Posted on 06/10/2014 8:46:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
On Tuesday night, one of the most stunning upsets in Congressional primary history took place, with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) losing his primary to economics professor Dave Brat. Brat campaigned on the platform that Cantor was a backer of amnesty legislation; heavy conservative media coverage of the thousands of illegal immigrant youths pouring across our inundated southern border contributed to a sense of urgency. So Cantor is out.
And the landscape has radically shifted, both for the Republican Party, and for the 2014 election. Here are the biggest ramifications of Cantor’s defeat.
Boehner Is Likely Done. The writing has been on the wall for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) ever since a failed House insurgency in the aftermath of a coup attempt against his speakership in January 2013. Boehner had been under fire ever since his sequestration deal with President Obama in 2011; his “fiscal cliff” deal with President Obama at the end of 2012 only drove further pressure. Boehner’s repeated attempts to covertly push amnesty legislation have lost him his base. And the departure of many of his top allies in Congress leaves him vulnerable this year. Cantor’s ties to Boehner may signal that a successful insurgency is on the way. Aides are telling the National Journal, “We’re absolutely stunned. Honestly, we really can’t believe it.”
The “Young Guns” Are Firing Blanks. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Cantor were considered the so-called “young guns” in the House, preparing to take over leadership from Boehner and company whenever he stepped down. Ryan and Cantor have been vocal about their desire for immigration reform legislation this year. Cantor is now gone. And Ryan’s position as a leader is in serious jeopardy.
The Death of the Tea Party Was Greatly Exaggerated....
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Activism can win a primary with 35,000 votes, but not a Presidential election. That's why Romney won the nomination. For activism to have a chance, we need to pick a candidate early and fund that person.
The Cantor defeat is the death knell for the immigration reform caucus in the GOP, at least for this cycle, and that means that the party will be more, not less unified.
I don't believe this for a second. There is a majority in Congress for "immigration reform" consisting of Democrats and RINOs. Just tonight, Dana Perrino was "suggesting" that Cantor step down so that a RINO could be entrenched and offering a list of "attractive" womyn. We don't need sexism; we need leadership.
See my tagline.
I will happily educate either of them on the principles of privatizing environmental regulation.
I thought that happened last year?
Was there another appeal?
I think the point was that the GOPe ignores the platform, which it does, but the platform is a winner.
Agree, he’s long due.
McClintock one of the good guys..
Yes, and thanks to the 17th amendment, outside the state money flowed in to support Graham...
NOT what the founders intended...
Send the military to the border and send Boehner to the back bench.
You will see the GOPe push harder than ever before to make sure all non GOPe candidates get shredded. If not in the primaries, in the general election.
I have already heard rumblings here in Iowa after the primary that the GOP is going to make sure that first, the election in November does not result in a “reactionary” candidate winning. Even if that means giving it to Braley.
Second, to make dang sure that the caucuses go to the “right” candidate. The Paul people found out about the fix last time, they will be more careful this time.
RE Graham:
How feasible is a Write-in campaign against him?
“...leadership power structure in the House...”
Make that “the collaborationist power structure in the House”.
Clear signal sent - you compromise with the enemy, we will remove you.
Glad to hear Brat won.
1. You knew Cantor was in trouble 2 weeks ago when he tried to sound like Mr Border Control. It was Eric Cantor who put immigration on the front burner by his blatant hypocrisy to go along with his public statements of support for amnesty.
2. Cantor either was a conservative when he first entered Congress or he never was a conservative. We are told he originally won as a very strong conservative. If he was a conservative, then he is the poster child for the corruption of Washington DC getting eventually to everybody. Term limits or not, in our minds we should grant a candidate 4 terms at a maximum and then replace them.
