Eric Cantor

[[File:Eric Cantor, official portrait, 112th Congress.jpg|thumb|right|168px|Eric Cantor. He's in your [[science]], teabagging your grants.]]
[[File:Chickenhawks.gif|thumb|right|168px|They so proudly wear this insignia.]]
{{uspolitics}}
'''Eric Cantor''' {{lived|1963}} was the [[Republican]] Representative from [[Virginia]]'s seventh district, the House Majority Leader (thus making him [[John Boehner]]'s right-hand man), and was the only [[Jew|Jewish]] Republican in Congress. He founded the "GOP Young Guns Coalition" and wrote a self-congratulatory book with other members of the coalition called ''Young Guns'', further proving that as long as you're good at keeping the campaign dough rolling in, you are a "serious force" in political thought.

==Political positions and general stupidity==
*Stock-issue Republican on social issues: Keep the gays from [[Same-sex marriage|marrying]]; no [[gun control]], ''ever''; no [[abortion]], no [[Stem cell research|stem-cell research]]; no [[Flag Police|flag-burning]]; voted against anti-[[discrimination]] laws.
*"Pro-business": Anti-auto bailout; anti-[[American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009|stimulus]]; anti-[[welfare]]; "repeal and replace" [[Obamacare|health care reform]]; no [[Alternative energy|clean energy subsidies]]; no CO<sub>2</sub> emission control. He did, however, vote for a big [[tax]] on bonuses for CEOs at banks getting bailout funds.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/business/20bailout.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2 House Approves 90% Tax on Bonuses]</ref>
*[[Chickenhawk]].
*In 2010, a bullet broke a window in Cantor's office. Police investigators found that it had been traveling downward when it hit the window and concluded that it was a stray bullet. Cantor's response? [[Democrats]] done it!<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/27/health/policy/27threats.html Bullet Hits Cantor's Office Window]</ref>
*Likes to pal around with [[birther]] queen [[Orly Taitz]].<ref>[http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/12/28/eric_cantor_orly_taitz Palling Around with Birthers]</ref> 
*During the 2008 elections, there were rumors that Cantor would be the [[VP]] pick for [[John McCain]]. A McCain staffer dismissed this as a "complete and total joke."<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/05/mccain-aide-cantor-never_n_197189.html Complete and Total Joke]</ref>

===Cantor on the crazy train===
In addition to his anti-stem cell votes and claims that such research would be a [[slippery slope]] to embryo farming and cloning,<ref>[http://jabberinwookie.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/eric-cantor-likens-stem-cell-research-to-human-cloning/ Cantor Likens Stem-Cell Research to Cloning]</ref> Cantor attempted to open up his own front in the [[War on Science]]. In 2010, he launched a program called [http://www.majorityleader.gov/YouCut/ "YouCut"], which allows people to vote between two programs that they want to cut from the next budget. Cantor later created a sub-project within YouCut designed to eliminate "wasteful" grants made by the National Science Foundation. ([[Pork#The Pork Crusader|Sound familiar]]?) Here's how the scheme works: YouCut links to a database of grants, 
[[Tea Party movement|Teabaggers]]
 users recommend which grants should be cut, and then the list gets brought up on the House floor. Cantor even kindly gives the user a nudge in the right direction:

{{cquote|In the "Search Award For" field, try some keywords, such as: success, culture, media, games, social norm, lawyers, museum, leisure, stimulus, etc. to bring up grants. If you find a grant that you believe is a waste of your tax dollars, be sure to record the award number.}}

Apparently Cantor doesn't like success. This ruffled some feathers in the science blogosphere; [[ScienceBlogs]]' Joshua Rosenau justly referred to Cantor as an "asshat."<ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/tfk/2010/12/asshat_eric_cantor_readies_tro.php Asshat Eric Cantor readies troops for guerrilla war on science]</ref> Fortunately for scientists and everyone else, YouCut is merely a dog-and-pony show for Republicans to try to pass themselves off as "serious" fiscal [[conservative]]s. All of the cuts proposed amounted to chump change and every issue brought to the floor as a result of YouCut has been shot down. The site, after a period of inactivity, seems to have given up on the NSF grant issue.

