Outside the Beltway

War Against The House Republican Leadership

James Joyner
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RedState CEO Erick Erickson has issued “An Open Declaration of War Against The House Republican Leadership.”

The House Republican Leadership just does not get it and they will not take us seriously until we flex our muscle against them. We must fight the House GOP and we must fight today.

Today, I declare war on the Republican Leadership of the United States House of Representatives. We must scalp one member. That member’s name is Ken Calvert.

I’m neither a fan of “war” being used to describe domestic policy issue controversies where the application of violence would be decidedly inappropriate nor eager to see the Right Blogosphere go down the “you’re with us or you’re against us” route of the Netroots.

I do, however, concur that the House Republican leadership continues not to “get it” and find Calvert a worthy target of scorn, for reasons Erick’s posts details. Of course, if the “whuppin’” they took in November didn’t serve as a wake-up call, I doubt a bunch of emails and phone calls will do much, either.

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7 responses to “War Against The House Republican Leadership”

  1. Steve Verdon Avatar
    Steve Verdon

    The rhetoric reminds me very much of that from Kos…Kossian rhetoric?

  2. Rick DeMent Avatar
    Rick DeMent

    …nor eager to see the Right Blogosphere go down the “you’re with us or you’re against us” route of the Netroots.

    Well get used to it, the Blogosphere came of age in a period of right wing ascendancy so it was easy to play the calm arbiter of political discourse decency role (not that that it actually stopped a lot of the frothing, just that it was easier to do if you felt like going that route). Now that we are on the backside of the right wing peak, the natives will get increasingly desperate I fear.

  3. boaz Avatar
    boaz

    And so the difference would be… What?
    Does anyone really believe the RINO Leadership wasn’t already in the crosshairs

  4. legion Avatar
    legion

    Does anyone really believe the RINO Leadership wasn’t already in the crosshairs

    RINOs may be in the crosshairs of the hard-right base, but non-RINOs are in the crosshairs of the remaining 70% of the country that aren’t die-hard Bush-backers. Do the math.

  5. Sean Hackbarth Avatar
    Sean Hackbarth

    I see two parts to this: First is the ouster of Calvert. Second is to test the rightroots’ ability to directly influence. Can they (we/me since I’m part of it) move the Republicans to action or will they simply be in the background talking to each other.

    There are those like myself who aren’t that comfortable with the activism, but there are lots of people who write weblogs and/or hang out at Redstate who want to “do something.” Erick’s call to arms taps into that energy.

    It can be abused, look at the Kossites and their treatment of Lieberman. It will require leadership and a conservative temperment to make sure the rightroots is a positive force and not just a faction inside the GOP.

  6. jeff b Avatar
    jeff b

    That was abuse? Lieberman got exactly what he deserved: kicked out of the party.

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