Cantor

After seeing that Eric Cantor had been primaried by a Tea Party candidate, it certainly seemed like a big deal - articles referred to it as an “earthquake,” a “volcano.” It reminded me of when Tip O’Neill was taken out in 1994, and I was going to make a comment about how rare it is that such a major change happens, and here it is 20 years later.

Well, to start, my memory is clearly flawed. Tip O’Neill retired in 1987, and was not  electorally otherwise defeated, in either a primary or general election. It was Democratic Speaker Tom Foley who was defeated in the 1994 election, which resulted in Newt Gingrich being the first Republican speaker in 40 years. And considering Cantor is House Majority Leader, not Speaker, it’s not quite as significant.  The Speaker won’t change, excepting the very unlikely case of the Republicans losing big in the fall. There will still be a House Majority leader - just not Cantor.  

The most telling note to me, though, was in this article, where the author cannot even FIND an earlier example of a loss in the primary by a Majority leader. Maybe it is a big deal. 

In any case, seems a fine and appropriate time to pull out this well-worn quote:

In retrospect, the spark might seem as ominous as a financial crash, as ordinary as a national election, or as trivial as a Tea Party. It could be a rapid succession of small events in which the ominous, the ordinary and the trivial are commingled.

The Fourth Turning (1997), Chapter 10