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Eric Cantor about to lose his primary

EatLeadCommie said:
I consider myself more aligned with whatever the Tea Party is (I consider it a reactionary movement fed up with too much spending and most politicians in DC) than I do the Republicans. Some individuals labeled Tea Partiers still spout the same religious crap as their primary go-to in talking points. That to me isn't very Tea Party, but it shows a different focus from a different element that, like me, is fed up with Republicans. The problem with the GOP is they give lip service to all kinds of things from religion to immigration to taxes to spending to whatever...and that's all it is. People who are more focused on religion or immigration or taxes or spending recognize that and they've broken off and are focusing on whatever they're pissed off about. The Tea Party label seems to be slapped on all pissed off Republicans, and that's a pretty diverse group of people with different priorities. The only commonality appears to be a desire to get spending under control.

You see many who have been in the GOP fold a long time trying to cater the Tea Party movement and thereby trim its rough edges, but that's not going to happen any time soon. And that's a good thing. Maybe bad for the GOP, but good for the country. If it sustains, it will breed a similar movement within the Dems, who are more fractured now than is commonly acknowledged.
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Whether it's the Tea Party or the GOP, as long as extremely vocal social conservatives are front and center, conservatives will have major problems winning the presidency and growing their base. Huckabee, Santorum, Bachmann, Perry, and Pence aren't the future and their strident opposition to marriage equality is a net political loser now and going forward. Doesn't appeal to business and young people. Catering to an older, declining demographic now is akin to investing in pay phones and pagers in the late '90s-the writing's on the wall. Can't be small government in business, but want to restrict people's private lives at the same time. Until conservatives elevate socially libertarians over social conservatives, they're just treading water whether they call themselves 'Pubs or Tea Party.

Kinda funny that the Tea Party groups didn't invest in Brat's campaign and are now taking credit for his win. Immigration isn't a major issue in central Virginia relative to what it is in Bakersfield, California, Kevin McCarthy's district. McCarthy's more moderate on immigration than Cantor, out of necessity. Not a great trade for voters for whom immigration is their number one priority.
 
FuckmouthedRube said:
Whether it's the Tea Party or the GOP, as long as extremely vocal social conservatives are front and center, conservatives will have major problems winning the presidency and growing their base. Huckabee, Santorum, Bachmann, Perry, and Pence aren't the future and their strident opposition to marriage equality is a net political loser now and going forward. Doesn't appeal to business and young people. Catering to an older, declining demographic now is akin to investing in pay phones and pagers in the late '90s-the writing's on the wall. Can't be small government in business, but want to restrict people's private lives at the same time. Until conservatives elevate socially libertarians over social conservatives, they're just treading water whether they call themselves 'Pubs or Tea Party.

Kinda funny that the Tea Party groups didn't invest in Brat's campaign and are now taking credit for his win. Immigration isn't a major issue in central Virginia relative to what it is in Bakersfield, California, Kevin McCarthy's district. McCarthy's more moderate on immigration than Cantor, out of necessity. Not a great trade for voters for whom immigration is their number one priority.
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Great post
 
SkinsNDeacs said:
Great post
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Agreed. I don't understand how conservatives aren't grasping this concept. McCain, Romney, Cantor etc. seem totally shielded from reality by their employees, who have been tremendously wrong for years now.
 
EatLeadCommie said:
Ph-

That article shows that he doesn't fit into whatever existing mold Politico thinks a Tea Party guy should fit. They can't exactly say the Koch brothers won this election for him. I like the part where they act surprised that he thinks black students should be treated like white students, as if that's some flaming liberal ideal. Gee, he can't be very Tea Party because he isn't a total racist. Nice bit of patronizing on the part of the authors there.

