Chris Wallace Rips Eric Cantor as Fox News Drops a Reality Bomb on House Republicans

Chris Wallace tore through Eric Cantor with some tough realistic question on Fox News Sunday, and proved that Fox News is frighteningly more in touch with reality than House Republicans.

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Chris Wallace first asked Cantor, “Is what you have been doing the best way to spend Congress’s time when you are about to go on recess for five full weeks?” Cantor tried to defend the votes with standard House Republican talking points, government doesn’t create jobs, blah, blah, blah. Wallace then dropped a reality bomb on Majority Leader Cantor, “But Congressman, rightly or wrongly, none of these bills that you passed is going to become law. Your own members say they’re not going to pass the Senate. The president won’t sign them. Let’s talk reality. You haven’t passed a Farm Bill. You’ve only passed 4 of the 12 appropriations bills you’re supposed to pass. We face a government shutdown and debt limit in the fall. Again, is the best way to spend your time passing bills that aren’t going to become law? An added question, with so much unfinished business why not stick around instead of taking a five week vacation. Rep. Cantor blamed Obama for being out giving campaign speeches, and not cooperating with the House.

Wallace kept after Cantor, “You could tend to your own knitting. You could pass a Farm Bill. You could take. You have the power of the purse. Only 4 of the 12 appropriations bills have you even passed. Why not do what the House is supposed to do?” Cantor claimed they passed a Farm Bill, and tried to turn their complete failure to pass a comprehensive Farm Bill into Republican reform. Cantor blamed the Senate for lack of passage of appropriations bills, and said the House has passed more than the Senate.

When Fox News is more in touch with reality than the Republican Majority Leader in the House, there’s a big problem.

This a network that is still hyping the debunked IRS and Benghazi scandals, but yet, they are telling House Republicans to wake up and get real.

Wallace’s aggressiveness spoke to how unpopular House Republicans are within their own party. Everyone is tired of their decision to waste their time on stunts like votes to repeal Obamacare, and meaningless week long votes on “government waste.” Republicans know that they need to at least give the impression that the House is doing some serious work, but Boehner, Cantor, and developmentally tea disabled House crew refuse to listen.

Rep. Cantor dodged the vacation question, because he is the one who designed the schedule. The 126 day 2013 House work schedule was his idea. Of course, he is not going to take responsibility for only leaving 9 legislative days out of two months to avoid a government shutdown. House Republican want that confrontation. Even though the manufactured crisis strategy hasn’t worked for two years, they are going to go back to that well again.

Fox News always had the broader best interests of the Republican Party at heart. Even they see that the behavior of the House Republican majority is hurting their party. Eric Cantor lost his cool for a bit during the interview, because he isn’t used to being pushed. He is especially not used to being pushed by Fox News.

Wallace ripped into all of Cantor’s weak spots, and the Majority Leader did himself no favors by retreating back to old talking points.

Consider this interview a Fox News style intervention. House Republicans have a problem, and not even their loving family members at Fox can convince them that they need help.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association