Jay Newton-Small in Time on Eric Cantor:
In offering constructive criticism and viable alternatives, negotiating when possible and walking away when necessary, Cantor believes he’s found the path back to that office with the spectacular view of the Mall.
There’s this too:
The key in opposing the stimulus, Cantor says, was offering a credible alternative. “Our members in the House really rallied around a forward-looking, smarter, simpler stimulus plan,” Cantor says. “We took a very positive, constructive view on where the stimulus should be, and when the bill that rolled through the House missed the mark the way it did, it demonstrated that the thought behind the majority’s bill was not to be a stimulus bill; it was to be a spending bill. And going forward, we’ll be using that as a model.”
I realize that here she’s just quoting Cantor, but at what points do you begin to challenge outright lies? I know the answer for many national reporters today is “never”.
Update: Balloon-Juicer sgwhiteinfla is all over this right at the source.
valdivia
gag. these are our journalists? what exactly was the simpler better stimulus? tax cuts for everyone! Words fail.
Incertus
Ideally, right after the quote ends; at least, that’s what the journalism professor I worked for at my college paper told me once. He could have been wrong, I guess.
Comrade Stuck
Paradox from hell.
Joshua Norton
Now they’re whining that Obama failed in his promise to be bipartisan. They’re the ones who walked away, but in their small little minds, it’s all the Dems fault.
mikefromtexas
Cantor is a liar and an idiot. The GOP voted against the BIGGEST 2 year tax cut in history. He and his ilk need to do three things for the country they claim to love so much:
1. Shut the fuck up.
2. Sit the fuck down.
3. Stay the fuck out of the way.
John H. Farr
We are all drowning in lies, and it’s not just the Republicans at fault. I think I’m beyond anger now, I just want to walk away and never come back.
John Cole
This post did not deliver what the title suggested.
Martin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/postpoll_022309.html?sid=ST2009022302219
7. Who do you trust to do a better job handling the economy – (Obama) or (the Republicans in Congress)?
Obama Reps Both Neither No opinion
61 26 1 9 3
10. Do you think Obama is or is not trying to compromise with the Republican leaders in Congress on important issues?
Is Is not No opinion
73 22 5
Yeah, keep trying that Cantor.
(blockquote and code tags are pretty fucked in your CSS)
DougJ
Come on, he’s the minority whip and he’s being fluffed.
TheHatOnMyCat
Obama basically mocked Cantor today in his remarks before governors and members of Congress, with Cantor sitting right there in the room.
Cantor is going nowhere against this president, trust me. This is beyond being a mismatch.
See the video if you can find it. The entire room is laughing at Cantor.
Comrade Stuck
Whipping the Fluff has merit.
kommrade reproductive vigor
When you have the skills necessary to do so. These people are stenographers, not reporters.
valdivia
@kommrade reproductive vigor:
thank you, yes, exactly stenographers.
As a freelance journalist myself I would die for quotes like that from a subject i am interviewing this is the stuff that allows a journalist to skewer an idiot with facts and reality. Alas, our journalists today are all brainless.
I hated her politics but one journalist I always admired for confronting asshats with the truth and really killing them was Oriana Fallaci. Instead we get David Gregory. Head. Hits. Desk.
srv
It is pretty magical, her being able to write while using a dental dam and all.
garyb50
I’ve seen Jay Newton-Small on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal twice now & she’s been one of the dumber guests, very seldom actually answering questions from people calling in.
Rome Again
@John H. Farr:
"Stop the world, I wanna get off"
Yeah, I’m there too.
opium4themasses
@srv: I believe technical virgins prefer saddlebacking.
gbear
Norah O’Donnell kind of blasted (& certainly blindsided) a republican stooge over their adoption of the Gingrich playbook. Not quite a thing of beauty (it’s still cable news), but still strangely satisfying. The guy sputters like a moron when confronted. I’ll confess that I couldn’t watch it to the end.
Montysano
OT: Didja know that AIG, who has carried more loot away from the Fed window than anyone, who, more than Citi or BoA, is apparently too big to fuck with, was started by a westerner in China? That AIG was one of the first companies back in when the curtain came down? Karl Denninger is muttering darkly about it.
Mike in NC
Eh, we lived in Virginia for 18 years and I always felt Richmond was pretty much a shithole…
Warren Terra
@Valdivia
"tax cuts for everone"
We should be so lucky to have that as the Republicans’ idea of a reasonable alternative stimulus plan. In fact, it was all tax cuts, but mostly for the wealthy, mostly permanent rather than short-term to achieve stimulus, and included such brilliant notions as a capital gains tax cut – because clearly after the housing bubble and a 1/3 drop in the stock market the drag on our economy comes from all those people afraid to realize their immense capital gains.
Dennis-SGMM
Conning yourself is a cardinal sign of being truly fucked.
Indylib
The day the US Navy gives my husband orders to anywhere in southern VA is the day I tell my husband to hand in retirement papers. I wouldn’t mind living up north in "un-American part", but I’ve been to Virginia Beach and Norfolk and I’m not living there. The racism is awful and you still see signs down south that say "military not welcome". No fucking way.
r€nato
see those Pajamas TV banner ads at the left, about the "American Tea Party" big gummint spending protests?
