The Truth. It Hurts.
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | July 3rd at 04:46 AM |
Mitch McConnell is in the headlines again for saying the odds are against those wanting repeal of Obamacare. “[I]t’s a lot harder to undo something than it is to stop it in the first place,” he said in part. For once, let’s give McConnell the benefit of the doubt and suggest he is talking about the present Congress, not the next Congress, though in actual | Read More »
Hold Mitch McConnell To His Word
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | June 28th at 05:09 PM |
In February, Mitch McConnell told Senate Republicans he would not bring up any votes on Obamacare repeal. On March 1, 2012, the Senate considered Senator Roy Blunt’s amendment to the Senate version of the highway bill. It was the only amendment the Senate GOP offered. On its surface, it was a good amendment. It would allow religious employers to opt out of the new Obamacare | Read More »
The White House Is Not Enough
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | June 18th at 04:46 AM |
Consider this Wall Street Journal editorial your must read of the day. It highlights why adding conservatives to the United States Senate is so important. This past week, Republican in the Senate, including Mitch McConnell’s leadership picks, sat idly by saying nothing while the Senate Democrats pushed forward the nomination of Andrew Hurwitz, who helped formulate the reasoning behind Roe v. Wade while a law | Read More »
Will Mitch McConnell Stand With Conservatives Against Obama & the Federal Reserve?
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | May 16th at 04:46 AM |
The Federal Reserve is not my issue. Audit it if you want, I’m with you. But it’s not something that drives me crazy or makes me passionate. But there is one issue that really gets me and the Fed has been at the center of it lately — crony capitalism. Barack Obama has nominated Jeremy Stein and Jerome Powell to the Federal Reserve Board of | Read More »
A Nobody With No Audience Gets Noticed by Mitch McConnell
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | April 26th at 04:46 AM |
Yesterday on Laura Ingraham’s radio show, she asked Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell about a recent Roll Call article that framed me as one of the loud leaders of conservatives opposed to Mitch McConnell. The Senator from Kentucky responded that he had never heard of me and I did not have an audience. That sounds a bit like the child, when asked if he ate | Read More »
In Other Words, McConnell Is More Concerned With Keeping His Power
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | March 2nd at 08:57 AM |
The other day, Mitch McConnell made clear to Republican Senators that he would block efforts to offer amendments on full repeal of Obamacare this legislative year. I wrote about. Then Alexander Bolton at The Hill wrote about it. Then Rush Limbaugh mentioned it. Then conservative group Restore America’s Voice Foundation said it would, well, Alexander Bolton has a follow up report. Restore America’s Voice Foundation | Read More »
Senate GOP Leader Does Not Want to Anger Harry Reid With Obamacare Vote
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | March 1st at 07:24 AM |
I reported yesterday that Mitch McConnell is expressly blocking a vote on a conservative backed measure to repeal Obamacare, but there is news this morning that the situation is far worse than even I thought. Alexander Bolton reports Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell intends to avoid any votes on repealing Obamacare this entire year lest he anger Senator Harry Reid. Obstensibly, McConnell says a vote | Read More »
Mitch McConnell Blocks Conservative Effort Against Obamacare
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | February 29th at 04:46 AM |
On Thursday, the Senate will consider Senator Roy Blunt’s amendment to the Senate version of the highway bill. It is the only amendment the Senate GOP will offer up. On its surface, it is a good amendment. It will allow religious employers to opt out of the new Obamacare mandate on contraception and abortifacient drugs. But strategically, it is another lame effort by Senator Mitch | Read More »
The Strategic Incompetence of Mitch McConnell
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | December 20th at 04:46 AM |
Mitch McConnell‘s minion are in full on spin mode trying to blame Speaker of the House John Boehner for botching the payroll tax cut extension. The only person who deserves any blame is Mitch McConnell. In this, the first deal he pretty much single handedly negotiated with the Democrats, he not only screwed up, but proved he has no freaking clue how to get the | Read More »
The Most Important Fight For Conservatives in America
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | December 8th at 04:48 AM |
Forget the Presidential race. We can get back to it another day. This is the most important fight for the conservative movement in America right now and it happens next week. Well, it was going to happen in January. But conservatives started gaining momentum. Naturally, Mitch McConnell had to go try to pull the rug out from under conservatives. Far be it for fresh ideas | Read More »
Interesting Nugget About John Boehner’s Bill
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | July 30th at 01:16 PM |
Guess who wrote it? The late-night jousting in the Senate followed a vote on House Speaker John A. Boehner’s debt-limit measure, which would extend the Treasury’s borrowing power until early next year and force another economy-rattling fistfight within a few months. Drafted largely by aides to Reid and McConnell last weekend, the measure was originally designed to appeal to the more centrist Senate. Everything we’ve | Read More »
The Stupid Party
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | July 24th at 09:00 AM |
Having watched this debt ceiling fight play out over the past couple of months, I keep coming back to one inescapable conclusion: we need better generals. The Washington GOP wants to force another vote on the debt ceiling right before the election. That’s one of the ideas being kicked around in part of this grand deal. Let’s play this out: We get to the last | Read More »
The Politics of Dopes
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | July 22nd at 05:00 AM |
Here is the way things work in Washington. One group in Congress comes up with a bold plan to save the country. Let’s call it Cut, Cap, and Balance. Everyone else sets out to undermine their plan. Heck, most of the rest of Congress doesn’t have a plan at all — they just want to dump on the group that comes up with the plan. | Read More »
When The Boys In Leadership Flee, Will The Freedom Fighters in the House Hold the Line?
