Romney-Ryan surrogate, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va), explains Ryan’s position on the Medicare cuts:
Attacking Obama’s health care reform law, Ryan said its “biggest, coldest power play of all” targeted seniors for $716 billion in cuts. But Ryan’s own budget counted on those same savings, which in fact would be squeezed from reimbursement payments to hospitals and insurers. Asked about the inconsistency of Ryan attacking cuts his own plan embraced, Cantor begged off.
“The assumption was that, um, the, the, ah, again — I probably can’t speak to that in an exact way so I better just not.”
The Medicare cuts that have been the topic of so many lies by both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, did not and do not affect Medicare beneficiaries at all, rather they are cost savings based on tweaking reimbursement payments to insurance and medical care providers. Additionally, Ryan retained those savings in his own budget, even as he railed against Obamacare and Obama for mythical cuts to Medicare beneficiary benefits.
Steve Benen gives us some of the gory details on the Boehner-Cantor disasters in the making:
About a month ago, we learned that "behind-the-scenes fighting" between the offices of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Speaker John Boehner had grown so intense, senior aides had to organize a "truce."
The fact that such a step was even necessary seems rather bizarre -- the Speaker's office and Majority Leader's office, as a rule, should not be at war with one another -- and reinforces the perception that House Republicans aren't exactly ready for prime time when it comes to governing in the midst of trying times.
As it turns out, however, Cantor aides haven't just been engaged in an ongoing conflict with Boehner aides; they've also been clashing with one another.
The sudden departure of trusted House Majority Leader Eric Cantor aide Brad Dayspring late last week followed a heated, nearly physical confrontation with another senior Cantor staffer over the unveiling of a major GOP initiative.
The dramatic exit of Dayspring -- one of the House Republican Conference's savviest and most controversial operatives -- came after a clash with another top Cantor aide, Mike Ference, over the rollout of a jobs bill that's set to hit the floor this week.
Watch:
Maybe the two opposing Republican teams, Boehner v. Cantor, will annihilate one and other....we can dream.
“I didn’t hear him say anything when the Tea Party was out demonstrating, actually spitting on members of Congress right here in the Capitol. And he and his colleagues were putting signs in the windows encouraging them.”
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is concerned about the “growing mobs on Wall Street”. You know, the peaceful #OccupyWallStreet movement.
“If you read the newspapers today, I for one am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs on Wall Street and the other cities across the country. And believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans.”
The only non-peaceful aspect of these protests was the NYPD reaction to them. The fascist Teabagger mind is an ugly thing.
This is your daily reminder. On October 3, 2011, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) made it clear that he would not allow a vote in the House on the American Jobs Act.
WHERE are the JOBS, Speaker Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Cantor?? The Washington Post:
After Cantor said Monday that House Republicans would not bring Obama’s $447 billion American Jobs Act to the floor for a vote, the White House struck back by releasing excerpts of the prepared remarks Obama was planning to deliver at Eastfield Community College in Mesquite, Texas, on Tuesday afternoon.
“I’d like Mr. Cantor to come down here to Dallas and explain what in this jobs bill he doesn’t believe in,” the president is planning to say. “Does he not believe in rebuilding America’s roads and bridges? Does he not believe in tax breaks for small businesses, or efforts to help veterans?”
He will also ask Cantor to “at least put this jobs bill up for a vote so that the entire country knows exactly where every Member of Congress stands.
Today, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) responded to President Obama’s entreaty to the House and the Senate, to vote on the American Jobs Act by the end of the month. Cantor’s response was that there will be no vote on this bill in the House. Period.
As you know, all spending bills must originate in the House, consequently, this bill is dead in the water. I intend to point this out daily. If you’re a Liberal blogger, I hope you will do the same, since it’s imperative that Cantor’s refusal to hold a vote on American jobs be common knowledge.
Washington (CNN) - House Majority Leader Eric Cantor flatly rejected President Obama's call for the House and Senate to hold a vote on his jobs bill by the end of the month, saying Monday the full bill, called the "American Jobs Act," won't get a vote in the House of Representatives. [...]
Instead Cantor announced the House will take up several measures this month that he believes House Republicans and the White House agree on, including the three pending free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama.
The Majority Leader also said the House would vote on a bill to permanently repeal the 3% withholding tax on businesses that hold government contracts and take up other bills that roll back regulatory barriers for businesses. Cantor said the President Obama has made comments supportive of both of these areas.
So, the anti-regulation Republican House will vote on bills that eliminate regulatory barriers for business, along with providing tax cuts for business.
But, American jobs for American workers? Pffft..........
