Eric Cantor and the 7th District of Virginia (first published in 2011)

  

"I published the post below in 2011.  It seems to have been prescient.  I wrote that the existing 7th District was a bad fit for Cantor. Whoever gerrymandered the district into its present shape missed the fact that all those yeoman type Virginians living along the corridor NW from Ashland to Warrenton to Page County would inevitably start to "smell a rat" in terms of having Cantor as their rep in Washington. All you had to do to learn the truth was to "hang out" in local places like Clark Brothers, "BBQ Country" across the road and all down along the road toward Richmond. Cantor lost because he was perceived to be "not from here."" pl

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"Do people in Eric Cantor's district really want him as their congressman?  It seems like a mis-match.  Cantor is a very smooth Richmond lawyer type.  As the saying goes, "butter wouldn't melt in his mouth."  He is always well spoken and elequent, well dressed and is well heeled.

The district is not like that.  It stretches from the northern and western exurbs of Richmond far to the northwest through farm country, up through the Piedmont and over the Blue Ridge to include Page County in the Luray arm of the Shenandoah Valley.  If I am not mistaken, Clark Brothers is in Cantor's district.  The district is 80% white.  Incomes are modest.  The population is mainly people whose ancestors have lived there for a long time.  Typically, they live in small, well kept houses sited for a view of the countryside.  The houses average around $130,000 in price.  This is the heartland of the country of Jefferson's Virginia yeomen.

How does Eric Cantor fit into this?  Is this story altogether about a Richmond machine politician holding office because the voters can't accept the idea of voting for a Democrat?  Perhaps it is.

Cantor is now engaged in an attempt to unseat John Boehner from his place as Speaker of the House of Representatives.  He is doing this by a maximum display of obstructionism in the process of reaching an agreement on revenues and spending.  This is an agreement sorely needed to keep the federal government from going 'belly up."  Cantor evidently believes that if Boehner and Obama are blocked from reaching an agreement, then the 'tea party" wing of the House Republicans will propel him into the Speaker's chair in 2012.

Is that what the people of the Seventh District want in their representative?  We Virginians have a hard earned reputation for moderation, consideration for others and common sense.  We do not elect extremists or people like Pat Robertson's candidates to major public office.  Is the game that Cantor is playing compatible with that tradition? Is not the greater good the principle that should be followed in this crisis? 

I suppose that the game is rigged in the Virginia Republican Party so that Cantor is assured of the nomination for this "Safe Seat."

In my opinion, an independent should seek to be elected to this seat.  A well to do conservative farmer or a businessman from one of the towns, someone with solid Virginia credentials, U.VA, Virginia Tech, William and Mary, millitary service in his or her background, someone like that could take the seat.

Cantor should be sent home to practise law. " pl 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Cantor

http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/09/does-eric-cantor-have-a-conflict-of-interest-in-debt-ceiling-debate/

Comments

[Fred]

I know of a retired army Colonel who'd be just the representative Virginia deserves to have.

[J]

Colonel,

I'm glad he's not my Congressman. He should be sent home, and then steps should be taken to criminally prosecute for his espionage against U.S..

[Matthew]

"We Virginians have a hard earned reputation for moderation, consideration for others and common sense. We do not elect extremists or people like Pat Robertson's candidates to major public office."

I could say the same for my fellow Texans....but then I'd be lying.

[Patrick Lang]

Matthew

But you are lovable in other ways. pl

[oofda]

Remember when Cantor went to Israel and told Israeli leaders not to mind the President putting pressure on them (Likhudites)- as Cantor and his allies would ensure that they would 'take care' of them. I can't imagine a more egregious example of a politician violtating the principle of 'politics stops at the border' than this. Does he think he is running the the US foreign policy? Agree that he should be sent back to practice law. He does not have the best interests of the US - or the good folk of his district- at heart.
BTW- interesting that Clark Brothers is in his district-Col Lang's point about him being an odd rep of that part of Virginia is spot on.

[Nancy K]

Fred, I thought the same thing.

[VietnamVet]

Colonel,

“Right On”

The question is why so many politicians are being elected who do not serve their constituents best interests.

Americans know this is the case. A June 2011 CBS poll indicates that 66% believe that the rich benefit most from federal government policies verses 4% for the Middle Class. Yet, President Obama and the GOP continue to pander to the wealthy and screw the rest.

I assume it is corporate money and the two party system. But, it all seems to be an inadequate explanation for why there is this push for austerity and a default that is guaranteed to collapse the American economy.

[Jay McAnally]

Please, Please, Please.

The MSM glances over Cantor's opportunism almost without comment, yet it's obvious to anyone who cares. It's an embarrassment to a great state.

Please send him back to Richmond.

Please, Please, Please...

