Free Republic

He's young, charismatic and conservative. The Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank in Washington, has anointed this rising GOP star "the leader of the future of the conservative movement." No, it's not Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty or House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia. The man supposedly tasked with carrying the hopes and ambitions of an entire political party is Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

APRIL 3, 2009 Obama's Attack Machine By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL The thing about fear is that you can see it. For an insight as to what the left today fears most, witness its attempted political assassination of Eric Cantor. The 45-year-old Virginia congressman came to Washington in 2001, and by last year had been unanimously elected Republican Whip, under Minority Leader John Boehner. In recent months, Mr. Cantor has helped unify the GOP against much of President Barack Obama's agenda, in particular his blowout $787 billion stimulus, and yesterday, his blowout $3.6 trillion budget. He's also one of the GOP's...

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is firing back at his critics, calling recent attacks on him and his family “laughable,” and warning that he isn’t shy about engaging in bare-knuckle combat with Democrats.

The thing about fear is that you can see it. For an insight as to what the left today fears most, witness its attempted political assassination of Eric Cantor. The 45-year-old Virginia congressman came to Washington in 2001, and by last year had been unanimously elected Republican Whip, under Minority Leader John Boehner. In recent months, Mr. Cantor has helped unify the GOP against much of President Barack Obama's agenda, in particular his blowout $787 billion stimulus, and yesterday, his blowout $3.6 trillion budget. He's also one of the GOP's up-and-coming talents. Along with Wisconsin's Paul Ryan, or California's Kevin...

85 House Republicans, I shall remind you again, voted for the AIG/CYA confiscatory bonus tax. Some of them have learned their lesson, but not all. Today, 10 Republicans joined the Grabby Hands Democrats in passing the new “Pay for Performance Act” — to curb “excessive” employee pay at financial firms that receive government bailout funds, “a measure that could supplant [the] earlier effort to heavily tax executive bonuses.” The bill passed 247-171. Here are the 10 House Republicans who think it is government’s job to determine what “excessive” pay is in every workplace except their own (full roll call vote...

Republican Leader Rep. Eric Cantor is unimpressed with all the uproar over the revelation that he attended a Britney Spears concert while President Obama convened the second primetime news conference of his presidency. "I don't know why that's an issue whatsoever," said the House Minority Whip. "There was a concert and I had a political event at that concert. Look, that is why I was there." I love how Wolf Blitzer and the CNN crew try to mock Cantor. I think Cantor's explanation is great. And who cares? There's 800 Billion things I would rather have done than watch Obama's...

WASHINGTON, DC - Sparking bipartisan outrage on the Hill, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor admitted to skipping President Obama’s economic press conference to “Get his dance on.” As the news of Cantor’s whereabouts Tuesday night began making the rounds on the Hill Wednesday afternoon, House Minority Leader John Boehner was unavailable for comment, but a staffer requesting anonymity, told the Weekly World News that his boss was, “Crazy jealous. He loves Brit Brit. And that presser was bo-ring to the max.”

In this era of ubiquitous bailouts, the public discussion seems to overlook the nine out of 10 of homeowners who are paying their mortgages on time. While the proposals put forth by the Obama administration throw enormous sums of good taxpayer money at those who have engaged in irresponsible or even fraudulent behavior, unfairly left out in the cold are the vast majority of Americans who have behaved responsibly. As House Republicans roll out our alternative housing plan today, we do not make that same mistake. We believe our plan is the most effective way to stimulate home-buying and arrest...

A group thought by many to be devoid of tech-savvy compared to their Democratic counterparts is attempting to break that stereotype by using technology that a lot of people have incorporated in their daily lives. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told a group assembled at the Heritage Foundation’s Blogger’s Briefing on March 17 that he and House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., are developing an application for the iPod Touch, a product of Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), that would be used to keep the entire House GOP on a unified message. “The one thing Cantor and I have done, we’re buying,...

The Talk Shows Sunday, March 15th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Austan Goolsbee, member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers; Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.; Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.; Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Christina Romer, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers; Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council. THIS WEEK (ABC): Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN) : Former Vice President...

"I said, hurry, please hurry, because people are waiting and they are hurting, and they need the help now," Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-New Hampshire, said. [ snip ] Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, who along with Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson and Connecticut Independent Joe Lieberman ....... Bayh added: "So what needs to be done is, Obama's got to move on all these fronts but also integrate them back to the same theme of always strengthening the economy, getting people to work, growing businesses, improving our standard of living." [ snip ] Democratic media consultant Steve Murphy, who represents several moderate Democrats,...

House Republicans say Democrats are targeting Cantor precisely because he’s effective. “He’s a threat,” said Texas Rep. Kay Granger, a member of Cantor’s Republican whip team. “He’s smart. He’s aggressive. He’s a great strategist. All of the above.”

Here is Rep. Eric Cantor today on CNN's State of the Union saying that the White House's stance on earmarks has no credibility. Obama campaigned on not abiding earmarks, saying he would go through legislation line-by-line, but now seems ready to sign an Omnibus Spending Bill that contains nearly 9,000 earmarks. Cantor is right to call the White House out on their hypocrisy and inconsistency. . . . . . . (Watch Video)

The Republican Party today has launched a counteroffensive to the controversial recent questioning over conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh’s "leadership" of the party -- describe it as a White House diversion attempt. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) issued a statement Wednesday which said called the controversy a White House “diversionary tactic” without mentioning Limbaugh by name. “Political operatives in the White House are trying to divert attention away from the challenges facing our economy, the sinking stock market, and the irresponsible spending binge they are presiding over,” the statement read. “In the midst of a deepening recession, White House...

Back on January 29, we discussed [1] the daily strategy phone call engineered by Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for friendly TV commentators and "reporters." Politico reported that Emanuel has a daily phone conference call with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, and CNN's James Carville and Paul Begala. With Rush Limbaugh's raucous CPAC address, as he termed it his "first address to the nation," we can see at least one example of what is likely an attack strategy resulting from the Emanuel phone session with a rush to bash Rush the day after the appearance. [Image credit: politico.com] As soon as...

Here is video of GOP Congressman Eric Cantor on This Week with George Stephanopoulos yesterday, where Cantor said he did not agree with Rush Limbaugh's hope that President Obama "fail." In fact, Cantor flatly said if he agreed with Limbaugh, "George, absolutely not. I don't think anyone wants anything to fail right now....." Once again, a GOP leader had the chance to hammer home the principles Limbaugh set forth in his outstanding CPAC speech, and they fumbled the ball. Of course Cantor wants Obama to fail in his push to turn America into a European-style Socialist nation! It's time for...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP).... "STEPHANOPOULOS: Obama's ambitions. OBAMA: Health care cannot wait. Double this nation's supply of renewable energy. Make sure that you can afford a higher education. STEPHANOPOULOS: Is the president's bold agenda achievable? Will Congress choke on the cost? We'll ask the cabinet member who wrote Obama's budget and the congressman who's now the president's sparring partner. OBAMA: I'm going to keep on talking to Eric Cantor. Some day, he's going to say, "Boy, Obama had a good idea." (END VIDEO) STEPHANOPOULOS: ... Are you worried that the impression that you're not working with the -- the president, you're...

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...

The Talk Shows Sunday, March 1st, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen; Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.FACE THE NATION (CBS): White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. THIS WEEK (ABC): Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag; House Republican Whip Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN) : Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen.

A house divided...