Say good night, Eric

If you want to watch the video, you'll find it here.

by Ken

So Eric Cantor is already taking the step of stepping down as House majority leader.

I want to look again at the message in the tweet Howie reproduced in his post this morning, "Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor Loses Primary to Fairly Random Teabagger Dave Brat," from Erick Erickson: "Dear Media: You will make the Cantor loss all about immigration. You will be wrong. But it will be useful to us. So thanks."

Because this is a tweet from Erick Erickson (if your taste runs to wacko bullshit, you can also read his Red State post, "Why Eric Cantor Lost"), you know it's bound to be the essence of imbecilic lying scumbaggery, so it's not surprising to think for a second and a half, two seconds tops, to remind oneself that it ignores that loudest and most pervasive message that was drummed into the stone heads of voters in that primary race:

"A vote for Eric Cantor is a vote for open borders. A vote for Eric Cantor is a vote for amnesty."

The first thing to say here is that it's a lie (as John Cassidy points out in his newyorker.com post, "in Washington, the House Majority Leader was sometimes portrayed as a barrier to such a reform"), and the second thing is that it apparently doesn't matter, because -- surprise, surprise! -- a significant sector of the American public is as usual not just hungry but desperate for bigger and bolder lies.

That said, Erick Erickson isn't entirely wrong. This obviously wasn't a race that was "decided" by people's reasoned stances on issues, not even the immigration issue. Howie cited the view of a DC insider that our Eric "is just an unlikable prick." And sure, that has something to do with why there was hardly anybody watching his back.

I haven't had much to say about the dramatic "split" in the GOP, because it is, after all, between "shitty" and "shittier," and it's not always clear which is which. Still, i kind of like this paragraph in Esther Yu-Hsi Lee's ThinkProgress post (links onsite):

What’s more likely was party politics unseated Cantor. The Huffington Post noted that “Cantor was often the necessary link that bridged leadership and rank-and-file tea party members. ‘He’s the one guy everyone relies on to get things done for them,’ said one Cantor ally. Each time he twisted tea party arms, though, it cost him politically, raising suspicions among grassroots activists that Cantor was an impure conservative.” That sentiment was shared by the conservative-leaning Red State, which reported that Cantor “repeatedly antagonized conservatives.” And according to the Washington Post, Cantor was booed “at a May meeting of Republican activists in the district.”

I'm reluctant to mention Eric C's religion (a constant source of shame to many of us American Jews). But is it beyond the realm of possibliity, especially considering the minuscule slice of the population involved in yesterday's primary, that a certain number of primary voters awakened to the realization that they have been voting, and were asked to vote again, for a person of Eric C's religious persuasion -- you know, the man who was going to open our borders?

Already we're hearing about the "seismic consequences" of Eric C's primary defeat. Well, I guess.

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