[Patrick Lang]

Jay Macanally

I guess you live in the 7th District. I looked at the map. It appears that Clark Brothers is just outside his district which starts down around Remington. pl

[Phil Giraldi]

oofda - Actually I think he arranged to meet privately with Benjamin Netanyahu about two visits ago and assured him personally not to worry about what the president was likely to do because the Republicans would have his back and would block anything that Israel objected to. As we are not at war with Israel that does not amount to treason, but certainly there must be another word that would be appropriate. At a minimum, he should not be in congress.

[Augustin L]

Col Lang I wonder if this could be considered as treason or just a normal state of affairs but Majority Leader Eric Cantor has a $15,000 Short On The US Dollar Collapsing
this is according to some disclosed govt document Now
I want to know why House Majority Leader Eric Cantor REALLY walked away from debt-limit negotiations last week? Because he has a financial stake in our nation defaulting on its debt. According to Cantor’s latest financial disclosures – he has a $15,000 short on the dollar – in other words, a $15,000 bet that the US dollar’s value will plummet. And there’s no better way to cause the dollar to lose value – than to ensure America defaults on its debt. Cantor’s office dismissed concerns over what appears to be a blatant conflict of interest – arguing that the short bet is just part of a “balanced portfolio.” I’ve been saying Republicans want to crash the economy to make President Obama look bad in 2012 – but it appears they also want to crash the economy to pad their own bank accounts as well.

[R Whitman]

At the risk of stirring up old wounds, we may have a case of revisionist history. I remember that this area was the center of "Massive Resistance" to the US Government and school integartion in the 1960's.

[J]

Colonel,

I fear that your state's Representative Cantor is just like the majority (I can only think of one that actually acts like a real down to earth person that currently represents my state) of the Congressional that Representatives in my state, the have 'acquired' the attitude that they're 'royalty' and therefore deserve our citizen bowing and scraping and groveling before their criminally negligent Congressional personae.

And not to be outdone we have a criminally negligent White House with President Obama's 'we can't guarantee Social Security checks next month'. Excuse me Mr. President, you said wahat?

That Social Security money is the property of those workers who have paid into Social Security, those funds are not the President's nor the Congress's slush fund to play with. What they are doing is 'fraud', 'attempted theft', 'stealing', and if one wants to get really serious what they're doing is 'treason' with a capital T (betrayal of trust).

Notice how they try and saddle the 'debt' on the people and say it is the people's responsiblity to pay off/clear off the books. I ask Say whaaaa? If I remember correctly it wasn't the people who screwed things up, it was White Houses and Congresses who would not listen to the people, instead they listened to crooked business leaders and crooked bankers, and followed what the crooks told them or suggest to them that they do.

And why are the American people being saddled with THEIR 'interest' on THEIR criminal malfeasance of the White House and Congresses who have and continue to steal/appropriate the people's money without the people's input or consent? Remember that the majority of those sitting in the Congress listens to their Congressional Constituents, instead they blow off the people who elected them to the office in the first place.

We have successive White Houses that think they are American Kings, and we have successive Congresses that think they are American royalty.

[Patrick Lang]

RWhitman

Which wounds would those be? I am joking. pl

[Bart]

Fred, Colonel Lang did not include VMI in his list of credentials.

[Patrick Lang]

Bart

Modesty forbade that. I do not live in the district and would not want to be a congressman. pl

[walrus]

IMHO, Col. Lang would be a great Congressman, however I believe it is too much of a sacrifice to even consider his nomination. Why should he be asked to sully himself?

Remember that the power of AIPAC is not that it can make anyone win an election, it's power is in its ability via PAC's and other devices to ensure that a candidate will lose.

Were our leader to stand, AIPAC would thoughtfully arrange for us to be informed that:

a) He was reloading magazines for Lt. Calley at My Lai.

b) He is still wanted for sexual assault of a hotel maid in Israel.

c) He slapped a shell-shocked soldier in a Vietnamese field hospital and told him to "snap out of it".

d) And of course his birth certificate is forged, he was born in Cuba.

And all allegations would be backed by "witnesses".

No one dares stand against Cantor except another zionist.

[Medicine Man]

Phil Giraldi:

I think "fifth columnist" fits reasonably well, although I'm also fond of "patronage seeker".

[Patrick Lang]

RWhitman

Was it evidence of "original sin" that many people in Virginia resisted "Brown versus the Board of Education?" pl

[mbrenner]

DEBT ROULETTE

Washington is hyper-ventilating at the prospect of a failure to meet the deadline for raising the national debt limit. Technically speaking, that indeed would create a grave situation with immeasurable consequences. For the United States will have no legal authority to pay its bills – including the interest on its trillions of debt. A large portion of that debt is in the form of Treasury securities and is held by foreign governments, most notably China and Japan. The commonly held view is that this dire state of affairs is due to partisan party conflict with both Democrats and Republicans holding the national interest hostage to their own selfish interests. This depiction of things, which is purveyed by all the media, has been reinforced even by President Obama – for his own political reasons in posing as the intrepid defender of the national welfare who stands above the squabbling politicians on both sides. The White House imprimatur notwithstanding, this is a false representation of what is happening.

