For the first time since 1899, a House Majority Leader lost his re-election bid. And this after Eric Cantor outspent his Tea Party primary opponent by more than 20-1, and his internal polling had him leading by 34 points.

woops

Two lessons here.

One, never trust "internal polls" - they tell you what you want to hear.

Two, money is overrated in political campaigns.

Cantor was a douchebag. He won't be missed.

This is a great win for the American people. I hope this is the beginning of a new trend. Out with the crony capitalists who make up the bulk of Democrats and Republicans in Washington!

I used to live in his district. Never thought this was going to happen.

This virtually hands the seat to the Democrats if they're running anybody with half a brain.

(June 11, 2014 at 11:41 am)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: This is a great win for the American people. I hope this is the beginning of a new trend. Out with the crony capitalists who make up the bulk of Democrats and Republicans in Washington!

Um...you do understand that the guy who won is even a bigger shithead than Cantor, right?

(June 11, 2014 at 11:41 am)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: This is a great win for the American people. I hope this is the beginning of a new trend. Out with the crony capitalists who make up the bulk of Democrats and Republicans in Washington!

It would only be a win if the man who beat Cantor, improbably named Brat, go on to donate the seat to a democrat.

Politics is not whining about what ought to be, it is about achieving the possible.

A Democtratic victory will be tough. I think it was the Washington Post that reported the district has been gerrymandered into a Republican stronghold. His opponent teaches at the same school.

Chuck Todd was asking him policy questions this morning. When asked about minimum wage he tried simply stating that he was a free market guy.

Quote:But when Mr. Todd asked pointedly whether that meant he opposed a minimum wage, he hesitated. “Um, um, um, I don’t have a well-crafted response on that one.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/12/us/pol....html?_r=0

What the fuck kind of response is this from someone that has a Ph.D in Economics? Not even an informed opinion. This should have been in his wheelhouse.

I also checked out his campaign website. Typical tea party shit: hates hungry neighbors and abortion, loves God and pictures of Ronald Reagan. I did fing this interesting though,

Quote:Dave Brat believes that no person, business, or industry should receive special treatment, and he rejects the notion that just because something is “big” the government has to prop it up at the expense of the tax payer.

http://davebratforcongress.com/protecting-values/
This screams for the revocation of religious tax exempt status. How fast do you think Brat would start backpedling if someone brought it up as an example of special treatment?

Here's a link to his faculty webpage. He has pictures of Adam Smith, Hayak, Keynes, and John Calvin. One of these kids is not like the other. I find Calvin's inclusion a little disturbing.
http://faculty.rmc.edu/dbrat/

Reid Epstein at the WSJ had an interesting observation:

Quote:There are clues to Mr. Brat’s ideology in his academic CV. His current book project is titled “Ethics as Leading Economic Indicator? What went Wrong? Notes on the Judeo-Christian Tradition and Human Reason.”

His other published works include the titles “God and Advanced Mammon – Can Theological Types Handle Usury and Capitalism?” and “An Analysis of the Moral Foundations in Ayn Rand.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/06/10...ic-cantor/

David Brat is bad news.

(June 11, 2014 at 11:41 am)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: This is a great win for the American people. I hope this is the beginning of a new trend. Out with the crony capitalists who make up the bulk of Democrats and Republicans in Washington!

Don't celebrate too early. This was only a local upset in Cantor's district. Voters in that district are pretty conservative and they obviously didn't believe Cantor was conservative enough for them, especially where granting amnesty to illegal immigrants are concerned.
The fact that other Republican incumbents won their pimaries shows that this isn't a national trend, otherwise democratic incumbents would have to worry as well, at least not until the mid-terms.

(June 11, 2014 at 2:13 pm)A Theist Wrote:

(June 11, 2014 at 11:41 am)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: This is a great win for the American people. I hope this is the beginning of a new trend. Out with the crony capitalists who make up the bulk of Democrats and Republicans in Washington!

Don't celebrate too early. This was only a local upset in Cantor's district. Voters in that district are pretty conservative and they obviously didn't believe Cantor was conservative enough for them, especially where granting amnesty to illegal immigrants are concerned.
The fact that other Republican incumbents won their pimaries shows that this isn't a national trend, otherwise democratic incumbents would have to worry as well, at least not until the mid-terms.

Got some news for ya: Virginia doesn't require you to register a party affiliation, and Democrats can vote in Republican primaries. And Democrats love helping unelectable Tea Party lunatics defeat established Republicans. It has a habit of opening up otherwise unassailable territory.

(June 11, 2014 at 11:56 am)Minimalist Wrote:

(June 11, 2014 at 11:41 am)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: This is a great win for the American people. I hope this is the beginning of a new trend. Out with the crony capitalists who make up the bulk of Democrats and Republicans in Washington!

Um...you do understand that the guy who won is even a bigger shithead than Cantor, right?

Highly doubtful... I admittedly don't know a lot about him but unlike Cantor, he believes the bankers (Cantor's pals) involved in the collapse of Wall Street should have been thrown in jail, he's against K Street and the corporate lobbyists, believes in ending the bulk surveillance programs conducted by the NSA under Obama, and he's criticized the Right for heralding individual liberty while restricting abortion, homosexuality & gambling. I'm down with all that. D.C. needs more politicians who think that way. And the caricature of him being a right-wing extremist who rode to victory on the Tea Party is simply that, a caricature. Much of his rhetoric appeals to those of us who consider ourselves on the liberterian Left as well.