Posted on 07/21/2010 9:06:34 PM PDT by Maelstorm
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 Capitol office. “That’s part of the beauty of the tea party movement; it’s organic. And it’s certainly not Washington. So I think it’s better left with the people.”
House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana is the highest-ranking and only GOP leader to join the caucus thus far. Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) also declined to join the Tea Party Caucus.
The group's first meeting is Wednesday morning.
The tea party of late has been plagued with its own problems, such as allegations of racism and anti-Semitism. Cantor, the only Jewish Republican in Congress, said he doesn’t condone billboards like the one in Iowa that compared President Barack Obama to Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
“I think that certainly those in your profession, not you but some, who certainly want to portray individuals in the tea party as extreme or fringe, but if you look, anecdotally through my experience having met with several, if you look at the public polling about who is involved with the tea party, it’s not,” Cantor said. “The tea party is born out of this deep-rooted frustration of lack of leadership in Washington and two a real anger at the fiscal mismanagement here.”
Go felch a camel, Jake. Your Journolist-wannabee talking points are ineffectual.
Cheers!
“RINO is all you need to know.His ilk are the main problem with the republican party.”
Amen, Amen I say to you.
Kill all RINOs (politically speaking, of course).
Boehner doesn’t join any caucus because he’s the leader and doesn’t take sides. I can see why Cantor as whip won’t join either. Is he a member of any other caucus? It does make sense for Leadership to remain open to the ideas of all members.
The tea party message is more effective when it comes from regular citizens,not politicians.Thats what i got from cantor in the article.
LOL!
Bumping all of your thoughts!
The reason the TEA Party is successful is because it’s not of Washington, D.C.
It truly is grassroots...and that is where it should remain.
Yes...same as the Progressive Caucus is. Greens, Socialists, Communists, Independents and Democrats are welcomed into that caucus. It has been very effective. Took decades but now it runs the government.
A Tea Party caucus can use the same MO.
I think I agree w/Cantor on this issue.
Those on this thread calling him a sellout or no backbone really haven't a clue who he is. He's a staunch conservative through-and-through.
Consensus... like Global Warming? At some point in time the Tea Party movement has to move beyond a loose herding of cats hollering on street corners. Michelle has simply formed a "caucus" in Congress to give it a voice, and is not claiming to be its leader or spokesperson.
You’d have to ask the author. Note that it was Jake Sherman making those comments, not Cantor.
He didn't. Read the article again. Pay attention to the " " thingies. That statement is the authors, not Cantor's, inserted between two Cantor quotes
Eric Cantor is my congressman here in the Richmond, VA suburbs. Before we start doing the Robespierre thing to those we don’t agree with 100% of the time we should focus on those real RINOs who we disagree with nearly 100% of the time. I will gladly support Cantor again during the upcoming midterms.
Simipler than that, see my post 53. They don't know what quotation marks are, thus can't distinguish Cantor's words from the authors.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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I agree with Cantor, the positions of the tea parties, there are a bunch of them, aren't consistant, and as a floor leader it's his job to push the positions of the GOP on particular issues. As to the billboards, they're fun, but they don't win votes in the middle.
Eric Cantor is my congressman here in the western Richmond, VA suburbs. Before we do the Robespierre thing on those who we don’t agree with 100% of the time we should focus on true RINOs we agree with less than 50% of the time. I will gladly support Cantor in the midterms.
I totally agree with your post. Bachmann was doing this to give the Tea Party and actual voice in the hall of Congress.
I think his Phariseeical ancestry is on display.
I think you have it right. I’m frankly surprised that so many here infer that this caucus will by default usurp the Tea Perty movement.
Yes, we formed as a grassroots movement, based on ideas of smaller government, lower taxes, and controlled spending.
I would like to know who in congress GETS IT; the TEA Party Caucus will accomplish this, as we find out who truly supports our goals.
I expect the big government, free spending RINOs will shy away. It’s time to separate the wheat from the chaff.
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