Why I Voted Against Eric Cantor

It seems that the whole world is talking about the Cantor election right now.  Well, I live in Cantor’s district and I voted yesterday.  I had a really hard time deciding who to vote for and I usually don’t.  This one was tough.

I didn’t do it over immigration.  I didn’t do it because he wasn’t conservative enough.  I generally like Cantor.  There was a letter to the editor in the local paper that almost convinced me to stick with him.  The LTE correctly pointed out that as Majority Leader, he has a lot of power and that power is good for the locals here in the 7^th district.  It is also cool to have a generally conservative guy with that much power and in line to become the next Speaker.  That almost got my vote.

But it didn’t and here is why.  Cantor has irritated me a number of times in the last several months.  He talks a good conservative game, but he and Boehner have missed several opportunities to hold Obama’s feet to the fire.  Yes, they have hearings, but that is it.  Where is the actual action against the Administration on the IRS scandal, Benghazi or the VA system?  It is all just hearings and bluster.  Nobody has been prosecuted and likely never will. 

So even with this, I was willing to hold my nose and vote for him.  I thought that maybe, he really did understand political realities better than me and that he was making decisions that while I didn’t agree with them, at least they were principled.

Then I got his campaign literature.  It was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen.  He suddenly decided to sound tough on these issues when I knew he wasn’t.  Worse yet, he called his opponent a liberal and implied that since he is a college professor that he must not understand how politics really works.  He used the terms “ivory tower” and “liberal” and none of it was true.  It was slimy and disgusting.  It was then that I realized that he really is the “establishment” that needs replaced.

I voted for a guy named Brat.  I know he will not be in a leadership position any time soon.  I can live with that.  I hope the GOP figures out what happened pretty quickly and don’t throw him to the wolves in the general election in November (they can’t be that stupid, can they?).

 

I didn’t so much vote for Brat as I did against Cantor.  I don’t want to be represented by a liar and by a person who can not or will not stand up to Obama on the IRS scandal or any of the other idiocy that we see today.  I am ready to be represented by a man of principle.  I hope that is what I get.