rational thought.

  39. 39.

    jefft452

    I was flipping channel and came across an interview with Joe “You Lie” Wilson
    Q: will Bain hurt Rommney in the primary?
    A: We love the free enterprise system in SC, We are a right to work state, factories are moving here, conservative values made us what we are today – stay the course
    Q: How about in the general
    A: We have 10% unemployment here, people are losing their homes. People are upset about the status quo and demand change

  40. 40.

    handsmile

    Munching through bowls of popcorn, I’m as big a fan of GOP civil war as anyone here. But I am chastened by memories that there was no less vituperative debate and denunciation between the Clinton and Obama camps during the 2008 primary season. By summer, a wary detente had been declared, bandages applied to wounds, in order collectively to defeat McCain (who at that point was leading in national head-to-head polls).

    I’m delighted to read about the abuse and recriminations in such tar pits as RedState or LGF. I’m thrilled that a conclave of evangelical patriarchs are meeting at a Texas ranch this weekend to seek divine guidance to stop the Mormon crusade.

    But after all the internecine warfare, and our entertainment, a black man and his family are still residing in the White House and his homies in Congress are still trying to steal their wallets and guns. These putrid fears and fevers (as well a few private telephone calls from their financial masters, ‘Yes, Mr. Koch, Yes, Mr. DeVos’) will compel a Republican armistice in the not distant future.

    ETA: Evidently Cricket and I were thinking along the same lines, though his conclusion is different than mine. He was posting, while I was typing. H/T

  42. 42.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Omnes Omnibus: Careful. That randy fictional old lady is liable to take that an an invitation. Of course she might bring some excellent pharmaceuticals.

  44. 44.

    Pavlov's Dog

    If you want to read peak wingnut, try reading comments at Free Republic. For pure entertainment, I like the comments at Larry Johnson’s place (of whitey tape fame). The flame wars going on at Hot Air are pretty funny also.

  45. 45.

    Cricket

    @GregB:

    It’s all about the money. Money, money, money.

    Yup. This comment at RS is revealing:

    Free enterprise did make America great because God loves free enterprise. God doesn’t want us to be idle and God dislikes idle worshippers like Obama.

    Capitalism as religion, they haz it. Arguing about the morality of firing people for profit is the Devil’s work.

  47. 47.

    David

    Obama is a Moderate, a Centrist, a tireless promoter of bipartisan cooperation and the Republican Party is running against that.

  48. 48.

    handsmile

    @Omnes Omnibus: (#27)

    Your point has merit, to be sure. But I think whatever shallow enthusiasm individual GOP candidates now command, once a nominee is selected, the imperative, indeed the crusade, to defeat Obama and the Democrats will channel that energy.

  51. 51.

    General Stuck

    @David:

    Obama is a Moderate, a Centrist, a tireless promoter of bipartisan cooperation and the Republican Party is running against that.

    Really? and here I thought they were running against a Kenyan Soshulist.

  53. 53.

    scav

    @Mark S.: Oh I adore that idle worshiper comment too, right up there with the interaction (it was here wasn’t it?) where somebody was insisting the story of the prodigal son was about the one who stayed home because he was a prodigy.

  54. 54.

    Cricket

    @Mark S.: They defend the spelling later when someone points out that it should be “idol”. Apparently Obama is idle and may also be an idol worshipper.

    *sigh*

  55. 55.

    RSA

    @Gus diZerega:

    To a fascinating degree this resembles the tone of arguments within the old Communist Party in the years before the Russian Revolution and to a great degree afterwards:disagreement was always touted as evidence the other “objectively” supported the class enemy.

    I noticed that, too (that is, not the historical connection, which I can’t judge, but the style of argument). Very few commenters there seem to be interested in whether accusations against Romney are justified or not; the most common argument seems to be, “If you’re not with us 100% you must be a liberal.”

  56. 56.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Egg Berry:

    random question: does anybody really believe there’s no coordination between the campaigns and the PACS/Super PACS?

    Two words: Quiet Room.

  60. 60.

