Marsha Blackburn
By Erick Posted in Republicans — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Early this week we endorsed Jack Kingston for the #3 spot in House Leadership, but I think it is worth mentioning how much I absolutely love Marsha Blackburn. I can't write much, because I'll start to sound like AE gushing over Rumsfeld.
But having a pro-life attractive mom in the upper echelon of House GOP Leadership really would be a great idea. And she is not only sharp as a tack, but she relates to the mainstream very well.
I'll stop now. I'm just going to say that having Marsha Blackburn say, "Hey Erick," is always, always, always the greatest part of any trip to Capitol Hill.
Um, Marsha for Governor, anyone?
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Marsha Blackburn 8 Comments (0 topical, 8 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
over Kingston, IMO. We need a strong woman to counter Pelosi.
...she'd make the group photo look a heckuva lot better. :-)
I don't think Marsha relates well to the mainstream at all, and I think anyone who argues she does probably needs to spend more time talking to the mainstream instead of other right-leaning pundits. No offence, Erick, but seriously...
Genuinely, she is seen as being hardline and intolerant on social matters, and all too focused on fringe issues (e.g., gay marriage, which like it or not, was not a focal point of the GOP agenda that endeared us to swing voters this year-- quite the contrary). Equally, she is seen as less interested in fiscal issues than a lot of people by core sections of the electorate-- like those pesky independents and moderates who abandoned us this year, which cost us a victory.
However, Kingston p*ssed me off big time earlier this year when he insisted on not supporting lobbying and earmark reform initiatives very strongly. He is, in my mind, very much the say one thing, do another standard that frankly, the party does not need more of right now. Given that I don't think he's half the fiscal conservative he's cracked up to be (he has the same ATR rating as Nancy Johnson!!), I don't think he should be given this chance. And it would be nice to keep a woman in some kind of a half-decent leadership position, especially since she gets a way better CAGW and ATR rating than Kingston (which cannot be said of Pence v. Boehner-- they both get a 100% ATR rating).
However, I would note that this argument (Kingston being a bit of a hypocrite) may not sway many conservatives since many of them/us seem to believe that Mike Pence really isthe ultimate fiscal conservative, even though he sponsored an amendment that would have boosted already ridiculously large farm subsidies given to Indiana farmers under the 2002 Farm Bill, and earmarked federal funds for ponds and buses in his home state, while painting himself as Jeff Flake's No. 2 in the anti-earmark crusade, which just doesn't hold up when one looks at the facts.
Pence is no Flake or Shadegg.. and I'm kind of tired of reading press releases from him suggesting he is. And I'm not backing him for Minority Leader because I just think he's less fiscally conservative than he pretends, and an advocate for the kind of misplaced, social issues first, self-righteous-appearing agenda that cost us a lot of votes with moderates and independents this time around.
Libertarian-leaners hate him (even if we don't think Boehner's perfect), moderates hate him, and independents really can't stand him, with his very well publicized and extremist sounding anti-stem cell arguments, and his touting of the FMA which frankly, pretty much every poll suggests voters just don't care about. He looks like a social issues extremist, and when you get into looking at stuff like the Farm Bill amendment, a bit of a hypocrite to boot. He's entitled to his views, and I can respect the strength of them, but unfortunately, he just winds most people who have ever heard of him up... Marsha Blackburn does, too, of course, but at least there is a demonstrable big fat difference in the spending and waste category between her and Kingston. So I'd be more minded to support her, in line with my rationale for supporting Shadegg (who I'd rather have seen run for Minority Leader, and who would be way better than either Pence or Boehner, IMO-- shame that's not on the table).
Liz Mair is the editor of WWW.GOPPROGRESS.COM, a RedState-style blog for libertarian, mainstream and moderate Republicans
Let me agree with Dienekes above. Liz, you are so far off I don't know where to start.
You can't be serious. Your "mainstream, libertarian, moderate" friends in the Republican Main Street club got their butts handed to them on a silver platter this election cycle, while conservatives gained in the house, both in the GOP and the dems.
Gay marriage a fringe issue that loses the GOP supporters or one that voters may not care about? Do you realize the measure has won in every red, blue, and purple state (yes, I said blue) except for one (red Arizona)?
EMBRYONIC stem cell research (to be differentiated from other forms of stem cell research) opponents are extremists? Why, because they disagree with you? Because they oppose federal funding of wastful research that is so unpromising that labs and colleges can't find much private money to prop it up? Or maybe because you subscribe to the notion that it is proper to mislead people that the president wants to ban federal funding, but that isn't a ban on the research as your "culture of death" allies like to present?
I know Mike Pence. The fact that conservatives love him and libertarians "hate" him scores points for Mike around these parts.
Liz, stay with your RINO GOPPROGRESS friends who are moderate (do not stand for anything), libertarian and (chuckle) "mainstream". Those of us enjoying the "conservative news and community" of the proud Redstate site don't come here to read democrat talking points. We get that in the old media.
"Greater is an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep" - Defoe
I saw this coming. I knew that if you (collectively) picked Kingston over Blackburn (and wrote very little about the latter) you would need to come back and give your old friend a sheepish smooch. I don't begrudge you for that. I like both candidates. I hope she took it well. : )
But seeing Liz's bizzare RINO outlash against Blackburn in a comment below your post tends to make me think that Marsha might have been the stronger conservative pick. Any thoughts?
"Greater is an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep" - Defoe
I was honestly shocked when Redstate picked Kingston over Blackburn. Kingston got into a public fight last year with Club For Growth defending earmarks. He is not very conservative. If I remember right, he pretty much said that he was an appropriator and he wants to bring home the bacon but will look to cut spending in other ways. A major bow out if you ask me.
Beyond that, I just don't see Kingston as a good communicator. I saw a video on Blackburn's campaign website, www.votemarsha.com that was 10 times better than Kingston's Youtube. I think it was for her congressional race, but it clearly shows why she would be so much better in the national spotlight. More than that, I sometimes watch Colbert and see the Congressmen that go on there, and it is downright embarrassing. More specifically, Kingston was embarrassing. If that is the way we are going to reach out to win back a conservative majority, I think we should just give up now.
We need change. It looks like Boehner is unfortunately going to stay. We need Shadegg and Blackburn in there to shake things up.
"I'm kind of old-fashioned. I like to engage my brain before my mouth." Donald Rumsfeld