Cantor for vice president?

(Photo of Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.)

If you've never heard of Eric Cantor, you're in good company. He may be the deputy minority whip in the U.S. House of Representatives, but his is not a household name. Yet.

Canter is a Republican from the state of Virginia. He was elected to the House in 2001. At 45 years of age, he is the fourth most powerful person in the U.S. House. No doubt that is one of the reasons some right wing Republicans have launched an "independent [effort] to draft ... Cantor (R-Va.) as John McCain's running mate."

Leading this drive is one Beau Phillips, now a lawyer, but for many years a Washington insider and a Congressional Chief of Staff. Phillips is not considered a pussy-footing liberal. He could be a pussy-footing conservative. I don't know.

There's a website up and working toward putting Cantor on the McCain ticket. One of its blurbs reads "Rather than wait for the McCain team to announce a Vice Presidential candidate, we have decided to provide people with an opportunity to join a campaign for a pro-life, pro-family, pro-market, pro-military, dynamic, young, Republican-Conservative Eric Cantor."

The website is not officially part of the McCain campaign not is Cantor directly involved. In fact, Cantor said that stories about his being a possible choice as McCain's vice presidential candidate were "ridiculous." And you know a Republican never lies.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed Beau Phillips as to why he wants Cantor on the McCain ticket. Phillips said, "He's young, has a fiscally conservative record, can help McCain in Virginia and perhaps in Florida, where Cantor -- the only Jewish Republican in the House -- has appeal and a fund-raising base."


First of all, this is a rather obvious signal that the ultra-conservatives are worried about McCain. Like everyone else, they don't have a clue where he's going to come down on an issue at any given time. They know he'll pander to any group and say just about anything to get votes.

In other words, the extreme Republican Right does not trust him.

So, enter Phillips and Eric Cantor. And what a fascinating story. These people are scared to death that McCain is going to make a bad choice for a vice presidential running mate; they're so scared, they're willing to slap McCain in the face by circumventing his authority to try to pressure him into doing their will.

If they can get enough signatures on a petition for Cantor, McCain is going to have one hell of a time ignoring that petition. If he accepts Cantor as his running mate, he shows he can be extorted and bullied; if he does not accept Cantor as his running mate, he's likely to lose a ton of the ultra right votes which he dearly needs to stay viable as the Republican nominee.

That's called being caught between a rock and a hard place.

It also makes me wonder if other groups around the country may also initiate petition drives to get their favorite sons (Repubs aren't likely to want a woman as vice president - except for the local garden club) on the McCain ticket. What a sight that would be. I think it is a definite
possibility that such a petition could be started on behalf of either Romney or Huckabee.


Let's take a closer look at Mr. Eric Cantor. Phillips was right when he said he was pro-just about every extremist Republican position you can name:

Cantor voted NO on:

expanding stem cell research; human embryonic stem cell research; revitalizing severly distressed public housing; regulating the subprime mortgage industry; prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation; an additional $1.2 billion for federal education and HHS projects; allowing Courts to decide on "God" in Pledge of Allegiance; $84 million in grants for Black and Hispanic colleges; tax incentives for renewal energy; investing in homegrown biofuel; removing oil & gas exploration subsidies; keeping moratorium on drilling for oil offshore; raising CAFE standards; incentives for alternative fuels; prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR; increasing AMTRAK funding; assisting workers who lose jobs due to globalization; protecting whistleblowers from employer recrimination; requiring negotiated RX prices for Medicare part D; requiring FISA warrants for wiretaps in US, but not abroad; Veto override: Congressional oversight for CIA interrogations...

There are many other things he voted "No" on...but let's see what he voted "Yes" on:

restricting interstate transport of minors to get abortions; making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime; banning partial-birth abortions except to save a mother's life; forbidding human cloning for reproduction and medical research; funding for abortion providers who don't provide abortion info; banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad; restricting bankruptcy rules; Constitutionally defining marriage as one-man-one-woman; making the Patriot Act permanent; protecting the Pledge of Allegiance; allowing school prayer during War on Terror; criminalizing oil cartels like OPEC; implementing Bush-Cheney national energy policy; deauthorizing "critical habitat" for endangered species; speeding up approval of forest thinning projects; reforming the UN by restricting US funding...

Again there's much more that Cantor voted "Yes" on.

When it really counted for our people and our system of government, Cantor has been consistently on the wrong side.

