… The ironies of recent days are many. If someone had previously suggested that, one way or another, one of the top four Republicans in the House would be toppled, who would have guessed it would be Cantor, the most conservative of the four? And that he would be defeated for not being conservative enough? The suggestion would have been laughable. …
One of the things being said is that the growing meme of the GOP establishment beating the tea party has taken a hit with Cantor’s loss. But in some ways, that narrative was simply wrong to begin with. If establishment Republicans are rhetorically and even substantively meeting the tea party more than halfway on politics and policy, are they really beating it? They may not be joining the tea party, but they are hardly taking the movement on. …
More broadly, Cantor’s loss signals that the chances of compromising on anything remotely controversial for the duration of the Obama administration are even lower than before. CONT.
Charlie Cook