inside the beltway. Thank you brother.

…it’s Tom Ridge himself.

the country is HUNGRY for conservative ideas articulated and then followed through upon.

We really don’t need squishes in this Party, we need leaders who can articulate the difference between conservative, value based governing and leftwing, liberal elite hypocrisy.

(I’m thinking I should change my Redstate screen name to “kumbaya.” Anyhoo…)

I don’t see Ridge’s statement above as a “lie.” What some people view as “pok[ing] fun at” someone, others would see as an attack.

But, if Rush attacks individuals—-so what? He’s not Santa Claus. He’s a verbal combatant.

(Kumbaya here) Is this a fight worth picking?

If someone called me a liar, would you just shake it off? I wouldn’t—at least not lightly or quickly.

I don’t think we should alienate allies lightly. I’m concerned that posts like this do just that.

If we want to do anything meaningful at the polls in 2010—and I do—we’ll need to partner with moderates like Ridge.

(To be clear, I said “partner with”, not “knuckle under to.” And, if Ridge were to tell me that I HAD to abandon Rush in order to get his support, I’d reply that I’d do without his support).

Instead of pointing out the true problem — the move of this country towards socialism, he is complaining about how others argue against the true problem. That does nothing but give the other side ammunition against us. The headline on CNN about this “Shrill Limbaugh Blasted by Republican”. Exactly how does this help the party win elections?

He is just a commentator, As long as he is the target of the lefty smear merchants I am perfectly happy, because guess what? Rush Limbaugh is not on any ballot!

Let them waste their time jousting with a guy who has 15 hours a week to fight back. I am OK with that.

Here we have someone, Tom Ridge, who is a bit right of center critiquing Rush Limbaugh, who is further right of center. And Limbaugh does verbally attack or make fun of people sometimes - usually by somewhat humorously pointing out a glaring inconsistency in their position and/or actions. But I don’t think Limbaugh is ever outside the bounds of good taste. Certainly he doesn’t physically attack people or curse them on the air.

So what about liberals and leftists? Do they come on the talk shows and make a big point of saying how awful those even further left are? Do liberals spend much time criticizing Jeremiah Wright for basicly saying everyone in America should roast in eternal Hell? Do they spend much time criticizing Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers for not merely attacking other Americans verbally but actually trying to blow up other Americans at Fort Dix?

Seems like there’s being too much attention being paid to a speck of sin on the right while a forest of sin on the left is largely ignored.

However, I can see how someone can interpret an attack on someone’s ideas or policy as being a personal attack. So what? The left has been doing that to us for decades. Most times, they have really made it personal, not just a polite or a vehement attack on our ideas. Now we have Rush, Sean, Mark, Laura, Ann, Liz Cheney fighting back. I say go for it. They are exposing the hypocrisy of a 2-bit political party who can’t take one bit of criticism, especially when it’s backed up with facts.

Hey Tom, there’s another guy from Pennsylvania who would like to welcome you to his new political party. Why don’t you go join him?

saying nasty things about poor little ole Obama and Powell how absolutely horrid….what has this party become / snark off

Now here is the deal my friends on the RIGHT side of the divide…the day WE start listening to the tools such as Ridge, Powell and the oldstream media and don’t get up and FIGHT is the day the Republican party DIES! I want Powell and Ridge to grow old watching this party come back to its roots of fiscal conservatism and small government. NO Mr. Powell Americans DON’T WANT TO PAY MORE TAXES…..NO Mr. Powell TRUE REPUBLICANS DON’T BACK THE DEMOCRAT….you Mr. Powell are NO Republican your sir are what is called a SELLOUT and OBTW Mr. Ridge you are called a TRAITOR to the cause of liberty and small government!

Whoever has his enemy at his mercy &
does not destroy him is his own enemy

find anyone more irrelevant than Ridge? I doubt most people on either side could pick him out of a police lineup.

Didn’t I see a recent post here by one of the front-pagers (maybe even EE) about how he was all for a big-tent philosophy?

I never cared much for Ridge, but Powell is right. Unless the moderates begin to feel included, the Republican party will bleed votes and seats. The country is leaning center left - last election proved that - and if the Republican party wishes to right the ship, they’ll start paying attention to the trends, otherwise 2010 will be disastrous.

For those on this board that keep saying I’d rather have 30 die-hard conservatives in the Senate than a mix of conservatives and moderates, you seriously need to rethink your priorities. Forcing folks like me to keep voting Libertarian or worse, going to the other side isn’t doing you any favors.

and accept your attempt to set me up to attack Rush; therefore, I will not comment.

Why do we have to continue watching the media set up Republicans to repudiate Rush Limbaugh; do not accept the question as one worthy of comment and move on.

Lastly, to all of you big tenters out there… I hear you talk about the three pillared chair and I have one question, why would you vote on one pillar for the Republican when the other two you share with the Democrat? It seems you have 2 for the Democrat and One for the Republican, no brainer when it comes to voting.

He did a mediocre job when the Office of Homeland Security and then DHS was formed. He constantly deferred to the FBI on issues of financial investigations and in so doing destroyed morale in several of the agencies he oversaw- esp the U.S. Customs Service. The JTTFs have largely been successful because of agents who worked their rearends off while Ridge was crying wolf at every turn - Red- Orange - Yellow. Thank goodness that nonsense has ended. He failed to ensure that the FEMA director could do his job. He had years to run table top exercises to ensure they were ready for a hurricane disaster.

Erick, have you forgotten that to a lib, the worst calumny is to quote his own words back at him.

