Posted on 06/10/2014 9:25:48 PM PDT by kristinn
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated in a Republican primary Tuesday, conceding his Virginia seat to a local activist after a stunning loss with possibly dramatic consequences for leadership, the chances of any immigration overhaul passing Congress and the future of his party.
He is the first majority leader ever to fall in primary defeat — the position was created in 1899.
Cantor, toppled by college economics professor Dave Brat, 56 percent to 44 percent, conceded just after The Associated Press declared the race over.
Democratic and Republican leadership aides expressed total disbelief and dumbfoundedness Tuesday night. Political operatives in the Old Dominion and organizers in Washington quickly studied election law to see if he could run as a write-in.
With his wife, Diana Fine Cantor, at his side, Cantor choked back emotion and did not sound like a man aiming to stage a comeback.
“I know there’s a lot of long faces here tonight. It’s disappointing sure, but I believe in this country, I believe there’s opportunity around the next corner for all of us,” he said.
Cantor has been a contentious figure within the GOP, never more so than early in the speakership of John A. Boehner, when speculation abounded about his background attempts to overthrow the Ohio Republican.
But that talk had been tamped down in recent years and the two leaders worked in tandem. In many ways, Cantor had been the intellectual leader of the House Republicans, preferring a hands-on approach to Boehner’s famously laissez-faire demeanor.
Cantor is known inside the conference as the leader most interested in projecting a kinder, gentler, approach for the party, not only on immigration but also at the margins of social policy.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.rollcall.com ...
My faith about anything was never stated and is nonetheless irrelevant to my question concerning your point apparently deemphasizing the turn-out that unseated Cantor.
I’m confused about your take on the voters responsible for unseating Cantor. Are these the OUTSIDE voters you’re referring to?
I think the punk POTUS moves toward dictatorship is finally waking a lot of people up. Just wait until Novemeber.
You are partially right Nancy. It will be a brand new ball game, when you Reid, and the rest of your criminal cronies are brought up on treason charges in 2016.
So which of the Tea Party positions do you not agree with?
The hell with that.
Terminate all Third World immigration permanently!
No more Green Cards, work visas, student visas, tourists visas for backward beggar nations who seek to overwhelm America demographically.
Here is the real question now ... what are Brat’s chances this November against the Dem?
I have read that there were a lot of Dems voting for Brat just to get rid of Cantor.
Is this now an easy seat for the Dems to pick up in Nov.?
My faith is in TEA. We are the ONLY group making inroads in politics and in the Republican party. We are the only ones making a difference.
We’re 5 years old and we’ve made them change the narrative. The GOPe hate us. That’s ok, we’ll continue to work against them until not one of them is left standing. We will win. We have won literally thousands of victories. Join us and help us win.
If you are suggesting a third party, give it up. The 2 party cartel has stacked the deck against 3rd. party candidates. They can’t win. 3% of the vote does nothing but help defeat us in our war to take back the party. It gives the Democrats great comfort. It gave Barry the election.
No - the district is Republican plus 10.
Thanks for clarifying. I misunderstood.
Yes, the GOP-e players are a vindictive, nasty lot indifferent to the interests of the constituents.
Many years ago (late 80's) when I converted via a real epistemological conversion to conservatism, I subscribed to NR. At that time the magazine ran an article or two on immigration.
The gist of the articles were, the patchwork legislation is broke, lets stop the numbers coming in to 250,000 a year max, lets review the legislation and fix it.
My, you would get eviscerated today saying that let alone what you said and it seems like quite frankly a moderate proposal.
How far we have fallen and RIP William F. Buckley, gosh we miss you and Ronald Reagan...
"attract voting constituencies generally unlikely to vote GOP" = AMNESTY
So easy to see how Christina, David, Matt and Daniel have become stewed in the Potomac Brine and are unable to to write truth to disaster.
Roll Call feeds what? The legislative class? Lunch room staffers? Lobby hogs protecting their place at the trough?
