Sunday's New York Times has a profile of Eric Cantor which talks about his great success in "denying the White House the support of a single House Republican on the stimulus bill." Yeah, I know - wow! As if that's not impressive enough, Eric Cantor apparently is a Newt Gingrich disciple, having "studied Mr. Gingrich’s years in power and...been in regular touch with him as he sought to help his party find the right tone and message." Recall that Newt Gingrich's greatest accomplishments were...uh, uh, uh...well, he "unif[ied] his caucus against Mr. Clinton’s package of tax increases to balance the budget in 1993." That would be the horrible legislation that passed with no Republican support and which kicked off 8 years of peace, prosperity, and budget surpluses. I'm sure you remember those horrible, horrible times. :) Anyway, it's great to know that Eric Cantor is following in the great Newt-ster's footsteps, leading his own caucus in total opposition to Barack Obama's crucial economic recovery package for our nation at a time of growing hardship. Verrry impressive. So, with all that in mind, perhaps it isn't just a Freudian slip when Eric Cantor says that he "talk[s] to Newt on a regular basis because he was in the position that we are in: in the extreme minority." Yep, Eric Cantor called his caucus the EXTREME minority, although I'm sure - absolutely positively sure - he didn't mean "extreme" in the dictionary definition ("Extending far beyond the norm" or "Of the greatest severity; drastic"). And I'm definitely sure he didn't mean "extremist," as in "One who advocates or resorts to measures beyond the norm, especially in politics." No, that certainly wouldn't be Eric Cantor and his merry band of conservative ideologues in the House. And I'm sure that Eric Cantor won't continue meeting Barack Obama's open, extended hand with a clenched fist forever. He's not that stupid and he's not that crazy, is he? Hmmmmmmm.
