I have said many times that the Republican Party has sown the wind by embracing the racism, hatred and extremism so beloved by the Tea Party pseudo-patriots. I have said many times that they shall reap the whirlwind. But beyond those general predictions I was a surprised as everyone else that one small manifestation of that whirlwind would be the TEAbuggery that will kick Eric cantor from the House Majority leader’s chair and send him scurrying off to K street.
The House Republican leadership, so solid in its opposition to President Obama, was torn apart Tuesday by the defeat of its most influential conservative voice, Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader. His demise will reverberate all the way to the speaker’s chair, pull the top echelons of the House even further to the right and most likely doom any ambitious legislation, possibly through the next presidential election.
Conservatives who have helped fuel some of the most contentious showdowns over the last three years on issues such as immigration and raising the federal debt ceiling are likely to be emboldened by Mr. Cantor’s shocking loss as they seek to replace him with someone even more closely aligned with their views.
Further, House Republicans began to immediately plot a new leadership structure that before Tuesday night had hinged merely on whether Speaker John A. Boehner would seek to keep his post next year.
One measure of the extraordinary defeat could be seen in the candidate’s finances. Since the beginning of last year, Mr. Cantor’s campaign had spent about $168,637 at steakhouses compared with the $200,000 his challenger, David Brat, had spent on his entire campaign. With Mr. Cantor out, members from solidly Republican states will almost certainly be vying for one of the top jobs, if not Mr. Boehner’s gavel. The current Republican leadership slate is filled with members from swing states where the pressure to moderate views on topics such as immigration looms… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
You can be sure that virtually any House Republican who was considering the slightest compromises will be running scared because of this. That bodes ill for America, because it guarantees a continuation of Republican sabotage, obstruction, and sedition. Our only hope is that continuation causes a backlash that sends centrists to the polls in November to kick them out.
The best coverage of this story came from Rachel Maddow, and I have five clips from her coverage.
I do predict that one effect of Republican retrenchment even further to the right will be to alienate themselves even more from the American people, making a Democratic sweep probable in 2016.
18 Responses to “Cantor TEAbuggered!”
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I think noone was more surprised than old Eric himself. The look of disbelief on his face is priceless. You are most likely right in thinking that the TeapublicanTs in office are going to lean so far to the right they might fall over in the coming months. The ones to watch in particular are those facing primaries like my despicable Richard Hanna. The ads have been running for a while now as to who is the more conservative candidate, He and claudia Tenney have both caught their own pants on fire and their noses are long enough to reach the telephone wires. 'Nuff said.
TY TC.
I don't mind admitting that this scares the bejeezus out of me. Brat won 56-44, whereas a couple of late polls showed Cantor 52-39 and 62-28.
It's not about money. I can't find the figures now, but I remember Cantor was said to have spent more than $1 million (lots more actually) while Brat spent under $200,000. It's not about ideology, though Brat is now claiming it is. (In any case, which ideology? What is the difference between them> Brat is more anti-immigration. He also thought Wall Street bankers should have gone to jail. Which way does that fall?)
It's not about ratfucking. Virginia holds open primaries, yes, but the analysts looking at possible Democratic crossovers estimate they might have constituted half a percen of the vote. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/11/1306223/-How-much-did-Dems-help-Brat-beat-Cantor-Probably-only-by-0-5
It's about turnout.
The turnout for this primary was 8% of registered voters in the district. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/11/1306115/-Voter-Turn-OUT-Americans-just-do-not-like-to-vote
The district went for Romney 57-42 (and is heavily gerrymandered) so, without Cantor, Brat is strongly favored. And that scares me.
For a comprehensive analysis of all factors: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/11/1306241/-Immigration-Democrats-redistricting-None-of-those-caused-Eric-Cantor-s-loss?detail=hide
They cancelled the parade of the Democrats in that district. He died. 😉
Dave Brat and his Democratic challenger, Jack Trammell are both professors at Randolph-Macon college. My younger sister used to be the head of the math department there. I haven't heard her take on either of them yet, but I've asked, and I'll pass on whatever I learn when she replies.
I heard Brat in a phone interview with Chuck Todd and he couldn't answer an economic question pod=sed to him. He said he wasn't prepared. An economics professor???
Trammell is a sociology professor and has written about 20 books. I'm sure the opposition will focus on his most recent, a book of fiction bout vampires. I think he was trying to make some quick money by cashing in on the vampire craze spawned by the Twilight series.
As long as Jack Trammel's vampires don't sparkle, I'll back him 100%. I'll have to go look that one up. Few of the pundits have talked about Trammel at all. Since the district is in a college town, I wonder if the student vote will have a bigger effect on the outcome of the general election. Of course, Randolph-Macon is an elitist school for girls who want to marry rich husbands, but still…
Got a reply from my sister. This may be useful when confusion about the various colleges in that area inevitably comes up. I repeat it here in its entirety.
"They aren't actually at my college. Virginia had both a Randolph-Macon College and a Randolph-Macon Woman's College (where I teach). My college went co-ed in 2006 and of course they couldn't change their name to Randolph-Macon College since there was already one of those in VA. So we are now Randolph College and these guys are at Randolph-Macon College (confusing, isn't it?). So I don't know them. However, the mayor of Lynchburg is a former Randolph-Macon Woman's College professor. I just knew you would want to know that."
Not terribly helpful in the context of our current conversation, but there are a lot of colleges in that area, and the student vote may well have an effect on the election outcome. Trammell has a web page: Trammellforcongress.com, and his Twitter account is Trammell4va.
Brat sounds more like a vampire . . . trying (at this point) to suck the life blood out of Virginia, and no anaesthestic for the people. Trammel hopefully win the race. I tend to agree with TC when he says ". . . as long as it is not a Republican".
Thanks for trying, John. Perhas she knows someone on the faculty at the other one.
It will interesting to see what will happen in Virginia. But I also wonder how much this represents other districts. I'll bet Cantor wishes he had the morning after pill right now. Get rid of Brat!
Cantor was especially vilnerable, because he was the most obvious case owe Bankster ownership in the House.
I'm hoping this "surprise" reflects that the pollsters are wrong. The pollsters are still predicting Republican victories this Fall.
"All politics are local" and I think this election reflects that old saying, not some rejection of Tea Party policies.
As a former reseach professional, I can tell you that polls for the fall are hardly worth reading before September.
Eric Cantor "TEAbuggered!"… lol… Just Awesome!
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I am still happy to see Cantor gone. Virginia has gone democratic before, hopefully they will this time, too. They will be suspicious of a college prof, either way. They are considered elitists. When you get away from the DC area, much of Virginia is rural and blue collar.
Thanks all. It will be an uphill battke for Terammel because od how heavily Gerrymandered the didtrict is. Brat bears all the markings of an Ayn Rand Republican.
Made my day when Cantor lost… I want to thank TomCat and Lynn Sequance for helping me with Care2… It's awesome to have my account working… 😆