. . . just goes to show, yet again, that money and clout don’t win elections.
Just a reminder for those who are still unaware.
Cantor’s Loss. . .
Opinions, art, debate
Opinions, art, debate
. . . just goes to show, yet again, that money and clout don’t win elections.
Just a reminder for those who are still unaware.
Clarissa's Blog 
I suppose that, in the final analysis, it’s better that rank bigotry won out over unfettered spending, because it shows that people’s opinions (no matter how odious) still actually matter.
LikeLike
I’m sure the Brat fellow is horrible but I just can’t be sad that Cantor has been kicked to the curb.
LikeLike
Doesn’t seem like bigotry won out, more just people being tired of what they see as the establishment GOP.
LikeLike
Money only affects policy outcomes, not electoral outcomes. You can get your candidate elected but what they’ll actually **do** depends entirely on who’s backing them financially. Just look at Obama and wall street. And Hillary Clinton, who’s making populist speeches against the 1%, while being funded by Goldman Sachs.
That california teachers tenure ruling that came out today.. guess which billionaire bankrolled that lawsuit?
LikeLike
“Doesn’t seem like bigotry won out, more just people being tired of what they see as the establishment GOP.”
Cantor had a American Conservative Union lifetime score of 96%. NOT CONSERVATIVE ENOUGH!
Tweet from a fox news anchor:
toddstarnes @toddstarnes 33m
Here’s the message from Virginia: You either stand with Americans or you stand with the invaders.
Lucky for the GOP that this country’s getting more caucasian. This’ll surely win them some more presidential elections.
On the flip side, can you imagine a progressive movement strong enough to primary pelosi/feinstein even though they’ve repeated voted against progressive interests?
LikeLike
Cantor may be highly ranked by an organization, but many see him as the establishment. I think that also what hurt him is the wrongly defining of “immigration reform” as “amnesty.” I think this is because many see the term “immigration reform” as being a redefining of the term “amnesty.” While many are all for immigration reform for illegal immigrants, they are not for amnesty.
The GOP’s basic principles I think are attractive to many. What hurts them is their ultra social conservatism, and thus being (often rightly) seen as anti-woman and anti-gay. Hispanics/Latinos are scared of them over the immigration issue, but I think GOP opposition to illegal immigration is purely about power politics as opposed to racism or anything. If the Hispanics were much more likely to vote Republican, the GOP I think would be welcoming the illegals to this country with open arms and it would the Democratic party strongly against illegal immigration.
But since the Hispanics are much more likely to vote Democratic party, the Democratic party is welcoming them in with open arms. The Democratic party claims that is just their openness and liberalism, but I would love to see how they would be regarding the illegals if the Hispanics were more likely to vote GOP. It’s about power for each party, raw numbers of votes.
LikeLike
“I think GOP opposition to illegal immigration is purely about power politics as opposed to racism or anything.”
Keep telling yourself that. I suppose the zeal with which the GOP pursues voter ID laws is out of a noble desire to protect the sanctity of adult franchise.
“The Democratic party claims that is just their openness and liberalism, but I would love to see how they would be regarding the illegals if the Hispanics were more likely to vote GOP. ”
You’re just wrong here. Hispanics voted massively for Bush in 2000 and 2004. I don’t recall the democratic party turning into foaming-at-the-mouth racists. That’s usually your party’s domain, whether in power or out of it.
Remember how McCain lost to Bush in the primaries because Rove spread rumors that McCain’s adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually a black child fathered out of wedlock? That was hilarious. Racism fuels your party, dude. Deal with it.
LikeLike
Voter ID laws are due to a perception that they prevent voter fraud. If the GOP was seeking to require people take a literacy test before voting, or get a special voter license, or something like that, then I’d agree.
Hispanics did not vote massively for Bush, they voted for him in large numbers for a minority, but he did not win the majority of the Hispanic vote at all. Hispanics are more inclined to vote Democratic party, but they are not as inclined as say blacks are (90%+ vote Democratic). If the Hispanics majority voted Republican in 2000 and 2004, I think we most definitely would have seen much more resistance on the part of the Democratic party regarding illegal immigration.
Rove did not spread that rumor nor did it cause McCain to lose the primary with Bush. Also, the GOP is not my party. I am more center-right, but do not agree with the GOP on some core issues such as LGBTQ issues and abortion.
LikeLike
No, it would only be racism if the GOP proposed to bring back slavery. Short of that, there is no racism. It’s all just conjecture and coincidence.
LikeLike
Douthat recently wrote that the mean, nasty progressives are not appreciating the GOP’s move to the Left because nothing short of complete capitulation will pacify them. Yesterday we saw how Cantor’s slip of the tongue when he used the word “amnesty” cost him the election.
Reasonable people are disappointed in the GOP and don’t bother to vote. So the screaming maniacs remain. There is a similar process in effect with the Dems, only there is no fringe of die-hard believers. Unfortunately.
LikeLike
At first, I thought you were serious about the country getting more Caucasian and got scared for you. I need to go rest.
LikeLike
You said it yourself: 96% why take that when you can get 100%?
LikeLike
It’s a good news for the Mediocrats.
LikeLike
I changed my registration from Democrat to Green several years ago because I was tired of having a right wing party (Democratic) and a far right wing fringe party (Republican) to choose between. It will take a while, but I think the Green Party will become more powerful. It may not happen in my lifetime, but I predict that by, say, 2075, this will be the case.
LikeLike
When (if) I decide to get the US citizenship, I will vote Green, too. So I’m with you. Both mainstream parties have disappointed me beyond repair.
LikeLike
According to Virginia’s “sore-loser” law, Cantor can’t run against Brat as an independent in the general election, though he might be allowed to mount a write-in bid.
The game’s pretty rigged in favor of a two party system.
LikeLike
David Brat, the fellow who beat Cantor, is an economist did his doctoral dissertation entitled “Human Capital, Religion And Economic Growth” at American University on a comparison between European Protestant and Catholic countries’ economic growth. One of his comments, “Give me a country in 1600 that had a Protestant led contest for religious and political power and I will show you a country that is rich today” and another “Protestantism provided a world-view which connected the ordinary citizen to both the interpretation of science and to their place within the State. In this sense, science was placed in a less-threatening, less-volatile context, and in this sense Protestantism played a part in the advancement of science.”
You can read his complete thesis using this link:
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/06/11/david-brats-phd-thesis-human-capital-religion-economic-growth/
Comments? By the way, he is an Ayn Rand fan.
LikeLike
“Protestantism provided a world-view which connected the ordinary citizen to both the interpretation of science and to their place within the State. In this sense, science was placed in a less-threatening, less-volatile context, and in this sense Protestantism played a part in the advancement of science.”
– This is a commonplace. Must have been one of those dissertations when a student simply retells what he read somewhere in a clumsy way. There are mountains written on the results of rejecting Martin Luther’s Revolution for the Catholic countries of Europe. The conclusion is always that it was a horrible mistake.
LikeLike