Cross posted from Blue Virginia, where we'll keep posting updates like this one about how this "has shocked the so-called establishment in Virginia's GOP to its core."
Ruh roh, looks like Eric Can'tor has a little problem in his own district (Virginia's 7th Congressional District, which just held a Convention to select a Chair). Such a sad, sad, sad shame. ;) For more, see The Bull Elephant blog, which had reported a bit earlier this afternoon:
Eric Cantor and Dave Brat speaking. Cantor getting booed, criticizing how it’s easy to throw stones from ivory towers…he’s really, really hitting back at Brat. I’ve never seen Cantor this forceful. Angry even.
IMHO, he shouldn’t get in the mud…makes him look smaller. But kudos to him for engaging in the back and forth. Folks in the crowd yelling out at him. Big boos when he tries to call Brat a liberal.
This speech is going to make the papers.
More popcorn, please! :) In all seriousness, though, it looks like the GOP "establishment" hasn't gotten the Tea Party completely under control yet, as they've been pounding their chests about for months now. Such a shame, huh?
UPDATE: Check it out from Republican blogger Lynn R. Mitchell (she's referring to Tea Partiers who "came in by the busload Saturday morning to vote at the 7th Congressional District Convention in Richmond"):
When the vote was announced, they cheered. They screamed. They high-fived. They danced around wearing their t-shirts and lapel stickers. They were overheard saying, “They said it couldn’t be done!” They gathered in groupings for photos holding signs.
Hope they are ready to work as hard as Linwood and his 7th Congressional District Committee.
Today, the Democrats’ grins got wider as they watched the continuing implosion of the Republican Party of Virginia. One young black man wearing Cantor stickers, after the vote was announced, turned toward the door and said, “I’m done.”
Wonder how much damage has just been done….
UPDATE #2: Republican Party activist, blogger and former GOP candidate
Brian Schoeneman comments, "
The lunatics are now running the asylum down in the 7th...The folks down there consider Cantor a liberal. That's why he got booed...And that's insane." It sure is. Eric Can'tor is perhaps not as far right as Attila the Hun or whoever, but he's close. Let's just be crystal clear about this: there's nothing "liberal" about Eric Can'tor. Zilch.
UPDATE #3: The new Republican chair of Rep. Eric Cantor's 7th district had this to say about Cantor - "Notice I have NOT addressed Mr. Cantor as 'Representative Cantor', because I do not feel he properly represents us, in many ways.!" This should be fun to watch.
UPDATE #4: Gruber also had this to say:
I’m sure he’d like the glory of continuing to be district chair and driving that big black SUV that’s parked out front with the VA7GOP license plate on it. Looks like a government Nazi car. Eric Cantor drives one. Secret Service drives them. Big black, you’ve seen it, obviously, in some kind of government film.
Ee gads.
UPDATE #5: Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) says:
I was extremely disappointed to hear of the results of today's 7th district Republican Convention. Linwood Cobb has served our party well for years, and he deserved to be re-elected as the 7th district's Republican Chair.
Clearly, there is a battle taking place for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. We are seeing this battle play out all across our state. While the voice of every Republican should be heard, our challenge is to figure out how to be a conservative party, without allowing the most extreme voices of the day to control our party and determine its future direction.
I remain committed to aggressive efforts to reform the Republican Party and get it back to a more mainstream place. If we cannot accomplish this, we will drive away more and more traditional Republicans and it will become almost impossible for us to reach out to the broader cross section of Virginians whose support we need to win elections and earn the right to lead.
UPDATE #6: Also check out
this comment:
I was at that meeting today; it was ugly.
The sulfuric stench of the unruly, disrespectful and unwashed rednecks and anti-Semites supporting Gruber and Brat turned my stomach. The 7th District was over-run by that lot. And their victory is the Republican Party of Virginia's great LO$$ in Cobb's defeat today.
God Save America and the VA Republican Party.
