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1 comment May 29th, 2009

Senate Republican leaders want conservative zealots to cool their anti-Sotomayor rhetoric

3 comments May 29th, 2009

 In the civil war that has bloodied the Republican Party for months now, a new battlefront has opened with the emergence of a major spat regarding the overheated rhetoric with which some conservatives have opposed the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor.

 What makes this new squabble especially entertaining is that there are rabid right-wingers on both sides.

 GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Jeff Session, neither of whom has ever been accused of being moderate, are publicly urging some of their ideological brethren to TONE DOWN their anti-Sotomayor rants.

 The senators are wasting their time. It ain’t gonna happen.

 UPDATE: Speaking of overheated rhetoric, wingnut radio personality G. Gordon Liddy SAYS he’s concerned about Sotomayor’s menstrual cycle.

Limbaugh admirer likens him to Jesus

18 comments May 29th, 2009

 

 If I may, I’d like to preface this story with a little background.

 The first time I ever paid any real attention to Erick Erickson was two years ago this month, when I happened across something he had written on his conservative blog, RedState.com.

 It was the day after one of the early Republican presidential debates, and I was looking for commentary on the event. My Googling efforts toward that end led me to read Erickson’s recap of the debate. His PIECE gave me none of the useful insights I had been looking for, but I was nonetheless amazed at how the points he tried to make were so disorganized, illogical and contradictory.

 In short order, Erickson declared that “John McCain won” and that “Fred Thompson…really won.” He said that “not one of the men on the stage rose to a level to really stand out” and that “Mitt Romney shined, he stood out, he did well.” Getting back to McCain, Erickson said he “reigned supreme.”

 And, as if to chastise himself, Erickson also said: “Let’s not dance around about this.”

 In the 24 months since then, I haven’t much concerned myself with Erickson’s writings. Nor did I attend a speech he delivered a few months ago before a group of Rockford Republicans.

 Yesterday, however, I had occasion to read an Erickson post on RedState that characterized criticisms of Rush Limbaugh (and two other right-wingers) by his fellow conservatives as akin to St. Peter’s shunning of Jesus as described in the gospel of St. Mark. (Read it HERE.)

 The moral of all this is that I should have resolved two years ago to pay closer attention to the writings of Erick Erickson, if only for the laughs.

The race war inside the GOP

1 comment May 29th, 2009

 

 If someone with an infallible crystal ball had told you a year ago that the first Supreme Court nomination by the next president would prompt members of the opposition party to cry racism, you probably would have figured that Republicans would win the White House in the November election.

 But, of course, it turned out that a Democrat won the presidency. Hence, extraordinary as it may seem, it’s the Republicans — or some of them, anyway – who are making accusations of racism in connection with a high court nomination.

 But there are other Republicans who cringe at the spectacle of their party mates playing the race card in this matter.

 Rachel Weiner has more on this unlikely controversy HERE.