Controlling the news II: Sanitizing Dave Brat’s win over Eric Cantor

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Most self-described Tea Party Republicans, including Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, have railed against Washington in a general sense without calling out the powerful—often Republican-leaning—groups that wield the most power.

Not Brat
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by Larry Geller

When Eric Cantor unexpectedly lost to Dave Brat, a college professor with only a meager campaign budget, the story that his victory was based on his opposition to immigration reform became a convenient rational for commercial media. It went viral, in a commercial media sort of way, crowding out a more complete view of Brat’s campaign platform. It was also convenient for both political parties to settle on that rational instead of what Brat really was saying.

Why? because Brat’s grassroots campaign actually focused on something else, something that neither Republicans nor Democrats want out there before the voting public: Brat focused on the close ties between Wall Street bankers and politicians of any stripe that have both corrupted our government and destroyed our economy.

Although the press refers to an ecoomic “recovery,” for many of those who listened to and then voted for Brat, the only ones who recovered, because Congress bailed them out, were the already rich bankers. Not the voters. They also remember that the banks kicked people out their homes while Washington looked the other way.

Some in the alternative press are on to this, but the commercial press may only find out if, and as, more candidates embrace Brat’s winning message.

But tweets don’t lie (in the sense that they reveal a public conversation). What were people in Virginia talking about? What was Brat talking about? Check the tweets. Or this:

Brat told Internet radio host Flint Engelman that the “number- one plank” in his campaign is “free markets.” Brat went on to explain, “Eric Cantor and the Republican leadership do not know what a free market is at all, and the clearest evidence of that is the financial crisis … When I say free markets, I mean no favoritism to K Street lobbyists.” Banks like Goldman Sachs were not fined for their role in the financial crisis—rather, they were rewarded with bailouts, Brat has said.

[The Nation, Eric Cantor’s Opponent Beat Him by Calling Out GOP Corruption , 6/11/2014]

Check out the story, there’s much more discussion of the Brat that neither Republicans nor Democrats want you to know about.

What does Brat’s election portend? I don’t think anyone can predict yet.

Perhaps it will give other candidates permission to identify the corruption in Congress as they see it.

Perhaps the two parties will make sure that there never is another Brat.

It’s not about immigration. No matter what Fox “News” says.

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