Why do you think signing a pledge will change the way they vote, or the policies they support? Come on man!!! Will you support anyone that would signs that pledge? Christ has repeatedly supported policies that will raise costs on floridians. Or do you see an increased cost directly attributed to a government policy as not being a tax?

You see, politicians do things for votes. They’ll sign a “Pledge” even though they have no intention of living up to it’s merits.

Rubio can win. Rubio can beat Crist. Rubio has lived your pledge, not just signed it.

Charlie Crist is a proponent of Cap & TAX (his words) since that is a massive tax increase, he apparently lied when he signed the pledge you put in front of him! Pwned!

“Not One Red Dime for the NRSC or NRCC till they stop trying to elect liberals”

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And others are allowed to have an opinion about your opinion, without it being considered a “smear.”

Why did that go up last night? It’s 2 completely different races.

NY 23 had no primary, the R was selected by a group of elites, she was farther to the left than the Dem. She dropped out of the race because she lost all her support to the conservative candidate and quickly dropped into 3rd place in the running. She then backed the Dem. I’l even bet that you can expect to see Dede switch political affiliation in the near future.

In FL, there will be a primary, Rubio can win that primary. Do you think Crist will back the Dem if he loses the primary? Will the Republican party then drop 900K into advertising against Rubio?

One more thing… If Rubio wins the primary, he’ll get listed in the Republican column of the ballot. That is something Hoffman didn’t have.

By the way… Ownes…. Done in a year. Why? Because the primary will unite the party again.

1. The Democrats aren’t running Bill Owens in Florida next year. They’re running Kendrick Meek, who has absolutely zero appeal whatsoever to independents or even Democrats who aren’t black.

2. “No longer blindingly obvious” seems a poor choice of words. Charlie Crist is no more a conservative today than he was prior to last night; therefore from a conservative perspective he is unacceptable as a candidate in a race where the Republicans are all but certain to win.

3. Your second paragraph displays a complete lack of respect for Rubio’s merits as a candidate. You’re absolutely correct in touting primaries as essential going forward, particularly given the poor strategic thinking and the untrustworthiness of the GOP leadership, but to think that Rubio’s appeal would be limited to “anti-Obama political environment” does him a tremendous disservice.

Let’s not forget that Doug Hoffman, a rookie candidate with essentially a 30-day third-party campaign, came within two points of winning a race where he was the last name on a five-name ballot with Owens and Scozzafava listed twice each - three days after Scozzafava endorsed Hoffman. I don’t completely share in Erick’s takeaway of that result as an out-and-out victory for conservatism, but it’s hard not to see last night as an impressive showing for such a long-shot candidate. Should he run again next year without the surrounding insanity, I wouldn’t bet against him.

My point is that anyone who votes for cap and tax far outweighs his usefulness in opposing conventional tax increases.

Bro, WTF are you writing here?
This ain’t no porn site, we have morals here.

Contextualizing her inside of Hoffman, you should be ashamed, ASHAMED of yourself for writing such things.

ATR may no thave backed her, but seen in light of this post I sure bet you wanted to “back” her.

You sick, twisted freak!!!

Bro, WTF are you writing here?
This ain’t no porn site, we have morals here.

Contextualizing her inside of Hoffman, you should be ashamed, ASHAMED of yourself for writing such things.

ATR may no thave backed her, but seen in light of this post I sure bet you wanted to “back” her.

You sick, twisted freak!!!

You folks are attacking me and ATR as if we endorsed Dede, or somehow are part of the DC Republican establishment.

What gives you that idea? And what do my personal opinions have to do with anything here?

…deserves such scorn is that it utterly failed to produce a standard bearer for what are supposed to be Republican principles in a Congressional race, and when one materialized despite that failure the party bigwigs actually fought that candidate.

And now that their poor decisions have produced a Democrat in a Republican seat, those same Beltway muckety-mucks have the temerity to assert that the presence of an alternative to their incompetence is what produced that failure.

This should not be tolerated. And while I think there is less disagreement with Mr. Ellis than meets the eye, I will not fault conservatives for their anger at those who adhere to the “Realpolitik” school given their failure in NY-23.

We’re just pointing out the flaws in what you’ve said. It appears that your standards are just as squishy as Charlie Crist. No wonder you support him.

“Electability” is subjective and a very slippery slope.

Didn’t Hoffman basically come out of nowhere and was a virtual unknown 60 days ago? The “electability” factor errs here.

I say put up solid principled candidates and let the voters decide “electability”.

All this overeducated gaming and finessing the system via “electability” jargon just mucks it up and gives pompous elites something to jawbone about on the Sunday morning talk shows.

those running it are devoid of principle and have swallowed the “demogrpahics” blue pill.

“Not One Red Dime for the NRSC or NRCC till they stop trying to elect liberals”

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can you really get over it? This is not about you. It is about us…you are the one that walked in and threw down.

“Not One Red Dime for the NRSC or NRCC till they stop trying to elect liberals”

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The nomenclature can be a little opaque, but that’s the medium.

Erick is just plain wrong about what I think and what ATR thinks, I’m sorry to say. That’s why I’m being so vigilant about defending my good name, and that of my employer.