Whichever. Until the denizens of the DC swamp can write a clear word and express a clear thought to reflect the mood, grievances and petitions of the electorate, their noises are consigned to their echo chambers as meaningless barks of pets at a kennel whipped up by treats from Cantor clones and minions.
A write in would hand it to the Democrat. Not even Cantor wants that.
My birth state too, but I see NOVA to VA as North Ireland to Ireland. It’s an entrenched lobbyist, bureaucrat and federal contractor class whose principle industry is government.
In addition to McAuliff’s buying the governor’s mansion there was the libertarian distraction that siphoned off the winning margin from Ken.
All in all you are correct but the lesson should be learned that to win in VA one needs to attract the entrenched NOVA teat suckers, and then decimate them in a future election cycle to be rid of their influence. The way to do that is to buy their leaders and talk government largess possibility to their coffers and paychecks. But of course there is the problem of keeping the conservative base support while talking out of both sides of one’s mouth. It’s not impossible and the good news it needs to be done only once as long as the NOVA class is picked up and moved out or retrained.
It is not burdensome to one’s own conscience when envisioning a luring of criminal accomplices with sugar money into a trap where a gate can be slammed behind them and locked, just as long as the conservative base in onboard.
But it’s difficult to keep a poker hand hidden in the public arena.
This is why we have Cantor’s in DC. They get in office and cave to the other side so the entrenched interests live to fight another day. The House republicans should have stood firm on defunding Obamacare allowing for the pigs at the trough to go on feeding under other budget authorities until slaughtering time.
The path Ken needed to take was one where he could assure the NOVA trough would be stocked with grub but would play his heart to the patriots in VA to continue working to rid the countryside of freedom robbing Obamacare. Easier said than done and I think he tried something along this line. Whichever it was played out it was necessary that the true conservatives in VA needed to understand the play and then once successful be committed to seeing Ted Cruz in the White House in 2016 where the gauntlet will be laid down on the public union leaches.
I have so little sympathy for government trough feeders. I could support retraining to non-government dependent work so that they can keep their bloated mortgages and suburban outposts with the SUV and green car in the driveways. But it is nevertheless sickening to see this class put the likes of McAuliff over the top just so they can stay fat. I know it’s difficult to walk away from a good feeding ground into an unknown future by voting against your livelihood. But at some point this can no longer stand and something must be done. That something would be a warning to get ready, you got one or two years then you’re on your own!
DC and its spillover into MD and VA has been a robust growth industry for years and years now until the effort by responsible patriots to defund Obamacare was twisted by the press of the DC class and the MSM as an effort to shutdown the government which it was not. This lie is what empowered the NOVA class to get McAwful in power along with driving independents to the libertarian.
It would be interesting to hear from Ken what he would do differently from what was done.
Where is Hughe Manatee when you need him?
child influx - I love it here, dry heat and all. I have lived and visited 47 states and this town is where we want to stay put. It is like a big small town, even though we have a crazy town council, we are actually in Pima co.
Good comparison. I grew up in S.E. VA and it WAS as different from NOVA as it could be, but no longer, and I can tell you I still go back to the beach every year to visit family,there are so many northerners there fleeing what they messed up in their home states I hardly recognize it anymore.
I went to Tuscon High and the UofA there before moving to CA after graduating. Still got relatives there.
You’re right about describing it as a big small town - the whole area has almost a million people, but because it doesn’t have all the big suburbs like Phoenix, it feels a lot smaller. And the surrounding mountains are a lot bigger. It’s nice to be able to escape to Mt Lemmon when it’s really hot in the valley.
As long as I have air conditioning I can’t tell if I am in 107 degree heat or 97 degree heat. Back in Va Beach when it’s 97 and humid it feels worse there than 107 and dry heat here. At least when I go out from the house my glasses don’t fog up like they do when I visit relatives in VA. I love how almost all the major roads are like a giant cross, N/E/S/W and if you recognize the mtn. ranges you always know which direction you’re going. Very easy to get around.
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