Beware, Rep. Eric Cantor.
In the past week, both the New York Times and Time Magazine have spoken glowingly of the new minority whip and Virginia congressman’s ability to unify the Republican Party and motivate conservatives to stand up for principle in the face of unchecked liberalism.
The Times wrote [1]:
“As Republicans confronted President Obama in another budget battle last week, their leadership included another new face: Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, who as the party’s chief vote wrangler is as responsible as anyone for the tough line the party has taken in this first legislative standoff with Mr. Obama. This battle has vaulted Mr. Cantor to the front lines of his party as it tries to recover from the losses of November. As Republican whip, Mr. Cantor succeeded again on Friday in denying the White House the support of a single House Republican on the stimulus bill.”
And Time gushed [2]:
“Taking on the relatively unpopular congressional Democrats is one thing, but flagrantly opposing a wildly popular new President is risky, especially when the payoff could take years, if at all. But the move energized the GOP for the first time in a long while, inspiring six Republican governors — all rumored 2012 wannabes like Cantor himself — to threaten to decline some of the stimulus money.”
“The Richmond, Va., Republican, who likes to remind folks he holds James Madison’s seat in Congress, is one of the few rising stars in a party struggling to reinvent itself. But at 45, the baby-faced Cantor is hardly new to the scene. A player in House leadership for seven years, he has raised more than $16.5 million for himself and his colleagues in the last three election cycles — the carrot to his ideological stick when he’s keeping his conference in line.”
A common meme from both Time and The Times is that Cantor is the “heir apparent” of Newt Gingrich.
Time said that Cantor is the “Newt Gingrich of his generation, a wonky, partisan bomb thrower who can rake in well over $300,000 in a single fundraiser” and the Times subtly made the comparison by blaring the headline “In Gingrich Mold, a New Voice for Solid Republican Resistance”, with Cantor’s photo right below the headline.
This is certainly great publicity for one of Virginia’s finest elected officials. But when the NY Times and Time Magazine are praising you, after you provided a sober slap to their “chosen one”, it leads me to lend only one word of advice to Cantor and his acolytes:
Caution.
They might be syrupy sweet today…only to be giving you vinegar tomorrow.