Wingnut Bloggers Make Funny

From The Hill email newsletter. The most unthreatening protest I can imagine.

Conservative bloggers have initiated a pledge to deny campaign funds to Republicans who vote against President Bush’s plan to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq.

Led by Townhall’s Hugh Hewitt, “The NRSC Pledge” states that if the Senate passes any resolution critical of the troop increase, donors would not contribute to any Republican senator who voted for the resolution. They also would not contribute to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) absent a commitment from Chairman John Ensign (R-Nev.) to not spend any committee money on those senators who are up in 2008.

As of Thursday afternoon, it had nearly 10,000 signatories.

A Democratic-led resolution criticizing Bush’s strategy was supported by Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) has introduced a milder version. Hagel and Warner are both up in 2008, as are several other senators who have been critical of the troop “surge.”

Hewitt says the resolutions are equally damaging in that they both encourage the enemy.

In a post Thursday, he explained: “Because the troops and the war trump any partisan calculation, I have helped organize a campaign to alert Republican senators that a vote for the Warner resolution, or any other similar resolution, is a deal breaker for me. I will not contribute to any senator who so votes, and I will not work for any senator who so votes.”

Other conservative bloggers have joined the call, but some including John Hawkins at the Right Wings News are denouncing the pledge.

“If this catches on or even just makes a really big splash, you're going to have people trying to do the exact same thing on amnesty, embryonic stem cells and who knows what other issues over the next two years,” Hawkins wrote.

The NRSC declined to comment.

Unlike the left, the conservative blogosphere has no netroots movement. Atrios and Kos raise 100 of thousands for candidates and PACs. The right couldn't be bothered. (There are all those Swift Boat posts to write.) What this announcement boils down to is a few wingnut bloggers, who raise no money, saying they won't personally give to certain candidates. I don't expect them to hold to that pledge when faced with the prospects of Democrats winning the White House and picking up Congressional seats.

I'm sure Republicans will tremble now that Hugh Hewitt won't give 500 dollars to Chuck Hagel. Guys, in order to threaten the establishment's purse strings you have to raise a shitload of cash first.

Hewitt fails to understand that if Republicans vote against the resolution, Democratics can link them to Bush in 2008. I could say that Hewitt is hurting his party, but that would be false. He has no financial or political leverage. Republicans know the Iraq poll numbers. They will still be able to raise money from corporations seeking increased deregulation.

The funniest thing is wingnut bloggers are in a tizzy over a nonbinding resolution. This won't stop Bush from sending more troops. They desperately afraid of becoming irrelevant.