Posted on 06/13/2014 8:50:32 AM PDT by Kenny
How big a deal is the surprise primary defeat of Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader? Very. Movement conservatism, which dominated American politics from the election of Ronald Reagan to the election of Barack Obama — and which many pundits thought could make a comeback this year — is unraveling before our eyes.
I don’t mean that conservatism in general is dying. But what I and others mean by “movement conservatism,” a term I think I learned from the historian Rick Perlstein, is something more specific: an interlocking set of institutions and alliances that won elections by stoking cultural and racial anxiety but used these victories mainly to push an elitist economic agenda, meanwhile providing a support network for political and ideological loyalists.
<snip>
So whither movement conservatism? Before the Virginia upset, there was a widespread media narrative to the effect that the Republican establishment was regaining control from the Tea Party, which was really a claim that good old-fashioned movement conservatism was on its way back. In reality, however, establishment figures who won primaries did so only by reinventing themselves as extremists. And Mr. Cantor’s defeat shows that lip service to extremism isn’t enough; the base needs to believe that you really mean it.
In the long run — which probably begins in 2016 — this will be bad news for the G.O.P., because the party is moving right on social issues at a time when the country at large is moving left. (Think about how quickly the ground has shifted on gay marriage.) Meanwhile, however, what we’re looking at is a party that will be even more extreme, even less interested in participating in normal governance, than it has been since 2008. An ugly political scene is about to get even uglier.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Dave Brat’s answer on this is good. It does need to be challenged, and the response needs to be coordinated.
My understanding is that Brat beat Cantor by running of the GOP platform - pretty sad when the #2 GOP guy in the House can be beat because he isn’t following the party platform.
These folks will fall into full-on conniption when we win.
Let’s get ugly! Where has ugly been the last 5 1/2 years?
I’m tired of tears.
He asked (I'm rephrasing), "is it extreme to demand that government live within its means, stop picking losers and winners to bail out, abide by the Constitution, and create a business environment where individuals and businesses can grow and prosper?"
Brat said these are not right or left issues - they're issues that are good for America.
Those are issues that led to the GOP sweep in 2010 and were promptly forgotten.
lol
the media is trying to paint conservatives as “extreme” for being against gay marriage.
A policy stance that both Bill Clinton (when he was president) and Obama (when he ran) and Hilary had when she ran and lost held.
Oh from the fish wrap Times and that extremely Communist Krugman. Yawn Krugman.
extreme = being to the right of Hillary Clinton
I wonder if the NYTimes has a full-time crew just to clean Krugman’s spittle off the floor and walls or the job is included in the duties of their general spittle cleaning crew (which is obviously huge).
What has it won them?
Ha! Paul Krugman...
You cannot get any uglier than little Paulie.
What a buffoonish waste of breathable air.
Take your pill now Paulie, you’ll feel better in about 20 minutes.
(Think about how quickly the ground has shifted on gay marriage.)
Public opinion hasn’t shifted. Gay marriage has largely been instituted by unelected and unaccountable liberal federal judges.
I love it; Krugman and his pals think they can conjure up absurd definitions out of the blue that lead to scenarios under which the GOP loses big time. I like to call this bowel movement liberalism and the stench of it is sure to alienate vastly greater numbers of voters than have been turned off by democrats to date.
Well, if Krugman says it, it must be true.
Krugman, a member of the 1%, has no clue about what is going on in the real world.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/117328/marriage.aspx
It has shifted substantially in a very short amount of time.
I think this guy has an f-—ed up notion as to what “normal governance” means to most people outside New York.
” Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
Goldwater
So why don't conservatives first talk about the extreme judges who fight the people then secondly talk about which extreme party is trying to make the extreme gay lifestyle mainstream.
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