RedState.com editor-in-chief Erick Erickson and Business Insider politics editor Josh Barro went toe-to-toe in columns published Tuesday over their competing visions for the Republican Party and the conservative movement.
Erickson began his column with a pointed description of Barro, a moderate conservative who has frequently called for reform of the GOP.
“Josh Barro is a late twenty-something gay male who hates conservatives, champions Obamacare, attacks Republicans for wanting to oppose it, supports the tax hikes that come with Obamacare, wants to rid the GOP of social conservatives, and gets fawning pieces of prattle composed by liberals who want everyone to know that their friend Josh Barro is a conservative reformer who wants less conservatism,” Erickson wrote.
Barro, who jumped from Bloomberg View to BI just last week, fired back with his own piece, calling out Erickson for invoking his sexual orientation.
“But at least this statement, unlike some that follow it, has the virtue of being correct,” Barro wrote, before debunking Erickson’s piece.
For example, Barro pointed out that he has worked on a campaign, contrary to Erickson’s claim that he hasn’t. Barro volunteered for Mitt Romney’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign, a part of his biography that was highlighted in a recent profile in The Atlantic.