The grim truth is that one political party (and only one) – the Republican – has broken with the ethic of responsibility that until now has governed thinking and behavior on the public debt. The Federal government’s obligation to meet its financial obligations to honor debt never before has been questioned. The notion that some partisan faction should threaten the solvency of the United States by blocking technical requirements unless its parochial aims were accepted did not enter the mind of legislators.

Times have changed. The radical reactionaries who now control the Republican Party (e.g. Eric Cantor) are threatening in effect to bring down the financial structure of the United States. They insist that their agenda of drastic measures to return the American economy, and large swaths of social policy too, to the postulated heyday of the 1920s be enacted. Remarkably, they have succeeded in getting the country to see this reckless ploy in terms of a contest between the two parties rather than as the Republicans playing fast and loose with America’s health and well-being. Moreover, they have intimidated the Democrats in Congress into a reticence that permits the Republicans to get away with this historic and unprecedented power grab.

As for President Obama, he has played along insofar as he has declined to condemn in stark terms the Republican blackmail - or even state what their reckless game is. Instead, he has accepted the formulation that the crisis is all about budget deficits and the needs for long-term spending cuts. This makes no sense politically or in terms of economic policy since it is a guaranteed formula for ensuring a decade at least of economic anemia. It seems that his overriding consideration is that this spin strategy will improve his chances for reelection. Whether that appraisal is correct or not, it does not auger well for the health of the Republic.

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[Hank Foresman]

Colonel, if I may enter this debate. A little history might be in order. What is now the 7th District was originally part of the 8th District represented by Judge Smith and the 4th represented by Watkins Abbitt. The 7th was the Shenandoah Congressional District. It ran from Winchester to the Southern border of Rockbridge County. It was generally represented by Democrats except for one Republican Judge Paul (later Federal District Court Judge) through the 1960s. Among those who were Democratic Congressmen were A. Willis Robertson (father of Pat), Burr Harrison, and John O. Marsh, Jr. When Marsh stepped down he was replaced by J. Kenneth Robinson the first Republican elected since the 1928 election. Since then Republicans have represented the 7th District. Mr. Whitman was correct that what is now Cantor's 7th District was the heart of Massive Resistance. The Congressional District that were strongest supporters of Massive Resistance were the 4th Watkins Abbitt, the 8th Judge Howard Smith, the 5th Bill Tuck, and the 3rd J. Vaughan Gray. These Districts and part of the 6th, Represented by J. Lindsey Almond and later William Poff were where Massive Resistance was the strongest. The 1st and 2nd District represented by Tom Downing (VMI 40) and J. Porter Hardy were as Conservative as the aforementioned districts but with smaller African-American populations Massive Resistances did not engender the smoke and fire found in other Congressional Districts.

While I would concur with your assessment of Representative Cantor, I would argue that his views are generally representative of his constituents, whose as you alluded too are white, rural, and conservative and who have traditionally had a strong suspicion of Federal authority. He is a slick Richmond lawyer, but so too was George Allen. Slick Richmond lawyers with ambition have traditionally found advancement either though the law or politics.

V/R
Hank

[graywolf]

Why do leftists have such short memories?
Convenience or dishonesty?
Any of you remember Nancy Pelosi (who used the USAF as her personal shuttle service) meeting in Syria with Assad and telling him to ignore Bush?
How about John Kerry (Vietnam "hero") stumbling around the ME making up policy along the way?

[Charles I]

Augustin L, the entire FED & monetary policy activity are the short of the US$, the country needs to build wealth, ergo a profitable short is patriotic.

Of course it doesn't create jobs, just money.

[highlander]

I think it is pretty slick on the part of the Jewish liberal establishment.

They create and finance Barry Obama and every other liberal fruit ball they can elect, and screw with the republicans anyway they can.

Buutttt, just in case, they have Cantor as their rising GOP star, just to have all the bases covered.

In addition, I would say after multiple election victories, Cantor just might actually have a little more in common with those Va rednecks, than you DC area sophisticates.

[Twit]

I'm a native Arlingtonian who went to W&M and now lives along one of the 7 bends. Ironically I guess, but Richmond has always seemed to be the most un-Virginian place in Virginia. The established residents of the Fan are among the most unrepentent racists I've ever met (i.e. almost as bad as your average white Bostonian), and the inequity of the city is staggering. The commonwealth is prone to moderation as our gracious host says, but from my experience Richmond is the exception that proves the rule.