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Tag: Eric Cantor

  • Ann Coulter And Laura Ingraham: The Real Winners?

    Ann Coulter and talk show hosts like Laura Ingraham are singing the praises of Dave Brat and his astounding win over Eric Cantor in last week’s congressional race.

    Dave Brat’s win is proof positive in Ann Coulter‘s eyes that the Republican party might be ready to quit toying around with amnesty and take a stronger stance against immigration reform, the issue which could be “the end of the Republican Party” to a lot of people.

    Coulter also believes that this great victory over Eric Cantor (and in turn, the “established” and comfortable Republicans) is the beginning of a new era in the party, one that will disallow the chamber of commerce to continue “buying their way” into Congress.

    Popular talk show host Laura Ingraham called the victory a “massive wakeup call to the Republican party”. Dave Brat won with significantly less money raised for his campaign than Eric Cantor. This would indicate that Republicans everywhere could indeed be ready for a massive shake up within the confines of the overly complacent and docile party.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-YNAITd0gw

    However, the support for Dave Brat from the world of talk radio has drawn some criticism and so has talk radio’s role in shaping the future of the party.

    The hosts and guests of the talk show Crossfire last week lamented Cantor’s loss as a sad day and bad direction for the Republican party.

    Host Stephanie Cutter decried that Cantor “allowed himself to be defined” by talk radio hosts like Ingraham and other Tea Party supporters. She went on to claim that such hosts “drove the election” by continuing to insist that Cantor was in bed with the Obama administration as an “establishment” Republican. She then went on to claim that talk radio is “is basically driving a wedge” between two factions of the Republican party.

    Democratic strategist Kiki McLean wondered if the election was about Cantor and Brat or Ingraham and Coulter. She said, “Did the people of Virginia nominate Laura Ingraham?”.

    Did they? Or did they nominate someone who just might have the guts to make the flip that the party truly needs? Time will tell.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Ann Coulter Calls Dave Brat Win a “Massive Wakeup Call” to GOP

    Ann Coulter thinks Dave Brat’s recent victory over Republican incumbent Eric Cantor in last Tuesday’s primary election is a good thing for the Republican party.

    The conservative political commentator joined Megyn Kelly on Fox News Live to discuss the shocking election results.

    “Amnesty loses big,” Coulter told Kelly. “The idea that this will hurt the Republicans in 2016 is insane.”

    Coulter believes Cantor lost the primary due to one key issue: his support of amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens.

    Cantor, who has served as House Majority Leader since 2011, spent significantly more on his campaign than Tea Party-backed Brat ($5 million vs. less than $150,000.)

    But Brat, an economist and professor at Randolph-Macon College, played up Cantor’s support of amnesty and Coulter believes that was the key to Brat’s impressive victory.

    “Whenever the voters know an election is about immigration, they will always vote against more immigration – especially amnesty,” Coulter wrote on her website.

    She insists Brat’s win is a defeat for amnesty versus a victory for the Tea Party.

    In general, Coulter doesn’t support the Tea Party: “… the big, national tea party groups are mostly shysters and con-men raising money for their own self-aggrandizement.”

    But in mid-April she threw her support behind Brat:

    “If you don’t think the Republican Party should speak exclusively for Wall Street, Silicon Valley and the Chamber of Commerce, then you have to support … Dave Brat … challenging the amnesty-addled Eric Cantor in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.”

    In the short term, Coulter told Kelly, she hopes Brat’s victory over Cantor will “shut down any more happy talk about amnesty this year.”

    In the long term, she hopes the GOP will see it as a wakeup call. In fact, she’d like them to declare a moratorium on immigration.

    “I like Israel’s immigration policy: instant, unapologetic, unsentimental deportation of illegal aliens.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Eric Cantor Shocked By Defeat To David Brat; Polls Were Wrong

    On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor shockingly lost the 7th District Republican primary to a college professor named David Brat, who is backed by the Tea Party.

    In an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl on Sunday, Cantor said, “I don’t think anybody in the country thought that the outcome would be what it was and I think we’re going to be able to look back at this, and what seemed really bad at the time may turn out to be really good.” In the interview, Karl suggested that Laura Ingraham’s attack on Cantor may have contributed to his defeat.

    Cantor announced his resignation as the House Majority Leader on Wednesday. He will step down from his post on July 31.

    Although Cantor was defeated, he remains optimistic and is still focused on his mission. The 51-year-old said that he will remain committed to the Republican party, even after leaving his post.

