Tahuti
Writing Deity
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2005
- Messages
- 9,492
Eric Cantor goes down
- Thread starter downtown
- Start date
^So a 'tea party professor' (sic) is less of a uni professor than non-tea party uni professors?
Not sure how being a university professor relies on political factors, but afaik it is supposedly not backed by membership in political groups, and if it was then surely the nepotism would favor members of the demo or repu mainstreams
The typical Tea Party voter thinks universities are bastions of liberal brainwashing and does not think highly of professors, so it is kind of funny they couldn't find a real American (aka small businessman) to knock off Cantor, but instead relied on an academic.
Wrymouth3
Emperor
When I was in college and was still going home to North Myrtle Beach, I do distinctly remember this guy delivering a lecture at the major convention center down there (in October or November if I recall correctly). My friend who is an economics major at Coastal Carolina University attended that lecture/conference by Brat. From what I understand, the lecture was extremely bizzare, he went on a bizzare rant about the "moral obligations of the United States as outlined in Anthem and The Bible." As horrible of a person as Ayn Rand was, I don't think you can recoincile her athiesm with religious talks. The guy then yelled about how young people have lost their ways with "social media and reading too much literature" (Whatever that means).
Once you have read Rand at age 14, you should stop reading.
Tahuti
Writing Deity
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2005
- Messages
- 9,492
Paul Kruger never read a book besides the Bible. Ron Paul never read a book besides Atlas Shrugged.
I wouldn't read too much into this. If Cantor goes write-in, it wouldn't shock me if he could win.
Assuming the poster a few posts above is correct, the Dems also missed this one as they have no viable candidate waiting.
Assuming the poster a few posts above is correct, the Dems also missed this one as they have no viable candidate waiting.
He can run as a write-in under sore loser, though I do not see how he will win. The Dems best chance is that the Tea Party guy starts yammering about legitimate rape or something else as boneheaded, though that might not be as fatal in a gerrymandered district as it has proven to be in statewide elections.
Cheetah
Deity
The sport of Gerrymandering, eternally popular among American politicians, has come back to bite them in the behind. It doesn't help that engaged voters, now completely isolated from opposition, are informed by a mass media which has no interest in informing, but only panders to their demographics in the hope of being more popular and making more money.
The Republican representatives have no choice but to move further to the right and be even less sensible, lest they lose their seat to someone even worse. The new guy in turn, can't ever back down on anything, as that would get him replaced by someone worse. So downhill it goes...
I.e.: If you guys can't get a) your mass media from spewing nonsense and hate, or b) fix your gerrymandered-to-hell districts, you're only going to dig yourselves further and further into a huge problem that will be painful to get out of.
Yeah, that's my thinking, especially since the other guy doesn't really have a campaign going.
I doubt it. This dude has some connections to a few wealthy libertarian types, but I'd be shocked if somebody was secretly funneling him money. There were a bunch of other primaries around the country against more vulnerable top Republicans that they would have invested in instead.
Death, no way. Will guys who are in really conservative districts probably worry even more about this happening though? Sure. These upsets don't happen very often, but the mere threat of them can keep anybody honest. Democrats aren't as good at doing this.
I think he already said he's ruling that out?
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
Gerrymandering happens in other western nations too, but it's only a problem in the U.S., as far as I know.
I'm no expert, but it seems like everyone else has very strict laws and independent councils set up to redraw borders, while in the U.S. anything goes. My guess is that it's going to continue this way until it negatively impacts both parties.. which doesn't seem likely.
cybrxkhan
Asian Xwedodah
The way I put it to a friend: "What a twist!"
I dunno what's going to happen, but I say, with a bit of sad cynicism, that I can't wait for the next episode of politics. I'm hoping maybe the republicans somehow end up so far right that they end up catapulting back towards the center (well, American center) in a sort of rubber band effect.
I dunno what's going to happen, but I say, with a bit of sad cynicism, that I can't wait for the next episode of politics. I'm hoping maybe the republicans somehow end up so far right that they end up catapulting back towards the center (well, American center) in a sort of rubber band effect.
sophie
Break My Heart
California finally implemented a bipartisan council in 2008. The matter is up for recall in elections this November though.
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
Is bipartisan the same as independent?
People keep telling me that it's impossible to set up politically independent councils in the U.S... but i mean.. It's not possible here either, but we do with what we can. And it seems to work.
BenitoChavez
What business is it of yours?
Bipartisan = consists of two parties.
Independent = doesn't identify with either party
Independent = doesn't identify with either party
sophie
Break My Heart
In a two-party system, bipartisan effectively means independent. It's not really feasible to have an "independent" system in the US. The Supreme Court is theoretically also supposed to be independent and nonpartisan. Look how that's turned out.
Here's how the system works, so far it's been quite successful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Citizens_Redistricting_Commission
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
k so now what needs to happen is that law being passed federally, so that every state has to abide.
Right?
Right?
I would agree. A great model for the rest of the US.
Everybody Hates Eric Cantor: A Roundup
By Jonathan Chait
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/06/everybody-hates-eric-cantor-a-roundup.html?mid=google
By Jonathan Chait
A fact that keeps popping up in stories about the shocking defeat of Eric Cantor is that, apparently, everybody hated him. Everybody. “Cantor was never well liked,” reports Jon Ward, “especially by conservatives, who considered him a fraud.” It’s certainly true that conservatives detested Cantor, and not just those who clashed with him professionally. Erick Erickson reports that the loathing extended well into Cantor’s professional network:
One conservative recently told me that Cantor’s staff were the “biggest bunch of a**holes on the Hill.” An establishment consultant who backed Cantor actually agreed with this assessment. That attitude moved with Cantor staffers to K Street, the NRSC, and elsewhere generating ill will toward them and Cantor. Many of them were perceived to still be assisting Cantor in other capacities. After Cantor’s loss tonight, I got a high volume of emails from excited conservatives, but also more than a handful of emails from those with establishment Republican leanings all expressing variations on “good riddance.”
Yet Cantor hate appears to be more than a mere intra-Republican phenomenon. It stretches far and wide. The Obama administration regarded him with a special loathing. (“Behind the scenes, aides would describe Cantor as an opportunist or devoid of substance and only out to antagonize the president and whip up tea party support for his own gain.”Jewish Democrats found him “a supremely annoying figure.”
Anywhere professional politicians gathered last night, the Cantor news led to spontaneous, Berlin Wall–type rejoicing. “An informal dinner party at the Georgetown apartment of Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader,” reports the New York Times, “turned into a celebration.” At a conservative dinner party, reports BuzzFeed, “Bozell described the group’s mood as ‘ebullient.’”
A new poll of Cantor’s district finds that Cantor’s own constituents despised him, disapproving of his performance by a 63-30 margin.
So the ranks of Cantor haters include tea party Republicans, mainstream Republicans, all Democrats, Jewish Democrats in particular, and Cantor’s neighbors. That’s everybody, right? Anybody left? Apparently, the remaining demographic slice still loyal to the soon-to-be-former majority leader is Jewish Republicans. Alex Burns reports that Matt Brooks, head of the Republican Jewish Coalition — “coalition” might be overstating things; really more of a Republican Jewish guy — is appropriately devastated at the loss, calling the upset “one of those incredible, evil twists of fate that just changed the potential course of history.”
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/06/everybody-hates-eric-cantor-a-roundup.html?mid=google
classical_hero
In whom I trust
Every time you here about something being Genetically modified, by implication you should reject it since the main work used to do it is via gene gun which is patented by a Creationist. But of course you are building up a strawman as usual.
