Eric Cantor thinks you’re the dumbest person on the face of the earth.
Why else would he go on C-Span and try to make the case that the Republican party, the same party who presided over the least job growth of any president’s term, who blew up the deficit with massive tax cuts for the richest, and whose deregulatory policies spiralled into the financial crisis we’re in right now, are somehow positioned to be the “fiscal watchdog” party?
See for yourself:
And the best part of the video? He’s responding to a question about how he’s some kind of contender for the presidential nomination in 2012. Seriously. I’m not joking. Watch it again. You can’t make that kinda stuff up.
At the rate he’s going, he’s going to have to worry about holding it together in 2010 before he even thinks of any kind of promotion. Considering the approval ratings of the House leadership, he’s got a mighty big battle ahead just to stay in Washington with his lobbyist buddies and Britney Spears fundraisers.
All you really need to know about Cantor was said in his 2000 campaign ad, featuring the endorsement of Jim Gilmore. “Eric Cantor is running on the Bush team and will work with George Allen to cut taxes on working families.” Bush/Allen/Cantor – 2012.
Eric Cantor keeps digging that hole deeper. First, he tried to provoke President Obama in to meddling with the Iranian election situation, which would have completely undermined the very same protesters Cantor claims to support. This of course came after fellow neoconservatives publicly backed Ahmadinejad in the election.
Today, Eric Cantor, in response to a non-binding resolution passed by the House of Representatives, said, “I urge President Obama to follow the lead of this House.”
Perhaps Cantor should start checking with his staff before he opens his mouth. The resolution, which is consistent with although a step beyond Obama’s recent rhetoric on Iran, was crafted in a behind-the-scenes meeting with White House staff.
So what has quite literally happened is that the House has followed the lead of President Obama. Perhaps it’s idiotic statements such as this by Eric Cantor that has convinced him not to go on Sunday news shows anymore.
Eric Cantor and his cronies came up with another “plan,” this time for health care. See, they’ve been getting hammered for their flat refusal to come up with anything of substance. So they put their little minds together and came out with…
Well, something. Like their budget proposal with no numbers, this one is also analysis-free. Also, like the their budget non-plan, it consists of three stages.
Cut taxes
?
Success
There are only two real suggestions in it. First is a tax deduction to make it more likely for employers to offer health insurance. Could work. Second, it will allow young adults to stay on their parents’ plan until age 25. That’s something of a start as well.
But really look at it. That’s ALL their plan is. There’s nothing in there to address costs skyrocketing, no mechanism to provide anything close to universal coverage, nothing to ensure that insurance companies will respect their side of the contract, nothing to address the chronically underinsured. It’s really kind of incredible. I hope for their sake that the best and the brightest didn’t work on this garbage.
“We stand with the people of Iran in their struggle to participate in a democratic election and who deserve the right to freely assemble and voice their opposition to its questionable outcome.
“The Administration’s silence in the face of Iran’s brutal suppression of democratic rights represents a step backwards for homegrown democracy in the Middle East. President Obama must take a strong public position in the face of violence and human rights abuses. We have a moral responsibility to lead the world in opposition to Iran’s extreme response to peaceful protests.”
Here’s what Eric Cantor meant:
“Why haven’t we nuked Iran yet?”
This man is so stupid, it’s perverse. The absolute worst thing that could happen is for the United States to firmly get behind the protesters in Iran. The actual demonstrators don’t want it. In fact doing so would undermine their cause, as they would be forever linked to the United States and considered tools of the imperialists. But that’s literally what Eric Cantor and the rest of the disgraced neocons want; they want the demonstrators to be our tools. Only problem is, Iranians themselves don’t want it. Cantor doesn’t actually want to help Iranians discover “homegrown democracy” because, frankly, when have Republicans ever cared about that? No, their goal is to establish American dominance in the region in an effort to sublimate it. But Cantor of course can’t come out and say that, so he couches it in cushy words of support for people he literally wants to take military control of. If you need any further translation
President Obama and his staff are conducting their affairs like the adults they are, not the petulant little children who will use any tragedy, large or small, to advance their own disgraced political causes. Fortunately, we as a country have moved beyond such petty nonsense.
If you’re wondering how the adults deal with such problems, see below.
Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., is complaining on the record that his repeated requests to meet privately with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have been turned away, according to a report in The Hill.
The House minority whip told The Hill: “I have been told that Speaker Pelosi doesn’t like to meet with Republicans … I would say that is the case in my instance. I have put in requests to meet with her and have yet to be responded to.”
Obviously Nancy Pelosi has important business to attend to like running the fucking country, not listening to Eric “Dr. No” Cantor play his broken record over and over and over again.
Adults are in charge now, Eric. Start acting like one. Put your big-boy pants on, stop playing politics, and start finally trying to be part of the solution, not the problem.
