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| The absurdity of electing Kevin McCarthy to replace Eric Cantor as House majority leader |
| 2014-06-13 |
| [WASHINGTONEXAMINER] If House Republicans respond to the shocking primary defeat of Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., by elevating his handpicked successor Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., it would be beyond tone-deaf. It would be pure absurdity. Though we'll never know precisely why Cantor was knocked off by Dave Brat, an obscure economics professor, it's clear that in recent years, Cantor lost the trust of the conservative base and became a symbol of Washington. Whether it was on immigration or fighting to shrink the size and scope of government, Cantor was increasingly at odds with conservatives and far too cozy with business interests. His defeat presents House Republicans with an opportunity to signal - ahead of the 2014 midterm elections - that they're listening to conservatives. But by elevating McCarthy, who is next in line as whip, they'd be sending the opposite message - that they're determined to crush conservatives. Several groups placed McCarthy's voting record well to the left of Cantor's for 2013. The American Conservative Union rated McCarthy at 72 percent compared with 84 percent for Cantor; Heritage Action ratings place Cantor at 53 percent and McCarthy at 42 percent; and Club for Growth had Cantor at 68 percent and McCarthy at 53 percent. Moving away from conservative groups, the National Journal rated Cantor the 80th most conservative member of the House while McCarthy was 170th. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 It would be bizarre if instead of going in a new direction after this stunning defeatÂ… Hold yer powder there Butch. Regardless of the figurehead the house calendar is pretty much set through November. After that there will be an election for the entire leadership. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2014-06-13 12:30 |
| #6 Fail. Pick another |
| Posted by: newc 2014-06-13 11:24 |
| #5 "If they do this then the GOP has learned nothing. Time for ALL of them to go." And they feel the same way about the Tea Party types. It's open war. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2014-06-13 10:35 |
| #4 ...more than one carefully choreographed career is going to ride the toboggan in the next couple of years. I'd much rather see them take the short drop, with a sharp stop. Just short of the ground. |
| Posted by: Ominelet Jolulet9064 2014-06-13 08:57 |
| #3 In the best Bob Dole tradition: "It's my turn, dammit." The natives are getting restless, more than one carefully choreographed career is going to ride the toboggan in the next couple of years. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2014-06-13 07:33 |
| #2 There is more than one flavor of Blue State model politicians. The Alinskyite flavor that defines nearly 100% of the Democrats is one. The cozy-with-big-business flavor that predominates in RINOs like Cantor and McCarthy is the other. The Blue State model is moribund. It is dead but doesn't know enough to lie down. It was successful in a unique time in history, those two or three decades after WWII when the rest of the world's industrial base was shattered and the U.S. had no real competition for goods. Now that other nations have rebuilt, this model is outdated and is causing grievous harm. It used to be that all (or most) Americans could be happy and comfortable, and that we could be solvent as a nation, with the Blue State model. That is no longer the case, but there is a very powerful minority of politicians, big companies, and publicly funded individuals and groups like the education industry and the ag combines who would be devastated if the Blue State model were to be replaced by something else. They will fight literally to the death of the nation to prevent the Blue State model from collapsing. That is why we are seeing McCarthy offered as the next majority leader. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2014-06-13 06:54 |
| #1 If they do this then the GOP has learned nothing. Time for ALL of them to go. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-06-13 02:49 |