I consider myself more aligned with whatever the Tea Party is (I consider it a reactionary movement fed up with too much spending and most politicians in DC) than I do the Republicans. Some individuals labeled Tea Partiers still spout the same religious crap as their primary go-to in talking points. That to me isn't very Tea Party, but it shows a different focus from a different element that, like me, is fed up with Republicans. The problem with the GOP is they give lip service to all kinds of things from religion to immigration to taxes to spending to whatever...and that's all it is. People who are more focused on religion or immigration or taxes or spending recognize that and they've broken off and are focusing on whatever they're pissed off about. The Tea Party label seems to be slapped on all pissed off Republicans, and that's a pretty diverse group of people with different priorities. The only commonality appears to be a desire to get spending under control.

You see many who have been in the GOP fold a long time trying to cater the Tea Party movement and thereby trim its rough edges, but that's not going to happen any time soon. And that's a good thing. Maybe bad for the GOP, but good for the country. If it sustains, it will breed a similar movement within the Dems, who are more fractured now than is commonly acknowledged.
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I do agree that the Pubs have given lip service to all kinds of things over the years but have rarely followed up on them. To me the segment that continues to get little or nothing from them should have broken off long ago but apparently it took someone like Barrack to make that happen.
 
ONW said:
Agreed. I don't understand how conservatives aren't grasping this concept. McCain, Romney, Cantor etc. seem totally shielded from reality by their employees, who have been tremendously wrong for years now.
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I actually know Cantor's COS. He is a really good guy and a smart guy. Lots of people to blame but at least that employee is not one of them.
 
Interesting article. Again that's an offshoot of the Republican anti-government message. It makes sense that the rank and file who believe this message will see those in government as not representing them because they're in government.
 
Brat is allegedly an economics professor. When asked whether he stood for a minimum wage increase, it should have been a hanging curve. He had no position.

Then he said something about wages and production.The problem is production has more than doubled over period of time that the minimum wage is actually down versus inflation.
 
He's not allegedly an economics professor. He and his will be Democratic opponent both teach at the same small university.
 
Another thought from that article is that every Republican incumbent has some issue they're "moderate" on. It could be a vote to raise the debt ceiling. It could be a compromise vote. It could be an district issue that would be unpopular nationwide. They're all vulnerable on something.
 
ONW said:
Cantor is a d-bag. Guess he'll have to settle for the mil/yr consulting gig next year and remove himself from the "Young Guns" commercials.
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Doesn't he have a real estate company still?
 
ONW said:
He's not allegedly an economics professor. He and his will be Democratic opponent both teach at the same small university.
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How can't an economic professor have a position or statement about a basic economic policy like minimum wage? It's about as basic an issue as there is.
 
RJKarl said:
How can't an economic professor have a position or statement about a basic economic policy like minimum wage? It's about as basic an issue as there is.
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Despite your articulate argument of "How can't an economic professor have a position or statement about a basic economic policy like minimum age?" - it's not like he said nothing on the issue.

TODD: Where are you on the minimum wage? Do you believe in it, and would you raise it?

BRAT: Minimum wage, no, I'm a free market guy. Our labor markets right now are already distorted from too many regulations. I think CATO estimates there's $2 trillion of regulatory problems and then throw Obamacare on top of that, the work hours is 30 hours a week. You can only hire 50 people. There's just distortion after distortion after distortion and we wonder why our labor markets are broken.

TODD: So should there be a minimum wage in your opinion?

BRAT: Say it again.

TODD: Should there be a minimum wage in your opinion?

BRAT: I don't have a well-crafted response on that one. All I know is if you take the long-run graph over 200 years of the wage rate, it cannot differ from your nation's productivity. Right? So you can't make up wage rates. Right? I would love for everyone in sub-Saharan Africa, for example -- children of God -- to make $100 an hour. I would love to just assert that that would be the case. But you can't assert that unless you raise their productivity, and then the wage follows.

TODD: Sounds like you're making a case against a federally mandated minimum wage.

