Egon Spengler for Vice President? I don't think so.
He can get rid of all the ghosts in the White House. That's about it.
Posted on 08/06/2008 1:11:12 PM PDT by Ziva
The news that Rep Eric Cantor (R-VA), the House chief deputy minority whip, has been asked for his family, health, and financial documents by the presumptive Republican Presidential candidate, John McCain, with an eye towards vetting him as a possible running mate, has excited not only some in the Jewish community. Many right-wing Evangelicals, sometimes referred to as the Republican core or base, say the Jewish Mr. Cantor may be the only possible running mate Mr. McCain can choose that will get them to the polling stations in November rather than spend Election Day fishing.
"He would energize the Republican base," said another member of the Virginia Congressional delegation, Rep Virgil Goode (R-VA). Like many Republicans, Mr. Goode has advised Mr. McCain to "look right and not left" when he picks a running mate.
Mr. Goode said that by choosing Mr. Cantor, Mr. McCain could staunch the flow of conservatives deciding either to support Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, or not to vote at all.
"We need some enthusiasm with the conservative base," said Mr. Goode.
Hawkish on Israel
A stalwart conservative who happens to be the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives, Mr. Cantor, a fourth-term Congressman, represents Virginia’s seventh district, a mixture of state capital and western Virginia conservatism.
Reputed on Capitol Hill to be "squeaky clean," he has a nearly 100 percent rating by the National Conservative Union, but is still reported to do well with the more moderate wing of the Republican party as well with Democrats.
His views on Israel and its struggle against Palestinian terror are among the most hawkish in Congress. He has sponsored legislation that would cut off all US taxpayer aid to the PA until they put a halt to unauthorized excavations on the Temple Mount.
Sole Undivided Jerusalem
He also supports keeping Jerusalem as the sole, undivided capital of Israel. In a recent talk for a program called "One Jerusalem," called as a protest against the Annapolis summit last fall at which the Olmert government indicated its willingness to divide the city, Mr. Cantor characterized Jerusalem as "not merely the capital of Israel, but the spiritual capital of Jews and Christians everywhere."
"It is the site of the First and Second Temples, which housed the Holy of Holies, and it’s the direction in which we Jews face when we pray. This glorious City of David is bound to the Jewish people by an undeniable 3,000-year historical link," he said, adding that Jerusalem "is Israel’s lifeblood."
"No one understands this better than Israel’s enemies. That is precisely why they still engage in a systematic campaign to erase the historical link of the Jews to this great city. For if Israel were severed from Jerusalem, the Jewish state would lose its sense of legitimacy and its will to fight. Only then could Israel be destroyed," he said.
Victim of Terror
When he discusses victims of terror, his sympathy is not just theoretical. In April 2006, his cousin, Daniel Cantor Wultz, a 16-year-old student at the David Posnack Hebrew Day School in Plantation, FL, was the victim of an Islamic Jihad suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.
Daniel was in Israel with his family for Passover. He was hospitalized for almost a month after the bombing, while thousands of Jews throughout the world prayed for him and 46 of his classmates traveled to be at his bedside. He died of his injuries on May 15.
Conservatives say there is no denying that Mr. Cantor’s faith and passionate defense of Israel have played a major role in winning their admiration.
Not McCain
In many ways, Mr. Cantor is everything Mr. McCain is not. Those who worry that Mr. McCain, at 72, seems old, especially when compared to 47-year-old Barack Obama, see the good looking Mr. Cantor, who is only 45, as a spark of fresh air.
Those who are concerned because Mr. McCain’s record on immigration and free speech during political campaigns (masquerading as campaign reform), have made conservatives wary, say Mr. Cantor’s record could make up for a multitude of Mr. McCain’s "maverick sins."
On a political website discussing possible Republican candidates for vice president, one blogger summer it up this way: "Cantor is a real conservative who is a star. He is amazing. He would fire me up to have him on the ticket." Continued...
Hmm...he is still to far left for me at least....j/k
I like him, would he bring VA, and would what he brings to the table match what Mitt would in the Mtn West?
Spoke too soon, take a gander at #44.
That ducks the issue that the vast majority of past VP’s NEVER had experience as governors.......Name one VP recently who was ever a governor.
He would bring Virginia and Florida. If you consider how close McCain is already in some N-E states, I won’t put it aside that he might win one or two in the upper right corner of the USA with Cantor.
Florida at the moment is solidly in McCain’s column.
Obama is putting a gigantic effort into VA, Cantor would have to help McCain carry the fmr Bush Country Counties in SW VA to carry VA.
That would leave NJ, and that is a machine state.
Michigan maybe? PA?
Maybe NV?
Good point. Could at least put NJ into play, since Cantor has received large monetary donations for his VA house run from NJ donations.
Gov.Good Hair, Texas has a nasty “wide stance” rumor.
Plus, he taxes and spends like a drunken Democrat (which he was until recently).
“That ducks the issue that the vast majority of past VP’s NEVER had experience as governors.......Name one VP recently who was ever a governor”
That’s because the VP-s didn’t need to have exec exp, because the VAST majority of PRESIDENTS WERE governors, so they themselves had executive experience.
Cantor brings NOTHING to the table. Having him as VP, probably wouldn’t even get the Democrat Jewish voters to vote for McCain, they would obligingly vote for Obama, since all their lives they always vote for the Dem candidate.
In McCain’s case, he needs to find someone who complements him.
As I said, I think Rick Perry, gov of Texas would be a great VP, he is a conservative — both fiscal and social — with executive experience and with a presence that is needed, and he could run for President himself after McCain’s term is up. He would be an asset to McCain.
Rick Perry, are you kidding me ? 4 more years of this guy and he’ll have the Democrats back in control of the legislature.
Cantor would be a fantastic choice for McCain to select.
If he does pick Cantor, look for all the Jew hating vermin over at DUmmyland and Daily Kos to crawl out of the sewers to express their “opinions”.
The MittBots have changed the meaning of "troll" here...it is now defined as anyone who doesn't worship Romney. The fact that most of the Anti-Romneyites have sign-up dates way before a LOT of the Romney n00bs using that term is not relevant to them.
Rick “Wide Stance” Perry would make Texas blue.
I like Cantor, at least what I read and looking at your chart it appears that McCain could do a lot worse.
Egon Spengler for Vice President? I don't think so.
He can get rid of all the ghosts in the White House. That's about it.
I am a Christian that really never opposed Mitt on religious grounds but I would be fine with Cantor...and really could care less about his faith.
if he is such a good conservative why do you want to ruin him by being Mccain’s VP. I will not vote for Mccain and in 4 or 8 years I sure as hell wont vote for his VP. Of course a real conservative would turn down mccains offers, that is what I would love to see.
///clean house and clean it now, some didn’t get the message in 2006!
Rick Perry?!?!?!? LOL!!!!!!!
And since when does owning your own business not equal EXECUTIVE experience???????????
Well to be blunt, McCain is old and, at best, will be a one-termer.
I just saw Cantor being interviewed on cable TV.
I think it was Nauert on Fox News. He did not
impress me in style. Seems very bland and dull
when answering questions. But I don’t want to
judge him based on a 2 minute interview.
Hey, yeah, you're right!
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