    According to Ezra Klein of Vox, Cantor lost because voters supporting him did not show up to the polls. However, reports indicate otherwise, as the turnout of voters is actually higher than any recent congressional primary. It turns out that people turned up to vote, but they didn’t vote in favor of Cantor.

    National Journal magazine interviewed John McLaughlin, Cantor’s pollster. McLaughlin said that they estimated that about 45,000 people would turn up to vote, but 65,000 were present. The incorrect estimate is the reason Cantor appeared to have a wide lead against his opponents at the end of May. Because of the far-off estimate, they also got the number of supporters they had wrong.

    Cantor said that he has not ruled out the possibility of running in the future. “I believe after almost 23 years in public service that I can play a role and not just in elected office obviously but in the private sector,” he said.

    House Republicans will  vote on Thursday for their new majority leader. “I want a Republican to hold this seat, of course,” Cantor said.

    Image via ABC News

  • Eric Cantor Defeated in Surprise Primary Landslide

    House majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his Republican primary election Tuesday night. Instead of once again running for Virginia’s 7th congressional district this fall, Cantor’s challenger, David Brat, will be on the ballot. Cantor is now the first House Majority Leader to lose his party’s primary.

    The loss came as a surprise to almost everyone. Pollsters and political observers had assumed that Cantor could easily defeat his Tea Party-backed opponent. An internal poll from the Cantor campaign had showed the representative with a 34-point lead as of Friday and other polls also showed Cantor with a comfortable lead. Election returns show Cantor lost the election by more than 7,000 votes, with nearly 56% of the vote going to Brat.

    “You know, I know there’s a lot of long faces here tonight and it’s disappointing, sure,” said Cantor during his concession speech. “But I believe in this country. I believe there’s opportunity around the next corner for all of us.”

    As House Majority Leader, Cantor was a senior figure in House leadership and second in command to House Speaker John Boehner. Boehner issued a statement Tuesday night saying, “(Cantor is) a good friend and a great leader, and someone I’ve come to rely upon on a daily basis as we make the tough choices that come with governing. My thoughts are with him and Diana and their kids tonight.”

    Cantor’s challenger, David Brat, is a professor of economics at Randolph-Macon College. His candidacy was backed by Tea Party groups and figures related to the Tea Party movement, including former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. During the primary campaign Brat had run heavily on immigration, painting Cantor as a supporter of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

    Cantor’s defeat provides a new twist in this election year’s conventional wisdom that establishment Republicans are taking back their party from the Tea Party. Cantor and others in House leadership have been struggling to accommodate hard-right Tea Party Republicans in the House in recent years, culminating in last year’s government shut down.

    Brat will face off against Democratic challenger Jack Trammel in this fall’s midterm elections. Trammel is a colleague of Brat’s, a sociology professor at Randolph-Macon College.

    Image via Facebook

  • Eric Cantor Attacked Over Immigration Issue

    House Majority Leader Eric Cantor faced attacks on Wednesday. To his opponents, he isn’t conservative enough, and for that, he needs to be ousted.

    The pressure was on in Richmond on Wednesday, as immigrant-rights advocates rallied at the state Capitol to urge Cantor to move on immigration reform.

    The rally was led by Rep. Luis Gutierrez. He told the people, “What Eric Cantor represents is the future of the Republican Party, and if you do not give a vote on comprehensive immigration reform, let me assure you of the consequence: The Republican Party will be a party of regions, of localities.”

    The rally was attended by over 70 people. They were carrying signs that read, “Eric Cantor: The One Man Blocking Immigration Reform.”

    Cantor’s challenger, Republican Dave Brat, said in the June 10 primary that Cantor is working with Gutierrez in order to push immigration measures. “Eric Cantor saying he opposes amnesty is like Barack Obama saying he opposes Obamacare,” Brat said.

    “Congressman Gutierrez is here to set up a great deception that will allow Eric Cantor to claim he is opposed to amnesty,” Brat stated.

    Cantor has been shifting sides, but his spokesperson stated that he has been consistent on his views on the issue. With that, people are asking if Cantor has an intention of killing immigration reform, or is he on the side of reform?

    Just this week, Cantor’s camp released fliers that he is opposed to and has stopped the President’s plan “to give illegal aliens a free ride.”

    However, Brat quickly argued that the fliers were hiding Cantor’s real views on immigration, and that he is fighting for reform.

