by Lowell
I was just thinking, Virginia is the “birthplace of presidents” — and also of some of the craziest members of the U.S. House of Representatives. That, in turn, is a result of the insanely gerrymandered districts that make it essentially impossible for Democrats to beat even far-right extremists like Dave Brat (or Morgan Griffith or Bob Goodlatte or whoever). Those same insanely gerrymandered districts also mean that the ONLY way a Republican incumbent will be defeated is by a challenge from their far right. That’s exactly what happened to Eric Cantor, who was super conservative by almost any definition, except perhaps for the Tea Party’s.
Anyway, check out this debate between one of the few surviving “moderate” Republicans (note: actually, Charlie Dent is quite conservative, only “moderate” by today’s U.S. political standards, in which we have one far-right party and one centrist party) and one…well, wild-eyed, bomb-throwing, Ayn Rand-worshipping nut from Virginia. If nothing else, it illustrates what we’re up against with people like Brat, the people who vote for the Brats of the world, and the corporate media which won’t call out these extremists for what they really are. God, what a mess.
P.S. Hugh Hewitt makes a good point about the so-called “Freedom Caucus,” that “there are like 15 of you.” It’s also hilarious to see Hewitt try to pin Brat down on whether or not he’d support even a super-conservative like Paul Ryan for Speaker. Note that Brat doesn’t allow himself to get pinned down. That’s right, even Paul Freakin’ Ryan might not be right wing enough for Dave Brat and his ilk!
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