Good or Bad for the Jews

"Good or Bad for the Jews"

Many years ago, and for many years, I would travel to Morocco to visit uncles, cousins, and my paternal grandmother. Some lived in Tangiers;...

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

It's Not Over Until the Cantor Sings

Wow! Eric Cantor of Virginia got bounced, better said, he got trounced in the GOP primary yesterday by a relatively unknown conservative economics professor, David Bratt. Here in northern Virigina, the press and the street comment is all about how the Tea Party has flexed its muscle and thrown out a well-known, powerful Congressman who was widely expected to be the next Speaker of the House--and is the only Jewish Republican Congressman. Lots of odd comments about how this shows that the Tea Party is anti-semitic, that this is a disaster for the GOP, that this will make it harder for "moderate" Republicans to reach compromises with the President and the Dems, etc.

Most of the commentary is nonsense. I am not really sure what "Tea Party" involvement took place, but it certainly wasn't evident in any funding for Bratt or in any big Tea Party endorsements. From what I can tell this was a genuine, old-fashioned grass-roots movement of just ordinary folks upset with the political culture in DC. Also from what I can tell from my past few days in Virginia there is genuine outrage here over what is happening on the immigration front. Cantor, despite DC's physical proximity to Virginia, seemed to have gotten himself trapped in the DC culture of deals and compromise, and of listening to advice from the dying mainstream media that "compromise," i.e., giving in, is really the way a Republican should operate. I always liked Cantor, and found him an intelligent and patriotic man, but think he really blew it on immigration. He lost touch with his constituents. I think that another man for whom I have a lot of respect, Paul Ryan, is in danger of the same thing with his obsession in pushing for an immigration amnesty. Marco Rubio of Florida also got himself into hot water on this issue and has been paying the political consequences of it.

This could prove the best thing that happened to the GOP. With some luck, the GOP establishment,e.g., the McCains, the Grahams, will understand what Ted Cruz has been saying all along: The GOP must be in touch with the people and not get itself wrapped up with the DC game. That game is loaded, stacked, rigged against conservatives and their values. One never hears, for example, on the need for liberal Democrats to "compromise," i.e., give in. Maybe, just maybe, the GOP leaders will begin to "compromise," i.e., give in, not with the Democrats and their captive media industry but with the people who sent them to Washington DC.

36 comments:

  1. It would be more meaningful if Brat's win came only from Republican votes. I look forward to reporting on how many Brat votes were cast by Democrats, who were able to cross party lines in this election.

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  2. Thanks for paying attention to this. Despite the fact that we (our blog) pay attention to the JQ in all its variety, I hadn't even stopped to think about Cantor's being Jewish until I saw your post's title. Duh.

    For me, and for most rural Virginians, well out of the gravitational pull of "that hive of scum and villainy" in NOVA - it should be a separate state:D.C., Northern VA and contiguous parts of Maryland - since it skews so much.

    His district includes a LOT of blue areas...D.C.'s endmost commuter places, and Charlottesville, that bluest of blue sinkholes (only city to vote for McGovern) and chockablock full of retired federal workers, especially the ones who were able to get some insider deals whilst in service...but then it ends just short of Amelia.

    IOW, even with the Beltway bubble factored in, he was dealing w/ many true blue liberals too, so maybe he figured he could slide.

    I agree with you re the lack of a real Tea Party push here. His Achilles heel was that 'rural-ish' anti-immigration vote.

    And if the primary winner's Dem opponent comes on strong as an anti-immigration candidate?? Outside the big cities, that's a safe stance. Not that urban voters are on the immigration bandwagon, but the unions in those places have their marching orders, and march they will.

    Thanks for your input here.

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    1. Oops. Forgot the point F makes.

      However, given the fact that Dems can vote spoilers, I'm still surprised since he's been acting Dem-ish on this issue. As have many otherwise sane Republicans. The historians will be delving into this trash pile era of U.S. politics in years to come.

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    2. dymphna & RS below?

      Probably like many others I wasn't paying attention to the possibilities. I'm gonna copy and paste part of a comment I left across the pond and would appreciate a critique. (I got the numbers off Virginia dot gov but admittedly was flying blind - very blind). Here's what I placed on a UK site:

      "Taking a closer look. There's a total of 506,065 voters registered in Virginia's 7th. Cantor received 28,902 & Brat 36,120.