    The Dangerman

    @GregB:

    According to them, cultural warriors like Perry and Newt are Castro leftists all because they dare to question Mitt’s vulture capitalist ways.

    Ding! Like Plumbers, the cracks are showing.

    I can’t get my head wrapped around how wondering if Romney/Bain acted ethically is an attack on Capitalism or Free Enterprise; I realize it’s on the orders of the Powers That Be (I didn’t know, and can’t believe, that Bain owns Clear Channel which runs the Limp Balls) but, really, this is the best they’ve got?

  61. 61.

    Mark S.

    @scav:

    Yeah, I remember the prodigal son thread. I had no idea what that guy was talking about, but he was damned sure he was right.

  62. 62.

    Sarah Proud and Tall

    I know I’m nut picking but some of these coconuts are so huge they are either insane or DougJ:

    I am sick and tired of Rush and Hannity mandating by edit what is what and what is not
    __
    In this election few dare cross them for fear of a smear, is my read..
    __
    Since its move left I can tolerate less and less of Fox, it hurts too much to view.

  65. 65.

    scav

    Oh, and look at the NYT suddenly discovering how to do all those tricky overly expensive, can we / should we venture into such dangerous waters bit?

    The video, “King of Bain: When Mitt Romney Came to Town,” is riddled with inaccuracies, half-truths and omissions, according to a review of corporate documents and interviews with industry analysts.

    Seriously, random chance don’t love me enough to explain this hairball of PACs and factional infighting and idle worship all exploding at once, not in the state that Colbert traditionally plays with.

  69. 69.

    gogol's wife

    @scav:

    Yes, I wanted to write to the public editor to point out that they fact-check when they want to DEFEND Romney, but what’s the point.

  70. 70.

    Brian R.

    @David:

    The beauty of the birth certificate bullshit is that Romney is going to have an impossible time avoiding the release of his tax returns now.

  72. 72.

    Drum Circles And Weed

    This is all Newt’s fault. He’s let the genie out of the class warfare bottle and its damn hard to stuff that fucker back in there once it has gotten loose.

  77. 77.

    MikeBoyScout

    Somehow the thought of Gnoot being on the side of the downtrodden in the class war feels like the Poles must have felt when Stalin was their allie.

  80. 80.

    scav

    @MikeBoyScout:

    “The toad beneath the harrow knows/exactly where each tooth-point goes/the butterfly upon the road/preaches contentment to that toad”

    – Rudyard Kipling

    Not that it makes any real sense, as you say.

  82. 82.

    Liberty60

    Maybe this can be final proof that the firebagger/obot flame wars are not limited to our side of the aisle.

    Wingers have their emo outbursts as well.

  83. 83.

    cmorenc

    One thing we SHOULD worry about is that without a doubt, the GOP establishment has already retained Frank Luntz to research an effective way to favorably counter-frame the issues raised by Romney’s role at Bain Capital. As evil-genius as Luntz is at deceptively creative ways to favorably word things, his genius is rooted in his willingness to do solid scientific market research with focus groups to find out empirically what actually works most effectively rather than merely what sounds as if it could be strongly persuasive.

    One encouraging thing is that I’ll bet that even for someone of Luntz’s considerable bona fide talents, he’s finding this problem to be one of the greatest challenges of his career. Unless some devastatingly effective counter-response is forthcoming very soon, this would much more likely indicate that Luntz is struggling to find an effective counter than to indicate any tactical decision to hold their powder for now and wait for a better moment this spring or summer to mount a counter-offensive. The Bain Capital issue is deeply corrosive, and not the sort of situation that dissipates or improves with patience; it’s the sort of damaging narrative that once broadly set in the public mind, is extremely difficult to successfully turn around, even with the help of an evil genius like Luntz.

  84. 84.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    @Omnes Omnibus: Don’t try too hard; you’ll go mad.

    Ain’t that the truth. Must be really confusing for people whose only way to express disagreement with someone is to say they’re a liberal (and, by implication, always has been).

    Throw in the typical paranoid schizophrenia and it’s really a wild ride, I reckon.

