Steve King and Michele Bachmann say the leadership elections should be postponed because the current lineup of candidates are insufficiently conservative.
:dubious:
You should read up a bit more about parliamentary democracies. There are quite a few of them around the globe. There’s a nicely functioning example just to the north of you. Such psephological events are reasonably standard issue each electoral cycle.
On this side of the puddle the voters in the electorate of Bennelong turfed out the sitting head of federal government because their collective judgement was he wasn’t properly representing their interests.
I thought Cantor was one of the bigger GOP jerks in Washington, but I am the kind of person who sees a lot of jerks in GOP politics these days. What is so surprising is that such a powerful figure is being taken down and no one is saying, “Gee whiz, Washington needs more guys like Cantor, not less!” Nope, it is pretty much all, “Good riddance!”, not just from me, but people who agree with me, disagree with me, know more than me, less than me, you name it. It doesn’t look like anyone is going to miss this GOP leader. I find that surprising.
Well, we don’t have primaries here, but certainly in the general election, any incumbent can be defeated at the local level, regardless how popular they may be nationally.
Heck, in 1993, the voters in the riding of Vancouver Centre kicked the Prime Minister of Canada out of the House of Commons, ending her political career.
If Cantor was turfed out in November, you would have read accolades and observed another full scale modern conservative freak out. Remember that Wingers are mostly tribal.
I lived in downtown Vancouver at the time. It was a great day.
Of course, in 1993, the entire country also kicked her entire party out of the House of Commons, which probably did more to end her political career than her specific defeat.
BTW, here is a good article about Dave Brat: Dave Brat: The man who upended the Republican Party - POLITICO
Hardly a “dull pencil”. Definitely not a politician - but I see that as a plus.
I was in east Van at the time. Frabjous day! And then who did we get? John Cretin. Oh well, at least he didn’t lead us into Iraq as Harper would’ve.
Yes, as we know, British royals, Estonians, and Italians face widespread racial prejudice in the current immigration debate. Describing migration as “swarming” is a loaded term when the reality is that net migration across the southern border has rapidly declined in recent years.
I have nothing useful to add, but for some reason this just cracked me up.
Reports coming out that Sessions is withdrawing and it’s a done deal for McCarthy.
For whatever that means.
Nipick: Cantor is Majority Leader, not Majority Whip.
You can hate identity politics but it is here, just like you can go “tut tut, I hate it when both sides do it” whenever Republicans pull off a dirty trick. Republicans have tapped into the angry white male vote for nearly two generations now. It is only recently that they’ve gone from blowing dog whistles to blowing train whistles. Ten years ago, the Voting Rights Act would have passed easily with broad bipartisan support. Now, it’s unthinkable that Republicans would support such a thing. Voter ID, purging voter rolls, limiting voting hours (with dead aim taken at the “souls to the polls” Sunday voting) have one purpose- to suppress minority voting. Immigration reform is dead in the water thanks to the angry white male Republican base. You can say “both sides do it” but you’d be wrong. Only one party makes hatred of others its motivating force.
Nonsense! if she had retained her seat, then with her charisma and command of the debate in the Commons, she would have single-handedly led the Tories triumphantly back into power in the next election!
well, maybe not. 
So “insufficiently conservative” is now righty codespeak for “not batshit insane enough”?
:dubious: For the Tea Party types, “getting things done” is a bug, not a feature. Investing in infrastructure – even just to the point of making sure D-grade roads don’t further disintegrate into F-grade roads – is wasteful pork that “we cant afford!” as they repeat mantra-like. :rolleyes: Getting bills passed involves compromise with He Who Must Not Be Named or at least his minions, which is the most evil thing a politician can do. So the fact that Brat wouldn’t be able to “get things done” is totally a good thing to the people who voted that Cantor wasn’t conservative enough.
Be fair. **John **said “can” get things done, not “does” or “wants to”.
Policy-wise, greater Tea Party power makes future government shutdowns more likely. Debt default is still improbable, but also more likely. Debt default threats are likely.
I’m not hand wringing: this is one of the core issues that divides the Republican Party: should the government pay its bills? Both wings pursue lower taxes, lower social spending, higher military spending and higher budget deficits in practice. What divides them is their stance on holding the economy hostage when they are a minority party. Tactics and morality, not ideology.
Of course when modern Washington Republicans attain majorities, their enthusiasm for budget cuts tapers off, suggesting that their true beliefs need to be imputed by the prudent and that their statements shouldn’t be trusted. We could trust them, but that would be wrong.
As I noted upthread, Cantor leaned towards the rebels to begin with and wasn’t really a deal cutter. So no loss for the country. And I wonder about the value of pork to the average resident. New roads and rails can be useful, but some projects benefit only a modest chunk of the district. Skeptical voters might bear that in mind and inform themselves on the internet. Besides, he was allegedly against earmarks anyway.
Woo! You went to a parade!
What, exactly, is the legislative record on gay rights of the Republicans you’ve put into office? Going to a parade doesn’t make you an ally, it makes you a tourist. What matters is what you do in the voting booth. And if you’re regularly throwing gay people under the bus so you can pay slightly lower tax, why exactly should I have any sympathy for you if you end up getting some of your party’s unrelenting torrent of hateful bullshit smeared on your hands?