==International diplomacy incident, hypocrisy, and conspiracy theories==
Cantor is known for his hard-line [[Zionism|pro-Israel]] stance, to the point of embarrassment. In 2007, then-Speaker [[Nancy Pelosi]] made a trip to [[Syria]]. Cantor went into a tiff and claimed that her mere visitation to Syria constituted a violation of the Logan Act, which was [[bullshit]] as Pelosi didn't enter any negotiations that would determine foreign policy and the act hasn't been enforced in nearly ''two centuries''. In 2010, Cantor then flew to Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pledge that he would support Israel no matter what. Even Ron Kampeas of the pro-Israel ''Jewish Telegraph Agency'' was shocked by this move, saying:

{{cquote|I can't remember an opposition leader telling a foreign leader, in a personal meeting, that he would side, as a policy, with that leader against the president. Certainly, in statements on one specific issue or another -- building in Jerusalem, or somesuch -- lawmakers have taken the sides of other nations. But to have-a-face to face and say, in general, we will take your side against the White House -- that sounds to me extraordinary.<ref>[http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/11/13/israel Eric Cantor's Pledge of Allegiance], by [[Glenn Greenwald]]</ref>}}

The Republican response amounted to "cricket, cricket." However, this did send the internet [[crank]]s into overdrive. Along with [[Ben Bernanke]], Cantor is considered to be one of the higher-ups in the American branch of the [[International Jewish conspiracy]]. A tidal wave of bullshit hit the internet about Cantor being a [[Rothschild family|Rothschild]] puppet intent on selling us out to Israel. His talents as a fundraiser must really be the result of all that Rothschild money he's getting.<ref>[http://politicalvelcraft.org/2013/01/25/eric-cantor-rothschilds-sleeper-cell-playing-both-sides-with-boehner/ One such site]</ref> (NB: According to Cantor's [http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00013131 Open Secrets] page, he has only taken [[Great Recession|money from American banks]] but obviously, they're in on it too.)

==Downfall==
{{cquote|Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has taken a new job at a Wall Street investment bank. Now he can finally have some influence in Congress.|||[[Stephen Colbert]]<ref>[http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/mrdb7o/intro---9-3-14?xrs=synd_facebook_090414_cn_6 That is all.]</ref>}}
In a move that will be remembered as one of the signs that the Republican party was shifting to a right-wing to far-right party, Cantor was "[[Primary_election#Crossover_voting|primaried]]" on June 10, 2014, losing his primary bid to represent VA-7 to his [[Tea Party]] rival, David Brat he would go on to serve in his seat until losing to democrat Abigail Spanberger in the 2018 election.<ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/eric-cantor-loses-primary-tea-party-challenger-huge/story?id=24081609/ Eric Cantor Loses Primary to Tea Party Challenger In Huge Upset]</ref> This ''in spite'' of the fact that Cantor outspent Brat 5 million to 122,000. This makes him the first House Majority Leader ''ever'' to be unseated in any election since the position was created during the term of President McKinley.

Brat was apparently endorsed by [[Laura Ingraham]], so one has to wonder if he could be even further to the right of Cantor. (Spoiler alert: he was)<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/upshot/eric-cantors-voting-record.html Eric Cantor’s Voting Record], ''The New York Times''</ref> Consequently, he found himself out of a job and irrelevant to [[United States politics]] as of January 20th, 2015. In the Frontline documentary "zero tolerance" released in 2019 it is shown that [[Steve Bannon]] and his allies helped bring down Eric Cantor over his stances on immigration, which would show that attacking immigration would energize the Republican base likely influencing the Republican shift to a hardline view aganist immigration.<ref>https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2019/10/in-zero-tolerance-frontline-reviews-trumps-anti-immigrant-strategy/</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Former United States Representatives]]
[[Category:Homophobes]]
[[Category:Jews]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:Tea Party]]
[[Category:United States politicians]]

Categories: Chickenhawks, Conspiracy theorists, Former United States Representatives, Homophobes, Jews, Living people, Racists, Tea Party, United States politicians