Jim Newell had a very sharp article on Cantor earlier today. It sounds like acts of love are out and building danged fences is in:
As a hobby, scanning the Drudge Report for signals of what rabbit hole the conservative brain has gone down at any given point has lost some of its novelty over the years. Still, it was hard not to notice this morning that Drudge, in the prime upper-left real estate of his site, had listed a full 14 links regarding immigration and a supposed impending push for “amnesty” among the House Republican leadership. (Personal favorite: “Kids Complaining Burritos They’re Being Fed Making Them Sick…”)
[….]“Eric Cantor doesn’t represent you and he doesn’t represent … the 7th District of Virginia,” Brat has been saying on the trail. “Eric Cantor represents large corporations who want a never-ending supply of cheap, low-wage foreign labor … Eric Cantor saying he opposes amnesty is like Barack Obama saying he opposes Obamacare.”
Whether or not this race was a fluke I can’t say. But it certainly should dispel any illusions anyone had about immigration reform getting done.
David Koch
Cantor’s defeat was a false flag operation to distract people from BENGHAZAI!
srv
They couldn’t save us from NAFTA, WTO, GATT, New World Order, CRA, Wall Street or the gays – but they can save us from the hordes of brown kids taking our welfare.
Just needs a little populist spin and some imagery and it will buff right out.
Morzer
It’s not so long ago that Cantor lost a key ally in Virginia – Linwood Cobb who was the GOP Chairman in the 7th district. Supposedly the new chair favored Brat from the getgo.
Mike in NC
No single issue today freaks out old white people more than immigration. Not the atheist Kenyan Muslim in the White House, not abortion, not gay marriage, not guns.
They’re convinced there are hordes of filthy brown people surging across the Rio Grande every day. The idea that the country will soon no longer be run exclusively by and for asshole elderly white people drives them insane.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
Drudge is blaming it on Taco Bell?
Alison
Yeah. Have fun courting that Hispanic vote in 2016, GOP.
Violet
If anyone wants to donate to Jack Trammell, the Democrat running for Cantor’s soon to be former seat in Congress, his website now redirects to his Act Blue page for donations: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/jacktrammell.
David Koch
I sent Scarbourgh the following email: “Hey Joe, how’s that Benghazi working out for ya?”
Morzer
@Alison:
I suspect their Hspanic vote in 2016 will be Susana Martinez and Marco Rubio. If Rubio can make his mind up on anything long enough to actually vote that is.
GregB
Drudge is running the very Naziesque line about diseased foreigners over-running America. The R’s are running fast and hard to a very dangerous place. Drudge is becoming Radio Hutu.
Punchy
Yo Dougy Fresh….Operation Hispy was DOA in the hizzy anyway. No chance a bunch of rich old wrinkles in jerry’d distys were gunna rankle their cracker suburbanites and fried raccoon-dining bubbas by allowing some fence jumpers a chance to move out of their Kenmore Estate and make at least minny ducats building roofs….
Suffern ACE
So what happens if we never change our immigration system again?
max
It sounds like acts of love are out and building danged fences is in:
They did NOT lose the 2012 Presidential election. Karl Rove said so, the polls were skewed… BENGHAZI!
max
[‘Holding pattern.’]
Alison
@Morzer: And that dude who changed his name to Cesar Chavez.
ranchandsyrup
Starting to get the chain emails about border patrol not watching the border and babysitting illegals in warehouses.
max
@GregB: Drudge is running the very Naziesque line about diseased foreigners over-running America. The R’s are running fast and hard to a very dangerous place. Drudge is becoming Radio Hutu.
‘Dang it, those people killin’ themselves in Walmart ought to light a fire under our sheeted asses…’
max
[‘Anybody you know, Cole?’]
David Koch
HA!
lamh36
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@lamh36: Exactly.
srv
Dave Brat on Hannity right now!
Doesn’t know if immigration and all that is right or left, he just wants Free Markets and Constitutional Issues!
Fannie & Freddie made 2/3rds of all the bad loans!
Close the border! Put our own house in order! Unfunded liabilities are 127 Trillion! No one on either side is dealing with it!
Health Care is all about smarter decisions! If you know the costs of having sniffles or getting cancer, you won’t get it!
Change course, fix problems!
You know, Hitler was a populist.
? Martin
@GregB: Let them go there. Demonizing latinos is obviously a winning election strategy for them.
lamh36
I think Booman’s take on this is spot on too.
My Thoughts on Cantor’s Upset Loss
by BooMan
mdblanche
@lamh36: Immigration reform has been pronounced dead so many times now I’m pretty sure that it’s the English translation of Francisco Franco.
Frankensteinbeck
@srv:
That whole list translates as ‘Fuck you, negros and wetbacks!’ I am horrified by just how much racism Obama’s election showed still exists in our country.
Kay
He was a go to member:
I didn’t even know flood insurance was on their radar, but of course it is.
