RedState
Encyclopedia
RedState is a conservative American
political
weblog
.
The site is currently a subsidiary of Eagle Publishing, Inc., a conservative publishing house which also owns Regnery Publishing
and the weekly magazine Human Events
. Erick Erickson
is the Chairman of the Board and Managing Editor of Redstate, and Dan McLaughlin, Victoria Gardner Coates, and Mike Krempasky are on the Board of Directors. At the time of the purchase, Eagle Publishing agreed to let RedState maintain its editorial constructs as a collaborative blog
.
According to Erick Erickson, RedState is conservative in the primaries and Republican in general elections. It was the first major blog to endorse Republican candidates Marco Rubio
and Doug Hoffman
. Its front page is written largely by volunteer contributors.
by conservative bloggers Joshua Treviño
, Ben Domenech
, and Mike Krempasky.
In March 2006, co-founder Domenech was hired as a blogger by the Washington Post Online, but came under criticism for alleged plagiarism in some of his prior writings during college. At the end of his first week, Domenech resigned, eventually admitting to plagiarism. He took a leave of absence from RedState at the time, from which he returned in July 2006 under a new handle (his own name), and is still listed as a Senior Editor for RedState.
On November 16, 2006, former congressman Tom DeLay
posted a diary, and he has followed up multiple times. Several other members of the House of Representatives and the US Senate are regular diarists at RedState.
On December 20, 2006, RedState announced its sale to Eagle Publishing, Inc., effective January 2, 2007. Erick Erickson
remained Editor-in-Chief.
On July 12, 2008, RedState launched a new version of its site, called RS3, introducing new features such as the ability to organize contributor and user diaries by state; action centers allowing users to take action related to emerging political issues; links to share posts via other networking sites such as Facebook
, Digg
, and MySpace
; and easier searching between related content on the Internet.
On August 13, 2011, Texas
Governor Rick Perry
announced his candidacy for President of the United States
at Redstate's 2011 Redstate Gathering. The Austin American-Statesman
reported that this was due to the growing influence of the site and Erickson.
RedState has also created numerous offshoot blogs on specific political topics, including a site opposed to Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Arlen Specter
and a site supporting the judicial nominees of President George W. Bush
.
The site is currently run and operated by Erick Erickson, but due to extensive demands on his time from his political aspirations and his media job, the site is guarded by Moe Lane and Neil Stevens. While there are other mods, these two make most of the banning decisions on the site.
. Users may also post comments related to entries, and post their own "user blogs" that can be recommended by fellow readers and promoted to the front page by contributors.
The site moderators' behavior is a topic of discussion among moderate conservatives and internet discussion sites.
During the 2008 American presidential primary elections, a decision was made to ban anyone who had been a member for less than six months from posting about Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul
, due to a significant number of Paul supporters' continuous spamming of diaries and comments, and unwillingness to follow site rules and policies, while Ron Paul bashers were welcomed to violate any and all site rules and policies. An unwritten policy that continues today.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
political
Politics of the United States
The United States is a federal constitutional republic, in which the President of the United States , Congress, and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments.The executive branch is headed by the President...
weblog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
.
The site is currently a subsidiary of Eagle Publishing, Inc., a conservative publishing house which also owns Regnery Publishing
Regnery Publishing
Regnery Publishing in Washington, D.C., is a publisher which specializes in conservative books characterized on their website as "contrary to those of 'mainstream' publishers in New York." Since 1993, Regnery Publishing has been a division of Eagle Publishing, which also owns the weekly magazine...
and the weekly magazine Human Events
Human Events
Human Events is a weekly American conservative magazine. It takes its name from the first sentence of the United States Declaration of Independence...
. Erick Erickson
Erick Erickson
Erick Erickson , also known as Erick-Woods Erickson, is a politically conservative American blogger and managing editor of the blog site RedState.com. In 2010, he became a political contributor for CNN's John King, USA...
is the Chairman of the Board and Managing Editor of Redstate, and Dan McLaughlin, Victoria Gardner Coates, and Mike Krempasky are on the Board of Directors. At the time of the purchase, Eagle Publishing agreed to let RedState maintain its editorial constructs as a collaborative blog
Collaborative blog
A collaborative blog is a type of weblog in which posts are written and published by more than one author. The majority of high profile collaborative blogs are based around a single uniting theme, such as politics or technology....