  85. 85.

    geg6

    Much like a trainwreck, I can’t seem to turn away from the Right’s meltdown. It’s like the Obama/Clinton showdown, but on steroids and with massive doses of the stupid thrown in as seasoning. And unlike the 2008 Dem primary battle, there are just huge differences between the candidates that could make the whole PUMA thing look like a hiccup.

    Just got the Corey Robin book and have started reading it. That book club discussion thread forced me to get it as it was probably one of the best threads I’ve ever read, here or anywhere else. Pursuing a degree in poli sci did not teach me as much about conservatism in four years as that single thread did. It will be even more interesting to watch this primary and general election in the wake of reading and studying and discussing that book (especially with the input of the author). And I’m very interested in his analysis of this fight in relation to the theory he posits in the book.

  86. 86.

    andy

    @dmsilev: Exactly. Wingnuts can only show their fealty to the Cause by demonstrating how willing they are to be bent over a sink by John Galt. Being consciously, deliberately obtuse about the blood dribbling out of your butt, as if it’s not your own, is voting against your own interests at its finest.

  87. 87.

    gaz

    OT: but my kitteh (the racist one) just flipped the hell out over that picture of Tunch on the open thread from last night (he’s never taken an interest in my screen before).

    Now he’s determined to find out how/where tunch is hiding in my monitor. This is too funny. LOLOLOLOL

  90. 90.

    Jennifer

    @cmorenc: I’ve got to disagree with the portrayal of Luntz as some sort of “evil genius.” He’s not. He’s just amoral. He listens to what people have to say, which is how you find out what they want to hear, and then charges candidates, networks, etc. big bux to pass on what he’s gleaned about what people want to hear. No genius, evil or otherwise, is involved – though I’ll agree that Luntz himself is evil.

    It will be a great day in America when we stop conflating a complete lack of morality with skill, talent, or intelligence. If there’s a single belief that’s done more to put this country in the toilet than the one that a willingness to break every rule of ethics, decency, morality and even law = smarter, more “productive”, more worthy, then I don’t know what it is.

  92. 92.

    WereBear

    @Jennifer: Hear hear! Winning is not the only thing; winning doesn’t even have to have losers.

    It’s only the crimped psyches of those who cannot play on the actual playing field that drives them to redefine it. Those without any scruples celebrate their lack. The rest of us are, and should be, appalled.

  93. 93.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Rush knows Perry is a capitalist and to say he’s acting like Castro, to me is sounding like the left. He says Newt and Perry are sounding like they are libs, what about him? Only a lib would would equate Perry with Castro.

    “Only a lib would equate Perry with Castro?”

    Say what? Perhaps only a serious dumbass would…which pretty much describes the fascist swine named Limpdick…the guy famous for saying shit like “words mean something”.

    To “conservatives”, words mean whatever they need to mean right this minute to advance the Partei in its agenda of getting power for the sake of getting power, and further enriching its members and cronies.

    WTF does “equating with Castro” even mean? Is Perry in favor of universal health care, like Castro is? Is he in favor of literacy for the masses? Is he in favor of land reform? Is he in favor of tossing organized criminals like ITT and Meyer Lansky out of the country?

  96. 96.

    Spaghetti Lee

    One thing I noticed: none of the Erickson-bashers are actually defending what Romney did on the merits. It’s just that their someone-is-attacking-capitalism sensors are going off and they’re responding like rabid dogs, but no one’s actually talking about the substance of the issue. Now, some of them may just be too stupid to actually advance to that level, but I’m sure some know that Romney is an indefensible man and all they can hope is that “If you criticize Romney, YOU’RE A DIRTY COMMUNIST” shuts enough people up.

  97. 97.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @xian:

    i love this craven bootlicking: “But as Rush Limbaugh said, as always correctly…”

    These assholes quote directly from the pages of Pravda during the 1930’s.

    It’s fucking amazing. There are no more Borgy Borg than wingtards.

  98. 98.

    gnomedad

    Their plan is to have the final battle on the roof of the Oval Office, and all the acid blood will … too much of a stretch?

  99. 99.

