Free Republic

Two hundred twenty-one years ago, James Madison was elected to Congress from Virginia. I have been reflecting recently on what the “Father of the Constitution” might have to say if he could sit in on today’s Congress. The structure and function of the Congress — the House, the Senate, the use of Jefferson’s Manual to guide deliberations — would be familiar to him. But what would Madison think about the type of legislation we are considering and the debate surrounding these proposals? It was Madison who, seeking to calm those who feared an all-powerful central government, wrote, “The powers delegated...

Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy, dropped by NR’s offices yesterday for a spirited, very enjoyable discussion. They were here to promote their new book, Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders. We’ll have more from the conversation in a while, but wanted to highlight what McCarthy said about the “America Speaking Out” effort, which he leads and is creating the Contract-like document Republicans will unveil in a couple of weeks. It’s clearly going to be an incrementalist document focusing on opposition to basic Obama administration initiatives, on measures aimed at small business, on rolling back discretionary spending,...

Calling themselves the Young Guns, three members of America's House of Representatives are about to publish a template for new era of Republican domination in Congress. With the economy failing to live up to President Barack Obama's hopes for a strong recovery - unemployment remains just below ten percent - Republicans are poised for major gains on Nov 2, when all of the House and a third of Senate seats is contested in midterm elections.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent shock waves all through the federal bureaucracy when he announced concrete cuts in the military structure and staff. It is good stuff: freeze civilian hires, cut contract payments, reduce the number of general officers, flag officers and senior civilians, and eliminate two Defense Department offices and U.S. Joint Forces Command. Amazingly the republican whip in the House Eric Cantor stood against it. This is so wrong on so many levels! Mr. Cantor is running a YouCut campaign himself. At the times when people are craving gutsy leaders that can cut spending and get rid of...

Proving once again that our official "expecters" don't have a clue, today's eagerly anticipated Labor Department reports showed the unemployment rate still at a devastating 9.5%. As if that weren't enough bad news, the economy shed more jobs than expected in July as overall unemployment fell by 131,000.

The centerpiece of Barack's Obama first two years in office has been the health care reform that the Democratic Party shoved through Congress over the objections of the Republican Party and the American people. Not only was the legislation unpopular when it was passed, polls have consistently shown that the American people want to see the legislation repealed. That's doubly true for conservatives, who view health care reform as a disastrously expensive government program that will destroy the quality of health care in America. With that in mind, one question has been asked over and over again: If Republicans get...

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is taking a pass on the House Tea Party Caucus. The second-ranking House Republican told POLITICO on Tuesday that he's not joining the group started by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) because he sees it as more of an organic, grass-roots movement rather than a Washington entity. Cantor praised Bachmann for providing “another avenue for people to have their voices heard" but said he thinks the tea party is better left outside Washington. “I met with several of groups that operated under that moniker in Virginia; they’re not all uniform,” Cantor said in his third-floor...

The prospect of the November elections becoming a replay of 1994 has Democrats running scared everywhere except, apparently, the White House, where the famous Obama cool keeps everyone’s emotions in check. Sure, losses are expected in the first midterm of a new president, but let’s not lose too much sleep over it. Indeed, some of the president’s allies think all the attention on the Democrats is misplaced, that the real replay of ’94 is happening on the Republican side, with a new generation of self-described young guns maneuvering to topple the old guard. In this scenario, Republican whip Eric Cantor...

Here is video of GOP Rep. Eric Cantor responding to President Obama’s cryptic assertion that he’s going to “call their bluff” – speaking of Republicans – next year by putting before the American people “some very difficult choices” on reducing the deficit. Well, Cantor calls Obama’s bluff here, and calls on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to act “this year, not next year.”

The Republican Whip in the House Eric Cantor posted the proposals for spending cuts for the week on his YouCut web page. The public is encouraged to vote and the winning idea will be voted on the floor - for real. - Sell Excess Federal Property Potential savings of up to $15 billion- Terminate Duplicative Federal Bicycle and Walking Program Saves $183 million a year or $1.8 billion over ten years- Terminate New Federal Truck Parking Facilities Program Saves $6.25 million a year- Terminate Security Funding for Private Bus Companies Saves $12 million a year ($120 million over ten...