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | July 21st at 05:00 AM |
Tuesday night felt pretty good, didn’t it? The House GOP, joined by five Democrats, voted for Cut, Cap, and Balance. Finally, the House led on solid reform to turn the tide. Senators got active quickly to undermine the effort and still the House held the line. Great, wasn’t it? The Gang of 234 stood for freedom and, as an added bonus, gave a wonderful middle | Read More »
Uniting to Oppose McConnell
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | July 19th at 06:31 AM |
I have joined FreedomWorks, American Majority Action, Let Freedom Ring, and the Club For Growth in drafting a letter to Republicans in Congress opposing the McConnell Plan. Of particular note, considering who all is on board this letter, is this paragraph: We will refrain from backing any Member of Congress or candidate for federal office, or a leadership position in a Republican Caucus, who supports the McConnell—Reid—Pelosi “Cut, Run, and Hide” plan, to the extent that our various legal structures and rules allow. I | Read More »
If You Support Mitch McConnell, We Don’t Support You
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | July 18th at 03:15 PM |
I am instituting a new policy here at RedState. In the future, as we support candidates for the U.S. Senate in Republican Primaries, we will not support any candidate who goes on the record supporting Mitch McConnell as Senate Republican Leader. That does not preclude them from voting for McConnell once they get there if there are no better options. But when looking to endorse | Read More »
Republicans Who Support Mitch McConnell’s Plan Should Be Deeply Worried by a New CBS News Poll
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | July 18th at 02:09 PM |
Republicans backing Mitch McConnell‘s Pontius Pilate Act should be deeply, deeply worried by a new CBS News Poll. The poll shows the public is very unhappy with the way things are going in Washington. In fact, 51% of Republicans and 73% of Independents disapprove of the way the GOP is handling the debt ceiling. “But wait,” you say. “That must mean they want to go | Read More »
Now We See It All. Mitch McConnell’s Pontius Pilate Act Is Cover for Tax Increases
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | July 18th at 09:42 AM |
Well, well, well. As Monday’s news cycle gets into full gear, we’re starting to see exactly what Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi are cooking up for the American public — pretend spending cuts and very real tax increases. It is like the GOP learned nothing from No Child Left Behind. In NCLB, the GOP let liberals like Teddy Kennedy write the legislation and | Read More »
The Rise of the Third Party
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | July 18th at 05:00 AM |
I have long criticized the calls of many disaffected conservatives for a third party and I maintain that position. The closest I have come to calling for a third party is to encourage tea party activists to take over the GOP from within. External third parties are not, in my mind, a solution to anything, but a great enabler of Democrats. Notwithstanding my opinion, I | Read More »
Why Is John Boehner Letting House Republicans Be Mitch McConnell’s Toy?
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | July 17th at 11:56 AM |
Here is what is going to happen unless House Republicans stage an immediate revolt against their own House leadership. Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi are going to win. They have managed to cut the legs out from under John Boehner and the House Republicans. In fact, the House Republicans have taken on all the appearances of Mitch McConnell’s basement gimp. I’m not sure | Read More »