At least 6 years too late, asshats.
Every single time I see some Rethuglican pontificating about spending and wringing their hands about the deficit, I crack up laughing. Whether I’m alone or in mixed political company.
I suggest you all try it as often as possible, especially if there are Republicans around.
jenniebee
@Mike in NC:
Hey, the Fan is nice, and Carytown is decent, we have a good art school at the Uni… technically, btw, Richmond proper is Bobby Scott’s district. Cantor represents the counties north and slightly west of Richmond.
r€nato
???? WTF is that about? I thought all Virginians were very pro-military. Lingering Confederate bitterness?
Comrade Stuck
I was stationed at Ft. Lee for awhile in the Army. It wasn’t too bad a place to live. We would drive up to Richmond and get drunk and start fights, but that’s what young idiots do.
The only bad thing was when the clouds of pollution from the Hopewell chemical factories would sweep into the base, as a kind of living blob along the ground. Probably altered some genes and caused the brain damage that is obvious, at times.
Indylib
@r€nato:
I never did figure out what was behind it, I was only there for a week, when my husband and I were dating and he was stationed at Dam Neck Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach. But I saw at least 4 signs – 2 in little bars out in the boonies and 2 in bars in the non-tourist area of Virginia Beach proper. The whole thing turned me off the area like you can’t believe. If my husband ever wants to do a Med tour we’ll have to get stationed in Jacksonville or overseas in Italy, cuz I will not go to Norfolk. The casual racism I witnessed against African-Americans and the Filipinos in the Navy was vile.
Cain
@mikefromtexas:
Fuck yeah!
cain
opium4themasses
@Indylib: You or your husband are Filipino?
I’m an air-force brat who lived on Clark for about 4 of my formative years.
As far as the "Military not welcome" signs they may be similar to the stuff that goes on in college towns. The townies get very resentful of the interlopers, often rightfully so. It’s sad to see it though.
Cain
@Indylib:
Why? Aren’t the south super patriots or something?
cain
Mike in NC
@Indylib
Spent the majority of my 28 years in the Navy in the Norfolk area. Technically, I believe you’re referring to NAS Oceana and FTC Dam Neck, which are two separate commands pretty close to one another in VA Beach. But still a cultural backwater, I’ll agree. The area is a weird mix of Bible Belt meets Southern California that I never quite got used to.
jenniebee
I haven’t seen those signs, and I grew up in one of the bedroom communities for the shipyards. I’ve seen the "Lee Surrendered, I Didn’t" signs, but they’re few and far between these days. Oddly enough, the only one I’ve seen in the last ten years was on the property of a transplant from out west. The worst racists I’ve met here are almost all not from around here, they’re from places where there was never any such thing as busing.
I’ll admit there are still some brouhahas, like when the Arthur Ashe statue was going up. But the argument there was really mostly between the viewpoints of A: Arthur Ashe is a native Richmonder and a role model to young African-American Richmonders and it’s about time that one of the city’s principal landmarks got a little color in it instead of being a row of white marble traitors who defended slavery; vs. viewpoint B, which was: yes, all that is true, but it doesn’t change the fact that that’s a fucking awful sculpture and it looks like Ashe is taunting children with books and beating them with a tennis racket.
Never a dull moment!
Punchy
Not sho I ken blame summa the bar ownerz fer not embracing the men in unis. Itz been mah xperience that they get insanely drunk, the horniness gene flips on, they hit on anything with 2 tits, a hole, anna heartbeat, then start fightz. Not eggsactly good fo biz…
r€nato
jennie, I remember pix of that statue. It IS godawful.
Walker
I have witnessed much nastier racism living in central New York than I ever saw growing up in the rural ‘bacer fields of NC.
OriGuy
Never been in the military or spent much time around bases, but doesn’t the military have a practice of declaring certain bars "off-limits", at least to enlisted personnel? Maybe those bars have those signs because the base officers want to keep their men out. Or am I getting ideas from movies?
Mike P
I’m getting a master’s in journalism school now and am in a features writing class. I’m pretty sure Small would have gotten an F for turning in a single source profile that is nothing more than hero worship. I mean, it’s just awful stuff.
JasonF
It is true that Eric Cantor’s district includes James Madison’s home, Montpelier. However, James Madison was elected in Virginia’s 5th District and the no-longer-in-existence 15th District. Eric Cantor is from Virginia’s 7th District. Given the number of times Virginia has been redistricted since President Madison left the House (not to mention that 10 year period between Virginia’s secession from the union and its readmission), I’m not sure anyone has the right to claim he is holding "James Madison’s seat," but to the extent anyone does, it’s 5th District Representative Thomas Perriello.
El Cid
Eric Cantor is a major, major thinker on the American landscape.
mak
If anyone knows where the Obama-mocks-Cantor video is, kindly link. Can’t find it anywhere.
Jen R
Obama teases Cantor at White House summit
Evilbeard
How sad, from the tiny bio picture she has up at Time she seems attractive. I always hope for the attractive women to be smarter than the stereotypes usually give them credit for being.