RedState Gathering 2013: Greg Brannon speaks, Erick Erickson slams Thom Tillis

redstateRedState Gathering — the preeminent national conservative gathering founded by the RedState web site — kicked off this weekend in New Orleans.  The yearly event brings together Tea Party-oriented conservatives from around the country each year to network and strategize.

Erick Erickson — the web site’s founder — is a Georgia-based politico and radio talk show host who has been instrumental in getting folks like Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Mike Lee elected to the United States Senate.  He also played a major part in helping Nikki Haley get into the South Carolina governor’s mansion.

This year — in the run up to the 2014 vote — Erickson invited a number of candidates from around the country to speak to the gathering.  Dr. Greg Brannon of Cary, a Republican seeking the party’s nomination for US Senate in 2014, was one of the invited speakers (fast forward to the TWO HOUR mark on the linked video.)

Erickson, in his introduction  of Brannon, had some harsh words for state House speaker Thom Tillis — the other announced candidate for the GOP nomination:

[…]”It’s a Republican field with a lot of people.  One of them is the speaker of the House of Representatives in North Carolina, and I can tell you I would rather vote for the pile of brown goo on the side of the road in New Orleans than vote for that guy as a Republican in North Carolina. He’s terrible. You do not want this person.  […]”