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
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.