[Speed Gibson,
Saturday January 5, 2008 at 9:47pm]
And the Award Goes To ...
MDE (Michael Brodkorb, co-host of the NARN Final Word) is now giving out awards. The "Man Not in the Arena" award went to Drew Emmer, with an honorable mention to Mitch Berg.
Having heard the heated exchange between these three regarding the upset DFL win in SD 25 on The Final Word this afternoon, I think Brodkorb needs a trophy, too. I hereby award him the first ever James Taggart Cup. If you've read Atlas Shrugged, you'll remember that James Taggart was forever saying, "No one can blame me!"
There is much I could write on what I heard and how it was said. Let me just say that that the show credits should read: "and Mitch Berg as the Voice of Reason."
FYI, Mr. Brodkorb owes Mr. Emmer an apology. When Emmer said, "I regret the assertion by Michael that a good Republican or a good Conservative would have been down there." Brodkorb: "That's not what I said."
Here's what Brodkorb had said earlier: "It's very interesting to have two people who did nothing to help out with the special election to become two of the first people the morning [after] to point out how everyone else stumbled." Close enough.
Having heard the heated exchange between these three regarding the upset DFL win in SD 25 on The Final Word this afternoon, I think Brodkorb needs a trophy, too. I hereby award him the first ever James Taggart Cup. If you've read Atlas Shrugged, you'll remember that James Taggart was forever saying, "No one can blame me!"
There is much I could write on what I heard and how it was said. Let me just say that that the show credits should read: "and Mitch Berg as the Voice of Reason."
FYI, Mr. Brodkorb owes Mr. Emmer an apology. When Emmer said, "I regret the assertion by Michael that a good Republican or a good Conservative would have been down there." Brodkorb: "That's not what I said."
Here's what Brodkorb had said earlier: "It's very interesting to have two people who did nothing to help out with the special election to become two of the first people the morning [after] to point out how everyone else stumbled." Close enough.
I don't really have an opinion on the SD25 special election, but Brodkorb was way out of line. Clearly, when a moderate Republican loses a Republican district questions are going to be asked, and they should be. The only good moderate Republicans bring to the table is winning elections. If you're going to lose you might as well go with a conservative.
When I talk of moderates, I'm talking about the 40-60 Republicans like former senator Boschwitz who scored a lifetime ACU rating under 50 (I trust the American Conservative Union the most) or your Lincoln Chafees or your Rockerfeller Republicans. Those types of Republicans are only acceptable to me as winners of tough districts. They generally don't have national influence.
Guys like Pawlenty and Coleman are in that gray area of 60-70% conservative and my attitude towards them is that of tolerance. They win in a tough state but their influence soon spreads nationally and begins to dilute the conservative cred of the GOP.
I'm yammering, Ray Cox was a 40-60 Republican in a traditionally moderate-Republican district. His loss almost demands criticism prima facie. Thus, Brodkorb is wrong.