Eric Cantor loses primary

[SezMe]

I just read that Democrats aren't even fielding a candidate in this district?

So we will basically have a Tea Party guy running unopposed?

Write-in candidate? Dems would be fools to fold like a cheap suit on this one.

 

[Puppycow]

Write-in candidate? Dems would be fools to fold like a cheap suit on this one.

Like you said, it's a highly red district.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia's_7th_congressional_district

Romney carried it 57-42 in 2012 even though Obama won the state. A write-in candidate is already at a disadvantage to begin with because his/her name isn't on the ballot.

 

[Malcolm Kirkpatrick]

I just read that Democrats aren't even fielding a candidate in this district?

So we will basically have a Tea Party guy running unopposed?

Wrong contest (not Senate, House). David Brat has a Dem general election opponent, Jack Trammell. An Econ professor versus a Sociology/Education professor.

 

[stevea]

So Eric Freaking Cantor is now too moderate for the crazy that has enveloped the GOP.

Your definition of "moderate" seems to mean willing to accede to diametrically opposing positions without opposition. This case is more similar to the way Dems cast Lieberman overboard. Cantor like Boehner, Christy, McCain ... are pro-war, big-spending big-gov Reps who regularly ignore and insult a large fraction of the party base - TPers and libertarian leaners. The Rep party will never win until they get rid of these exclusionary small-tent type in leaders and start addressing the main issues; size of government, limits to federal powers, following the rule of law and the mechanisms of our constitution.

I expect the old-guard will not give up power easily so there is a not microscopic chance that we will see a new party form of previous Rep-leaners and moderate Dems who aren't part of the progressive faction.

Your implication that people who oppose with your positions are not-moderate or extremists and crazy is just more ad hominem fallacy mud slinging from a faction that is entirely devoid of substantive arguments in recent years, and prefers to shout-down and insult anyone with any opposing position.

Try addressing the real issues and stop your name-calling.

I'm moving to New Zealand.

Need any help booking that trip ?

 

[jj]

Try addressing the real issues and stop your name-calling.

Name-calling? Extremist, racist, economically ignorant Tea Party politicians who have no understanding of the actual laws involved, have no understanding of the controls on an economy, and have no cares about letting people starve and die from the policies and salaries provided by their financial backers are what's left of the GOP.

Libertarianism is a complete, total, economic trainwreck. That's been proven here and in Europe, over and over. Austerity is a miserable, hopeless, failure, based on a pathetic programming error. The programming error has been demonstrated and shown, but the people who wrote the paper refuse to retract their quackery.

That's what the GOP has gotten, something that has empirically been shown to be a hopeless trainwreck, coupled with voodoo economics that came about from a programming error.

That's all they've got.

 

[Unabogie]

Your definition of "moderate" seems to mean willing to accede to diametrically opposing positions without opposition. This case is more similar to the way Dems cast Lieberman overboard. Cantor like Boehner, Christy, McCain ... are pro-war, big-spending big-gov Reps who regularly ignore and insult a large fraction of the party base - TPers and libertarian leaners. The Rep party will never win until they get rid of these exclusionary small-tent type in leaders and start addressing the main issues; size of government, limits to federal powers, following the rule of law and the mechanisms of our constitution.

I expect the old-guard will not give up power easily so there is a not microscopic chance that we will see a new party form of previous Rep-leaners and moderate Dems who aren't part of the progressive faction.

Your implication that people who oppose with your positions are not-moderate or extremists and crazy is just more ad hominem fallacy mud slinging from a faction that is entirely devoid of substantive arguments in recent years, and prefers to shout-down and insult anyone with any opposing position.

Try addressing the real issues and stop your name-calling.




Need any help booking that trip ?

Joe Lieberman endorsed the GOP candidate for president! That exactly mirrors Eric Cantor, said no one, ever.

 

[Malcolm Kirkpatrick]

Name-calling?

I expect. There's a lot of that going around.

Extremist¹, racist², economically ignorant³ Tea Party politicians ...

1. Cantor got an 80% rating from the American Conservative Union and a 5% rating from the Americans for Democratic Action. On what issue other than immigration do you imagine Bratt was more "extreme"?
2. "Racist". Got any evidence?
3. Bratt is an Econ PhD and teaches Economics.

Libertarianism is a complete, total, economic trainwreck. That's been proven here and in Europe, over and over.

Where has libertarianism been tried in Europe?