    Curt

    Newt’s burning bridges, and I have a feeling that when the dust settles, conservative posterity will not look kindly on his conduct at this juncture. I think we’re seeing the ultimate flame-out of his career, even in the wingnut welfare sector. Maybe Perry’s, too. People like Erickson who defend one or the other will probably come out all right, but not without burn-scars of their own, at least until the next election cycle.

    Then again, Romney’s loss to Obama will generate its own scorching blowback of recriminations from the vast legions of anti-Romneyites. What will conservatives look like in 2013? The only sure thing is, they’ll be nastier and angrier, whichever of these factions comes out on top.

  100. 100.

    KG

    Here’s explaining the Castro (spit) thing: in the wingnut mind (I’ll give you a second to stop laughing), any comparison from the left that something proposed by the right is fascist or something that would have been, let’s say, German policy circa 1930-41, is by default wrong and terrible because in their mind their policies are nothing like that (and of course what’s his douchebag proved that liberals are the true heirs of fascism). So, to compare an honest, clean cut, red blooded, good American grade wingnut like Perry to Castro (spit) is a page out of the Left’s book. Rush just replaced Hitler with Castro (spit), because he realizes to go Goodwin is to lose.

    Romney absolutely has a Bain problem. His bullshit will not sell well with small business owners (like my folks, for example), who actually genuinely dislike letting employees go, and who treat their employees quite well. Main Street ain’t about to recognize what Romney did as “creative destruction”, they’re going to see it for what it was, he was running a financial chop shop that destroyed a lot of businesses. For small business owners, that matters. Most spend their entire adult lives building a business, their identity is often tied to that business. You start selling Romney as the asshole who ruins your business rep after you retire, or the guy that screwed you out of your business when you went to him to help you expand your base… Well, that’ll be game over folks

  101. 101.

    patrick the pedantic literalist

    This may have been obvious to everyone but me, but now that the “don’t attack republicans from the left” rule has been broken it is clearer to me how much the “attack only from the right” can be viewed as a process that forced challengers to go further and further to the right (and take the republican party with them) or have no challenge at all.
    Despite his “never say ill of a republican”, Reagan attacked Ford from the right. Since that time attacks from the right were ok, but attacks from the left were not. This doesn’t hold for the democrats where being the more centrist candidate is often the winning strategy.
    So the republican campaigns have been — attack from the right, attack from further right, attack from further further right … until now finally someone has had to leap into insanity or jump back towards the center. But the process has taken years and driven the republican party to the edge of sanity in the meantime.

  102. 102.

    Schlemizel

    I’m old. I remember the joy when Rush took out after Buchanan as not a real Republican his listeners went all nutzo on him. These things damage the brand for a minute but people that stupid are too stupid to learn and grow. They will be over it by November sadly.

  104. 104.

    maus

    @Jennifer:

    Perhaps we should bombard CNN with emails about how Erickson has become a liberal hippy. Might be the only thing that would make them take him off the air. Of course, now that they’ve doubled down on the stupid by hiring Breitbart attack puppet Dana Loesch, it still won’t redeem their reputation.

    “ha ha ha! I bet you they won’t call us the Clinton News Network anymore!”
    …
    “why are we still losing ratings?”

  105. 105.

    WereBear

    This points up something which occurred to me after all the discussion on last Wednesday’s book thread (which was great, and I encourage everyone to check out the book The Conservative Mind.)

    Wingnuts cannot make moral decisions.

    They always rely on someone else to tell them what is right and wrong; what is an allowable argument; the way to live their life and the way to torment someone who is doing it differently.

    They cannot reason; they must rely on Authority to tell them what to do and think because “Shut up that’s why.” They repeat it back to their opponents because they don’t have any further argument!

    This is why what looks to us as hypocrisy doesn’t look that way to them; they are not articulating concepts from one situation to another, and extrapolating what those concepts mean to a different situation. They know what they are told.

    And that’s all.

  106. 106.

    Hal

    Stop lying an acting like a conservative when you are clearly not if you like Obama’s class warfare tactics.”