      Virginia's SecState doesn't give a breakdown by Party Affiliation (so far as I can see) but Cantor held the seat for seven consecutive terms so it's probably safe to assume "Leans Republican" figure +/- 256,065 eligible voters of which 65,022 bothered. "
      _______________________

      I have been cognizant of MS for quite awhile (kids there) but thinking this "Smug-City" Creep getting his a** handed to him no matter what the % of eligible turnout I think should fire-up "the home crowd"

      But I wonder - is the number ... the percentage of eligible voters in VA turns out for primaries significant to what turns out for the general?
      _____________________

      One thing I have to proclaim admiration for towards Virginia's 7th voters, we've all been aware one of the things (aside from the obvious immigration) our Establishment Pols have needed to do for awhile was to take on Entitlements.

      Thank the voters of Virginia's 7th for pointing out Incumbency is not an Entitlement.

      Arkie

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  3. As a Republican in the 7th, I can say that NONE of my Republican friends wanted Cantor.

    Cantor's false portrayal of Dave Brat as a liberal and indeed a false Republican Democrat mole was incredibly energizing.

    We all voted.

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  4. BLA BLA BLA
    Where is installment VI?

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    1. Just for that, no part VI for you . . .

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    2. With your permission I will relate a short true story concerning a Cantor to mollify Anonymous’ desire for a story. I had recently bought my first house in Toronto, Canada at the tender age of 28. It was in a Jewish neighbour, on a street of about 30 houses, including a handful owned by Holocaust survivors. It was a mature neighbourhood and I was by far the youngest house-owner and also single. My nest-door neighbours and I were the only non-Jews on the street, although I have a tiny smidgen of Jewish blood on my father’s side and have many Jewish friends. A Cantor at the local Synagogue lived two houses up.

      Anyway, shortly after I moved in I was invited to a backyard party at the Cantor’s house, to meet the neighbourhood and I reckon to also be checked out by the neighbourhood. The Cantor also had a fine looking daughter in my age bracket and also single; thus the invitation was quickly snapped up. I’m an immigrant from a European country and while I am fluent in English I grew up studying in and speaking another infrequently used language.

      The party was going swimmingly, as they might say in the country neighbouring my country of birth. I was blessed with the gift of the gab, an inheritance from my father, who among other things was a stage actor and story-teller, although he didn’t earn his living that way. I was clearly making a good impression and even felt a little warmth from the Cantor’s daughter. It helped that I was very aware of Jewish culture, traditions and customs and not least was a strong supporter of Israel. My best friend from University days is Jewish and people often thought we were brothers.

      There were about 40 people present, mostly sitting in lawn-chairs in a large circle with the Cantor standing and introducing people and trying to make me feel comfortable. Eventually the subject of accent came up and I related the short version of my background including my Catholic religion. The Cantor interjected at that point and said there was something he had seen at a Catholic Mass that had him puzzled and perhaps I might cast some light on the matter.

      He had seen the donations basket passed around during the Mass service where people donate to the church. It is a form of Tithing or as we referred to it ‘paying our dues’. I need to point out here that over there we pronounce the words ‘Due’ and ‘Dew’ with emphasis on the vowel following the consonant such that both these words sound the same as ‘Jew’, unlike in North America where the pronunciation of both words is ‘Do’. As the words ‘This is how we pay our ‘Jews’ crossed my lips I spotted the danger but it was too late. The damage was done. There was dead silence with everybody staring at me. I was looking for somewhere to hide, a hole to open up and swallow me. No such luck.

      I feebly tried to explain my gaffe. I’m not sure it worked but I did get a date with the Cantor’s daughter out of it. Max.

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    3. Awesome story.
      I hope she paid her dues.

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  5. Re: "I am not really sure what "Tea Party" involvement took place".

    I'd just like to point out that the Tea Party IS "just ordinary folks upset with the political culture in DC." I'm a Tea Party guy but I don't "belong" to any huge "Tea Party National Organization", I just contribute to individuals who follow the Tea Party principles (lower taxes, back to the constitution, the "old America.")

    And I'm sure glad that the Tea Party's death was prematurely announced!

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    1. Denis, thanks for making the point I tried to make but didn't do very well. The media seems to imply there is A Tea Party and because their and liberal population's historical ignorance they don't understand the use of "party."