Known Liar Eric Cantor went on the TV this morning and embarrassed himself mightily.
See, Republicans have their panties all in a twist over moving terror suspects to Supermax (as in super-maximum-security) prisons in the United States. This is necessary because closing the Guantanamo Bay prison facility will require the suspects to go somewhere. So naturally Republicans are losing their collective shit.
Known Liar Eric Cantor went on MSNBC to talk about this and made this bizarre claim:
We have no judicial precedents for the conviction of someone like this. It is just wrong for us to be bringing these detainees here given the current situation and the unanswered questions. We ought to be putting the safety of American citizens first.
We have many precedents for that. 216 in fact. That’s the number of people in American prisons with ties to international terrorism. In fact nine major terrorism cases have been tried in the Southern District of New York alone. Known Liar Eric Cantor knows this. It’s not a secret. But like everything else, he doesn’t care about the truth because the truth doesn’t help him. Lies do. It’s all a silly little game for him while he and other Republicans either claim outright or insinuate that the plan is to RELEASE suspects in the United States. When it’s pointed out that they are actually to be put in maximum-security prisons, their arguments fall apart. So they lie.
Known Liar Eric Cantor knows the truth but doesn’t care. It’s easier for him to lie for his own political gain.
David Shuster, always reliable for holding clowns like Cantor accountable, featured that same clown today in his “Hypocrisy Watch” segment.
Turns out Cantor and 3 other clowns pitched a little fit when Democrats voted against legislation that incidentally included funding for wars. They whined and whined about Democrats wanting to defund the troops and whatever.
And of course now they’re doing the exact same thing. Read all about Media Matters Action Network’s report on Cantor saying “do as I say, not as I do.”
It never ceases to amaze me that anyone would take Republicans in Congress seriously.
Let’s look at the latest round of proposed budget cuts. First, due to a tragic inability to understand budgetary processes, they made a $317 billion error, and due to a failure to understand what’s already in the budget, they made another $35 billion error.
The $23 billion they actually propose, in the words of Matt Yglesias, would cause devastating damage to the country.” That’s the goal, isn’t it?
– Termination of the Women’s Educational Equity program. The Department of Education program “promotes education equity for women and girls through competitive grants.” In Boehner and Cantor’s proposal, the justification for slashing the program is that it’s “no longer needed.”
– Elimination of the Safe Routes to Schools program. The program “pays for building sidewalks, bike paths and crossing guards.” Not only does the program encourage green community practices, but also aims to increase safety and improve public health.
– Elimination of the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program. The Byrd Honors program provides scholarships to “exceptionally able high school seniors who show promise of continued excellence in postsecondary education.” Boehner and Cantor’s proposal calls it an “ineffective federal education program.”
– Elimination of the Technology Innovation Program. The program supports “high-risk, high-reward, pre-competitive technology development.” According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), it is a key part of ensuring U.S. global competitiveness “through a new emphasis on math, science, engineering, and technology education, and a renewed commitment to basic research.”
And still they wonder why they’re in the minority.
Eric Cantor got all up on his high horse today and released a statement attacking President Obama for his handling of the Iran/Palestine/Israel quandary. If you’d like to waste a whole lot of time reading something unproductive, pointless, and ultimately purely political, you can find it at the above link.
What’s left out is that Cantor has absolutely NO business commenting on foreign policy. Not only does he lack any actual experience at it, but when he’s even tried pretending he knows what he’s talking about, it’s backfired, often gloriously. As Media Matters Action Network, who’s been doing indispensable research on him, has pointed out, Cantor has quite the embarrassing record.
First off, if you liked Bush’s fact-free take on foreign policy, you’ll love Cantor’s. Cantor consistently equated al Qaeda with Iraq which, needless to say, was then and still is completely false. Yet Cantor kept pushing the lie because it helped his cause which was starting a war.
But most tragically, Cantor was on the House Task Force On Terrorism And Unconventional Warfare, and he did nothing until we were attacked. His first press release came out on 9/12/01. Only then did he apparently start caring enough to do something about the problem. He then voted against implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission which included additional funding for places in the United States at risk of terrorism and sanctioning people who transport or sell nuclear material.
And keep in mind, this is the same guy who didn’t understand that in the Constitution of the United States, it is Congress that decides to go to war, not the president. He also thinks whether to go to war should be up to “commanders on the ground.”
This guy is dangerously misinformed. Read the whole document on how delusionally wrong this clown has been. Stick to fundraising, Eric. It’s the one thing you’re good at.
Sorry to harp on the Steve Shannon-Ken “Imaginary Friends” Cuccinelli contest for Attorney General, but since it’s so fun seeing Cuccinelli staffers embarrass themselves in comment threads, I’ll keep it up. Plus, Cantor’s off the radar, 2009 elections gearing up, etc.