On September 25, 2007, the House passed, by a vote of 265 to 169 "an expansion of the State Children's Health insurance program...it provides health insurance for 9 million currently uninsured American children. Cantor voted NO!

On August 4, 2007, an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 passed 227-183. "The bill gives U.S. spy agencies expanded power to eavesdrop on foreign suspects without a court order. ... [also it allows} U.S. intelligence officials to monitor suspicious communication originating inside the U.S." Cantor voted YES!

On July 27, 2007, an amendment to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 was passed. "The bill requires the inspection of all cargo traveling on passenger aircrafts....Other provisions of the bill include grants to states, urban areas, regions, or directly eligible tribes to be used to improve the ability for first responders to react to and prevent terrorist attacks..." (Note: This is the bill that eventually led to the giving of millions of dollars to hundreds of dinky little podunks throughout the U.S., the monies being then used to install spy cameras on their main streets -- just in case the terrorists sneak into Grand Falls, Nebraska at two in the morning to terrorize Ms. Martha's cat!) Cantor voted YES!


Mr. Cantor is sometimes not a nice man. When Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House traveled to Syria, Cantor launched a partisan smear campaign. He wrote the following in the National Review:

"The Speaker and many of her Democratic allies have become so drunk with grandiose visions of deposing Bush that they break bread with terrorists and enemies of the United States. The Speaker's words and actions carry consequences for U.S. policy, and they certainly did our allies no favors last week. Instead of standing united with the President and Congress against the Syrian menace, Mrs. Pelosi chose to needlessly divide us."

(Bomb, bomb, bomb Syria!)

But "Nowhere in his 700-word diatribe does Cantor mention the fact that five Republicans 'broke bread' with Assad last week: Reps Frank Wolf, Joseph Pitts, Robert Aderholt, David Hobson, and Darrell Issa.

"Meanwhile, on his blog, Cantor is conducting a campaign to 'Stop Pelosi.' He writes that Congress has 'remained silent on Pelosi's misrepresentation of Israel's position. They have remained silent on her assistance to Syrian propaganda efforts.'"

Well, we've said before you can't trust a Republican and Cantor is a Republican and he lies like the rest of them. Here are the facts:

"Pelosi Was Asked To Communicate A Message And She Did. Before she left for Syria, Omert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin said 'Pelosi is conveying that Israel is willing to talk if they (Syria) would openly take steps to stop supporting terrorism.' And that's what Pelosi did: 'We conveyed to him Prime Minister Olmert's overture for peace talks when Syria openly takes steps to stop supporting terrorism.

"Pelosi Communicated A Consistent Message. Republican Congressman David Hobson said Pelosi 'did not engage in any bashing of Bush in any meeting I was in and she did not in any meeting I was in bash the policies as it relates to Syria.' Republican Congressman Joseph Pitts noted, 'Ms. Pelosi contacted us while we were in Israel, and we told her the message we gave. The message she gave Syria was similar to the message we gave."

Lies, lies lies, Mr. Cantor. Shame on you!

The worst of it so far as Mr. Cantor is concerned goes back to the fall of 2007. Rush Limbaugh, the drug addict radio talk host "was talking with a caller about how much they both could not stand returning soldiers who spoke out against the occupation."

This is that flap where Limbaugh referred to soldiers who wanted to "keep the troops safe," as "phony soldiers."

Limbaugh tried to say he didn't say what he said and then he blamed "liberals" for accusing him of saying what he said!

Cantor got in the act at that point; another liar like Limbaugh. He "released an e-mail to his [paid] supporters with the subject 'Rush Needs Your Support.' Apparently to people like Cantor (liars) any attempt to hold a conservative accountable for their baseless attacks is some sort of witch-hunt, a conspiracy, and they must lie to protect their own. ...

"And speaking of actual phony soldiers, neither Cantor, Limbaugh, or Bush served in the military, yet they are all perfectly willing to send real troops off to die for absolutely nothing."

Well, technically, Bush did wear a Texas National Guard uniform for awhile. We don't know what he did with it though, 'cause he was in hiding most of the time he was supposed to be serving his country!


McCain by himself is bad enough. To add Cantor would be pouring lye in a bleeding wound! In other words, a disaster! McCain, the flip-flopping liar attached to Cantor, the lying ultra right wing extremist!

Sounds like Republican dream ticket, doesn't it? We could call it the McBush-Chicanty team.