Posted on 03/01/2009 11:30:09 AM PST by cc2k
During our exclusive interview on "This Week," Republican Whip Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., rejected comments made by Rush Limbaugh at the CPAC conference.
<Snip> Limbaugh said Saturday to the conservative conference, "What is so strange about being honest and saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundations?"
Cantor today rejected Limbaugh's rhetoric.
"So the Rush Limbaugh approach of hoping the president fails is not the Eric Cantor, House Republican approach?" I asked.
"Absolutely not," Cantor said. "And I don't -- I don't think anyone wants anything to fail right now. We have such challenges. What we need to do is we need to put forth solutions to the problems that real families are facing today."
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.abcnews.com ...
I think it's a cryin' shame that a lot of conservatives are willing to do the MSM's job for them.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So it’s clear that you’re against this budget. You’re not going to make a prediction. But let me move on to the broader political question here. Right now, you’ve made your views on — on the economy, on these proposals pretty clear, but the public seems to be siding with President Obama. His approval rating is still quite high on the economy itself.
Who do you trust to handle the economy? According to our ABC News poll, 61 percent say they trust President Obama. Only 26 percent trust the Republican Party. That’s the largest gap we’ve seen in a generation.
On who’s reaching out to the other side, 73 percent say that President Obama is reaching out to work with the Republicans, but only 34 percent think that Republicans are reaching out to work with the president.
Are you worried that the impression that you’re not working with the — the president, you’re not trusted on the economy, and you’re rooting for him to fail is going to burn in and be burned in and locked in with the American public?
CANTOR: George, nobody — no Republican, no Democrat — wants this president to fail, nor do they want this country to fail or the economy to fail. What we did in the House during the first weeks of the stimulus debate is to come up with a plan. I personally handed that plan to President Obama at his suggestion. He said, “Bring us your ideas.”
We developed a plan that, frankly, we felt could create twice as many jobs at half the cost. Now, that plan did not make its way into Speaker Pelosi’s stimulus bill. But that doesn’t mean...
STEPHANOPOULOS: Now, the White House — let me just stop you there, because the president says and the White House says that they did incorporate some of your suggestions. They incorporated some of the tax cut suggestions you had; they also incorporated your ideas on government transparency to put — to put the spending up on a Web site so everybody knew what was going on.
CANTOR: Well — well, George, again, on the transparency issue, when I met with then-President-elect Obama, I suggested that we put everything up online immediately so we could have some ventilation of ideas in this country. Unfortunately, what went up online was the finished product once everything was hammered out, and the public did not have enough opportunity to, I think, opine on what they felt their taxpayer dollars should be spent on.
But, look, at the end of the day, the public is looking for results. They’re tired of Washington just throwing money at a problem without having a well-thought-out plan.
That’s what we need to do. We need to focus on how we can return to an era of job creation, of more confidence on the part of small- business people, so that the middle class in this country can regain the financial security that they lost through regaining job security.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, it’s not just Democrats who say that the Republican response has been wanting. Governor Jon Huntsman of Utah made some — made some headlines this week when he — he talked about the approach of the Republican leadership here in Washington. Here’s what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JON HUNTSMAN JR., R-UTAH: I’ve not met them. I don’t listen or read to whatever it is they say, because it’s inconsequential completely. The future of our party will be based upon what happens in the laboratories and the incubators of democracy, make no mistake about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Those are some pretty harsh words from a member of your own party, a governor of your own party.
CANTOR: Well, I cannot comment, because I haven’t spoken to the governor. But let me — let’s say this, George. You know that the House Republicans have 178 members in the House out of 435. Speaker Pelosi does not need our votes to pass any legislation.
But what we need to do as a party is we need to be out there positing affirmative plans, positive alternatives to the problems facing this country. And, frankly, I believe that the people of this country think that we are spending entirely too much money, the money that we don’t have. And as we see in this budget that has been presented last week, it is proposing massive tax increases on people and on businesses that can’t afford to pay them.
So we need to get some balance. We need to have a focus on middle-class families to make sure that the uncertainty is lifted and they can regain their confidence, as well as the investing public, so we can see job creation again.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But Governor Huntsman says that you’re not going to be reaching out to broaden the base of the party, reaching out to young people who’ve left the Republican Party in droves, unless you do have that positive agenda on the environment, unless you move to the middle on issues like gay rights. Are you prepared to do that in the House?
CANTOR: There is no question the Republican Party has to return to be one of inclusion, not exclusion. And we are a party with many ideas. And we have in that a commitment to make sure that we have positive alternatives, if we don’t agree with this administration or the House Democrats, and to continue to put those ideas forward.
And, again, the problems facing this country and the problems facing the working moms in the suburban office parks, the problems facing small-business people across this country are not just Republican or Democrat problems. They are so big, they are so challenging we all need to join together, not only in Washington, but around the country, to put the ideas forward and let’s come up with solutions that actually produce results for a change, instead of making matters worse, which Washington is famous for.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So the Rush Limbaugh approach of hoping the president fails is not the Eric Cantor, House Republican approach?