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  6. I'm a Tea Party person myself, although I am not an active participant in any group. I'm on the email list of one small-town organization, though. And I do pay particular attention to those running for local office who espouse the three Tea Party principles: fiscal responsibility, strict adherence to the Constitution, and support free markets. That is, real free markets, not the government-supported crony-capitalist simulacrum of a so-called free market. Support those three principles - you're golden and I will support or vote for you. Trample all over them while giving lip-service? I will vote against you.
    Apparently in these times, this makes me a dangerous radical, and racist to boot.
    The amnesty thing is a Cloward Piven scheme, straight out. They are attempting to crash the border by sending kids and teenagers across it - and openly encouraging them throughout Central America. At present they are warehousing all the illegal alien kids in various places, including Lackland AFB. This will not go over well. The local Tea Party that I was active in several years ago studied up on Alinsky and Clowart-Piven. Some of us were intellectual that way, and saw the possibilities of using those strategies against what Sarah Hoyt calls the "Vile Progs."

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    1. Some of us were intellectual that way, and saw the possibilities of using those strategies against what Sarah Hoyt calls the "Vile Progs."

      My mind does not work that way, but you have my interest. How could we do that?

      thx.

      t

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    2. Hi, Timothy - well, basically by using Alinsky's Rules for Radicals against them. Demand they live up to their own rules, ridicule them at every opportunity, point up their hypocrisies. Flood their zones. It can be done - it's what Andrew Breitbart used to do. Every lame tweet from Administration spokeswh**es - retweet and point satirical fun at them. Rip apart their news releases and policy papers, go into comment threads and do the same.

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  7. David Bratt tromping Eric Cantor reminds me of another race where a wealthy RINO ran for the Senate seat of a retiring senator. He faced a number of opponents in a state with an open primary where Dems could vote R if they wanted to. That RINO was forced into a run off, due to our 50% rule, out spent his opponent 4 to 1, and yet was still defeated by Ted Cruz.

    The same RINO, David Dewhurst, recently ran for the seat he currently holds as Lt. Governor. He was soundly tromped by Dan Patrick, a Tea Party favorite. Again, Dewhurst outspent Patrick, yet he lost.

    Every time an establishment Republican runs for re-election, and loses to a new comer, I hear the press (and others) lamenting how that was only achieved because Democrats jumped the line to vote for the new comer and now that will open the seat for the Democrat opponent. Do not buy that. It doesn't work that way, and anyone who has worked campaigns, understands that. I'm not saying there is not some of that going on, but as a rule, it just isn't that influential.

    Amnesty, or any form of it (and yes, allowing illegals to remain here is a form of amnesty, as even Reagan called it) is not going to be popular. When the tab hits the local areas as they have to pick up the bill for the health and welfare, and education, of children that don't speak English, the mess is going to hit the fan. The Border Patrol is screaming for help, understanding that while they are catching kids, the drug dealers are managing to escape capture. Crime rates, especially in the border states, is going to rise and taxes are going to increase to cover the cost of teachers, and class rooms, that can provide ESL classes, not to mention the cost to school districts for tutoring of these children. You see, if you get a 12 year old illegal, who has never been to school, or has basically no education, that kid is placed in an "age appropriate" class. It is the school's responsibility to provide the means to bring that kid up to standards for his/her age. All that is absurdly expensive and the cost is not going to be picked up by the feds, but by your locality and state.

    Is this Cloward and Piven? You betcha. And I have decided that Obama is not just dumb, he is evil. It is his intention (realizing that the Republicans will take the Senate in November) to do as much destruction to this nation as he possible can while he can. And who in D.C. has the cajones to stop him? Certainly not John Boehner or Mitch McConnell.

    I cannot speak for the rest of the nation, but Tejanos do not want amnesty in any form.

    Zane

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    1. There have been reports that it was Undecided voters, and not Democrats, who broke for Bratt. People in general respond to his message.

      The cost of illegal aliens created Mexifornia years ago. L.A. County alone spends well over $1 billion a year on costs for illegals and their kids -- for the welfare AFDC payments, schools, special ESL classes, social services. For the past 20 years, most of us feel we're not in the USA anymore. Prop. 187 passed by overwhelming majority, but the will of the people was squashed by Gov. Gray Davis and one judge. Even after Davis was recalled, Prop 187 was left dead in the water. (187 denied benefits to illegal aliens.).

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    2. The breakdown in votes suggests that Demagogue Party crossovers were not that statistically significant.

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  8. That's because 'compromise' in RATSPEAK is 'shut up and do what I tell you!'

