Cantor: Republicans lack ‘the ability to be relevant to people’s lives.’
Cantor: Republicans lack ‘the ability to be relevant to people’s lives.’
In a new interview with the Washington Times, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) says that he believes the Republican Party has failed to respond to issues that are “relevant” to Americans including health care, education, and infrastructure:
“Where we have really fallen down is, we have lacked the ability to be relevant to people’s lives. Let’s set aside the last eight years, and our falling down in living up to expectations of what we said we were going to do,” Mr. Cantor told The Washington Times in his district office outside of Richmond. “It’s the relevancy question.” [...]
“It’s the roads, it’s going to the gas station, that’s still there when the price will bump back up. It’s education, it’s health care. These are the issues, frankly, that we have not been on offense with,” he said.
Cantor is expected to join the House Republican Leadership as Minority Whip.
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But the rightwing evangelicals will not cease the imposition of their authoritative, self-righteous morality on the rest of us.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:33 am“Where we have really fallen down is, we have lacked the ability to be relevant to people’s lives
“Now, that is not in itself a bad thing. The bad thing is that the tactics we have used in the past to overcome this irrelevance are no longer working.”
November 17th, 2008 at 10:34 amOur one failing in Virginia this year was not getting rid of this ultra-reich winger. But then again, he represents the “real” Virginia (according to Nancy Piffinpeffer, at least), and not the “fake” Virginia where I live that (a) voted to have a second democrat represent us in the US Senate; (b) voted to have a majority democratic House delegation; and (c) voted to give Pres-elect Obama all of our electoral votes.
Keep looking over your shoulder, Cantor — you and your ilk are becoming increasingly irrelevant in newly blue Virginia, and 2010 ain’t that far away…
November 17th, 2008 at 10:37 amCongratulations, Mr. Cantor. Acknowledgment of error is the first step on the road to recovery.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:37 amwell no fuc*king shlt. when all you give a damn about is yourself and you’ve campaigned to help others… where does that leave YOU?
sinking on the gop titanic.
obama should snub every single one of you republicans.
you are junk, stand for nothing but yourself and a complete burden on society as a whole.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:38 amLet’s not leave behind the last eight years, Mr. Cantor. You and your party were AWOL as the number of uninsured soared by 7 million people.
If you really want to be relevant, prevent the race to the lowest common global denominator on worker pay and benefits. If you won’t leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, then have the decency to cut your own pay and pony up for your health insurance.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:39 amCome on, Cantor’s a snivelling jerk – he’s the one who is not relevant. Now he’s mouthing monday morning bullet points – where was he during the election season, if not in-line with the talking points on these very subjects?
Remember when he waved around that document about Pelosi as reason why the first vote on the bailout failed. He’s just a grandstander. Why are you even giving him a grandstand to speak from?
November 17th, 2008 at 10:39 amcaption:
“Hello, my name is Eric Cantor, and I am a republican…”
November 17th, 2008 at 10:40 amWow. A Republican who gets it. Am sure the Freepers will eviscerate him. Good. Just bury this horrible party with it’s horrible human beings faster.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:42 amEric Cantor’s preparing the way to reach across the aisle and work with Rahm Emanuel. Israel and Judaism have a way of uniting political foes.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:43 amI just love it when GOoPers try to be reflective. It never even occurs to them that their radical ideas fail because they are radical.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:43 amThis won’t change because republicans do not represent Americans.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:44 amMarie Says: But the rightwing evangelicals will not cease the imposition of their authoritative, self-righteous morality on the rest of us.
Fortunatley, they’ve been marginald for now.
I read a fascinating interview with Barack Obama from 2005.
Clearly he is not the religious nut that our current CIF is. He seems to have no delusions about angels and harps in some after-life of perfection, nor is he without his questions and doubts. He’s defined his religiuos beliefs on his own terms and they are far more like traditonal Buddhism than traditional Christianity.
But, I full expect the zealots to come back swinging. The only way to fight them is with education – and lots of it.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:45 amHmm, education, infastructure, health care. Yes Mr. Cantor, your party has been adamantly regressive on these issues and many others that have a daily effect on the American public. The Conservative Party by definition is against change and for maintaining the status quo at all costs. This basic tenet of the Republican Party and modern day conservatism will ensure their irrelevancy for the foreseeable future. The zeal with which the Republican run Government attempted to prove to Americans that “Government is not the answer” by undermining and politicizing every gov’t agency for the past eight years has done nothing but prove to the public that it is not “Government” that is the problem, it is allowing the Republican Party to have control of the healm and free reign to place unqualified cronies into positions where they can dismantle and hobble every branch of the Federal Government that performs much needed aid to the public. They have destroyed our once unbiased justice system, prevented scientific advancements, undermined our system of verifying the safety of imported food and goods, stifled government whistle blowers, and countless other tactics that will take years to unravel. A light has been shone on the Republican Party and Americans are understanding more and more that they are a self-serving party whose basic philosophy undermines the advancement of programs that are needed to ensure the advancement of the quality of average American’s lives. There is no easy cure for the Republican Party’s dilemna short of an entire overhaul and rethinking of what they stand for. Good luck with that Mr. Cantor. In the meantime, kindly move out of the effing way and let the adults fix your mess AGAIN!
