Civil War Continues in Virginia GOP - Cantor Heckled by Christofascists/Tea Party

Just as the national Republican Party finds itself struggling with insurgent lunatics from the Christofascist/Tea Party elements, the Virginia GOP is seeing itself torn apart by these same toxic elements.  A fight in Eric Cantor's own home district highlights the problem that the growing insanity of the "godly folk" who too often are allowed to hide behind the Tea Party moniker.  That the second most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives cannot control the crazy elements in his own district speaks to the level of the swamp fever afflicting the GOP.   The Washington Post has details on the illness afflicting the Virginia GOP.  Here are some excerpts:

SHORT PUMP, VA. — Just a few miles from his family home, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) felt the wrath of the tea party Saturday, when activists in his congressional district booed and heckled the second-most powerful House Republican.

They also elected one of their own to lead Virginia’s 7th Congressional District Republican Committee, turning their back on Cantor’s choice for a post viewed as crucial by both tea party and establishment wings in determining control of the fractured state GOP.

Former lieutenant governor Bill Bolling, pushed out of last year’s governor’s race by a similar party schism, said he was “extremely disappointed” by the results of the vote, in which longtime Cantor loyalist and incumbent Linwood Cobb was unseated by tea party favorite Fred Gruber.

“Clearly, there is a battle taking place for the heart and soul of the Republican Party,” Bolling said in a statement. “While the voice of every Republican should be heard, our challenge is to figure out how to be a conservative party, without allowing the most extreme voices of the day to control our party and determine its future direction.”

Cantor appeared with his family at the event, where Republicans had packed the house. He was there in part to address his own reelection prospects. He faces David Brat, a tea-party backed opponent, in a June 10 primary that will be open to all voters in the district.

Any sign that Cantor’s support has slipped among the region’s most active Republicans could spell a tougher challenge during next month’s election. And some of the crowd’s reaction Saturday when Cantor took a shot at Brat made clear that the Republican majority leader has not yet fully shored up support.