I am writing this comment because I am not sure where my replies to some of your responses have come to rest. Let me say first that I am not blaming Ridge for Katrina. I am blaming him for the agency-wide failure to respond quickly. I understand Brown was the guy who should have been requesting the assistance of other DHS agencies. I am saying that as the Dept head, he needed to deal with the issue of natural disasters in addition to other homeland issues. Sec Chertoff said there was no pre Katrina scenario. There should have been. I obviously do not hold Ridge in high regard. My agency stopped the terror attempt on LAX. Ridge did not foster an effort to maximize various agency capabilities in several areas.

Steve - the DHS response to the hurricane is what I was referencing. If you were a federal agent with agents working the response, you would agree that the response was not nearly as quick as it could and should have been and it was inadequate. I am not arguing about the state / local missteps that made a terrible diaster worse. I am saying that the agencies that made up DHS did respond with a more focused effort in the years preceding DHS formation and Ridge as Sec DHS and Office of Homeland Security.

David - It shows a bit of ignorance to compare MS to NOLA when writing about the immediate DHS response. Please do me and others the courtesy of reading all I write before making sophmoric statements. Maybe Becker could counsel you.

Fred - I am a friend of a DHS-ICE SRT agent who was a NOLA LE first responder. DHS-ICE had primary federal LE responsibility for NOLA in the aftermath of the hurricane. Do not assume I am referring to a DHS relief provider.

I really did not intend my comment to start a skirmish. My comments were my way of expressing my belief that Ridge is not one whose opinion I hold in high regard.

While we are evaluating Ridge we may as well mention him as the only republican in recent memory to propose book-bans, urging banning of Bruce Shiener’s excellent book on cryptography.

He obviously didn’t bother to notice it had been in bookstores for years. The Chicoms, North Koreans, or whoever wanted it could have had cases of the book by then.(Or just drop in any college library.)

Personally I put book bans right up there with burning Elvis albums in the ’50s. Call him a serious asset to the party if you want to.

Regards

When Ridge was governor of Pennsylvania; he got into a pi**ing contest with the union that represents the Pennsylvania State Police-while they can perform useful services on occasion-they are largely deployed to issue summary citations for speeding-which is more about revenue than public safety-or else they’d be VISIBLE to PREVENT speeding and would focus as much on the reckless driving on I-80, 81 & 83 as speeding. Just as dangerous, but so much harder to prove in a court.

In any case, Ridge who ran as a law and order guy-was shown exactly who the boss was when the PSP went on a ticket strike and showed him who was boss. Money screams.

If Ridge has so much fight-he should’ve picked a broo-hah-hah with Arlen, not Rush. Had Bush not made him DHS secretary, he’d have just been the governor of a state whose economic vitality is attested to by the number of young people leaving for places where they can make enough to live independently, not just hanging out with mom & dad.

obama has gotten away with destroying the housing industry,
obama has gotten away with destroying the banking industry, and
obama has gotten away with destroying the auto industry.
It time to fight back and save this nation. Call obama what he is a LIAR for the LAST 2 Years.
I think all Senators and Comgressman who have been office for 24 years or longer should RESIGN in SHAME for allowing the rape of the United States Taxpayers.
Reid and Peloski Need to Resign immediately.
Enron officials are in Jail for raping the taxpayers and acts committed by obama, schummmmmmmmer, dodd, frank, reid, and peloski.
Its time to throw out the thugs.

Is as desperate and sick an individual as he is. Rush is not shrill. His voice is too deep to be, first of all. Second, unlike Ridge, he is a talented articulator of words and ideas. As such, his show is packed with actual information. Not attacks or shrillness. Plenty of that on Air America. Ridge’s rise to recent media hype is due to his repetition of this ’shrill’ scolding and now in connection with the name Rush Limbaugh. Rush has identified ‘country club republicans’ as that group which controls what’s left of the GOP. It’s not Michael Steele or anyone else. It’s just a small jobs bank for persons with serious personal problems and character issues. Knowing their haughtiness has caused the downfall of this country doesn’t seem to bother them in the slightest. Whoever pushed for Ridge in Pa. must be part of this country club group. Every one of whom is a complete embarrassment as it’s obvious they have no plan for the future except to make sure we don’t have one.

After reading some of the mass media’s butt polishing of Newt, Powell, and Ridge yesterday and over night the one thing I noticed was missing was any coherent argument against Mr. O’ and the Dems policies. It was all just a bunch of “can’t we all just get along” mush and an abdication of all that the GOP used to represent. Honestly, and I said this to Rush last year when Newt was interviewed about his comments that the Reagan Era was over, that Newt is trying to position himself as moderate of the GOP just as Mr. O’ did for the Dems. No one is willing to at least try to make a stand on the most simple platform of all… the US Constitution.

In between all the bombastic and faux platitudinous comments Rush uses to illustrate the absurdity of all US politics (the left happened to be more absurd until lately) the one area that he consistently revolves around is the continual breach of public trust in protecting our freedoms by politicians. Our RINOs in the GOP are just the latest incarnation of governing towards oblivion instead of prosperity. The only truth that dribbled out of Newt and Powell’s political salivations this weekend was that the GOP is in danger of disintegrating. If it cannot find its way back to governing and leading from the most influential document in human history, then let it die.

I’ve been a Republican for more years than I want to admit but this current GOP leadership, during the most critical junction of governing philosophies in US history, is severely wanting. I pray nightly for leadership within the GOP but as long as the current players listen to the bantering of the mass media they are hopelessly lost. The American people need someone that will give them their country back and be bold enough to tell the rest of the world to go fly a kite. Currently, I do not see this coming from within the GOP. Where of God is your leader in our time of distress!?