Obtained: Audio Of Eric Cantor Worrying About “Overreacting” To Crisis
Okay, I’ve just obtained audio of GOP House leader Eric Cantor lamenting the “overreacting” to the crisis, which is the story of the morning.
That audio has now surfaced significantly ups the stakes for Cantor, because it means it can be played on cable TV and radio, and can also be used in Democratic ads, as it will almost certainly be.
We found the audio on YouTube, and you can listen to it by clicking right here and opening the file.
Here’s a transcript:
“As far as Rush, Rush has got ideas. He’s got following. He believes in the conservative principles that many of us believe in –- of lower taxes, of making sure that we turn back towards a focus on entrepreneurialism in this country, to promoting innovation and not stamping that out by over-reacting, if you will, which this town often does, to crisis.”
Cantor’s quotes, which were delivered at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast, were first reported by The Politico, and immediately provoked a firestorm, with the Democratic National Committee and other Dems blasting it as a sign of the GOP’s inability to grasp the magnitude of our problems.
Update: TPM’s Brian Beutler argues that the audio shows that Cantor wasn’t directly saying that Dems are overreacting to the crisis.
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Ugh. Shoot me in the face, but I actually agree with him on the single point that over-reacting often makes things worse.
In context (of the usual GOPer blather), it’s not really a big deal.
The audio is quite different from how GOPolitico framed it. They made it seem as if he said directly that the Dems were overreacting to the crisis. But I will say that aligning himself with Rush Limbaugh exhibits a kind of tone deafness that in indicative of the GOP as a whole. I don’t know if he was responding to a question or what but the name Rush Limbaugh shouldn’t even be in their vocabulary at this point. But hey they can keep talking him up and keep talking their approval numbers down for all I care. It is what it is.
We loves it
It doesn’t matter – keep saying that Cantor said the government is “overreacting” to the financial crisis, it is TECHNICALLY true and forces him to explain in detail what he actually meant, at which point everyone has stopped listening anyway.
Political Communications 101, folks
Cantor is a well-connected multimillionaire and, like the rest of his clueless party, feels no particular need to get excited about any of this. The very reincarnation of Herbert “What, Me Worry?” Hoover.
I am right with sg – the more that Republican elected officials are talking about Rush and his “ideas” – the better off Dems are, seriously…what is the Republican’s obsession with Rush? So a lot of people listen to him, but a lot more DON’T…and that is the problem for the GOP…staying focused on their “base” isn’t going to get them back into the majority anytime soon…but I don’t think they get that yet…the way they try to spin things is SOOOO transparant to the majority of Americans.
I’ve re-read that comment several times and at first I was going to defend Cantor because DC does have a tendency to overreact. Think Terri Shiavo. But the more I read it, the more I realized he was specifically talking about Obama and the dem’s solution to the economic crisis. And it so perfectly sums up the Republican reaction to any crisis. Think Katrina.
a budget without numbers and now this. they could make
a movie called “out of touch” and star the whole GOP leadership.
when the case of life on mars landed in the finale, i wonder if they
found Rep. Ryan [R-Mars] discussing privatizing medicare, freezing
spending in a recession, and making bush’s tax cuts for zillionaire
permanent.
they got nuthin.
Here is a great article at Politico on the new generation of voters…combine that article (young voters) with shifting ethnic demographics and it could be a long time in the wilderness for the GOP if they don’t expand their policy platform.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/20771.html
The Republican Party’s economic policies are now coming from an addled drug addict?
The Republicans are NOT serious people any more, it’s the Republican Herbert Hoover party on drugs.
Potty mouth Republican Eric Cantor claims drug addicted *** tourist Limbaugh “has got ideas” and then claims that the response to the worst global economic crisis in 80 years is an over reaction?
What kind of “ideas” does Limbaugh have? How to get illegal drugs?
Seriously, what “ideas” does Limbaugh’s mind spin when he’s spinning on hillbilly heroin? Fantasies about economic royalists who think a budget without numbers (but with lots of pictures) is actually, you know, a “budge?”