BRAT: I'm just making the case I just made that you can't artificially make up wage rates, they have to be related to productivity.
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RJKarl said:
How can't an economic professor have a position or statement about a basic economic policy like minimum wage? It's about as basic an issue as there is.
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It's really not, though, at least in terms of the impact.
 
EatLeadCommie said:
Ph-

That article shows that he doesn't fit into whatever existing mold Politico thinks a Tea Party guy should fit. They can't exactly say the Koch brothers won this election for him. I like the part where they act surprised that he thinks black students should be treated like white students, as if that's some flaming liberal ideal. Gee, he can't be very Tea Party because he isn't a total racist. Nice bit of patronizing on the part of the authors there.

I consider myself more aligned with whatever the Tea Party is (I consider it a reactionary movement fed up with too much spending and most politicians in DC) than I do the Republicans. Some individuals labeled Tea Partiers still spout the same religious crap as their primary go-to in talking points. That to me isn't very Tea Party, but it shows a different focus from a different element that, like me, is fed up with Republicans. The problem with the GOP is they give lip service to all kinds of things from religion to immigration to taxes to spending to whatever...and that's all it is. People who are more focused on religion or immigration or taxes or spending recognize that and they've broken off and are focusing on whatever they're pissed off about. The Tea Party label seems to be slapped on all pissed off Republicans, and that's a pretty diverse group of people with different priorities. The only commonality appears to be a desire to get spending under control.

You see many who have been in the GOP fold a long time trying to cater the Tea Party movement and thereby trim its rough edges, but that's not going to happen any time soon. And that's a good thing. Maybe bad for the GOP, but good for the country. If it sustains, it will breed a similar movement within the Dems, who are more fractured now than is commonly acknowledged.
Click to expand...

I think you misrepresenting the Tea Party as plain Libertarians. The published platform of the Tea Party may be limited to reducing debt and smaller government, but the actual Tea Party platform is set by the full agenda of Tea Party politicians. The current Tea Party affiliated politicians in Congress are not Libertarians solely focused on reducing government spending and reach, they are extremely right wing conservative Republicans.
 
Thanks Billy. I hadn't seen the text. Seems like a fair opinion on the issue. He will have to learn that professorial answers won't fly for political journalists. He will also need to cut down on the assumptions and generalizations like wages = productivity.
 
Allegedly Michael Steele claims lots of people want Cantor to replace Priebus as RNC Chairman. Both are complete douchebags, but Cantor's waaaay more polished than Reince. Can't believe that guy still has a job and has any support. Priebus stabbed Steele in the back, so can't blame Steele for being bitter about getting forced out by that hack. Also amazes me that Tea Party House members bitch and moan about House leadership, but none of them have enough guts (and more importantly votes) to challenge McCarthy (or Boehner).
 
Another good post-mortem article.
ASHLAND, Va. — From the moment polls opened Tuesday, it could not have been clearer that Eric Cantor gave no mind to the idea he could lose.
In the morning, he huddled with lobbyists at a Starbucks on Capitol Hill. In the afternoon, a campaign aide in Richmond emailed Cantor allies in Washington to report that Election Day plans were going swimmingly. The Cantor campaign organized volunteers to meet at the Republican National Committee to travel to the district for a get-out-the-vote effort that was billed as a way to “build up your resume campaign credentials,” with the added perk of getting a chance to “meet the majority leader” and celebrate at his “victory party,” which would feature a bar and catering stations.

And in the evening, Steve Stombres, Cantor’s longtime chief of staff who is also a local politician in Northern Virginia, attended a Fairfax City Council meeting, where wastewater treatment and public employee retirement plans were on the docket.
Within hours, Cantor’s political career came to a crashing end, as a crowd of dejected supporters, draining beer and wine from the bar, watched in disbelief while Cantor gave his concession speech.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/...ric-cantor-campaign-107815.html#ixzz34m5Jandy

Also, Thad Cochran was asked for his reaction to what happened in Virginia and he didn't know.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/...-what-happened-virginia-fox-107834.html?hp=l8
 
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