CANTOR: George, absolutely not. And I don’t — I don’t think anyone wants anything to fail right now. We have such challenges.
What we need to do is we need to put forth solutions to the problems that real families are facing today. And our common-sense, conservative principles of limited government, and the belief in free markets, and the belief that really opportunity can only be created by the private sector are going to undergird our proposals going forward.
STEPHANOPOULOS: OK. Congressman Cantor, thanks very much for your time this morning.
CANTOR: Thank you, George.
END
You don’t get the distinction on the political angle.
It is important how Cantor votes, not what he says. The 2010 elections are far more important than agreement with Limbaugh. Cantor was essentially saying that hoping for failure instead of presenting positive alternatives is not what he thinks we should be doing right now.
If I were Cantor I would have simply glossed over the question and moved on. Cantor is very solid on all the issues and he has actually had to cast votes on most of them. I understand this and am quite sure Limbaugh does as well.
On the issues that Conservatives deem important, Cantor is far more solid on these issues than anyone currently being considered to be a candidate for the 2012 GOP nomination.
That said, I certainly am not going to throw him under the bus for preferring to present more conservative alternatives rather than hope for failure. All that will do is throw 2010 into the laps of the Socialists. Cantor understands this, and so does Limbaugh. They are both doing their jobs and doing them well.
Then he should have kept his mouth shut instead finding a microphone.
So tell me, who are you going to vote for then? I don't mean this in the snide "Oh yeah? Well where they gonna go?" sense. There is no other credible vehicle for the conservative movement. Sorry, but the Constitution Party, American Independent Party, etc. etc. won't hack it. the answer is not to leave the Party, but to conquer the Party. Your FReepsite says that anything that advances conservatism is a good thing. So, how does not voting for conservative GOP candidates, thereby allowing the Dem to win, advance conservatism?
I'm afraid that I'm right about Gingrich. On the final vote, in October he told Stephanapolis and company that he he'd vote "reluctantly yes" if he were in Congress. He was playing a typical political game with Greta e.g. hedging his bets. Here is a youtube of Gingrich's statement about voting "reluctantly yes."
Bye bye, Cantor. You’re the problem in the GOP. Socialism is being pushed in your damn face and you’re saying you don’t want it to fail.
You deserve to be removed. And any other RINO that wants Obama’s policies to succeed.
The only way I want him to succeed is if he adopts conservative policies that will work. Otherwise I want his strategies and policies to fail, because it will be better for the country in the long run.
That is the truth and needs to be repeated.
He gave a RINO response, yes. Look how well that works for us.
The GOP has three years to earn some more chips. I don't see them, as a group, interested in doing so however.
What conservatives need to do is remember to preface every answer with “(Name), you lying scumbag,” then explain the lie contained within the question, then put forth a common-sense conservative position on the matter.
In this case, it would go something like, “George, you lying scumbag. You know full well that what Limbaugh said was that he hoped mistaken policies that would harm the country would fail in their execution, and therefore fail to harm the country. Why are you such a lying little squirrel, Georgie girl? Sweeping away the constitution and implementing failed socialist policies is not a good idea...” Et cetera.
Precisely.
Limbaugh's job is to motivate and direct the base. Cantor's job is to work within the system and block dangerous legislation.
Two different jobs, who can espouse and must employ different tactics, but agree on the same philosophical framework.
Here is what Cantor should have said:
“My constitutents sent me to Congress to support the President when I feel that his legislation will advance the cause of the American people and oppose him when it does not. As to the success or failure of the Obama Presidency I will leave that up to history decide.
Then he needs to be a better "politician".....because the reality IS...if Obama succeeds then America fails to be the Home of the Free anymore. And I call that a huge failure. So you are damn straight I want him to fail.
He could have turned that question into...."I don't want America to fail, and I don't want America to become just ANOTHER country going down the failure road of Socialism either....because THAT is the way we are going..with the policies of the Democrats."
IT is extremely easy for a politician to make a statement that says “Of course we don’t wish ill will towards President Obama as a person, we just strongly disagree with him regarding the solutions to the problems America is facing.”
Easy as that. These guys are pros at saying stuff like that. He didn’t do it. He doesn’t believe in it. He ain’t on the team he’s a RINO.
Cantor is a RINO Butt-boy for 0. The days of putting up with this sort of stool ended Inauguration day. Cantor: What else can you do besides politics?
Just like the RINOs who could not vote for impeachment; now the ones who voted for TARP. They all need to go. Cantor missed the whole point of the talk. Just another Republican who is dying to hear from the MSM so he can get some free air time. What does he do with it? Smash the one guy who can speak eloquently and clearly on conservative values. Did he use his time on “This Week†to bash Obama? Unbelievable. Out with Cantor. Out with all the Republicans in Congress who are so unpersuasive that things like TARP, prescription drugs, steel tariffs, and bans on oil drilling go on and on. Enough patronizing the choir. Get in there and make government smaller and less onerous. Out with all of’m that can’t deliver!
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