November 17th, 2008 at 10:50 amMr. Cantor:
Your party cannot conitnue selling religion when people are looking for bread”.
Onc a famous Moslem 11th century Sufi philosopher Abu Hamid Gazzali (Gazali) said:
November 17th, 2008 at 10:52 am” Thousands of ideas left my mind and vanished when my servant came and told to me:”We ran out of flour”.
The Republicans aren’t capable of being relevant. They think they are on some divine mission to force others to not do the things they themselves do in the closet (drink, dance and be gay).
If we make reality-based education a high priority in our country, we will go in the direction of all other Westernized Nations where the word ‘Conservative’ becomes the equivalent of ‘left-of-center moderate’.
Time for the Republican Party as we know it to become extinct.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:53 amWhat happened? The “be very afraid of the terrorist boogeymen” approach not working anymore?
November 17th, 2008 at 10:55 amIt seems to take a through a** whipping for the dunderheads that make up the republic party to realize just how irrelevant they are in real life
November 17th, 2008 at 10:57 amWow, a Republican who really gets it. Amazing. The rest of them think it’s all a “perception” and PR problem.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:58 amI disagree, you have been pretty offensive on these matters.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:00 amI think all the Repubs feel that their problem is in their inability to sell their brand to the public. What they don’t get is that they have nothing to offer us. Their “trickle down” theory has been proven to not work. They have no new ideas on economic issues that aren’t fundamentally based on tipping the scales to benefit the wealthy and the corporations(their base and major contributors). Their “I’ve got mine and to hell with you” point of view does not espouse them to the average citizen. Their much needed base of religious nuts, gun owners and those to scared of arabs to come out from under their beds are shrinking. It seems like the fundamentals of modern Conservatism are not sound. Not by a long shot…
November 17th, 2008 at 11:01 amDidn’t Eric Cantor understand the mission of the GOP when he became a Republican? The Republican Party has failed to respond to issues that are “relevant” to Americans including health care, education, and infrastructure, because the Republican Party is against the issues that are “relevant” to Americans including health care, education, and infrastructure.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:02 amHere’s the article I mentioned above:
Too bad this can’t be the mainstream type of Christianity practiced in this country. Then people like me would have no problems with it. :)
November 17th, 2008 at 11:02 am#21 Dammit Fred, you beat me to that one.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:02 amThere’s several ways of understanding why the Republican Party is worse off than General Motors:
1 – They’re not able to leave behind 20th century ways of politics, including the very old and tired “tax and spend liberals” kind of labels. They haven’t even considered running a campaign based on issues.
2 – They refused to acknowledge that they didn’t have a viable horse in the last race. Certainly none that could compare to Obama. Get some new faces that have some charisma (and that doesn’t mean they flirt with audiences!).
3 – Fiscal responsibility doesn’t just belong to them anymore.
4 – Stop the Rovian fear-mongering and focus on issues and (duh!) some positive things.
And there’s a lot more minor ones, but bottom line is most of them don’t have a clue and wouldn’t listen to one.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:04 amunbelievable:
Oh, you mean we’re people again? Wow.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:05 am1 – They’re not able to leave behind 20th century ways of politics, including the very old and tired “tax and spend liberals” kind of labels. They haven’t even considered running a campaign based on issues.
I believe you have confused “not able” with “not willing.” Also, they can’t run a campaign based on issues because if they actually had to talk about what they really THINK in PUBLIC for everyone to see the vast majority of Americans would be horrified.
2 – They refused to acknowledge that they didn’t have a viable horse in the last race. Certainly none that could compare to Obama. Get some new faces that have some charisma (and that doesn’t mean they flirt with audiences!).
If they had run Ron Paul Obama would have had a harder time. He still would have won, but it would have been harder.
3 – Fiscal responsibility doesn’t just belong to them anymore.
It never did. This has been a lie going back nearly 100 years now.
4 – Stop the Rovian fear-mongering and focus on issues and (duh!) some positive things.
The Republican party will be using Rove’s tactics long after he is dead.
Also, Republicans don’t know the meaning of the word ‘positive.’
November 17th, 2008 at 11:09 amEric Cantor couldn’t provide competent governance for his Republican donors. He served on the Executive Committee of the House Republican fundraising arm, known as the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Cantor voted for Sarbanes-Oxley, then watched for five years as the NRCC’s CFO pilfered the donor vault.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:12 amI have been highly offended by they attitude towards the needs of Americans……..it was deliberate and now they want to act like they just made a mistake?????? Please.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:12 amliberal traitor Says: Oh, you mean we’re people again? Wow.
Not officially until January 20th :)
If the Republicans in red states like Georgia had any idea how many of their precious children are Atheists and Agnostics, there would be a massive implosion. When I taught high school here, about 25% of my students were non-believers, and another 25% were ’spiritual but not religious’. Unfortunately, gays were still stigmatized…
November 17th, 2008 at 11:17 amActually Mr. Cantor, thanks to your party’s disastrous management of our economy, dog food is distinctly relevant.
