Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) released a statement on Tuesday night after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) lost the nomination in his congressional district to tea party candidate David Brat, saying he thought the upset struck “fear into the heart” of Republicans.
“[W]e will see them run further to the far right with the Tea Party striking fear into the heart of every Republican on the ballot,” Israel said, warning that the Cantor’s loss was “cementing the dysfunction that has paralyzed this Congress.”
Read the full statement below:
We all saw how far outside the mainstream this Republican Congress was with Eric Cantor at the helm, now we will see them run further to the far right with the Tea Party striking fear into the heart of every Republican on the ballot and cementing the dysfunction that has paralyzed this Congress and prevented them from taking any action to help middle class families. While House Republicans are racing to the right, Democrats are focused on a mainstream agenda that strengthens the middle class and makes this economy work for every American family. Eric Cantor is the personification of frustration with Washington and House Republicans should be terrified of the backlash from the voters who have been alienated by their race to the right.
What the Republicans need most is IDEOLOGICAL PURITY, not merely winning races!
The Party and the Republican Party are the same. I suppose you could differentiate them by saying the TP is FAR RIGHT and the Republicans are somewhat moderate.
I guess all that gerrymandering wasn’t such a hot idea after all, at least from the perspective of “mainstream” Republicans. They created whole congressional districts full of fruit loops, and now they’re surprised when they vote as such.
No, you got it correct the first time. Today, there is very little policy difference between “tea partiers” and “establishment” republicans, and very minor differences between tactics.
What this does do, however, is create fear in nearly every republican, establishment or otherwise. Cantor was the leader of the “young guns” and was seen as the leader of the TP movement immediately after the 2010 elections. It quickly became clear that nobody could lead that caucus.
But for someone like Cantor to be primaried is a huge signal that there is a lot of chaos injected into the system now. No seat is safe from the vagrancies of the mob rule mentality infused in the republican base.
And it also indicates that republican campaigns are still suffering from wearing rose colored glasses. Cantor’s internal polling had him up by 30 points…he lost by 12. How in the world are you polls off THAT bad…42 points in the opposite direction for a single congressional district??
GOP appeals to single issue voters led to this takeover by single minded dolts. LBJ was wise enough to say “Let the Republicans have 'em.”
peace.