 

[MikeG]

.......Austerity is a miserable, hopeless, failure, based on a pathetic programming error.........

Really? Seems to have worked rather well here in the UK.

 

[jj]

I expect. There's a lot of that going around.1. Cantor got an 80% rating from the American Conservative Union and a 5% rating from the Americans for Democratic Action. On what issue other than immigration do you imagine Bratt was more "extreme"?
2. "Racist". Got any evidence?
3. Bratt is an Econ PhD and teaches Economics.Where has libertarianism been tried in Europe?

My goodness.

The fact that Cantor got a high rating from a fascist organization proves my point.
Racist? Seriously? (not talking about Cantor now) I guess you missed all the bits about welfare moms and such, and deadbeats on food stamps?
Yes, Bratt is an Economics professor. Economics is not a hard science. Control systems is a hard science. One has mathematics behind it, the other has questionable assumptions coupled with elementary, incomplete mathematics. Care to guess which I think is which?

As to libertarianism, nice slip sideways there, now let's ask "where has austerity been tried in Europe"? Oopsie. The two are two peas in a pod, justifying brutal, deflationary, oligarchic policies for different reasons. If that's not enough for you, we're back to semantic retreats like those in 'general welfare'. I will agree I led my point with the statement about Europe, though, sorry about that.

 

[jj]

Really? Seems to have worked rather well here in the UK.

So, the total mess in the railroads, the outright fraud against the citizens from the company supposed to certify people with disabilities, etc, the concentration of wealth in the south, that's all "worked well"? Well, I guess it worked well if you are one of the 5% who benefited from the destruction of the workforce.

 

[Malcolm Kirkpatrick]

The fact that Cantor got a high rating from a fascist organization proves my point.

"Fascist"?
Did someone say something about name-calling?
What point does Bratt's win prove? The Tea Party candidate beat Cantor. Why not suppose that the moderate Tea Partier beat the Establishment extremist? Looks to me like Virginia voters either took the Democratic position on immigration (c. 1950) as opposed to Cantor's Chamber of Commerce/Wall Street Journal position, or they agree with anti-establishment types on the other side who see insiders using the power of the State to impoverish the middle class and subsidize bankers and favored supporters (UAW, NEA).

 

[SezMe]

1. Cantor got an 80% rating from the American Conservative Union and a 5% rating from the Americans for Democratic Action. On what issue other than immigration do you imagine Bratt was more "extreme"?

From Brat's candidate web site:

That faith in God, as recognized by our Founding Fathers is essential to the moral fiber of the Nation.

He's a religious nut. Cantor is not.

 

[Puppycow]

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2014/06/eric-cantor-loses-to-david-brat.html

Brat, who teaches at Randolph-Macon College, in Ashland, Virginia, wasn’t the sort to be put off. According to the Wall Street Journal, his works include “God and Advanced Mammon: Can Theological Types Handle Usury and Capitalism?” and “An Analysis of the Moral Foundations in Ayn Rand.” He entered the race at the start of this year, and was determined to make an issue of Cantor’s ties to the Party’s Washington-based establishment. Writing for the Daily Caller, a conservative news site, in February, Brat said:

Congressman Cantor’s profile has been erratic even by Washington standards — flitting from eager establishmentarian coat-holder to self-glorified “Young Gun” and back again. His loyalties, both upward and downward, have shifted in his eager embrace of the Ruling Class. Washington’s only genuine article of faith: maintaining control regardless of how that control affects the life of the folks back home.​

Brat fastened onto what was perceived by elements of the G.O.P.’s grass roots to be Cantor’s willingness to compromise on immigration reform and offer some form of amnesty to immigrants who had entered the country illegally. (In Washington, the House Majority Leader was sometimes portrayed as a barrier to such a reform.) This issue galvanized Brat’s campaign, and brought him to the attention of conservative media figures such as Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin, who both expressed support for him. Just this past weekend, Ingraham appeared alongside Brat at a political rally in Virginia, and jokingly suggested that President Obama should have traded Cantor, not five Taliban leaders, for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Brat, meanwhile, kept hacking away on the immigration issue, saying, “A vote for Eric Cantor is a vote for open borders. A vote for Eric Cantor is a vote for amnesty.”

Interesting titles to his papers. It'll be interesting to look into them and see what's in there. I'm guessing they contain some potential ammunition for opponents.

 

[Malcolm Kirkpatrick]

From Brat's candidate web site:

That faith in God, as recognized by our Founding Fathers is essential to the moral fiber of the Nation.