3. Conservatives are not inclined to replace a moderate, capable candidate with a principled but incapable, likely losing candidate. For the most part, this is wise. Witness Cantor being replaced by a well-spoken, thoughtful economics(?) professor. That is the response for Lindsay Graham’s race in South Carolina, too. None of his opponents were able to ease concerns of voters about being a capable replacement. (Notice also that Graham used the divide and conquer philosophy again. He had SIX opponents. My guess is that most of them were ringers recruited by covert Graham supporters.)
4. As a veteran, I have it in for every candidate that supported Paul Ryan’s betrayal of veterans. I’m guessing that everywhere in Virginia is home to thousands of military retirees. Eric Cantor supported the betrayal.
5. Eric Cantor preached controlling the budget, but time and again he caved on the budget. Then he and the Boehner crew got cute with their “pass the buck to the next crisis” strategy. They thought voters stupid as they always claimed that it was the next time when they’d make a stand. It became evident they were just gaming the people.
6. Obama now has 2 years of executive authority in which to further damage the American landscape with immigration, energy, cronyism, health care, employment participation, welfare, appeasement, and anti-Israel pro-Islamic foreign policy. At some point, even the democrats in Congress who desire victory in 2016 will be tempted to force him to stop. A majority republican Senate and House with select democrats could do that.
7. The House will be forced into new leadership, so the most dangerous moment for immigration reform will be the lame duck session. IIRC, Boehner needs only 16 rinos to side with democrats to send amnesty to the Senate in the lame duck, and Harry Reid WILL expand the nuke option to get it if he has to. Beohner has already proven he has no qualms about violating the Hastert rule, AND Boehner knows there is very low probability he will retain the speakership in the next Congress. Also, the constitution allows the president to FORCE Congress into session at any time he desires. What would Cantor trade for betrayal: would he accept a home in the democrat party to go along with his democrat wife?
8. A Cruz/Martinez ticket will bring social conservatives back to the party, it will appeal to Hispanics and woo them to the party, and Susanna Martinez will be a bit of foil against Hillary’s female first campaign. Cruz/Martinez has great possibilities and deserves serious reflection on the part of conservatives.
Cantor with Perelman and Cantor’s wife and the other rinos will try to push through amnesty...why? Because Cantor was a liberal plant anyway; think about it. If you are a staunch conservative or a libertarian or a constitutional conservative, whatever, would you, could you REALLY marry a die hard liberal? NOOOO!
His wife and he benefit somehow by the companies he’ll lobby for and Perelman’s cache of holding companies who benefit somehow from cheap labor here or abroad...that’s my prediction...it’s all about what benefits him. Cantor is and was a phony and we have to be smarter than that.
Clue: If the candidate’s wife or company they came from is associated strongly with liberals, then the candidate is lying and is NOT a conservative even if they say they are one.
I don’t think the anti-Establishment backlash will be limited to the GOP. No one is more Establishment than Hillary Clinton, yet her support is a mile wide and an inch deep. Her only asset is her sense of inevitability (it certainly isn’t a record of achievement). Puncture this and she evaporates, just like in 2008. I wonder if this will embolden Dems to challenge her from the left.
Um, I did. And we've been married 31 years. It happens.
Said one thing in front of the cameras, and did another behind closed doors. The time for truth is NOW.
The stakes are too high for America to kid itself into believing that our very freedoms are being challenged. Obama will be publishing Exec orders until the cows come home. Free speech, 2nd Amendment, immigration doors completely open, plus others -- with the full complicity of an anemic Congress led by punch drunk Harry Reid and cry-baby Boehner and aided and abetted by a judiciary that is far more liberal than even the leftists in elected office.
“Don’t catch Potomac Fever. Stay true to the Conservative cause.”
Potomac Fever can strike non politicians. It is amazing how even outside of politics, the insidious Potomac Fever can strike normal people and make them blend into a part of the big game.
The news media is not using the obvious “David vs Goliath” story.
Probably because David was the good guy in that battle.
the lesson.
ONE conservative can defeat an incumbent.
SEVEN people vs an incumbent split the vote and assure victory for the incumbent.
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