Page 53 - Eric Erickson News Today

Influence inside congress by taking down a couple incumbents this year. two that they put in their cross-hairs, one was idahos mike simpson and the other was thad cochran. they failed in much places. its going to be much harder next time to threaten a member of congress if they dont like a piece of legislation. its a loss for the tea party as a whole. their only big win was a candidate they didnt help, dave brat in virginia. its clear this morning that some conservative activists are frustrated....

I want to congratulate the two members of our leadership team, kevin mccarthy from california is our new majority leader, and steve scalise is our new majority whip. i want to thank my colleagues who did participate in this election. competition is a good thing. >> gop leaders in the house havent been exactly acting like competition is a good thing. they scheduled a rush vote to replace eric cantor. they scheduled it for today, a move widely seen as an attempt to close ranks and it worked. mccar...

Really dont want to be reconciled to, as they would see it, business as usual or as some others might see it, governing the country. and you already had some people complaining about scalise. again, a very conservative guy. as steve says, a representative of the culturally conservative south. nonetheless, you have had people complaining he took the republican study committee, this group of conservatives, and made it much more amenable to the leadership. so hes already played this bridging role i...

Economy to make a political point is calling the senate dysfunctional. not that im such a big senate fan, but break down whats going over there in these house republican shakeups. >> you know, its odd in certain ways, because you had eric cantor lose his seat to someone who ran to his right on immigration. so this is the tea party protest that succeeds. and then you have these elections, and kevin mccarthy replaces eric cantor, and he is probably a click or two to the left of cantor, particularl...

Again, a very conservative guy. as steve says, a representative of the culturally conservative south. nonetheless, you have had people complaining he took the republican study committee, this group of conservatives, and made it much more amenable to the leadership. so hes already played this bridging role in his position in the republican study committee. so it wouldnt surprise me if you have some -- you know, the far right, if you will, of the republican caucus complaining about him in about a ...

first step. >> republicans saying that the president should take action. >> pressure mainly from the right. >> not nothing specific on what action that is. >> do something, do something, do something. >> someone who inherited a heavy mantle. >> regardless of what happened in the past. >> it is not my purpose today to relitigate the history of u.s. involvement in iraq. >> we have the rest of history to debate who was right and wrong. >> trying to come up with the least worst option. >> ...

>> do something, do something, do something. >> someone who inherited a heavy mantle. >> regardless of what happened in the past. >> it is not my purpose today to relitigate the history of u.s. involvement in iraq. >> we have the rest of history to debate who was right and wrong. >> trying to come up with the least worst option. >> right now is a moment where the state of iraq hangs in the balance. >> im ari melber in for lawrence odonnell. american foreign policy has spent the better ...

More of a sense of shared understanding. but what has happened, a lot of people see a country changing, changing in ways that make them uncomfortable, at the same time that they are becoming worse off. its asking a lot of a democracy to absorb that. thats one of the reasons why the incumbent party, the democrats are, is potentially very vulnerable. one of the things that makes me frustrated as i watch these contests is there is a powerful republican case to articulate. that core beliefs of the p...

But what has happened, a lot of people see a country changing, changing in ways that make them uncomfortable, at the same time that they are becoming worse off. its asking a lot of a democracy to absorb that. thats one of the reasons why the incumbent party, the democrats are, is potentially very vulnerable. one of the things that makes me frustrated as i watch these contests is there is a powerful republican case to articulate. that core beliefs of the party about individual initiative and mark...

Mid 70s in congress before i got there. and my friend and late colleague paul tsongas, who took the lead in the senate. heres the problem. the republican party as a matter of party policy is dead set against anything that will be protective of gays, lesbians, bisexual, transgender people. the party overwhelmingly opposed the repeal of the dont; dont tell. they said it would cause chaos in the military. that of course was totally untrue. they had all these myths about what would happen if we had ...