If you want to give him control of your brain, that’s your business.

Crist is acceptably conservative. That is a nonsensical statement.

Cap and Trade…check

Supports Stimulus…check

Raised taxes…check

Seriously, lower the bar any further and you might as well throw your support to Barry himself.

I see none.

the EXACT SAME LOGIC that got us Dede. If you can’t see that, I really don’t want you in any position that has significant potential to influence Republican nominations. I really don’t give a rat’s hindmost about most names. I care a great deal about the ideas for which they advocate. When I see bad ideas or loose logic I get riled up and take no prisoners.

The problem in NY23 is really very simple: completely out of touch chowderheads at the national level stuck their noses into the local party and in closed door sessions used your logic to select Dede. The grassroots rebelled. The national party threw more good suff (both money and goodwill) after bad. As a result, neither Hoffman nor the nominal R won the election. The same dynamic is at play in Florida vis a vie Crist and Rubio. The national party has been backing Crist over Rubio, again hacking off the base.

You in your tweets (which frankly I can’t follow, I’m actually responding to your posting and your responses on this board) are providing cover for that malfeasance. We will no longer tolerate people who claim to be working toward our goals providing that sort of cover. We will call you out. Hell will be about half a step behind us, if that. And just to be absolutely clear: this isn’t about whether or not you supported Dede or Crist or Rubio, it’s about the processes by which you criticize them. Crist by his actual performance as Governor of Florida is a Liberal/Progressive/WNTAUTTDTTW*. Rubio by his actual performance in office is a Conservative. Back the Conservative or get out of our way.

* = Whatever Name They Are Using Today To Describe Their Totalitarian Ways

could you have lived with Dede? Your point is to have the “most conservative electable”. But as in NY23, before Hoffman, you were left with a choice where there was no conservative at all. Is that an acceptable choice for you, personally? And I fully understand that your personal choice here does not reflect on ATR.

The undercurrent of your personal comments reflects a certain “Washingtonian” or “Beltway” thinking. That’s rubbing a lot of us, or at the very least me, in the wrong direction. I am decidedly conservative before Republican. I wish to see government shrink, and personal liberties expand. An excellent way to do that is to starve the Federal Government of revenue. I believe that to be your organizations position,if not directly your own. My reading of Crist’s actions tells me that he does not share that philosophy.

f the lesson some take from #ny23 is that rubio must beat crist, they need to keep on learning

Maybe I’m to stupid to understand this but this sounds like a sarcastic dig at us for thinking Rubio would be better than Crist?

i remember greasy fax paper. color me a reluctant crist supporter

Why do you call yourself a reluctant Crist supporter if you are a Rubio supporter, reluctant, enthusiastic or other wise?

it seems as if the media is weighing va & nj much more heavily than the devastating loss in #ny23. not sure i agree. we needed 2 win that.

I would argue we’re infinitely better off being aqble to go after Owens next year than we would be having to fight the establishment to take out a George Soros Republicrat…but at least you have an arguement here

The “Big Tent” analogy isn’t the correct one…the correct one is a MAGNET…we need to be a MAGNET that draws these independents in who are sick and tired of what’s going on in Washington—Fred Thompson

Senate Conservatives Fund House Conservatives Fund Michael Williams for Senate

Marco 2010 Toomey US Senate SarahPAC

Those “innocuous observations” are not quite that. Maybe you did not realize it, but you know now.

Again I disagree with you about the PR loss for EE. I had not expected to see a Hoffman win until a poll suggested he had pulled ahead. Supporting someone like Dede was anathema to me. Though she had an R, she was to the left of Owens. If there was no Hoffman, well maybe I would not have voted.

I’ve commented before that even if Hoffman came in second, it would be a “win” for us. I would say most of the folks here looked upon it the same way. Last night I said, “We accomplished our primary goal in NY-23. We did not want a Leftist in office with an R after her name.” We were certainly entitled to have had additional optimism on election day.

If you are a Red State person, do not join the spin folk.

…though I will point out that there are many more historical examples of the “moderate” Republicans taking their ball and going home after losing a primary than of the conservatives. For every Ron Paul there seem to be 10 Dede Scozzafavas. And I trust Mario Rubio to endorse Charlie Crist in the general should Crist win a lot more than I trust Crist to endorse Rubio.

I must have mis-written something as I was trying to be supportive as I agree that this is a tempest in a teapot.

I think my word “nonsense” may have thrown you off. I find the people attacking you to be spouting nonsense if they believe that just by signing a no-tax pledge that they will always follow it.

Cap-n-Trade is a tax, as you’ve admitted in this article. That means Crist will in fact vote for at least one tax increase (and likely more) even though he signed your pledge. Does it not seem at all disingenuous to you to say someone’s signed your no tax increase pledge, when you know for a fact the policies they support and have said they would vote for will increase taxes? Doesn’t it bother you that people are using you? Do you really think we’re this stupid?

I mean, seriously, this is like an abortion doctor signing a I won’t performing abortions pledge just before he walks into the operating room to perform the abortion!

For me, MSM and the WH picking up the crusade of Hoffman is a victory already.

We will be more stronger in every hit and wound we take.

[Wins in major and small battles like in NJ and Va are "not bad", either.]