MikeJ
Bwahahaha!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/chaos-erupts-at-cantor-election-night-headquarters-after-his-departure/2014/06/10/5710c56e-f106-11e3-bf76-447a5df6411f_story.html
The party of the everyday common man. Throw a glass of wine in the face of a protester.
lamh36
I’m not as much a Weigel fan as some here are, but he’s right about this I think…
From the article Weigel tweeted, this really does kinda sum up why Cantor’s defeat really is like David slaying Goliath…
Hunter Gathers
Is it too early to crown Ted Cruz as the nominee in 2016? Jeb! and Christie won’t be able to convincingly go hard right on immigration, Rand Paul doesn’t excite the evangelicals, Huckabee and Cain won’t want to give up their Wingnut Welfare, and I doubt anybody else could raise the $$$ needed to get past Super Tuesday. It’s Teddy’s to loose.
Kay
@MikeJ:
I think it’s so crazy that he didn’t know how unpopular he was in his own district. Polling is one thing, but doesn’t he have any sense at all on how things are going?
It’s one district, and if anyone should be familiar with it, it’s him. They might have a point on the “out of touch” charge.
David Koch
NY Times is really, really corrupt.
This is their headline: “Cantor’s Loss a Bad Omen for Moderates”
How was Cantor “moderate”?
max
@lamh36:
I believe the correct answer to that question is ‘Yes’.
max
[‘Francisco Franco is still dead.’]
Suffern ACE
@srv: so he’s David Brooks.
? Martin
@Kay: Flood insurance is a sticky one for them. The problem is that all of this climate change is depleting the insurance pool so they made adjustments to the risk map, and that’s causing rates, particularly across the south where between heavy summer rains, hurricanes, and general storm surges, their rates have skyrocketed. So constituents are pissed. Either they need to subsidize the program with taxpayer dollars (welfare) or convince northern and western states to have their constituents subsidize the folks in the south (which isn’t going to happen either).
? Martin
@David Koch: He wasn’t calling for a race war. I think that counts as moderate now.
Suffern ACE
@David Koch: well in the end he did vote against defaulting on the debt.
lamh36
How Eric Cantor Lost
Hill Dweller
Everyone can see the Republicans’ extremism, but the Village will still refuse to say it out loud.
Suffern ACE
@David Koch: also I really do find it silly that the “moderates” appear to be throwing in the towel after, what, two losses? Out of how many primaries? Yeah. They just have to surrender and move further to the right.
SRW1
The traitor Danton is dead. Long live citizen Robbespierre!
MikeJ
@lamh36:
If the teabagger manages to win the general his voting record will be indistinguishable from Cantor’s, so that quote is probably absolutely true.
David Koch
BWHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHH
Depressed, dejected faces of Fox News hosts announcing Cantor’s loss.
KG
@Hunter Gathers: I still think it’s going to be Huckabee. The Wingnut Welfare will still be there
JGabriel
Completely OT, but we’ve been talking about Cantor all night, and, for a change of pace, this cracked me up.
It seems Netflix has been telling their Verizon customers that the reasons for slowdowns and glitches is congestion on Verizon’s network. Verizon, being the evil cheap-ass customer-robbing bastards they are, decided that instead of fixing congestion on their network, it would be better to send Netflix a cease and desist letter:
Netflix’s response?
Heh. That one’s gotta burn.
Not entirely sure whether the comparison is more insulting to Verizon or Christie, though. I guess Christie and Verizon’s CEO can duke it out when they’re suffering together in the same circle of hell they’ll both inevitably be consigned to.
.
? Martin
@JGabriel:
The comparison is bound to get their response shared much more widely than it otherwise would have been. Well played, Netflix.
David Koch
Bring Back Mitt!
Bring Back Mitt!
Bring Back Mitt!
Suffern ACE
Way off topic, but I was watching some kind of “Hillary and her book suck” interview on the TV at work today and I was wondering if there has been a book written by a candidate for office that hasn’t been a memoir or platform. Save maybe “profiles in courage”, I couldn’t think of any. I know why the memoir has to be written, especially for candidates no one has heard about before. But there has to be something better out there.
James E. Powell
@lamh36:
The national Republican Party just lost their only remaining Jewish member because he wasn’t racist enough. I wonder what Jewish Republicans like Bill Kristol and David Frum think about that.
Kristol will say Cantor deserved it for his insufficient hostility expressed toward the Kenyan Usurper and all his works. Frum will wring his hands a bit, but end up blaming Obama.
jl
@Kay: That is what happens when you hang around low suspicious places like steakhouses, full of winebibbers.
MikeJ
@JGabriel: The difference being that Christie closed on ramps and Verizon has shitty network interconnections. Their speed from your house to Verizon’s routers may be fine, but if the traffic ever has to leave their network, they have skinny pipes. If Christie had left the ramps wide open and narrowed the middle of the bridge to half a lane it would be an appropriate analogy.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Kay: That amazes me. I do not believe for a moment Cantor did not know that he was in trouble.
Suffern ACE
@James E. Powell: if Obama weren’t causing problems, Cantor could have spent more time in his home district. Do you know how difficult it is to get to Richmond from DC?
max
@SRW1: The traitor Danton is dead. Long live citizen Robbespierre!
