Eric Cantor Defeat a Victory for Ted Cruz?

By Steven T. Dennis

Posted June 10, 2014 at 11:39pm

Sen. Ted Cruz’s staff appeared to be in a celebratory mood Tuesday after Eric Cantor’s shocking loss Tuesday night, and that shouldn’t come as a surprise.

VA #MakesDCListen

— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) June 11, 2014

Is DC Listening yet? #MakeDCListen

— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) June 11, 2014

Cruz has frequently been a thorn in House GOP leadership’s side, even recently consorting with ForAmerica, a group headed by Brent Bozell, which as explicitly called for Cantor and the rest of the leadership to be tossed overboard for months.

Cruz, who has taken to having secret meetings with small groups of mutiny-minded House conservatives and helped torch GOP leadership’s immigration principles earlier this year, appeared on a conference call with Bozell in April.

When asked how they can help Cruz get Republican leaders to stay true to their promises, Cruz called for “a grass-roots tsunami.”

“If you look to Washington, you will be nothing but demoralized and despondent,” Cruz said. “The greatest divide we have in this country is between entrenched politicians in both parties and the American people.”

Those entrenched politicians “aren’t listening and they’re not going to,” Cruz said.

“We need to make it politically more risky to do the wrong thing,” he said.

Cruz appeared to get his wish Tuesday night.