Cantorizing

The historic defeat of  the House majority leader Eric Cantor in a GOPer primary by an unknown tea partier econ professor named--am I making this up?--Brat has the political Internet burning feverishly.  Theories abound, though facts often intervene.  Low turnout?  Low numbers certainly--this political earthquake caused by 65,000 voters--but turnout itself appears to be 50% higher than the last primary. Cantor's pollster (who predicted a 35 point victory and got a double digit defeat) blamed it on Democratic votes but that's already been shown to be false.

Was it the winner's harping on anti-immigration?  That's likely to be a frequent political conclusion, but a Public Policy poll in this district shows overwhelming support for immigration reform, and deep dissatisfaction with Eric Cantor.

Jonathan Bernstein sees the future consequence as GOPer  pols taking primaries much more seriously--and probably going far more to the right in order to neutralize tea party challengers. And despite what that is likely to do to the party's presidential prospects, that could be the general result:

The real surprise would be if Tuesday's earthquake resulted in some serious attempt by mainstream conservatives to confront the radicals and the Tea Partyers. More likely, it means more extreme rhetoric, more attempts to avoid anything even hinting at compromise, more power within the party for attention-seeking talk show hosts and members of Congress willing to be entirely irresponsible and to make irresponsible choices (hopeless and pointless impeachments, government shutdowns without reasonable leverage, messing with the debt limit, and whatever they come up with next).

Andy Borowitz caught this idea and ran with it, in a not too fanciful direction:

The morning after Tuesday’s stunning Tea Party victory in Virginia, House Republicans unveiled a sweeping new legislative agenda, proposing an end to Social Security, a return to child labor, and unprecedented gun rights for pets.

“The Republican Party is the party of common sense,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). “And such common-sense proposals as electronic ankle bracelets for immigrant babies and a barbed-wire fence with Canada are long overdue.”

In practical terms, even if Brat gets elected (not a totally sure thing, although the Democrat in the race is even more unknown) his own influence will probably turn out to be nil, according to Ana Marie Cox. "As an economist and paid follower of Ayn Rand, he will face the added difficulty of not being a very good economist."

This election result, however locally determined it turns out to be, does seem part of a pattern of a certain segment of the population becoming crazier, while finding legitimacy in the Republican party. Politically it seems to insure that the Republicans have not yet hit bottom.  The cherry-picked outrages that liberal sites expose is one thing; that they have been accompanied in the past week or so almost daily by gunfire and gun deaths in public places is more than disquieting.