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Eric Cantor Tag

What's happening with Obamacare repeal, you ask? That is a fantastic question. But at this point, it's quite clear that Republicans who campaigned on repealing the ACA have zero intention of doing so now that the opportunity has presented itself. Seven Republican Senators voted against a so-called "clean repeal" bill Wednesday. Sens McCain, Murkowski, Capito, Lamar Alexander, Collins, Portman, and Heller are responsible for tanking the latest repeal effort. The bill offered no replacement but promised to delay full repeal, giving lawmakers time to figure out the rest.

Defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) hit the Sunday news programs this morning in a curt manner and seemed to lay some blame for his loss on radio talk show host Laura Ingraham cheapening the debate. Laura took it in stride. But is the Republican Party serious about finding answers following the Cantor defeat? Grassroots Republicans and conservatives still express doubt if the party has even learned the right lessons from its 2012 loss. Salena Zito tries to help the Republican Party establishment today with peeling back the onion on what is going on in America. Zito is correct -- there is a rise of populism and Dave Brat tapped into that vein during his campaign against Cantor:

Should be a bumper sticker for those who oppose immigration amnesty and voted last night to defeat Eric Cantor. Alternative national headline: "I'm against lawlessness, and I vote" That lawlessness is reflected at the border where tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors are crossing over in anticipation of amnesty, or at least being allowed to stay under Obama's administration DREAM provisions. The lawlessness also was reflected at Eric Cantor's campaign gathering last night, where pro-amnesty protesters charged into the room shortly after Cantor left and in the words of WaPo, created "chaos": Here's the report from CBS 6:

No, I didn't see it coming. We didn't even plan on live coverage of VA-07, instead focusing on whether Lindsey Graham would avoid a runoff (he did). At some point I started seeing tweets of early VA-07 numbers and thought someone was trolling.  Then I checked and it was no joke. The night of, but particularly the day after, there is much fine punditry as to why Cantor lost.  And much political spin. Looking back, with the complete benefit of hindsight, it seems that something changed along the way for Cantor.  I can't put a precise date on it, but looking back on our posts about Cantor, I'd put the change sometime in late 2011, after Republicans gained control of the House, Cantor became Majority Leader, and he set his sights on even higher positions of power. Until then, our posts reflect Cantor as a tough fighter, the "bad cop" to John Boehner's "good cop" in fighting Obamacare and the Democratic agenda.   Cantor was the guy designated to take on Obama directly in the final weeks prior to Obamacare being signed into law:
Obama also gave House Minority Whip Eric Cantor a stern talking-to when he noticed that the Virginia Republican had stacked the more than 2,000-page bill in front of him while he griped that patients would not be able to maintain the same level of coverage under the Democrats' plan. Obama briefly addressed the coverage point and then turned to the stacked health care bill. "You know, when we do props like this, you stack it up and you repeat 2,400 pages, et cetera -- the truth of the matter is that health care is very complicated. And we can try to pretend that it's not, but it is," Obama said. "These are the kind of political things we do that prevent us from actually having a conversation."
Note also Cantor pointing out that people will not be able to keep their doctors and coverage: Cantor proudly earned the ire of Obama and the Democrats, and was targeted for his efforts, as this Politico headline from March 10, 2009 declared:

Noticed the trend of legislators going beyond issuing press releases and fully embracing social media to distribute and market their point-of-view? Rep. Darrell Issa has been especially active in marketing himself and his committee's activities, including design-heavy graphics and an active twitter account. Today Rep. Eric Cantor's...

The Young Guns Network, and its YG Action Fund, were started by two former aides to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. The Young Guns have infuriated supporters of Richard Mourdock in the Indiana Senate primary race, as well as many conservatives who had no stake in...

The Young Guns Action Fund, run by allies of Eric Cantor and to which Cantor has contributed, has committed $100,000 to supporting Dick Lugar. I like Cantor, and have always supported him, but the Young Guns are way off the mark on this one and should follow...

Eric Cantor has been a focus of verbal attacks from Democrats and the Obama administration, and has been singled out to be demonized as part of 2012 campaign strategy: NY Times: Eric Cantor Is the Democrats’ New Bogeyman Democratic Daily: Eric Cantor Becomes New Target For American Dream...

"The President needs to put a plan on the table." That was the message at the Republican House press conference this morning, as multiple House Reps stepped to the microphone. This really is the heart of the problem. The House Republicans have passed a...

Eric Cantor has been fighting the good fight for years.  Why not? Here's the audio (h/t Ace sidebar) of his account of the blow up with Obama yesterday: Eric Cantor on White House Debt Ceiling Talks by smalera...

March 25, 2010: But Mr Obama was less inclined to be so conciliatory. He immediately presented Mr Netanyahu with a list of 13 demands designed both to the end the feud with his administration and to build Palestinian confidence ahead of the resumption of peace talks....

Per ABC News, Obama stormed out of a meeting with Eric Cantor and others when Republicans suggested a short term solution to the debt ceiling dispute because the negotiations were still far apart: "Don't call my bluff," the president said. "I am not afraid to veto...

There are many cheap tricks used against bloggers.Perhaps the most common is to attribute the views expressed in comments to the blogger.  The problem there is that the nature of a comment section is to give people other than the blogger the chance to express an opinion,...

I have documented how Glenn Greenwald peddles the most rank of dual loyalty charges against American Jewish supporters of Israel, by using the phrase "Israel-Firsters."  Now Greenwald is at it again, suggesting that soon-to-be Majority Leader Eric Cantor has pledged allegiance to Israel.  Greenwald's blog...

The anti-Zionist fringe nut who threatened to kill Eric Cantor was an Obama supporter and campaign contributor.You know exactly what I mean when I say, "Can you imagine if Norman Leboon threatened to kill Obama and Leboon were a McCain or Tea Party contributor?"We would...

The Politico has an article detailing the Obama administration's targeting of Congressman Eric Cantor. According to the article, Obama's political advisers are coordinating a campaign in the media and through unions "to introduce him to voters before he can introduce himself."In other words, the President...

The New York Times is running a profile story on Eric Cantor, Republican congressman from Virginia, and House Minority Whip. By NY Times standards, this is a fairly soft piece; certainly not the hit job the Times has run on other Republicans. Nonetheless, the story...