Conservative Blog Hopes to Defund NRSC

As I noted the other day, many conservative bloggers are outraged over the National Republican Senatorial Committee's (NRSC) endorsement of Florida Governor Charlie Crist over former House Speaker Marco Rubio.

One of the most outspoken bloggers on this topic has been RedState's Erick Erickson.

While Erickson has long criticized the GOP for stupid behavior, he is now also encouraging conservatives to cease donating money to the NRSC.

And in a post today, he is also encouraging them to contact their friends:

Here is the list of donors to the NRSC. I encourage you to go through the list. If you see people you know, tell them how the NRSC wants their money, then wants them to shut up.

Lest you think Erickson is engaged in some sort of quixotic effort -- and has not a pragmatic bone in his body -- I encourage you to read the rest of his post (which succinctly explains the conservative outrage over the Crist endorsement):

The NRSC and Senate Republican leadership are huddled in Washington right now privately patting each other on the back for the Crist endorsement and reassuring each other that this is just an angry backlash from unrealistic conservatives who don't understand the dynamics of 2010 - they are the experts and we're the noise

If they weren't so busy in their circle of self-congratulatory pleasure at what they've accomplished, they'd see this is far from the truth.

Here at RedState, we understand totally and completely that there are some areas of the country a strong social conservative cannot win. And there are some areas of the country that hard core fiscal libertarian candidates cannot win.

We recognize that we must find candidates that fit their region. For example, the best the GOP can probably do in Delaware is Mike Castle. The best the GOP can do in Illinois is Mark Kirk. We encourage the NRSC and GOP to move forward there.

But, in Florida and elsewhere, the GOP has no business entering a primary when there are multiple very viable candidates involved and either candidate could win.

That the NRSC thinks Marco Rubio cannot win in Florida is a rejection of conservatism across the board as a winning set of ideas. In fact, in Florida conservatives have traditionally faired well. Ignoring the connection to his brother, Jeb Bush was far to the right of Charlie Crist and won handily in Florida. And not just Jeb.

Rubio can win and is more aligned with the majority of the Republican base in Florida than Crist, who will rely on cross over voting from Democrats and independents in the same way John McCain did to win Florida's Presidential Primary.

But the NRSC has ignored all of that. The NRSC has decided to play favorites. And their favorites are increasingly at odds with the base of the GOP. If the NRSC wants to distance itself from the base, the base should distance itself from an NRSC that is showing increasingly bad judgment.

They can take cold comfort in thinking we're just upset because they endorsed a liberal. The reality is we expect them to in some cases. But this case they did not have to, should not have done so, and must be made to pay a price.

Interestingly, while the NRSC is angering conservatives, the NRCC is wooing conservative bloggers ...

Update: Check out the new website, 'Not One Red Cent'.