2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumEric Cantor's Shocking, Richly Deserved Primary Defeat - By Jonathan Chait
Since Republicans won control of the House in the 2010 elections, the political future of Eric Cantor has been the subject of ceaseless speculation. The speculation always centered around whether or, really, when Cantor would depose Speaker John Boehner. The notion that Cantor himself would be knifed before he could knife Boehner occurred to absolutely nobody. Shockingly, it happened, as an obscure right-wing challenger named David Brat not only defeated Cantor in a primary but defeated him by double-digits.
The shock contained by Cantors defeat is almost impossible to fully convey. Brat teaches economics at Randolph-Macon college, and won a $500,000 fellowship funded by libertarian banking millionaire John Allison to spread the word of Ayn Rand to impressionable college students. But there are so many millions of dollars sloshing around the conservative world that such an achievement hardly indicates fame or influence. Brats c.v. conveys his standing as an anonymous cog within the movement, containing such highlights as Attend U.S. Senator Ayotte talk at American Enterprise Institute, met President of AEI, Arthur Brook. (The President of the American Enterprise Institute is actually named Arthur Brooks.)
Brat was outraised by Cantor twenty-five to one. Cantors internal polling had him leading the race by 34 points. Brat scheduled a meet-and-greet session with Beltway conservative leaders like Grover Norquist and Paul Weyrich the kinds of movement hands an insurgent absolutely needs to woo to gain any oxygen for his quixotic campaign but stood them up because it turned out to fall on finals week. The Washington Post story previewing the race this morning began:
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http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/06/eric-cantors-shocking-richly-deserved-defeat.html
ChairmanAgnostic
(28,017 posts)Yes, it might be a temporary victory. Yes, Brat might be worse. Still, of all of the assholes in the House, by far Cantor was the one I would have chosen to push out. Even Boehner is an ocean of reason compared to Cantor.
T2-
(9 posts)I couldn't agree more ChairmanAgnostic.
Zambero
(8,964 posts)How Mitch McConnell, perceived by so many of his partisans as a worthless establishment tool, managed to handily defeat his Tea Party challenger while Cantor went down by a wide margin. Yes McConnell had a significant funding advantage over his primary opponent but so did Cantor. Does it all come down to the immigration reform issue, where Cantor was seen as "caving" and McConnell "holding firm"?
ChairmanAgnostic
(28,017 posts)At least, not alone.
He ignored his district. He had "airs" of being a national power, rather than a local congressman. He went apeshit on certain bills and issues, and caused great damage to the country. He much preferred Israel over the US and pushed for our little Iranian invasion. Sure, there were cross over votes, and sure, there was immigration, and yes, his district was redrawn to add even more conservative assholes, but his problems were huge. And largely of his own making.
T2-
(9 posts)You gotta laugh.
Either Cantor is not Bat Shit Crazy enough for his primary voting base or the open primary can be used to play hell with Gerrymandering..