Erick Erickson - Biography

Biography

Erickson was born in Jackson, Louisiana, moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates when he was 5 and returned to Jackson when he was 15. Erickson attended the American School of Dubai, previously known as the Jumeirah American School. His father worked for Conoco Oil as an oil company production foreman. Erickson received a bachelor’s degree from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and a law degree from Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law and is an inactive member in good standing of the State Bar of Georgia.

Erickson was elected November 6, 2007 to a four year term as a Republican member of the Macon, Georgia city council, He resigned his office on February 16, 2011, partway through his first term to pursue a job with WSB radio in Atlanta; the Macon Telegraph noted his poor attendance as a council member before his resignation. While he was in office, Macon police officers considered forming a union. To counter the formation of the labor union, Erickson urged that the police department be dissolved.

Erickson's "Morning Briefing" e-mails grew from 498 subscribers when they began in February 2009 to nearly 70,000 by January 2010. The analysis from one of Erickson's "Morning Briefing" emails, just after the November 2009 election, was posted on the website of Human Events, referred to on the website of The American Spectator, and by Rush Limbaugh, and "fueled discussion later that morning at two influential weekly meetings of D.C. conservatives", according to an article in the Washington Post. The Post added, "The ability of a single e-mail to shape a message illustrates the power of the conservative network." The article described Erickson as one of the American conservative movement's "key national players".

The Daily Telegraph of London put Erickson on its "List of Most Influential US Conservatives", giving him a rank of 69th most influential in 2007 and 65th in 2010. According to the 2007 newspaper article: "Erickson epitomises the new power of the internet. A small-government fiscal and social conservative based in the south, he taps into and influences the Republican 'base' that the GOP’s 2008 candidates are courting."

Erickson was noted for having written on Twitter about Supreme Court Justice David Souter: "The nation loses the only goat fucking child molester to ever serve on the Supreme Court in David Souter's retirement." In an appearance on the Colbert Report, Erickson said the Twitter statement was "not my finest hour". Erickson stated on his blog: "A while back, Glenn Beck called Barack Obama a 'racist.' Given all the terrorists, thugs, and racists Barack Obama has chosen as close personal friends (see e.g. Rev. Wright), it's not a stretch to say it."

Erickson has tweeted controversial remarks regarding women, including (in response to a 2010 Super Bowl ad) the following: "That's what the feminazis were enraged over? Seriously?!? Wow. That's what being too ugly to get a date does to your brain" and "Turned on twitter today and there was a barrage of angry feminists upset with me telling them to get in the kitchen and learn to cook"; "Good thing I didn't suggest the feminists ... you know ... shave. They'd be at my house trying a post-birth abortion on me"; and "Feminists have no sense of humor, but clearly God did in creating feminists."