As I've been noting in this space, popular conservative outlet, Redstate.com, has "waged" an aggressive war against House Republicans with regard to U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert's seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
Defining the "war" briefly means that each day, a new facebook or twitter message is sent to Redstate supporters and a blog entry is posted authored by Redstate's managing editor, Erick Erickson, urging grassroots Republicans to call specific Members of Congress and ask them if and why they support Calvert.
While Redstate's effort has certainly ruffled quite a few feathers among the ranks of the Republican Party, it's also causing quite a stir with at least one influential conservative blogger, Dean Barnett, who blogs alongside Hugh Hewitt at Townhall.com. (Ed. Note: Though the title of this post is "Redstate v. Townhall.com," I fully recognize that Barnett represents only his views and not the views of Townhall.com's many contributors.)
Students of the left wing blogosphere will find...Erick’s entire campaign strikingly similar to a Markos Moulitsas operation. The sense of grievance and the naked lust to empower the blogopshere are things that could have easily sprung from Kos’ modem.
Which brings up a deeper question – Is there room on the right for a Kos? I don’t think so. If you look at the top tier of right wing bloggers, they’re almost unfailingly civil. One of the things that made Bryan Preston’s post yesterday so notable was that it flirted with incivility. Erick’s declaration of war goes quite a bit further. If there’s an appetite for manning the barricades on the right and attempting to make the right wing blogs the kingmakers that the left wing blogs are, I’m missing it.
Additionally, the right wing blogosphere, including both bloggers and readers, are well within the conservative mainstream. The reason Kos and company got traction in the first place is because they were way outside the Democratic mainstream. Remember, it wasn’t so long ago that Dr. Dean was the only Democratic presidential candidate who ran as an unambiguous opponent of the war in Iraq. In other words, there was room on the Democratic mainstream’s left for a movement to pop up. That movement found its expression in the left wing blogosphere. There’s not a similar dynamic available on the right. That’s why any movements of this sort will be redolent of personal pique and ambition.
Redstate contributor Robert Bluey fired back at Barnett:
Dean Barnett, Hugh Hewitt's sidekick at Townhall, demonstrated yesterday what's wrong with conservative bloggers who get a big head and lose touch with the movement.
After days of making no mention of RedState's effort oust embattled Rep. Ken Calvert from the House Appropriations Committee, Townhall finally weighed in yesterday with a post by Barnett that criticized Erick Erickson for "needlessly purple and hostile" language. Barnett says he doesn't have the stomach for this "war," which he compares to the tactics of the dreaded Markos Moulitsas.
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Barnett confirms what I've said is the rightosphere's biggest problem: a lack of activism online. Erickson is using Calvert to fire up the base and send the GOP establishment a message. Barnett, however, would rather play the role of pundit -- an interesting position for someone writing at Townhall, which boasts its own "Action Center" for conservatives.
This is an interesting ideological duel to watch. Redstate and Townhall.com are two of our heavyweights. And it's perhaps important to note that both are owned by larger, competitive, conservative outlets.
I'll be interested in reading how others weigh in on this important issue.