    Romney runs around blowing Wall Street and the rich, but Obama is engaging in class warfare? How do you feel sorry for a wealthy person when someone legitimate asks about income inequality?

  108. 108.

    General Stuck

    David Brody: “After a two day meeting at a ranch outside of Houston a group of 150 Christian leaders, business leaders and conservative activists have coalesced behind Rick Santorum.”

    “So what does this mean? Expect conservative groups to start individually motivating their constituents to work for Santorum. Also look for more money and resources to start pouring into Santorum’s campaign. No question about it, this is excellent news for Santorum’s camp and a major blow to the Gingrich and Perry camps.”

    Santorum catches the Death Camas bouquet . Baby Jeevus tightens the screws on Perry and Gingrich. Or is it all nothing but a dream?

  109. 109.

    maus

    @General Stuck:

    the GOP needs a fluoride candidate, or at least a workable commie detector in their ranks.

    We have a genuine Bircher in the ranks, that’s exactly what you’re looking for.

  111. 111.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @amk: I have always thought that was one of the reasons to elect Obama. A lot of people have gotten away with hiding their racism because blahs never really had much power. Put someone in the highest office in the country and it’s all these people can do to keep it inside. Give Obama a second term and they’ll go apeshit.

    ETA (in case the trolls arrive): It’s not the reason I voted for him, but I’ll take side effects like this.

  112. 112.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @WereBear:

    They only know what they are told.

    Just a friendly amendment.

    They have no ability to form opinions based on knowledge and evidence.

    They are perfect apparatchiks, or Outer Party members.

    They are authoritarian followers, to the core.

    They make for excellent cannon fodder. Or serfs.

  114. 114.

    Curt

    @wrb: Just because Newt didn’t get that endorsement doesn’t mean he’s going anywhere. If anything, the lower he sinks in the contest, the more desperately and viciously he’ll lash out.

  115. 115.

    dww44

    @Curt: Yep, I have to agree.

    The only sure thing is, they’ll be nastier and angrier, whichever

    While I do wish that the GOP was going the way of the Dodo bird, at least as presently constituted, I am not that sure that demographics will necessarily take is there.

  117. 117.

    gnomedad

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):

    Give Obama a second term and they’ll go apeshit.

    I hope and expect that Obama will be re-elected; I’m also a little afraid of what happens next. I think some of the crazies “know” he’ll be defeated, America having realized its mistake, etc., etc., and are just holding it in and counting the days.

  122. 122.

    dogwood

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    One thing I noticed: none of the Erickson-bashers are actually defending what Romney did on the merits.

    The panic over Bain on the right is really about the fear that if the story has legs many Americans will begin to understand the complexities of capitalism. Romney sold himself as a CEO, a businessman. Most people naively assume this means he provided goods and services and that in order to provide those goods as services he had to hire people, thereby creating jobs. No matter what happens at least some people will learn that real fortunes are made through destruction, that you can get rich by producing nothing and providing services to a handful of wealthy investors. It was hard for the left to break the notion that W was qualified to be president because he was a CEO. We screamed that he was a failed businessmen who relied on his father to bail him out, but it didn’t break through. We couldn’t produce a video entitled “When W Came to Town”. Despite his failures he didn’t leave communities devastated and hopeless. He didn’t destroy baseball in Texas. He used the system to build a stadium and profit at taxpayers expense. But there is a fucking stadium, and some regular Americans are probably glad it’s there. Mitt doesn’t have a “stadium” , and that’s why this story has some legs. Republicans want us to see Mitt as George Romney, CEO of American Motors, and a successful governor. But that’s his father’s story, not his.

  123. 123.

    cmorenc

    @Jennifer:

    I’ve got to disagree with the portrayal of Luntz as some sort of “evil genius.” He’s not. He’s just amoral. He listens to what people have to say, which is how you find out what they want to hear

    You badly underestimate Luntz because of your profound disrespect for the people and ends he willingly serves for-hire. Although your terse, basic description of what he does is correct so far as it goes, it fails to explain why HE is so much more often able to come up with so much more effective words and framing for issues and candidates than the vast majority of other political operatives. Noting that he is “evil” only explains why he is disrespectfully repulsive, not why he is effective. To effectively counter his evil works, it is first important to acknowledge and respectfully understand what his strengths and thought processes are.

