T. Becket Adams
The Washington Examiner
6/11/2014
A Tea Party candidate soundly defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., on Tuesday, sending shockwaves through the Republican establishment and the Democratic Party.
And Dave Brat, the 52-year-old chairman of the Randolph-Macon College Department of Economics and Business in Ashland, Va., staged the huge upset without any help from major Tea Party organizations.
But this troublesome fact hasn’t stopped certain so-called Tea Party groups from capitalizing on Brat’s victory, declaring enthusiastically that Cantor’s defeat equals a Tea Party insurgency…
…And although Brat’s shocking victory can certainly be attributed to the tireless work of grassroots activists in his district, it’s important to remember that the aforementioned outside Tea Party groups offered him zero support.
The complete article is at The Washington Examiner.
Related: Meet Dave Brat’s 23-year-old campaign manager
“…You just tell the truth, you be positive, you talk about the issues.” …
How the Dream Act may have led to Eric Cantor’s loss
…(Laura) Ingraham said the immigration reform debate helped boost Brat and is a lesson to the GOP leadership that has pushed immigration reform over the objections of its most conservative faction.
Opponents say the GOP leadership has caved to big businesses, who want to expand the workforce through comprehensive immigration reform in order to lower wages.
Voters, Ingraham suggested on Fox News on Tuesday night, “are really tired of business as usual in Washington and the establishment mindset that shoving down this amnesty deal is the only way for the Republican party to survive.”
She added, “This is a massive wakeup call to the Republican party. If they actually choose to wake up.”…
Update: Meanwhile, from the geniuses at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Cantor Lost Because He Wasn’t More Pro-Amnesty (video)
…”The central policy issue in this race has become Cantor’s absolute determination to pass an amnesty bill. Cantor is the No. 1 cheerleader in Congress for amnesty,” Brat wrote in an op-ed for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “This is not the Republican way to fix our economy and labor markets.”…
Update 2: WATCH Dave Brat’s victory speech – “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (video)
“Dollars do not vote: you DO. This campaign was about just basic American values and virtues right from the beginning, and the basic premise is power belongs to the people…The miracle that just happened…this is a miracle from God…”