He's a religious nut. Cantor is not.

Belief in God makes someone "extreme"? I suspect a majority of Americans disagrees.

 

[geni]

Really? Seems to have worked rather well here in the UK.

Not really. An extra year or so of the economy bumping along with zero percent growth is petty solid evidence that it was a mistake.

 

[Foolmewunz]

Seems to be rather a fundie. Hope College in Holland MI, then a masters in divinity before getting his PhD in Economics. Heavy on Teh Big Guy.

That district looks like a GOP lock and I'm sure he can be counted on to watch his mouth better than Rape Guy 1 and Rape Guy 2, but if he can steal the district nomination from an unsuspecting Cantor, then the Dems can throw a trump and do a double-reverse steal.... maybe. This requires a lackadaisical GOP money team and a couple of visits from the Palin whackjob (who's shown an ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory lately) and the Big Blue Unknown.... How long are Mark Warner's coattails going to be this time around. He's the favorite son in the state and carried that district BIG in his first election.

 

[Puppycow]

Wrong contest (not Senate, House). David Brat has a Dem general election opponent, Jack Trammell. An Econ professor versus a Sociology/Education professor.

I see. It seems he was just nominated by the party as a sacrificial lamb:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2014/06/eric-cantor-loses-to-david-brat.html

On the Democratic side, the big beneficiary is Brat’s opponent in November, Jack Trammell, who until now was widely regarded to have no chance. In fact, another victory for Cantor was considered such a foregone conclusion that no Democrats entered the primary this year. To insure that there would be a Democrat on the ballot, a party committee just this Monday selected Trammell, who is also a professor at Randolph-Macon College. (He’s a sociologist who has written a book on the Richmond slave trade.)

Same college too. They're colleagues! That's a bit ironic.

Trammel hasn't been tested on the campaign trail yet. He was basically handed the nomination because no-one else wanted it. Not exactly a hopeful sign.

Meet Jack Trammell, the Democrat who will face David Brat, the man who beat Eric Cantor

 

[Malcolm Kirkpatrick]

I see. It seems he was just nominated by the party as a sacrificial lamb.

That was when people expected Cantor. Now it's interesting.

 

[stevea]

Name-calling? Extremist, racist, economically ignorant Tea Party politicians who have no understanding of the actual laws involved, have no understanding of the controls on an economy, and have no cares about letting people starve and die from the policies and salaries provided by their financial backers are what's left of the GOP.

Thanks for the excellent example of name calling, ad-hom fallacies and over generalizations. Are you claiming that you can't find many examples of Dems that are racists, extremist, economically ignorant, legally ignorant ? Nice touch with your "don't care" imputation of motive w/o evidence. Neo-McCarthism is alive and well.

Libertarianism is a complete, total, economic trainwreck. That's been proven here and in Europe, over and over.

Proven - Really ? To the best of my knowledge there has never been an explicitly Libertarian lead government in the West ever, tho the early US and perhaps French Republic have a claim. Maybe you mean Chile which went from worst to first in S.America under Chicago School economic regime ? Where exactly - be specific and give examples - were Libertarian economics or public policy even enacted to produce a "trainwreck". Your flamboyant claims, devoid of evidence, seems a trainwreck.

Austerity is a miserable, hopeless, failure, based on a pathetic programming error. The programming error has been demonstrated and shown, but the people who wrote the paper refuse to retract their quackery.

I'm not arguing for austerity, tho' certainly some TPers are. But it is well known the public sector spending has a lower multiplier and does not result in comparable economic growth as private sector spending encouraged my policies like lower taxes and lesser regulation. Go look up the Christina Romer's research.

That's what the GOP has gotten, something that has empirically been shown to be a hopeless trainwreck, coupled with voodoo economics that came about from a programming error.

That's all they've got.

Programming error refers to software not econ. You'll have to do better than that to make a cogent economic argument. Less handwaving and slander - more evidence please.

I'm not in favor of any particular Rep policy either, but it's foolish to assume that less government spending automatically means no economic stimulation.

 

[stevea]

Not really. An extra year or so of the economy bumping along with zero percent growth is petty solid evidence that it was a mistake.

As compared to the US going dangerously into debt and still dragging badly on grown and jobs ?

Any jackass monetarist can create GDP by printing money to pay ppl to dig ditches and fill them in. Creating value is quite different.