Welcome to the newest G-O-TEA sensation. Seemingly out of nowhere, Dave Brat emerged to make national headlines. And House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's (R-Virginia) political career is suddenly over.
Already, the G-O-TEA's finest talking heads are proclaiming today as "The Death of #Shamnesty". Are they correct?
Not really. And here's why. Comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) was already going nowhere fast before yesterday. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has already made that clear. So has Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin). And so has their dear loyal local lackey, Rep. Joe Heck (R-Henderson). They don't actually cherish family values. They just want to remain on good terms with the 21st Century Know Nothings.
House Republican "leaders" never had any real intention of giving CIR a proper floor vote. HR 15 has been sitting there, just waiting for action. Yet every chance Republican "leaders" have been given to act on CIR, they've instead tried to blame someone else for their own inaction.
Yet even as House Republican "leaders" (such as Cantor) were obstructing CIR to death, they were rallying around the "imagery of reform". They were using "softer language". They were "rebranding"...
And even that was too much for the 21st Century Know Nothings. So they rallied around Dave Brat. And they propelled him to victory yesterday.
And now, they're dancing around the corpse of #Shamnesty. There's just one problem with their disgusting happy dance: It's revolting to everyone else. CIR polls well nationwide, even in Virginia's 7th Congressional District. Dave Brat may have capitalized on the 21st Century Know Nothings' unbridled xenophobia in the primary, but his hard line against CIR may hurt him in November.
Rep. Joe Heck should take note of this. Emulating Dave Brat may win him more hard core G-O-TEA fans, but it will lose him general election votes. There truly are consequences to drinking too much of that troublesome "TEA".
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