Eric Cantor announces a new website to vote on what you think should be cut. http://www.republicanwhip.house.gov/youcut

President Obama should launch a campaign to “to expose Islamist terror attacks on fellow Muslims,” House Republican Whip Eric Cantor told a conservative audience during a national security policy speech Tuesday morning, “instead of apologizing to the Arab world.” “Every time the Taliban blows up innocent Muslim women and children in Pakistan or al-Qaida strikes in Iraq or in any other Arab country, we must broadcast to the world the faces of the victims and point out their killers,” Cantor said at Tuesday’s “Protect America Month” lecture series sponsored by the Heritage Foundation. “In the battle of ideas, we win...

GOP Address from Republican Whip Eric Cantor blasting Obama and the Democrats runaway spending, "Democrats never met a tax they didn't like or found a dollar they couldn't spend" ...(Video)

Homeland Security: Forget about foreign jihadists getting nukes or planting bombs in their underwear. The real enemies, some say, are domestic militia groups who play at war and those nasty Tea Party racists. The raid on a Michigan militia group accused of plotting war against the government will no doubt feed into the arguments of those who claim in the wake of health reform that the vast right-wing conspiracy is not only angry, but armed and dangerous. According to an Associated Press report, "Authorities said the arrests underscored the dangers of homegrown right-wing extremism of the sort seen in the...

All journalists get facts wrong on occasion; they even wrongly speculate at times. Here's Salon's take on Eric Cantor's announcement last Thursday that someone had shot into his conference room window. All the barbs directed at Cantor in this piece sound like classic projection. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A day after telling reporters someone shot up his office, and implying it was because he's Jewish, Cantor's story had fallen so completely to pieces that his aides didn't even bother to defend it anymore. [snip] Cantor's statement about receiving threats was as melodramatic as it was self-contradictory; he accused Democrats of stirring up trouble...

http://philadelphia.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/ph032910.htm Philadelphia Man Charged with Threatening to Kill U.S. Congressman and His Family PHILADELPHIA—Today, a two-count complaint and warrant was filed charging Norman Leboon with threatening to kill United States Congressman Eric Cantor and his family, and threatening to kill Congressman Eric Cantor, who is an official of the United States, announced United States Attorney Michael L. Levy and FBI Special Agent in Charge Jan Fedarcyk. As set forth in the affidavit to the complaint and warrant, in or about late March, 2010, Leboon created and then transmitted a YouTube video to Google over the Internet, in which he threatened...

h/t Freeper mnehring Did Barack Obama inspire one of his donors to threaten a top GOP lawmaker? Norman Leboon, Sr, the man reported to have been arrested for making a death threat video against House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Cantor's family is listed by the Federal Elections Commission as having made two donations to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama in 2008.According to the FEC, the donations were made on successive days in June 2008, on the 20th for $255 and on the 21st for $250. There are no other federal election campaign contributions listed for Leboon....

The U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia released this statement today. The text of an accompanying affidavit is also below. PRESS RELEASE PHILADELPHIA - Today, a two-count complaint and warrant was filed charging Norman Leboon with threatening to kill United States Congressman Eric Cantor and his family, and threatening to kill Congressman Eric Cantor, who is an official of the United States, announced United States Attorney Michael L. Levy and FBI Special Agent in Charge Jan Fedarcyk. As set forth in the affidavit to the complaint and warrant, in or about late March, 2010, Leboon created and then transmitted a YouTube video...

Fox News just ran a short story announcing a man was arrested for threatening to kill Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)and his family. If I heard correctly, the threat was made in a YouTube video.Nothing on the wires yet...

A bullet that hit a window in Republican U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor's office building appears to have been fired randomly into the air, police said Thursday. Cantor announced at a Capitol Hill news conference Thursday that a shot had been fired into his Richmond campaign office. In addressing reporters, he denounced threats and vandalism against Democrats who passed sweeping health care reform legislation that has angered conservatives, but accused senior Democrats of inciting retribution against Republicans. "It is reckless to use these incidents as media vehicles for political gain," Cantor told reporters. Cantor said he receives threats because he is...