Erick Erickson = Meathead

If there is a more misused conservative site on the web than Redstate I don't what it is. Its "editor" is a goofball named Erick Erickson who is famous for calling out people he disagrees with and then having to eat his words later.

He has a post up today that is a tremendous waste of time to read so I'd suggest you not bother, but in case you are curious here it is.

In this piece, that he indicates he has spent much time on, Erickson frets about nouns and adjectives. No, really! For instance:

"Let’s review our grammar for one moment. A noun is a word that defines what an object is, i.e. a dog. An adjective is a word that describes one attribute of the noun, i.e. the dog is brown. The noun is the dog because that defines the object in question and the adjective is the color of the dog, describing one attribute of the dog.
Christians, for example, typically say “I am a Christian” as opposed to saying “I am Christian.” The former sets the Christian into a defined group that believes in Jesus Christ. The latter describes one attribute of the person. Because Christianity typically defines who the person is, it is typically used as a noun, not an adjective.
I, for example, am a Christian before I am anything else. If you want an adjective describing me the Christian, I’d say I am Presbyterian.
I hope you are following me, because there are rough waters ahead."

Well...not really. Erickson's BIG POINT is that many Republicans are Adjective Conservatives instead of Noun Conservatives. (And we wonder why conservatives (no matter your grammarian niche) are easy to make fun of?).

You see, a Noun Conservative is like, well, CONSERVATIVE!!!!!! While an Adjective Conservative is sort of......just conservative.

Erickson thrashes around for over one thousand words (!) making the excruciatingly stupid non point that Noun Conservatives put being Conservative first, while Adjective Conservatives put being a good Republican first. Erickson whines:

"Conservatives fight for freedom. Republicans fight for Republicanism, but I have no freaking clue what that actually means any more."

Well let me give you a "freaking" clue Erick:

Republicans by and large fight for Conservative Values. They come in many different levels and flavors, but primarily they are conservative. There are a few moderates, and maybe a stray liberal or two in the north-east , whose parents were Dewey Republicans, but the overwhelming numbers of Republican elected officials are conservative.

So Erick, when a Republican fights for Republicanism, he is fighting for Conservatism. Its a classic Chicken and Egg riddle. Republicans fight for conservatism so it makes sense for conservatives to fight for the Republican party.

Where we stop holding to party loyalty out of a sense of conservative principle is a difficult decision. Each conservative must make that decision for them self. It has nothing to do with adjectives and nouns and only a jerk like Erick Erickson would come up with such a stupid and ill-considered "test".

RedState Has Become A Joke

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was less than thrilled with a certain well known website. As promised I held my fire until the election was past. Now its past. It is time now for straight talk no matter who it offends.

redstate.com is a joke. A bad joke. Almost nothing about it is useful or professional. A site as poorly ran and edited as redstate.com is a liability to conservatives and Republicans. I don't plan to spend much time on this so let's cut to the facts.

1. The "managing editor" of the site posted on the "front page" that Republican Congressman Tom Cole "is a douchebag". Within hours he had to retract his comments because in fact the terrible sin that he had accused Cole of was bogus. Several things wrong with this: Bitterly attacking a conservative Republican without checking his facts. Using gutter language at all and especially toward an ally. No professionalism and no class.

2. Just days ago "the editors" came out and endorsed two Democrats running for congress from Alaska against Don Young and Ted Stevens. Why did Ethan Berkowitz and Mark Begich rate an endorsement from redstate.com? Because "the editors" are idiots. It apparently never occurred to "the editors" that if Begich were elected he would serve 6 years, but if Stevens were elected he'd serve maybe 6 months. Stevens is a convicted felon and the Democrats are going to hound him all over hell's half acre until he "retires". Gee....I wonder who might end up taking his place?

3. During the financial institution meltdown when the old media was all atwitter about the economic crisis, redstate.com headlined the same story. Day after day we had to read about how awful everything was and how uncertain the future was/is. The is analogous to a liberal blog constantly drawing attention to William Ayers or Americans born in Kenya. It was just absurd.

RedState stepped up several years ago and was a force for good. Now it is pathetic and not much use to anyone.