Brat Beats Cantor

++Sounds like a bad John Stewart skit. Or a Henry Youngman joke.

++Did Cantor's religion play a role in his defeat? Yes. Next question.

++One of the most striking things about Cantor's defeat is that the entire congressional GOP is now Christian. Take the Wayback Machine--Colin Powell was supposed to be the first African-American President, Liddy Dole, the first woman President and Eric Cantor, the first Jewish Speaker of the House.Remember Jacob Javits, Warren Rudman,and thought people like Alan Greenspan, Milton Friedman,Irving Kristol and junior. When you are claiming to be aiming at a goal of being a Big Tent party,it doesn't bode well to omit your Jewish past. 

++Eric Cantor was in charge of outreach to recruit Jewish Republicans and to be the go-to guy for Jewish philanthropic organizations. He also was the one who arranged all those Spring congressional tours to Israel. 

++Below the radar last night, something else happened. The GOP has been trying to recruit Southern African-Americans to run as Republicans on the grounds that they so dominate Southern politics that this gives African-Americans a rung up in their states. This was particularly true in South Carolina. Last night every African-American Republican, who took the chance at running, lost.

++Throw in the fact that Cantor lost on a single issue--immigration reform--and you are faced with the quite open reality that the 2014 GOP is running on racism--against immigrants, against African Americans through pledges to cut the welfare net and voter suppression, and of course that old stand-by the war against women.

++The question I have is in response to Nancy Pelosi, who said everything has now changed for 2014. How? And what are the Democrats going to do with it? LESSON: ORGANIZATION BEATS MONEY. 

++The atmosphere has gotten as ugly as 2010 and the GOP has moved further to the right. 

++We should not mourn Eric Cantor's unprecedented loss. He campaigned to block everything President Obama proposed from day one when he met to urge Wall Street not to invest while President Obama was in office. He was the architect of the Policy of No. He killed the Grand Bargain. He killed one budget deal. His voting record was as conservative as Senator Imhof from Oklahoma. He was thought to be a sell-out because he voted for the raise in the debt ceiling. That tells you where the rest of the party is at.

++This morning is all about Cantor and the struggle for power within the House, where plotters met all night when they heard Cantor has been slain.

++At least Jennifer Rubin didn't disappoint. She claims this is no big deal because "reform conservatism", which Cantor was again the go-to guy on will still live on. 

++Despite the early morning spin about public opinion polls and positive views on immigration reform, I believe it is dead. What that means is that the Senate bill dies with this Congress and it is unlikely to be revisited until 2016.