Going Where I Shouldn’t. Saying What I Shouldn’t.(Red State on Conservatives vs Statists)

Red State ^ | Wednesday, June 23rd at 10:39AM EDT | Erick Erickson

[Bratch]

In victory one is supposed to be magnanimous — a polysyllabic word for not being a sore winner.

The race in Utah, the attacks on Jim DeMint, the other problematic issues behind the scenes, etc. test the limits of magnanimity.

I am going to go where I shouldn’t go and say what I shouldn’t say.

Some of you are really, really not going to like it.

The race in Utah is the ultimate battle between those who are Republicans first and those who are conservatives first. The potential of a Democrat win is so minuscule that the center-right coalition can have the fight it must have.

Establishment oriented groups who got fat and happy with years of Republican dominance in Washington wanted a return to the status quo ante. They did not want to reform. They did not want to cut back.

For a number of years people like Bob Bennett and Tim Bridgewater helped blur the lines between the Democrats and Republicans. Pro-life statists, except when they weren’t pro-life, they lived off the government teet, misdirected and abused taxpayer dollars, and drove up the size of government to uncontrollable levels.

But it was okay, because they have an R next to their name.

And with them are Republican consultants who also have R’s next to their names and who care about nothing but the acquisition of power and consulting fees. These are the people who can give you trite explanations about what the difference between a Democrat and a Republican is, but at the end of the day, for them, it really boils down to kissing the tax payer after screwing them instead of just leaving.

When Bob Bennett knew he was going to lose — and contrary to what you may have heard, Bob Bennett knew before the Utah Convention he was going to lose — his campaign and Bridgewater’s campaigns collaborated and set about destroying Mike Lee.

They unleashed the crazy that is Cherilyn Eager and drummed up bull stories to vilify people like Jim DeMint. The desperate act of trying to cling to power drove them over the edge.

In so doing, they decided to poison the well against Jim DeMint. This morning as the sun rises in Utah, Bridgewater supporters are getting up and cussing Jim DeMint, a man who did absolutely nothing but say nice things about Mike Lee. But don’t tell Bridgewater supporters that. Despite no evidence, they believe.

So what’s the point of all of this? Why am I going here and scratching open wounds? It’s simple:

The people we fight on our side are not always our friends and are sometimes more our enemies than the left. Why? Because we know where the left stands. We know they oppose us. But these others — they pretend to be on our team and work quietly, sometimes with the left, to undermine conservatives and freedom.

The people we fought in Utah — not Bridgewater directly but the interests behind the scenes who helped him, funded him, and attacked people like Jim DeMint — would burn our fields and drive us from our homes in the old days. They would show us no mercy because they think we, perversely, are out to destroy the GOP by denying them the right to get back in charge of the American Treasury.

So we must do to them what they would do to us and show no mercy. But we must pick our battles carefully and with wisdom. Sometimes, like it or not, we must fight on the same side with them.

But that is why I hope Mike Lee pursues, to the fullest extent, the FEC complaint against Tim Stewart and the anonymous mailer.

If we keep giving these people a pass they will keep working to undermine us. The fight for freedom means we must discern who really is with us.

You may not like that. But it is the truth.

[oldbrowser]

The people we fight on our side are not always our friends and are sometimes more our enemies than the left.

I see it like a family, if we have issues we settle them internally. We then present a united front against the outside.

I may argue all morning with my brother but I will fight day and night against anyone who threatens him.

In politics I think we should argue for the candidate of our choice during the primary. But after the party has selected their standard bearer, then we should all fall in line behind them. Until the next election.

It may not be our favorite, but splintering the group is going to insure that the socialists keep control.

[ModelBreaker]

“In politics I think we should argue for the candidate of our choice during the primary. But after the party has selected their standard bearer, then we should all fall in line behind them. Until the next election.”

In principle I agree. But as conservatives win primaries, watch how often the losing moderate tries to defeat the conservative. Christ in FLA, the article, and I can give several local examples over the past four years in CO. There needs to be reciprocity and there is not.