.
According to Erick Erickson, RedState is conservative in the primaries and Republican in general elections. It was the first major blog to endorse Republican candidates Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio Rubio is the junior United States Senator from Florida . A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives ....
and Doug Hoffman
Doug Hoffman
Douglas L. "Doug" Hoffman is an American businessman, accountant and former congressional candidate. He was the Conservative Party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2009 special election for New York's 23rd congressional district. On November 3, 2009, he was defeated by...
. Its front page is written largely by volunteer contributors.
History
RedState was originally founded in 2004 as a 527 group527 group
A 527 organization or 527 group is a type of American tax-exempt organization named after "Section 527" of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code...
by conservative bloggers Joshua Treviño
Joshua Treviño
Joshua Treviño is an American conservative political commentator and consultant. He is the co-founder of RedState.org and he is spokesman for the Texas Public Policy Foundation. He is a former George W...
, Ben Domenech
Ben Domenech
Ben Domenech is an American conservative writer and blogger who co-founded the RedState group blog. In March 2006, he was hired to write a conservative blog for washingtonpost.com but resigned after three days amid allegations of plagiarism during his college years...
, and Mike Krempasky.
In March 2006, co-founder Domenech was hired as a blogger by the Washington Post Online, but came under criticism for alleged plagiarism in some of his prior writings during college. At the end of his first week, Domenech resigned, eventually admitting to plagiarism. He took a leave of absence from RedState at the time, from which he returned in July 2006 under a new handle (his own name), and is still listed as a Senior Editor for RedState.
On November 16, 2006, former congressman Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
posted a diary, and he has followed up multiple times. Several other members of the House of Representatives and the US Senate are regular diarists at RedState.
On December 20, 2006, RedState announced its sale to Eagle Publishing, Inc., effective January 2, 2007. Erick Erickson
Erick Erickson
Erick Erickson , also known as Erick-Woods Erickson, is a politically conservative American blogger and managing editor of the blog site RedState.com. In 2010, he became a political contributor for CNN's John King, USA...
remained Editor-in-Chief.
On July 12, 2008, RedState launched a new version of its site, called RS3, introducing new features such as the ability to organize contributor and user diaries by state; action centers allowing users to take action related to emerging political issues; links to share posts via other networking sites such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, Digg
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
, and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
; and easier searching between related content on the Internet.
On August 13, 2011, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Governor Rick Perry
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full...
announced his candidacy for President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
at Redstate's 2011 Redstate Gathering. The Austin American-Statesman
Austin American-Statesman
The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is an award-winning publication owned by Cox Enterprises. The Newspaper places focus on issues affecting Austin and the Central Texas region....
reported that this was due to the growing influence of the site and Erickson.
RedState has also created numerous offshoot blogs on specific political topics, including a site opposed to Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...
and a site supporting the judicial nominees of President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
.
The site is currently run and operated by Erick Erickson, but due to extensive demands on his time from his political aspirations and his media job, the site is guarded by Moe Lane and Neil Stevens. While there are other mods, these two make most of the banning decisions on the site.
Content
Anyone with Internet access can register on the site and publish content. Contributors to the site may post directly to the front page, or to a blog with shorter entries known as "RedHot," modelled after "The Corner" blog at National ReviewNational Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
. Users may also post comments related to entries, and post their own "user blogs" that can be recommended by fellow readers and promoted to the front page by contributors.
The site moderators' behavior is a topic of discussion among moderate conservatives and internet discussion sites.
During the 2008 American presidential primary elections, a decision was made to ban anyone who had been a member for less than six months from posting about Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
, due to a significant number of Paul supporters' continuous spamming of diaries and comments, and unwillingness to follow site rules and policies, while Ron Paul bashers were welcomed to violate any and all site rules and policies. An unwritten policy that continues today.