    First, if you’ve ever watched Luntz working a focus group in a context where he’s not simultaneously serving a double-role as active propagandist for the GOP, such as a few years ago when he worked as a commentator for either ABC or CBS, you realize what an astute empirical field student of human nature he actually is. For purposes of conducting useful field work with focus groups, he is capable of draining all ideological kool-aid from his own head, and asks astute questions of people that are well-designed to elicit the real reasons for their behavior (whether they support, reject, or prefer one response or candidate over another). His other talent is the ability to conceive what words and framing most effectively reinforce the reasons favoring the side he’s working for. Of course, by allegiance and inclination he’s usually working for the GOP rather than as a truly independent consultant for some news network. Also, don’t judge Luntz by his appearances on Fox News, because there he knows he’s being paid to serve a dual role as both analyst and subtle propagandist. You need to see him work in a more neutral setting (such as for ABC) to appreciate the kind of true gifts he has (and is malevolently misusing when working for the GOP).

  124. 124.

    Redshift

    @General Stuck: I’m betting some in the gathering were not looking for an anti-Romney at all, and forcefully advocated for Santorum as the only True Christian in order to keep the anti-Romneys divided in South Carolina (now that Newt’s prospects are looking up there.)

  125. 125.

    Redshift

    @Sarah Proud and Tall:

    After the bloodletting of ’06, many real conservatives lost their seats and the ‘fifth columnists’ were the survivors, because the political left didn’t target them as aggressively.

    Hee. I love the idea that the Republicans who were in districts red enough that the Democratic wave in ’06 couldn’t take them out really only survived because they are closet leftists.

    Republicans eating their own. Moar please!

  126. 126.

    Davis X. Machina

    @gnomedad:

    I’m also a little afraid of what happens next. I think some of the crazies “know” he’ll be defeated, America having realized its mistake, etc., etc., and are just holding it in and counting the days.

    You read the comments over at Digby’s place, too?

  127. 127.

    The Other Chuck

    @Mino:

    It’s supremely unfaair to lump LGF in with Redstate. Charles Johnson pulled a Cole maneuver a couple years back, publicly broke with the right, and the readership has shifted to match. They tend to go right-of-center when it comes to Israeli politics, but even then it was the extreme Islamophobia of the right that was the original wedge that drove CJ away in the first place.

  128. 128.

    Donald G

    @handsmile:

    I’m delighted to read about the abuse and recriminations in such tar pits as RedState or LGF.

    You obviously haven’t been reading LGF since Charles broke with the right. The vast majority of the commentariat has no use for the Republicans for many of the same reasons we here at Balloon Juice don’t.

    At LGF, modern republicans are largely seen as anti-science, anti-woman, racist, Christian-dominionist nutjobs and that’s seen as dangerous for the country. Birther conspiracy theories are rightly mocked and right-wing racial hatred is frequently called out and denounced.

    The most vile of the commenters have largely flounced or gotten themselves banned and gone off to join the “stalker-blogs”, where they can fester in their hatred of liberals, democrats, Muslims, climatologists and, primarily, the “traitor” Johnson and what LGF has become since Charles’s conversion.

    Seriously, I’d recommend substituting Hot Air or Free Republic for LGF in your “tar pit” characterization above.

  130. 130.

    dogwood

    @cmorenc:

    Good post. Luntz is one of the few GOP operatives who actually earns his keep. He’s invaluable to Repblicans because his first love and main interest is language and politics. Sinces he’s a Republican, he uses his skills to advance their candidates. He’s not going away. I wish the Democrats had some language nerd who could convince them of the importance of effective framing.

  131. 131.

    worn

    @Joey Maloney: In the name of all that is well and good, please, oh please, exalted FSM hear my plaintive beseechments that the event shall taketh place in Stillmore, GA…

  133. 133.