    SCREW YOU
    I am going to enjoy watching this RAT cabal INCINERATE come November

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  9. Once again, the "tone deafness" that causes politicians to lose elections by misreading the sentiments of their constituents, illustrates the Michael Oakeshott theory that it is our lack of omniscience that make socialism fail. No one person, no committee, can know enough about what people need and want to provide everything for them. They can't even get huge election campaign issues right, when people are lining up in front of their offices chanting "Kill the Bill!" They passed Obamacare anyway, over our vociferous objections, and many if them still insist that we'll come to love it, that this eventual love is the very reason we oppose it, because they'll always be able to accuse us of wanting to "Take away our free healthcare." In truth, they will use that threat, if this crap is allowed to stand, but it will sway only a small minority of voters, alas, the swing voters. Learn to love it? That remains in doubt, at least until those of us who remember free market health care have all died off. (Of course, death panels will insure that the arrival of that happy day is hastened.)

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  10. One thing I read is that locals were upset at how little time Cantor spent in his district.

    IF true, this is a major "HELLO????"

    Google maps tells me it's 109 road miles from DC to Richmond. If you were working at a job 109 miles from your home, wouldn't you rent the cheapest adequate room you could find for the weeknights, and commute home for the weekend? That he didn't do this just shows further evidence of how Cantor had "gone native".

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    1. My former Rep, Joe Walsh IL-08, went further.
      He slept in his office weeknights and went home every weekend.
      Over the single term, IIRC he missed out only a few (less than 4) weekends "home" because he was "on the road with fact finding missions".

      D.C. wasn't home, even temporarily.

      He came back home almost every weekend and always had one and usually two events open to the people each weekend home (before relection campaign time).

      Small scale "Cup of 'Joe with Joe" at some district food shop, and a town hall usually later Saturday although sometimes Sunday.

      Anyway, he had other problems, not the least of which was redistricting that left him with less than a third of his old district, but not ever could it be said he didn't stay in touch with his hometown voters who elected him even if it was halfway across the mainland US from D.C.

      OT, for our host and proprietor here, I thought the Kurds were re-colonizing Mosul, and now the defense forces are running away leaving all weapons, munitions, and vehicles behind (almost as if deliberate) What do you and your friends still "in the business" think is going on?

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    2. Mosul in the scheme of things isn't attractive to the Kurds (being on the Tigris that was the route foreign fighters entered theater pre-2011). Where the Kurds are most interested "Geography-wise" is the area bordering Turkey south to Kirkuk. Easy to see why from this weather map:

      http://www.accuweather.com/en/iq/kirkuk/207046/satellite/207046

      ISIS (when in Iraq proper - referred to as ISIL if operating in Syria) are concentrated along the Syrian/Iraqi border keeping to the river plain taking advantage of terrain. Note the borders of Iraq Syria, Iraq (Kurds) Turkey here:

      https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/iz.html

      The US Press / Media isn't the "best" source for what's actually going on up-to-date - an inkling can be found here:

      "(Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish forces took control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Thursday, after government troops abandoned their posts in the face of a triumphant Sunni Islamist rebel march towards Baghdad that threatens Iraq's future as a unified state.

      In Mosul, Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant staged a parade of American Humvee patrol cars seized from a collapsing Iraqi army in the two days since ISIL fighters drove out of the desert and overran the northern metropolis. At Baiji, near Kirkuk, they surrounded Iraq's largest oil refinery.

      At Mosul, which had a population close to two million before the weeks events forced hundreds of thousands to flee, witnesses saw ISIL fly two helicopters over the parade, apparently the first time the militant group has obtained aircraft in years of waging insurgency on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier."

      http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/12/us-iraq-violence-idUSKBN0EN0RV20140612

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    3. Reports indicate that the Iraqi army, aided by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has checked the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant's push south toward Baghdad. Forces allied with Baghdad apparently stopped the rebel fighters just north of As Samarra and have begun to venture north, reasserting control over large portions of Tikrit.

      Additional Iraqi forces, and possibly Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps elements, are deploying in Baghdad.

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    4. Iraqi security forces in Mosul comprised a full Iraqi army division supplemented by a federal police motorized division. When these forces folded in the face of a few thousand fighters [at most 9000 and then there's the supply train], that collapse quickly spread to units directly to the south. Nearly the entire composition of the Nineveh and Tigris operational commands began a full-scale, unorganized retreat. The drawback involved three Iraqi army divisions, a federal police division and regionally deployed police battalions -- a total of as many as 30,000 soldiers. Militants quickly expanded their presence south and slightly east, facing no serious organized resistance until Kirkuk, where Kurdish security forces, known as peshmerga, had established control and contained the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's eastward movement. The militants' southern advance finally ran into the Iraqi army -- and, reportedly, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps -- near As Samarra.

