Cantor To Quit Leadership After Tea Party Drubbing

by JASmius

I guess Mr. Gibbs can breathe a little easier:

Anticipating a swift shake-up in their leadership, House Republicans jockeyed for position on Wednesday after Majority Leader Eric Cantor's stunning primary defeat to an underfunded and unknown political newcomer.

On the morning after his loss to David Brat, an economics professor supported by the tea party, there was quiet pressure on Cantor to step down from his post as the Republicans' second-ranking leader. He gave no public signal that he was considering doing so, although a meeting of the rank and file was set for late afternoon.

But the New York Times reported early Wednesday afternoon that Cantor will resign his leadership position effective July 31st, according to leadership aides.

That doesn't sound like Eric Cantor is planning to go out in a blaze of spiteful glory.  But then again, it's not like it was entirely up to him anyway.  And you can bet your bottom dollar doughnut that with the abject viscerality of this primary result not likely to fade anytime soon, the House Republican leadership is going to have neither the stroke nor the brass to doom their majority status by going to the lengths to which they'd have to go (all Democrats plus however many RINOs they could coerce and extort, if any) to ram amnesty into law.  I just can't see John Boehner going out that way.  More likely, this is his vicarious "come to Jesus" moment.

Some Democrats appear to have arrived at the same conclusion:

Many Republicans say the party can ill afford to stick to an uncompromising stand on the issue, given the increasing political influence of Hispanic voters.

And a Democrat, Representative Xavier Becerra of California-34, put it even more bluntly.

"For Republicans in the House, my sense is they are now squeezed between doing things the tea party way or doing things the American way," he said in an appearance Wednesday morning on MSNBC[CCP].

Because "the American way" has nothing to do with the United States Constitution and the rule of law, you see.

How it must be frosting Donks like Becerra that the GOP grassroots are refusing to allow their elected leaders to commit national and political suicide and hand permanent one-party rule to his party (to the degree it hasn't been already).

Some RINOs are reacting much like their "Democrat friends":

Appearing on the same network, Representative Peter King, a New York Republican, said he was worried that the message from Cantor's stunning loss may be even more congressional gridlock. Asked if he thought immigration legislation was dead, King replied, "I'm concerned that Ted Cruz supporters, Rand Paul supporters, are going to use this as an excuse" to shut down the government.

"This is not conservatism to me," King said. "Shutting down the government is not being conservative."

What's wrong with "gridlock," Pete?  Generally speaking, the Founders built frequent "gridlock" into the United States Constitution - "checks and balances," "separation of powers," and the like.  It's supposed to work that way.  Because the things that those inside the Beltway "want to get done" are often things that should not be done, because they're bad ideas, illegal, unconstitutional, and many times all three.

Why King pans another government shutdown nobody has suggested and which would be highly unlikely in an election year in any case I can only attribute to that polling better than flacking for amnesty, especially in light of what happened to Eric Cantor last night.  Or, put another way, it was the only half-way safe means of bashing TPers without jeopardizing his own seat.

Seeing as each quote is growing more comical, we might as well cut to the punchline:

"Eric Cantor has long been the face of House Republicans' extreme policies, debilitating dysfunction and manufactured crises. Tonight, is a major victory for the tea party as they yet again pull the Republican Party further to the radical right," said the [Minority] leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California-8. "As far as the midterm elections are concerned, it's a whole new ballgame."

So Eric Cantor is the radical, extreme, reasonable, pragmatic Republican who is the face of House Republican extremism and just wants to get liberal things done.  Thanks for clearing that up for us, Nance.

As far as the midterm elections are concerned, she's right; just not in the way she sincerely and delusionally believes.

For now, at least.