Michael Tomasky, on the GOP’s “maximalist” bent, shortly after Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) walked out of the Biden budget talks:
“Today’s GOP is about ideological maximalism on all fronts. Eric Cantor’s withdrawal from the Biden talks shows it again. They cannot negotiate, because negotiating means accepting something you don’t like, which the noise machine will not permit. And worse, because the noise machine wants Obama to fail and is so powerful, Republican office-holders inevitably arrive at that point too. Mitch McConnell in essence admitted Wednesday that Republicans were opposing Obama on Libya for partisan reasons. They can’t be quite so brazen about the economy, so they hide their political motives behind rhetoric about the deficit. It’s high time the Democrats started pulling back the curtain.”
We really need to begin shouting this from the rooftops. If the American public could see what we online see every single damn day, Republicans would never win a national election again.
At his weekly news conference in Washington, House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor (R-VA), responded to President Obama’s demand for tax increases via closing tax loopholes for the wealthy:
“If the president wants to talk loopholes, we will be glad to talk loopholes [but they must be] coupled with offsetting tax cuts somewhere else.”
In other words, no net gain in revenues, absolutely no tax increases on the wealthy, according to Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
Wondering if the ever whiny, billionaire kowtowing Cantor is still betting his money on the collapse of the American economy.
Confirmed: Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) walked out of negotiations on the debt ceiling because Democrats are demanding tax increases on the wealthy and corporations via the elimination of tax loopholes. Ezra Klein, emphasis mine:
A bit more information has trickled out over the last few days detailing the exact state of the budget negotiations when they collapsed. Both sides, as they often said, were shooting for about $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. They'd already agreed on around $1 trillion in spending cuts and were making good progress on the rest of it. But Democrats insisted that $400 billion -- so, 17 percent -- of the package be tax increases. And that's when Republicans walked.
Specifically, the Obama administration was looking at a rule that lets businesses value their inventory at less than they bought it for in order to lower their tax burden, a loophole that lets hedge-fund managers count their income as capital gains and pay a 15 percent marginal tax rate, the tax treatment of private jets, oil and gas subsidies, and a limit on itemized deductions for the wealthy.
UPDATE:Not really an “update” persay, so much as an addition. From Raw Story, emphasis mine:
The White House announced today that it is seeking to raise $600 billion in revenue through new taxes and the elimination of corporate subsidies as part of a deal to lower the deficit and raise the debt ceiling.
President Barack Obama is trying to ensure that any spending cuts agreed to are also offset by tax increases — something Republicans have said they will oppose at all costs.
White House Spokesman Jay Carney echoed the calls of many Democratic legislators, saying any deal must include tax hikes or the elimination of subsidies, setting the stage for a showdown with Republicans over the next five weeks.
[Cantor], the Republican whip in the House of Representatives, bought up to $15,000 in shares of ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury ETF last December, according to his 2009 financial disclosure statement. The exchange-traded fund takes a short position in long-dated government bonds. In effect, it is a bet against U.S. government bonds — and perhaps on inflation in the future.
Is House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) still shorting U.S. government bonds (betting on the economic failure of the U.S.)?
Possibly. Or not. But, if he is, Cantor has a financial stake in the outcome of the debt ceiling talks. If he is still shorting U.S. government bonds, he will make money if the U.S. defaults on debt obligations, which would be the inevitable outcome if Republicans in Congress refuse to raise the debt ceiling.
But other than that, I don’t see why the wingers shouldn’t do it. Create an economic calamity, blame Obama for it, put a bunch of editorials in Kaplan blaming Obama for it, publish a few think tank studies blaming Obama for it, run endless Crossroads-funded ads blaming Obama for it, etc. David Brooks and Gail Collins will agree that both sides are at fault here. Charles Lane and Ruth Marcus will conclude that it is mostly Obama’s fault. Andrew Sullivan will praise Cantor’s principled Thatcherite exuberance. Joe Klein will blame it all on the hippies and black panthers. Glenn Kessler will award Paul Krugman four pinnochios for blaming Cantor.”
Yep. It’s all about blaming Obama. And oh, by the way, today Majority Whip, Eric Cantor (R-VA), walked out on negotiations with Joe Biden, citing the tax increases Democrats want, and he won’t agree to.
According to Rep. Paul Ryan and other Republicans such as Speaker Boehner, and House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, non-defense discretionary spending has increased by 80% under the Obama administration.
An assortment of Republicans -- including speaker Speaker Boehner of Ohio and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia -- have used Ryan’s numbers to exaggerate spending increases since Obama took office Jan. 20, 2009.[……]
The White House budget office shows non-defense discretionary spending rose 26 percent from 2008 to 2010. The CBO, which Hurt and other Republicans cite as their source, puts the increase at 23.7 percent. We rate his [Ryan, Hurt, et al] statement False.
It’s completely false. As anyone who knows how to read federal statistics should have known, the real number — including the stimulus — is 26 percent. And it’s now in the process of falling off.