    Redshift

    @The Sheriff’s A Ni-: Possibly, and I’m also probably overestimating the skill of the Romney campaign, based on their work so far. However, I hope the idea spreads that there are fifth columnists in every GOP gathering, and that’s the only reason things keep turning out so Romney just barely stays ahead.

  134. 134.

    worn

    @WereBear: Couldn’t resist wading into the fever swamp out of morbid curiosity. And just a few comments in I find a commenter saying exactly this, albeit in a different fashion:

    I don’t have the time to research and tab everything Romney or Santorum or Newt or Anyone says or writes, or the means to do it. The Mics do the work for us. But it’s our job to listen, to check out their “facts”, and then make our own decision. I don’t vote for anyone without having my facts in a row.

    (“The Mics” BTW is used as a shorthand for the various shock jocks that dominate the airwaves)

    Man, it’s like the invisible hand naturally does the nutpicking for me.

  135. 135.

    maus

    @marv:
    http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Congressman-Ron-Paul-on-Fluoridation–and-More-Victories-.html?soid=1103759775597&aid=-i84PnJ5fKw

    Dr. Paul responded: “The federal government should have zero…nothing to do with the promotion of fluoridation unless its on a military base…and hopefully there they would do the right thing. So no, federal fluoride promotion shouldn’t exist, they shouldn’t be telling you or anyone else what should happen because even though it was well intended at the time–I remember that I thought it was a bad principle because in a way it was massive treatment–and at the time everybody accepted the idea that fluoride was great and that you would never get a cavity and there was no downside, now there is a big question, that’s why you don’t want government doing these kinds of things. You or I should decide, someone should give us bottled water with fluoride, or we should have the ability to buy water with fluoride, but we should not have the federal government promoting fluoridation…sometimes their right, most of the time their wrong. They shouldn’t have the authority to do this. Especially with the information out there now about fluoride, I would do my best to stop federal involvement with state and local fluoride decisions.”

    Again, we have the Bircher King in the running.

  136. 136.

    Murakami

    From how I remember it, Charles Johnson, of LGF, never really changed his liberal political views on most things. He just associated with the Republicans because 9/11 drove him to insane levels of violent delusions and he decided he would rather see support a violently Islamophobic party instead of supporting the slightly more pacifistic party which agreed with him on 90 percent of the issues. I remember him complaining in 2004 about how idiotic Republicans were on social issues but he decided to vote for Bush anyways because Bush would keep the bombs flowing.

    Was a kinda strange thing at the time. I don’t know what finally cured him of those ultraviolent dreams of vengeance.

  138. 138.

    elftx

    @Gus diZerega:

    “Over time it’s going to be important for nations to know they will be held accountable for inactivity,” he said. “You’re either with us or against us in the fight against terror.”

    funny what Bush really started eh?

  139. 139.

    Steve Finlay

    I didn’t read the comments, but it was very interesting to read Erickson’s post. What he said was extremely rational. It boiled down to “Let’s at least be CONSISTENT in our attacks”, and “The fact that capitalISM is good does not automatically make every capitalIST good”. These are totally sane and logical positions, no matter how left or right you are. But obviously, if you try to speak to the Republican base with sanity or rationality, you are going to be skewered with a thousand rusty Confederate swords – no matter how much you might have been “on their side” earlier.

  140. 140.

    Binky the consumer bear

    It is fascinating to watch the coalition of interest groups that was formed in the aftermath of Watergate in the name of “conservatism” is flying apart centripetally due in no small part to the fundamental incompatibility of the factions’ interests. The libertarian, hedonistic wealthy elites can’t coexist with Evangelicals’ values and the excess of both of those factions are offensive to the “silent majority” types: a mix of Protestant work ethic types and conservative Roman Catholics who value conservatism over the liberal wing of that church.

  141. 141.

    harlana

    i’m so late to this thread, but this almost makes me want to visit Redstate and make a buttload of comments- dual identities along the lines of some emotionally tormented, heart-broken gooper and some as a snarky, clucking Dem

    “I can’t listen to Rush anymore! Mommeeeeeee!”

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