General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCantor's loss is not a bellweather for national elections nor for a lot of other areas.
The Tea Party has been up to this shite since they formed. If they don't like an incumbent, they find one of their own to run in a primary. Since they are loons, these candidates are usually living on the RW edge of the Earth where they can watch for dragons.
In some areas, McConnell in KY and Graham in SC, the Tea Party crashed completely. There are other places where they still hold sway and were aided and abetted by the mainstream GOP in coming to power. The gerrymandering that went on for House seats in some cases set up some seats that could be tossed.
Cantor's district was one of these. You set up a localized area such as a House District with a dedicated concentration of Loons and you are asking for trouble especially in midterms. Midterms historically have low turnout. This is the perfect situation for a smaller group that can and will mobilize its members to affect the vote. They are impervious to money and ads.
This was a perfect storm and few can see all of the trends coming together to form such an historic event until it's too late. There are so many ifs that have to come together and some aren't apparent until near the formation.
The Tea Party isn't dead but it hasn't it made some miraculous comeback that will once again catapult them into national players unless those on the state level ignore them in Presidential primaries. That is another setup ripe for upset if the warning isn't 't heeded.
If it had not been Cantor, this would gave been a surprising blip. The Tea Party could care less if he was Majority Leader or Ayn Rand herself.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)Are_grits_groceries
(17,111 posts)There aren't enough brains left in the defeated bunch to fill a thimble.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)In their zeal to protect a powerful House member, Virginia Republicans may have engineered a district that made Cantor vulnerable from the whackaloon right. Oopsie. Raw vote numbers may be instructive here.
It doesn't mean I'm not relishing this smarmy little pischer's defeat. But it might also depress Republican enthusiasm. I think it may put a "safe" House seat in play.
tularetom
(23,664 posts)What this loss told them is that there is an all powerful wave of tea party resentment against "moderate" republicans like Cantor, and that the republican party needs to become more vocal in opposition to Obama policies or it will find itself in deep trouble.
Not one of them gave even a word to what you've pointed out here, or the fact that Cantor allowed his ambition to be a national player to override his responsibilities to his constituents, or that it was an open primary and Democrats could cross party lines just to defeat Cantor, or that Cantor himself is a jerk that nobody particularly likes.
Amazing how people who never get out of Washington can know so "much" about what goes on out in the rest of the country.