    Eric Cantor on immigration reform

    According to Ray Allen, Cantor’s campaign spokesperson, Cantor has been unwavering on his views. However, he also stated that in some instances the two sides can find common ground. He also added, “Dave Brat, on the other hand, is just lying.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Greta Van Susteren Spars with (Democratic?) Candidate Mike Dickinson

    Greta Van Susteren invited Mike Dickinson, a man who claims to be running for congress, on her show for some verbal sparring. Even though Dickinson is a Democrat, he may not be on the Democratic ballot in November.

    The segment began with Dickinson’s tweet last week, in which he declared a “war on Fox News”. The war not only ragged over Twitter but also caught the attention of Greta Van Susteren, who ran a segment about the war on her Fox Show “On the Record”. A few days later, Dickinson made an appearance on her show.

    “I think the facts are misrepresented,” Mike Dickinson said on Van Susteren’s show, explaining he launched the war because Fox News “encourages people to fight the government, like Obama and the federal government is this big, bad authority.”

    Van Susteren made no mention of the encounter on her Twitter account, ukline Dickinson who started up a hashtag, #VoteMikeonGreta:

    Although he was introduced as the Democratic candidate challenging Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the deadline for filing in that district passed that day. In fact, the Democrats of the 7th Congressional District of Virginia cancelled their nominating convention. “No candidates filed to be considered for the nomination,” Richmond City Democratic Committee announced on their website, “Therefore, the Convention previously scheduled for Saturday, May 3rd has been cancelled.”

    Because the deadline passed, many speculated Dickinson dropped out of the race, which he denied:

    When then asked why he did not file to be on the ballot, Dickinson evaded the question:

    Dickinson continues to make noise about running for office on his twitter account. It remains unknown if he will gain any more attention from the media if he continues to make tweets like this one:

    Image via FreshReport, YouTube

  • Obamacare at Risk of Being Defunded by Republicans

    The new agenda for House Republicans is drawing national attention, after they are pushing legislation introduced Wednesday in an attempt to defund Obamacare. Using the upcoming budget deadline, John Boehner, R-Ohio, is one that is leading this effort, taking one more stab to do away with President Barack Obama’s health care reform law.

    “We’re going to continue to do everything we can to repeal the president’s failed healthcare law,” Boehner told reporters on Capitol Hill. He stated the House will pass a resolution “that locks the sequester savings in and defunds Obamacare.”

    This agenda is to appease conservatives who vowed to force a government shutdown unless Obamacare was defunded, but is destined to die in the Democratic Senate. This feud to fund the government between House Republicans, Senate Democrats and Obama has the potential for a government shut down, with the September 30 deadline approaching.

    “There should be no conversation about shutting the government down,” Boehner said. “That’s not the goal here.”

    House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Wednesday that Republicans would move to delay Obamacare for a year, which is a seemingly simple offer, to negotiate for a raising the debt limit in order to avoid government shut down at the end of September.
    “In the coming week we will unveil a plan to extend our nation’s ability to borrow, while delaying Obamacare and protecting working, middle-class families from its horrific effects,” Cantor said.

    Despite more than 40 attempts to vote to repeal the 2010 law, Republicans are live up to their vows to “repeal and replace” the existing law, using any means necessary.

    “You have never seen in the history of the United States the debt ceiling or the threat of not raising the debt ceiling being used to extort a president or a governing party,” Obama told the group of business leaders. He said such a precedent would “fundamentally change how American government functions.”

  • John Boehner backs Obama for Military Action in Syria

    Despite many constituents strongly disagreeing, John Boehner has verbally backed Obama after he called for American military action in Syria after learning Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, possible use of chemical weapons in the country’s civil war.

    “I’m going to support the president’s call for action. I believe my colleagues should support this call for action,” Boehner said. “We have enemies around the world that need to understand that we’re not going to tolerate this type of behavior.”

    “The use of these weapons has to be responded to and only the United States has the capability and capacity to stop Assad and to warn others around the world that this type of behavior is not going to be tolerated,” said Boehner after meeting with Obama. “I appreciate the president reaching out to me and my colleagues in the Congress over the last couple of weeks. I also appreciate the president asking the Congress to support him in this action. This is something that the United States as a country needs to do. I’m going to support the president’s call for action. I believe my colleagues should support this call for action. We have enemies around the world that need to understand that we’re not going to tolerate this type of behavior.[emphasis me] We also have allies around the world and allies in the region who also need to know that America will be there and stand up whether it is necessary.”

    Other conservatives, among others, are urging support for military action including Nancy Pelosi and Eric Cantor.

    Pelosi sent a letter to her colleagues Tuesday urging support for military action saying, “It is in our national interest to respond to the Syrian government’s unspeakable use of chemical weapons.”