      The majority of elite units -- predominantly Shiite, better equipped and more fully manned -- and of special operations forces are now centered near Baghdad or are on their way there. The lightly armed and highly mobile Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant forces and their supporters will not be able to attack Baghdad by conventional means, especially if elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units well accustomed to this type of warfare have been added to Baghdad's combat power.

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    5. http://online.wsj.com/articles/iran-deploys-forces-to-fight-al-qaeda-inspired-militants-in-iraq-iranian-security-sources-1402592470

      1035 CST - 12 JUNE 14

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    6. By Lisa Daftari·Published June 13, 2014·FoxNews.com

      "Some 150 fighters from the Revolutionary Guards elite Quds force have already been dispatched by Tehran, and the division's powerful commander, Qassem Suleimani, met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Thursday and pledged to send two notorious Iranian brigades to aid in the defense of Baghdad. That could amount to as many as 10,000 soldiers sent to fight the Sunni group known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

      Maliki is believed to be considering the offer, [considering? done deal Nouri ol' boy] especially in light of reported decisions by the U.S. to reject his request for American airstrikes against the Al Qaeda-affiliated militants who have recently overrun Mosul and Tikrit and appear to be preparing for a march on the capital."

      http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/06/12/as-jihadists-take-aim-at-baghdad-iran-steps-in-to-help-historical-foe/

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  11. When the Left wins, it's a Mandate to push the agenda. When the Right wins it's a call for compromise and moderation.
    And the Republicans who get elected buy into that meme every time.
    We need Conservative Leaders who will call it like it is, point out failed Democrat ventures (Detroit, Iran, all of Obama's Presidency, etc), and not be afraid to blast the MSM each time they show their bias.

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  12. I'm amused at some of the spin from the Commie Libs re Cantor. They think this fall can be spun into something other than what it will be---a referendum on the malevolent dictatorship of He Who Casts no Shadow.

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  13. I'm seeing reporting that Cantor's Democrat crossover votes had little to nothing to do with his loss. That is encouraging news -- maybe GOP voters are getting tired of RINOs, which would be good. I'm frankly fed up with establishment Republicans who "go along to get along". F

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  14. The Cantor earthquake is discussed in this blog . The events in Iraq will finally finish off Hillary's book tour. Poor thing.

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  15. There's something very familiar about Bergdahl-gate and SOFA-gate... In both cases, Obama wanted one thing, and just swept it through something else while pretending his hands were tied.
    -- What? Iraq wont sign the status-of-forces agreement I put forth? Well that's just the end of our involvement there! Well done us for 'bringing them home'!
    -- What? They want five prisoners from gitmo that I really have to find a home for anyways in order to fulfill my ignorant pledge to shut gitmo down? Well... DEAL... after all, we've got to be 'bringing them home'!

    This is just wrong, using pretexts to cover for inattention to foreign policy.

    - reader #1482

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    1. "What? Iraq wont sign the status-of-forces agreement I put forth?"

      http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/122074.pdf

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  16. Apologies for the spam,
    65abf1345742841c2088fed832fd2a731628074d
    full name and two doggies' names spelled out and sha1'd

    - reader #1482

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  17. About the illegals. I do home nursing care. Because I speak Spanish, most of my patient assignments are Spanish speaking, sometimes of ambiguous (?) documentary status. Rather, the patients are American citizens, but many in the family are not. They are the nicest people in the world, individually. However, importing poor people is importing poverty. Everyone, who has already been allowed to enter, faces a life long diminished wage, because of competition from those coming up behind them. This is simple gut-level reality. It is not humane, mulch less humanitarian, to continue this train from Desperation to Futility. It is desperately wicked. It is typical of the Demagogue Party that they accuse us of racism, when what they are doing already produces lower wages and higher unemployment for the poorest minority people among us. They are not even offering lame excuses any more. They just do it and glare at us in defiance. These people have said, when they were still bothering to try to gull us, that, if we'd just pass another "immigration reform" they would do it right, this time, and enforce the laws, as they so flagrantly refuse to do, now. Of course, Cantor had to lose. Someone had to be shown that we are not such fools as to believe them, always and every where.

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  18. Cricket, cricket, cricket...still no Part VI.

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  19. "This could prove the best thing that happened to the GOP. With some luck, the GOP establishment,e.g., the McCains, the Grahams, will understand what Ted Cruz has been saying all along: The GOP must be in touch with the people and not get itself wrapped up with the DC game. That game is loaded, stacked, rigged against conservatives and their values. One never hears, for example, on the need for liberal Democrats to "compromise," i.e., give in."

    Excellent post, especially the quote above. Thank you.

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