The discretionary spending falsehood is a key part of the claim that Obama has presided over a vast expansion of government; as I’ve tried to explain, the only real area of rapid growth has been in safety net programs that spend more when there is high unemployment.
Two years ago, Senator John Ensign (NV) admitted to cheating on his wife, and having a sexual relationship with the wife of one of his Senate staffers. His mistress was also working for Ensign’s campaign.
At that time, currently the number 2 Republican in the House, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (VA) was asked by Chris Wallace (FOX News) if Sanford should resign from office. Cantor's response to that question:
“Look, I mean, is anyone happy to see all that have happened? No. It‘s not good. But, listen, we have our thoughts with their families and they themselves.”
Wallace then asked Cantor why Cantor would not "walk the walk" and ask both Ensign and Sanford to step down(both Sanford and Ensign had done their press conferences by the time Cantor was on Wallace's Fox News show). Cantor's response to Wallace was only too predictable:
“Well, listen—I mean, again many the instance of the people of South Carolina and Nevada, I mean, it‘s up to them. I mean, those are the elected individuals by those states.”
About a week after Ensign's confession press conference, Republican Governor Mark Sanford (SC) admitted to the nation that he had not only cheated on his wife, but that he then lied to his constituents, and the nation in an attempt to cover it up. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) was asked if Sanford should resign from office. Cantor’s response was to say that it was up to Sanford’s constituents (as Cantor also said re Ensign):
“As far as his remaining governor, Brian, it‘s up to the people of South Carolina and that will play out. But, listen, Governor Sanford apologized yesterday. We ought to be, you know, really dedicating our thoughts and prayers to his family right now going through a difficult time.”
So, in both of these cases, Cantor made sympathetic noises, and suggested that it’s up to the people whether or not these two cheating lawmakers should resign, never once stating that they should do so.
Two years later, here comes Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), a man who held a press conference admitting to his chatting and sexting (not even actual physical cheating……..NO adultery that we know of), and the lies he told to cover it up. Surely Rep. Cantor would treat him the same as he did Sen. Ensign and Gov. Sanford, right? Of course not. When asked if Weiner should resign, Cantor was quick to throw him under the bus:
“I think it is up to Congressman Weiner and his constituents to make that decision. I don‘t condone his activity. I think he should resign.”
I know it shouldn’t, but the blatant hypocrisy of Republicans never fails to surprise me. sigh…
Watch Maddow take this apart:
Image courtesy of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show. IOKIYAR acronym > it’s only okay if you’re a Republican
Adding....If you feel as I do, and you want to see Rep. Weiner keep on working for the people, and you don't want to see him resign, be sure to visit the Facebook page which was created in order to encourage Rep. Weiner not to resign, and to show support.
Yesterday, our apparently heartless House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor (R-VA) said that there would be no disaster relief from the federal government for victims of the killer tornado in Joplin, Missouri unless other cuts to the federal budget were made to pay for it. Cantor and his GOP-Teabagger team in the House then made a decision to cut clean energy, rather than something like, oh, I don’t know, oil subsidies?
Scientists have warned for decades that our climate system would grow deadlier as greenhouse pollution from coal and oil increases, with greater floods, heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and storms. Instead of responding to reality by mobilizing our nation to protect people from climate disasters and build a resilient, green economy, Republicans are keeping us tethered to big oil.
“It is staggeringly shortsighted to pay for the economic losses of climate disasters by choking off funding for policies that reduce the threat of future climate disasters,” said Bracken Hendricks, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. [emphasis mine]
Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) on The Ed Show.
When you talk about cutting clean energy programs versus cutting subsidies for big oil, let’s have that debate here in Washington. But not on the backs of the people of Joplin.
Watch:
Adding…..according to Think Progress, they’ve “acquired the text of the Aderholt amendment. Of the $1.5 billion cut from the clean cars program, only $1 billion is directed to disaster relief, while $500 million is simply rescinded.”
Yesterday, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), told reporters that the house didn’t have the time to honor the Navy SEALs who killed Osama Bin Laden:
The House will not hold a vote on a resolution honoring U.S. troops and the intelligence community on the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, the number-two House Republican said Tuesday.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that House Republican leaders had been considering a symbolic resolution honoring the Navy SEALS and others involved in the bin Laden raid but that they had decided against one in an effort to keep in line with their new rules prohibiting commemorative measures.
“We considered that last week, and we deal with the rules that we’ve put in place in the House, and we’ve said since we assumed the majority that we want to be substantive and meaningful,” Cantor told reporters at his weekly roundtable.
Oh, but wait.
Apparently, the House GOP found it “substantive and meaningful”, as well as worth their time, to honor George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush by renaming a courthouse in Texas after them.
The U.S. House has voted to add the names of former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush to the federal courthouse in Midland, where the Bushes once lived.
