Two good reader e-mails in the same vein:
Thanks for the review of these negative views. I am a conservative, and I won’t defer to anyone as to my commitment to conservative principles. However I get tired of these scorched-earth “ultra” conservatives like Erickson. It’s all “my way or the highway” with these guys, and no good deed goes unpunished.
Sure, I can propose a plan to radically alter the United States back to where it was in, say, 1890, but without being crowned dictator and having the Marines to back me up, that plan wouldn’t get to first base. The Republicans – who start in a big deficit of trust – have proposed sensible objectives for a two-year period in which they hope to control the House and maybe the Senate, but likely cannot override Obama’s expected vetoes (or Senate failures to gain cloture).
So long as they 1) carry out the actions (regardless of results, which they probably cannot control) listed here faithfully and 2) work to pin the blame for failures to override vetoes or to move legislation on the Democrats, I’ll be disposed to listen to, trust and then support by donations, volunteer work and voting the Republicans and their 2012 update of the Pledge.
I think this is a good start and I hope they can meet my expectations.
And
What if we look at the Pledge to America as just that, a pledge to America and not a pledge to the GOP base alone ? The Pledge is full of red meat, some of it is red meat for the base but most of it is red meat for both the base and Independents. As a marketing tool I think it will appeal very well to Independents and winning elections is all about appealing to Independents (and your base as well of course).