While the Republican brand should be taken off the shelf, please leave something for the millions of newly unemployed to eat.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:19 amI’ve been witnessing Cantor lately, standing just behind the big name ‘publicans as they spout their drivel. he has the look of the quintessential yes-man.
Interesting backdrop behind Cantor.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:19 amHe’s from Virginia, home of some major armament manufacturers.
Just like Joe Lieberman’s home turf in Connecticut…
Guess what the major export of the state of Israel is?
That’s right. Guns. Uzis. Desert Eagles.
Anyone else see a pattern here?
Reagan told us that government was not the solution, it was the problem. The Republicans then spent the next 25 years fulfilling Reagan’s claim. Katrina finally woke the American people to the failure of Republican governance. The destruction of our government by the GOP was not a mistake, it was the goal.
http://www.lies.com/wp/images/bathtub.jpg
November 17th, 2008 at 11:22 amshoeless Says: Reagan told us that government was not the solution, it was the problem.
We need to do a better job in civics classes, too.
Since when is less self-government a good thing? That is what they were after – less Democracy, which is our style of government – and more fascism.
I wonder if the American people truly understand how close were were to losing our Democracy.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:26 amI was really hoping that Cantor would go away this election cycle.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:26 amIrrelevant is the right word. Greed. Conceit. Self-serving. Insular. Corrupt. There are some others that are applicable.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:28 amtarazan
I LOVE that 11th century quote!
November 17th, 2008 at 11:30 amEverything the Republicans have done for the past 8 years (actually the past 34 years, beginning with their fight against Carter’s energy conservation efforts)has led to our present ruin.
Their policies over that time have only become more extreme as have their public claims for their effectiveness and sustainability.
Reagan spent his way out of the original fuel crisis and then just kept on borrowing and spending when the crisis had passed, whilst he gutted infrastructure investment, starved health and education (which provide long-term economic benefits)through tax cuts and instead expanded military spending with preposterous future weapons schemes.
Bush Sr. at least rescinded Reagan’s tax cuts but did nothing else.
Clinton reversed the policies of Reagan/Bush41, disproving the Republican model and proving the Democratic approach—but all for naught.
The Bush43 GOP then doubled-down on the same “principles” of the Reagan years and created twice the immediate damage.
Cantor says “Let’s set aside the last eight years, and our falling down in living up to expectations [...]It’s education, it’s health care. These are the issues, frankly, that we have not been on offense with“.
To the contrary it was precisely the Republicans relentless ideologically-driven offense on all quarters and by every means available that has not only bankrupted our present but our future and what is more has saddled other countries with the consequences of self-serving Republican profligacy.
Cantors message is to ignore the past and the lesson that needs to be learned is that the old “values” propaganda, not the policies, no longer provides electoral success.
If the GOP were actually capable of rational introspection and significant reform then they’d just adopt Democrats principles and change their policies to serve the majority public instead of themselves–but doing so would be be admit that they have been wrong, criminally wrong, all these years, and that would make them truly irrelevant.
All Cantor and his ilk are doing is advertising a ‘new and improved’ product in the hope of attracting investors when they don’t even have a prototype.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:46 amRepublicans have demonstrated collosal ignorance over the past eight years; unfortunately the democrats have not been far behind.
The primary reason the republicans lack relevance is the intolerance they exhibit and, in the deep south, the fulminating racism that is part of their base.
The Republican Party will be primarily the party of the deep south.
November 17th, 2008 at 12:03 pmAh yes… time for the GOOP to wake up and smell the Cheney.
November 17th, 2008 at 12:29 pmThe dems forced passage of minimum wage increased and stopped the gop from privatizing your social security……what more can you hope for when in the minority in both houses and with a republican president…..
November 17th, 2008 at 12:45 pmGotta love the backdrop in the picture. Kantor for Israel!
November 17th, 2008 at 12:46 pmOh, and yes, the Repubuttlican party is the party of sociopaths.
November 17th, 2008 at 12:47 pmarleang Says:
The Republican Party will be primarily the party of the deep south.
___________
Umm, didn’t you really mean to say… the party of the Deep Sh*t???
November 17th, 2008 at 12:58 pmCripes, just another damn whining crybaby. Kinda like Boehner, but without the faux perma-tan.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:08 pmFrankly, I voted for OBAMA because I really believed that McCain’s policy regarding important family issues, such as health care, and education, and economy, was to let the free market take care of the problem. In other words, he planned to do nothing on these issues, other than give it lip-service and express concern. I don’t think Americans want a party that plans to do nothing.
Unless the Republican party comes to the realization that these issues are of the most importance to families, they will be left as a minority party for a long time.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:13 pmI’m not saying that the republicans have pushed us towards facism, dictatorship and financial ruin. I’m just saying there is a danger of going down that road.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:15 pmThat’s not all they lack…
November 17th, 2008 at 3:07 pmWhat is odd here is, I am agreeing with this republican.
But, this was obvious the first year of the Bush Adm.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:09 amSo I say, welcome to your brief trip into reality. For Cantor, it will be a brief passing by.
Israel’s always been pretty high on my “irrelevant” list. Or at least not any more relevant than the rest of the world.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:50 am