If Eric Cantor’s performance on Meet the Press this morning is any indication, Republicans are getting a bit nervous about the impending sequester.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) fell in line with the Republicans’ sequester strategy by playing the blame game, saying that President Obama proposed the sequester in the first place. “The president, he’s the one that proposed the sequester in the first place.” This is also known as the hot potato game.
It seems Republicans don’t like the consequences of their debt ceiling standoff. They wouldn’t be in this position if they hadn’t chosen to use the debt ceiling as a weapon of mass economic destruction. Their debt ceiling games have already cost us 18.9 billion dollars, so it’s confusing to listen to them whine about who proposed a solution to their threat to tank the economy.
Cantor dug down for the old reliable bludgeon, saying that President Obama wants to raise taxes. And then, because Republicans are so great with math and budgets, he lectured, “This is not… the best way to go about trying to control spending.” Translation: Republicans don’t do compromise, Republicans can’t handle the defense cuts, and Republicans don’t likey where this is going, mommy. Please stop the ride.
To wit, Aerospace Industries (the premier trade association representing the nation’s major aerospace and defense manufacturers) is promoting this tweet today: @AIAspeaks
Tell your elected officials that #sequestration risks 2.14 million jobs across all sectors of the #economy. RT to Stop! pic.twitter.com/IGeTsVW6
But new talking points! Cantor tells us Republicans are all about “helping folks” (eerily, once again, reminiscent of Obama). They are going to help you by first helping the rich people and corporations and defense contractors, okay? Trickle down with the kinder, softer Republican Party.
Kasie Hunt of NBC News saw right through Cantor’s attempt to deflect responsibility: @kasie .@EricCantor: “The president, he’s the one that proposed the sequester in the first place.” #blamegame #mtp
When NBC News sees through your blame game, you may have overplayed your hand.
Someone needs to put the Republicans in the calm down corner. However, bonus points to Cantor for maintaining his level of smug superiority even as he dished out transparently desperate talking points meant to cover the fact that the Republican Party’s policies have not changed one iota.
As the Republicans careen toward a collision with yet another GOP-created disaster, they can only hope that someone is still buying what they’re selling.
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Anne
Feb. 10th, 2013 at 11:21 am
Eric Cantor and his fellow henchmen are incapable of feeling embarrassment no matter how stupidly or immorally they act. Cantor is an ethically challenged weasel who is only out for himself, and his speech the other day does nothing to dispel that unflattering truth about him.
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Hi, Anne
Feb. 10th, 2013 at 2:49 pm
May we have your permission to use your elegantly-turned phrase “Cantor is an ethically challenged weasel who is only out for himself”. We intend to use if on some entries on Facebook. Thanks for your quick response. (the phrase doesn’t preclude usage for any other ignorant, brain-dead Republican)
Guy & Ginny
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Anne
Feb. 10th, 2013 at 5:50 pm
I have no problem with that at all. The fact is that he is what he is, and the more people who are made aware of it, the better. Thank you for your supportive words.
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Janice Hand
Feb. 10th, 2013 at 11:44 am
Cantor, et.al., are foolishly not acknowledging the people’s overwhelming support of getting back to doing compromising business. President Obama won re-election and doesn’t need to compromise. But he said he was willing to do a reasonable compromise that ends this monthly cliff dive. If the Republicans don’t change this “line in the sand” posture, we’ll have a Democratic house in the next national election.
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GeneralLerong
Feb. 10th, 2013 at 12:24 pm
Not so sure about that Democratic House. So many Republicans are now from safely gerrymandered districts, where they would be re-elected even if they ate baked puppies for dinner.
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djchefron(Moderator)
Feb. 10th, 2013 at 11:53 am
What I want to know did dancing dave let hin get away with it?I have a feeling I already know the answer
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bluerose
Feb. 10th, 2013 at 12:12 pm
i want Rachel Maddow on MTP……
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Just A Dumb Fireman
Feb. 10th, 2013 at 12:18 pm
That guy needs to be put in the stocks in the public square. What happens to him next, I’m not concerned about.
BTW, whatever happened to his eyebrows???
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Sharon Pruett
Feb. 10th, 2013 at 12:26 pm
Eric Cantor is an embarrassment to himself, his party and the state of Virginia. The kindler, gentler speech he gave last week, which was plaigiarized from an earlier Obama speech, was not only disingenious, but with this latest spew, a directly contradictory assertion. How stupid does he think the American people are? NOW, he doesn’t care about killing the economy and jobs for 200,000 Virginia families and millions of jobs for the country. And under orders from Boehner, I’m sure, has the audacity to blame the sequester on the President? Sounds like nothing has changed at all. Still playing a dangerous game of politics with the lives of honest Americans and the economic concerns of the whole world…and to what end?? What political gain do they expect to achieve from this? The tax reform the President has put forward were originally Republican suggestions. They’ve lost their minds and I am embarrassed for them. This defiance of reason and disregard for reality are an affront to all Americans. Its time for real negotiation and an end to the political rhetoric. Stop playing silly, dangerous games and do your jobs!!
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bluerose
Feb. 10th, 2013 at 10:58 pm
and yet people keep voting for him
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Sandra
Feb. 10th, 2013 at 10:06 pm
The Good Old Rich White Guy posture will eventually kill the GOP. What did they learn from the last election? That their lies and cheating were not effective enough so they have to think up some more believable lies and cheat even more effectively. We are no longer a white dominated nation and our populace is more educated and smarter than before, but the GOP insists that education and intelligence are some sort of liberal plot to take over. Yes, I would rather have a liberal takeover than a conservative one. It hurts less.
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majii
Feb. 11th, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Cantor can keep blaming the sequester cuts on the president, but the fact is that the president can neither introduce a bill into either house or Congress, nor can he vote on a bill in either house. Anyone who understands civics and knows how the federal government operates knows that Cantor is trying to pull a fast one. The republicans now want to blame their voting for the sequester cuts on the president, but I can recall Boehner saying that republicans “got 98% of what they wanted” in the Budget Control Act of 20ll, and this included the sequester cuts. So, he was saying that the republicans got most of what they wanted, including the sequester cuts, in 2011, but less than two years later the republicans no longer want to own it? This sh*t started last year when Graham, McCain, and Ayotte, organized those bus tours to cities heavily reliant on the defense industry. The entire purpose of those trips was to whine about the defense cuts in the sequester and to provide cover for the GOPers in Congress. The president didn’t force them to create the sequester, they did it to themselves and now, they want to disown their own actions–typical republican tactics.
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