U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, announced the passage of the House resolution redesignating the building in a statement issued Monday. Previously, the building’s official name had been the “George Mahon Federal Building United States Courthouse,” after a longtime congressman who once represented Midland.
In response to criticism, Cantor has now partially relented, via Think Progress:
In response to criticism, Cantor now says he will include language regarding the Navy SEALs in an upcoming intelligence authorizations bill. Still, the House GOP will not hold a vote on the bipartisan stand-alone bill passed by the Senate.
Let’s be completely clear.
To the House GOP, it is “substantive and meaningful”, and worth their time, to rename a federal courthouse after the incompetent war criminal, George W. Bush.
It is not, however, “substantive and meaningful”, orworth their time, to honor the Navy SEALS who brought down our #1 enemy, Osama bin Laden.
Bob Cesca on the “accomplishments” of the 112th Congress thus far:
Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and John Boehner have introduced ideologically far-right, inconsequential and symbolic bills that kill Planned Parenthood and NPR. They've passed legislation that cuts spending for pregnant women. They've passed legislation that magically circumvents the constitutional lawmaking process. They refuse to raise taxes on the rich while trying to gut Medicaid and kill Medicare, even though supermajorities of Americans support both of these crucial healthcare programs -- including majority support from tea party Republicans.
Oh the irony is too delicious.The National Enquirer gave Speaker Boehner an early Valentine’s Day present contained in a front page expose of the orange speaker.
Now, I don’t read the National Enquirer, and I normally would not have posted about anything found on its pages, but….
The blogger who originally broke this story in September, Mike Stark of StarkReports.com, is a highly credible kinda guy, so I felt comfortable posting this NE bit.
Stark has updated his story. He recorded the refusal to comment by the woman involved, Lisbeth Lyons, a lobbyist for the paper industry, for the update. Also, be sure to watch the vid of the conversation Stark had with Sam Seder on Sam’s show. Mike Stark:
Wonder how well Boehner’s zero-tolerance pledge regarding corruption will hold up when it comes out that several hundred paper-making jobs were lost in his district and he refused to do anything about it at the same time he was sleeping with a lobbyist for the printing industry that was very happy to get their cheap paper from China.
Watch:
How long until Boehner is brought down, forced to resign? Or will that even happen? And WHO was the source who originally told Mike Stark about this “situation”, and which political party did they belong to?
Taking odds……personally, I think it could have been the eminently obnoxious and driven, Eric Cantor.
Republicans double down on the stupid, and begin to lower the expectations of the people who foolishly voted to once again empower the ruthless idiots.
Just as Senate Minority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has attempted to lower expectations in recent days by saying that Republicans can't really accomplish anything unless President Obama is voted out of office in 2012, so too did Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) set the stage on Sunday by declaring that any lack of progress in Congress -- including a possible government shutdown -- will be Obama's fault.
So, if the Republicans shut down the government, or don’t do what the people who voted for them want them to do, it’s all Obama’s fault? Yeah, and Republicans are really smart people.
Cantor also made clear that if there's going to be any compromise, it's going to have to come from Obama, who has said he is willing to work with Republicans. Cantor, however, said that Republicans will work with Obama only if he agrees with them 100 percent.
So, according to Cantor, Republicans are already refusing to compromise, stating that compromise will have to come 100% from Obama, not from their side.
Okay, well, it’s going to be a long and unfruitful two years thanks to a Republican Party which cares only for it’s power and not for the American people.
A really excellent comment from Bill Maher on Jon Stewart’s Sanity Rally, and the use of the ‘both sides’ meme. Video after the jump.
If you're going to have a rally where hundreds of thousands of people show up, you might as well go ahead and make it about something.
Now, with all due respect to my friends Jon and Stephen, it seems to me that if you truly wanted to come down on the side of restoring sanity and reason, you'd side with the sane and reasonable, and not try to pretend that the sanity is equally distributed in both parties. Keith Olbermann is right when he says he's not the equivalent of Glenn Beck. One reports facts, the other one is very close to playing with his poop.
And the big mistake of modern media has been this notion of balance for balances’ sake. That the left is just as violent and cruel as the right, that unions are just as powerful as corporations, that reverse racism is just as damaging as racism. There's a difference between a mad man, and a madman.
Now, getting over 200,000 people to come to a Liberal rally, is a great achievement that gave me hope. And, what I really loved about it is that it was twice the size of the Glenn Beck crowd on the mall in August. Although it weighed the same.
Two years ago, Senator John Ensign (NV) admitted to cheating on his wife, and having a sexual relationship with the wife of one of his Senate staffers. His mistress was also working for Ensign’s campaign.
Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and John Boehner have introduced ideologically far-right, inconsequential and symbolic bills that kill Planned Parenthood and NPR. They've passed legislation that 
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