    President Barack Obama was confident that Congress would pass a resolution. Obama said, “So long as we are accomplishing what needs to be accomplished, which is to send a clear message to Assad, to degrade his capabilities to use chemical weapons, not just now but also in the future.”

    After congress returns from summer recess next week, the house and senate will be expected to vote on whether or not they will also be in agreement with Boehner, Pelosi and Cantor, in their task to seek approval of the military action.

    Main Article Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

  • House Will Vote To Repeal Obamacare On July 11th

    The Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, Eric Cantor, has announced that shortly after the Republican led house comes back from its Independence day recess, there will be another vote on the repeal of Obamacare. This comes after the Supreme Court voted to uphold the controversial bill 5-4.

    When asked about the new vote, Canter said: “The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold ObamaCare is a crushing blow to patients throughout the country. ObamaCare has failed to keep the President’s basic promise of allowing those who like their health care to keep it, while increasing costs and reducing access to quality care for patients.”

    The vote will take place on July 11th and, as Eric Cantor put it, “will clear the path for ‘patient-centered reforms that lower costs and increase choice.’” This vote will pass, but will more than likely not make it out of the Senate. If for some reason it does, then there is no way that Obama will sign the repeal to his signature piece of legislation. This vote is mostly seen as a political move in advance of the November elections which will now be all about Obamacare.

  • Citizen Cosponsor Facebook App Brings Congress To Your Newsfeed

    House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced a new initiative today that looks to improve the communication and understanding between Facebook’s legion of users and the legislative branch of the United States government. The new Facebook app, Citizen Cosponsor, allows Facebook users to easily access information pertaining to congressional bills, see which member(s) of Congress sponsored the bill, where the bill is in the legislative process, and then see who among Facebook is a “cosponsor.”

    Despite what the name seems to imply, Facebook users aren’t literally cosponsoring the bills in the same way that members of Congress sponsor a bill (and thank heavens for that). It’s more of a way to see what kind of bills get support from the public while allowing the public supporters to share with their Facebook friends what bills they support. Users of the app can see what bills are currently being discussed by visiting the Majority Leader’s website and browsing through the list.

    Built upon Facebook’s Open Graph, Citizen Cosponsor, which was first picked up by All Facebook, is an inventive way for Congress to invite the public to be closer to the legislative process. Additionally, if you want to follow updates on a specific bill, you can click “Keep Me Informed” and you will receive updates regarding the bill’s activity in the House.

    Leader Cantor said the following via statement:

    “We are dedicated to modernizing the way Congress connects with the American people. Citizen Cosponsor breaks ground by directly connecting people with the work the House is doing every day. With the simple click of a button, Citizen Cosponsors will become a part of the deliberative process, using the same social networks they already rely on in their everyday lives.

    “Effectively communicating with the people we represent is a fundamental responsibility of what we do as elected officials. Since I came to Congress, I have made it my priority to open the channels of communication between constituents and their Members of Congress. I am proud of the continued progress the House Republican Majority has made toward increasing transparency, visibility and participation in the legislative process.”

    Additionally, Leader Cantor provided the following video statement announcing Citizen Cosponsors.

  • FBI Arrests Man Who Made YouTube Threat Against Cantor

    A Philadelphia man has been arrested and charged for threatening to kill Republican Party Whip Eric Cantor in a video on YouTube, according to the FBI.

    Norman Leboon, 33, threatened to kill congressman Cantor and his family in a YouTube video uploaded sometime in late March. In the video Leboon allegedly said: "Remember, Ericour judgment time, the final Yom Kippur has been given." The video then refers to Cantor as "Lucifer, you’re a pig you’re an abomination."

    US-Attorney-Michael-Levy "The Department of Justice takes threats against government officials seriously, especially threats to kill or injure others," said United States Attorney Michael L. Levy.

    "Whether the reason for the threat is personal or political, threats are not protected by the First Amendment and are crimes."

    Cantor’s office issued this statement about the threats. "Over the weekend, Congressman Cantor was notified by law enforcement that a threat was made against his life. Law enforcement officials informed Congressman Cantor that the threat was determined as credible and they were responding accordingly. The Congressman was later notified that an arrest was made and a suspect was in custody."

    "At this time, the Congressman will have no further comment on this threat or the investigation, and asks that inquiries be directed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Congressman is deeply grateful for, and would like to dearly thank all local and federal law enforcement involved, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia and Philadelphia, U.S. Capitol Police and the Henrico Police Department in Virginia."

    If convicted of all charges Leboon faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and fine of up to $500,000.