That was uh, more like 1998. And we already had Le Directoire et Le Consulat and we had le Premier Empire and now we’re on to this:
max
[‘Things move a little faster in the 21st century.’]
mdblanche
@GregB: There’s been something very ugly in the air for the last few years. It rises for a while, then falls back again, and then repeats. Right now it’s rising again. And the root source is the toxic bad faith on the right. They’re now denying the legitimacy of anyone not in their circle. The bad faith in governing is more than our constitutional system can safely handle; there is no precedent for it except the 1850’s. As recently as 2007-8 divided government was still minimally functional but now it’s continually a constitutional crisis waiting to happen. Their elderly skew is probably the only reason domestic terrorism hasn’t been more of a problem. I’m beginning to think the only way this resolves short of one party taking firm control of both Congress and the Presidency and keeping it for a while is a constitutional crisis that permanently makes one branch or the other superior and shorn of its traditional checks and balances. I think it could even happen before 2016. If the Republicans manage to take the Senate I’d be more surprised if it didn’t.
@Hill Dweller: The Village is a bunch of older, richer white folk. They are a part of the Republican establishment that won’t or can’t admit their loss of control.
jl
@Suffern ACE:
” silly that the “moderates” appear to be throwing in the towel after, what, two losses? Out of how many primaries? Yeah. They just have to surrender and move further to the right. ”
I’ve seen enough GOP profiles in courage to not be surprised. Also weak will power. They see that white ignorant and scared racist xenophobic political rump and cannot resist. It has been so easy to work. Enact policies that grind its face just enough in economic disappointment and frustration, blame whatever random thing that can be trumped as a threat. extract money and votes, and repeat. What else do they know how to do anymore?
They’ve worked the con so hard and so long that now the con works them.
Edit: Seriously, what else do they know how to do, in the public or private sector, in office or out? Nothing.
mdblanche
@lamh36:
I have no sympathy for Cantor, but when Booman puts it like that, it’s downright chilling.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@max: I did enjoy saying that out loud. I am not sure what effect it had.
jl
@Suffern ACE:
” if Obama weren’t causing problems, Cantor could have spent more time in his home district. Do you know how difficult it is to get to Richmond from DC? ”
Ten or so Northeast Regionals from DC to VA, about two and a half hours. Cantor should have Bidenated back and forth.
But Amtrack steak and wine sucks. And probably would have killed Cantor politically, coming into Main Street on a commie train from New York City! Even if it might have helped him stay in touch with the locals and improve constituent services.
max
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): I did enjoy saying that out loud. I am not sure what effect it had.
Heh. As far as Republicans and Danton go, Danton got beheaded, crucified, incinerated, and then they made a cake out of the ashes and ate it. Sometime in the early 90’s.
max
[‘They’re trying to out-Calhoun John C. Calhoun, when they aren’t trying to out-Napoleon Napoleon.’]
Chris
@SRW1:
A noteworthy thing about the Terror is that Robespierre himself ended up guillotined in the revolutionary version of Peak Wingnut.
@max:
The thing the teabaggers have always reminded me of in French history was La Fronde.
In between Louis XIII and Louis XIV, the state had to impose new taxes in order to pay for the previous king’s wars. The aristocracy had enough power to ensure that the new taxes didn’t fall on them, as a result of which most of the burden fell on the people. The result was a popular backlash against the monarchy, which the aristocracy backed all the way in an attempt to regain the privileges they’d lost under the previous king.
In effect the aristocracy created the crisis and then successfully directed popular anger at their enemies in the central government. Sound like anyone we know? Oh yeah, and “Kenyan usurper” nationalist rage played a role too, since the regent in charge of the throne while waiting for the new king to grow up was an Italian, Cardinal Mazarin.
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.
Chris
@lamh36:
I know a couple “establishment” Republicans (e.g. rich Northeasterners) who are horrified at the rise of the teabaggers and will lament how crazy they are and even, occasionally, how wrong they are on X or Y social issue.
Enough to break with the party? Of course not. They’re just waiting for a VSP knight in shining armor like McCain or Romney or Christie to save them. Because liberals are worse, and those social issues really aren’t that important.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The Orange Menace has an intresting take on this
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/11/1306055/-Cantor-s-End-A-Cooter-d-Etat
If true, this make this whole thing truly hilarious
SRW1
@Chris:
There is always hope that Peak Wingnut be as ravenous as le terreur..
SRW1
@max:
Wouldn’t that implie we are in full restauration mode?
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
So…the Glibertarian Teabagger is against a neverending supply of cheap labor and low wages? Is this because he thinks brown people should not be paid at all, or because he thinks wages should actually be higher? Neither of those explanations seems at all libertarian, though one seems distinctly antebellum.
Morzer
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I think they need to rethink that theory. Note that the largest and most populous areas happened to be the most liberal – but also, given their number of voters, to have a higher number of possible teabagger voters. In other words, Cantor maxed out his voters from a smaller core area – but Brat turned out enough voters from a wider area, even though that area skews liberal for the big game.
Redwood Rhiadra
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Slavery is completely compatible with libertarianism.
I’m not joking – it’s standard libertarian theory (Nozick, among many others) that all contracts are valid, including a contract selling yourself into permanent slavery.