On Wednesday, the New York Times examines the bipartisan furor over CNN contributor Erik Erickson. The piece says a lot of things the Wire's been covering. Namely, the left's outrage that CNN would hire a crass, "bigot misogynist" to spread opinions on TV. But it also points out the antipathy between Erickson and some on the right:

What critics have not noted is that Mr. Erickson, the editor of the influential conservative blog RedState, is as hard on many Republicans and conservatives as he is on Democrats. He has accused Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, of playing the race card; suggested that RedState readers send toy balls to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, during budget negotiations; and, of late, begun exhorting Tea Party followers (he considers himself one) to move beyond protests and get involved in the nitty-gritty of precinct-level politics.

“I always think there are more people who hate me on my own side than there are on the left,” Mr. Erickson said on a recent afternoon as he went from Macon City Hall, where he serves as a councilman, to his favorite coffee shop. “Apparently the only thing that left and right agree on in America is that conservatives shouldn’t be on CNN — they should be on Fox.”

Though the piece includes many of Erickson's embarrassing pronouncements, it gives a more charitable impression of him than one might expect. Some blogs on the left have dismissed the piece, while others, such as Steve Krakauer at Mediaite, riffed on it:

It’s a sad state of media affairs that Erickson so freely admits the “left and right agree” conservatives belong on Fox, not CNN. CNN needs his voice, just like Fox and its news competitors need to expand their rosters to allow for new voices.

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John Hudson