Erick Erickson can Offer no Absolution to Members of Congress (!?)

Members of Congress are calling Erick Erickson for advice and absolution?

Over at RedState, Erick Erickson writes about The Absolution I Cannot Give

In the past 48 hours I have had call after call after call from members of the United States Congress. They’ve read what I’ve written. They agree. But they feel the hour is short and the end is nigh.

So some are calling looking for alternatives. Some are calling looking for energy. Many are calling looking for absolution.

And so I address them and put it here so you can see my advice.

I can give no absolution for what you may be about to do. I can offer no alternatives.

[…]

I give you no absolution. It is not even mine to give. I’m not a proxy for your children and grandchildren. It is their lives and their future you will affect.

[…]

Here and now, this fight — this is the last best hope to turn back. The choice is yours. There is no absolution.

Pardon?

Members of Congress are calling Erick Erickson?!?  Part of me thinks that this has to be Erickson’s ego talking, but fear that it is not.

If members of Congress are calling a blogger and TV cable commentator for advice, let alone absolution (what, he’s a priest now, too?) then two thoughts come to mind:

1)  We are in even more trouble than I thought and,

2)  There are some members of Congress who need to resign, because, clearly, their judgments are hopelessly compromised.

I think I will have to go with my “Erickson’s ego” hypothesis just so I can sleep tonight…

FILED UNDER: Deficit and Debt, US Politics, ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. ponce says:

    Is that an Onion parody?

  2. Moosebreath says:

    I sometimes think Erickson’s entire opus reads like an Onion parody.

  3. Ron Beasley says:

    This is how civilizations end – Boehner sends his bill to the snake oil salesman Limbaugh first and members of congress are taking their orders from Bible thumping morons like Erickson. The end is near!!!

  4. An Interested Party says:

    If true, this is pathetic…is the GOP a legitimate political party or a cult…

    I’m not a proxy for your children and grandchildren. It is their lives and their future you will affect.

    Oh my, where was this oh so noble rhetoric when the GOP controlled the White House and the entire Congress…

  5. Liberty60 says:

    This is how civilizations end

    Even a year ago I might have read that as snark.

    But in all seriousness, I am reminded of late-state Imperial Rome, complete with the emperor installing a donkey as a Senator.

  6. Tsar Nicholas II says:

    Erick Erickson??

  7. WR says:

    This man is a piece of crap blogger. He’s a mouth-breathing moron who has never accomplished anything in his life. Compared to him, Rush Limbaugh is a combination of Churchill and Limbaugh. Who cares what he thinks about anything?

    Oh, yes. The scum who are the freshman class in congress. The ones who want to destroy the world’s economy so their egos are gratified.

  8. ratufa says:

    1) We are in even more trouble than I thought and,

    2) There are some members of Congress who need to resign, because, clearly, their judgments are hopelessly compromised

    You didn’t need to read that Erickson article to come to those conclusions, did you? After all, it’s only been a week since we learned that John Boehner felt the need to tell GOP members of Congress that not raising the debt ceiling “would be like ‘Star Wars”, because the little Jedis couldn’t bother to educate themselves about the consequences of their votes.

  9. Gulliver says:

    Uh oh, Taylor’s picking battles with other bloggers now over their characterizations of events. Does this signify the onset of Conservative Blogger Derangement Syndrome or is it an anomaly? Only time will tell.

    As mentioned above, there truly are some members of Congress who need to resign. But have no fear, even if they don’t , Republicans will likely be sitting in their seats instead after November 2012.

  10. An Interested Party says:

    @Gulliver: Actually, Steven is pointing out the ridiculousness of an egotistical blogger feeling the need to tell everyone how he can’t pass absolution on members of Congress…it isn’t surprising that you would fail to grasp reality, after all, you are suffering under the delusion that Republicans will actually pick up seats in next year’s election…

  11. Hello World! says:

    I registered at Red State to post coments, and never posted anything but a reasoned rebuttal and they restricted me from leaving comments so I don’t even bother with them anymore. If our leaders want group-think, they sure have found a way to expand access to it.

  12. hey norm says:

    There’s nothing suprising in this at all.

  13. EddieInCA says:

    I got banned from RedState for point out that some of their “facts” were actually fiction.

    Damn truth. It gets in the way quite often at RedState.

  14. Barry says:

    I’d toss EE’s comment in the same dumpster as ‘God called me to run for president’.

  15. Rob in CT says:

    If this is actually true (that he’s gotten “call after call” from the House GOPers), it is worse than I thought.

  16. Galanti says:

    @Liberty60:

    There was another poster here, Highlander, who was fond of comparing the current state of affairs in the US to late Imperial Rome, and kept warning of an Adrianople-type catastrophe, but I think if one is going to compare the US to Rome, I would choose the early 1st Century BC, where the Republican system proved utterly incapable of governing the rapidly expanding Roman state, and where the entrenched conservative interests of Senate often prevented much-needed reform and change, leading to frequent clashes between the Optimates and Populares factions and an erosion of Roman constitutional values.

    By no means is a collapse into dictatorship imminent or even likely, but I think the final events of the first century BC in Rome show us what is possible when the people lose all confidence in the ability of their politicians to properly govern.

    On a more amusing note, the media up here in Canada are prone to mispronouncing Boehner ‘s name as ‘Boner’.

  17. Rob in CT says:

    Since I get all of my news via print (virtual print, mostly), I was prone to that too. I knew it had to be wrong, but it looks like it should be pronounced Boner, and it wasn’t until someone at work said his name properly that I learnt the proper pronunciation (Bay-ner, right?).

  18. Neil Hudelson says:

    @Galanti:

    I’ve been listening to a audio series on the fall of the Roman Republic, and just as you stated the parallels between the 1st century are far more similar to us than the events of the 5th century AD.

    The podcast is hardcore history, by Dan Carlin. Check it out here:

    http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hh

  19. Galanti says:

    @Neil Hudelson:

    Thanks Neil, I had a listen last night, great stuff!