A massive and diverse crew of public safety officials and service workers came out to support Steve Shannon in Northern Virginia today. Included were regular Democratic stalwarts like the SEIU Local, Arlington County Commonwealth Attorney Richard Trodden, and Arlington County Commonwealth Attorney Rob Morrogh.
But the bigger story was who else voiced their support for Steve Shannon. The Fairfax Deputy Sheriffs and the Fairfax Coalition of Police were in attendance. Both have previously supported Shannon’s opponent Ken Cuccinelli.
Kevin Pittman, a Fairfax County deputy sheriff and President of the Fairfax Deputy Sheriff’s Coalition said, “Both as a prosecutor and as delegate, Steve has been a champion for public safety, child protection and has a proven record of protecting our communities.”
Ken Cuccinelli serves in Fairfax, currently the Republican state senator in the 37th district. The Sheriffs and Police of Fairfax know him better than anyone else, and they’ve turned on him, switching their allegiance to his opponent.
As you’re probably aware, Eric Cantor news has been slow of late. Congress is out of session, Washington, DC is largely abandoned, and the House has nothing to say on the impending Sonia Sotomayor confirmation.
But we do have some news. Ken Cuccinelli is now officially the nominee for Attorney General in the state of Virginia. I bring this up because it’s important to remember that this is a man who talks to fake animals.
And this is a man who can’t guarantee that he will uphold the laws of Virginia AS ATTORNEY GENERAL.
After you’ve seen these and scared the hell out of yourself imagining that this deranged lunatic who hates the laws of the state he’s supposed to defend, immediately contribute to Steve Shannon. I did! It makes you feel good knowing that your contribution is going to someone who actually believes in upholding the law.
* Provide legal advice and representation to the Governor and executive agencies, state boards and commissions, and institutions of higher education. The advice commonly includes help with personnel issues, contracts, purchasing, regulatory and real estate matters and the review of proposed legislation. The Office also represents those agencies in court.
* Provide written legal advice in the form of official opinions to members of the General Assembly and government officials. * Defend criminal convictions on appeal, and defend the state when prisoners sue concerning their incarceration.
* Defend the constitutionality of state laws when they are challenged in court.
* Enforce state laws that protect businesses and consumers when there are violations. Individual consumer complaints are usually handled by another agency. [emphasis added]
Does this guy really think that a man who doesn’t believe in the laws of the state of Virginia is qualified at all to be Attorney General?
Delegate John O’Bannon, he of the 73rd District in Virginia (Eric Cantor’s old seat), is sending out a flier wherein he takes credit for what he calls “O’Bannon’s budget” which provided funding for all kinds of things like education and health care.
According to a release from Tom Shields’ campaign, O’Bannon fails to mention two pretty huge things. First, he and the rest of the Virginia Republican delegation stood in lockstep AGAINST the president’s recovery package which gave Virginia $1.5 billion to do all of those things that O’Bannon is now taking credit for. It saved 7,000 jobs in Virginia, provided almost $500 million for education, and gave $23.6 million to save the jobs of numerous police officers.
It also conveniently covers up the fact that John O’Bannon worked with the rest of the Republican delegation to TURN DOWN $125 million in additional money to provide unemployment benefits for out-of-work Virginians.
It’s one thing to oppose these programs and honestly make your case why. But to oppose them and then try to take credit for them is really about as low as it gets. But that’s John O’Bannon for you.
If you want a candidate who will pretend to support working people but will vote consistently against them for partisan points, then John O’Bannon is your candidate. But only one candidate in the 73rd district supports actually working FOR and not against Virginia’s working families and will vote in their interests every time. That man is Tom Shields.
It’s been a slow burn of articles coming out attacking Cantor’s Republican study group the National Council for a New America after Roll Call broke the news that it was being largely funded by taxpayer money.
First Tyler Whitley of the Richmond Times-Dispatch hopped on the story last Friday citing groups critical of using taxpayer money to fund partisan affairs, including the DNC but also the non-partisan Center for Public Integrity which called out Cantor.
“What he has done may be legal, but he is straddling the line to have taxpayers pay for partisan political activities,” said Caitlin Ginley, a staff writer for the center.
She said staff members pursuing political activities are supposed to do the work on a volunteer basis, but it’s common for the line to be broken.
As the presence of Bush and Romney suggest, however, the National Council for a New America is not a congressional caucus.
Cantor should quit making American taxpayers support the Republican Party’s effort to revitalize itself, and Congress should rewrite ethics rules that allow such activity.
Ouch. Couldn’t happen to a worse bunch of people, though. It’s time for their rank hypocrisy and complete refusal to play by the rules to get called out.
