Eric Cantor's Foolish Obama Slur

[babylonsister]

Stand by for more of this should McCranky pick Cantor as VP...

http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/eric_cantors_foolish_obama_slu.php

Eric Cantor's Foolish Obama Slur
04 Aug 2008 09:48 am


Eric Cantor, the Virginia congressman, and sole Jewish member of the House Republican Conference (I believe that there are at least two Jewish Democrats in the House, maybe even more) is now being talked about as a possible vice presidential pick for John McCain, and this news reminded me that Cantor has never retracted a particularly stupid attack launched against Barack Obama a couple of months ago. You'll recall that in an interview with me, Obama referred to the Middle East conflict as a "constant sore." The Republican House leader, John Boehner, and Cantor, one of his deputies, willfully misreading Obama's comment, and, trying to scare Jewish voters away from Obama, accused him of calling Israel itself a "sore." Here is what Cantor said:

It is truly disappointing that Senator Obama called Israel a 'constant wound,' 'constant sore,' and that it 'infect{s} all of our foreign policy.' These sorts of words and characterizations are the words of a politician with a deep misunderstanding of the Middle East and an innate distrust of Israel.

This, of course, is complete nonsense, and I let Boehner's office, and Cantor's office, know that it was complete nonsense. So far, though, no sign of a retraction. Cantor, who is said to be brighter than Boehner, should know better than to launch such foolish, unethical and refutable attacks.

[FrenchieCat]

1. Brighter than Boehner doesn't mean much to me.

[mcctatas]

4. Top five things brighter than Boehner....

5. Eric Cantor
4. Sea Cucumbers
3. Mud
2. Paris Hilton
1. My 5 year old son....

[zbdent]

5. burnt out small appliance bulb ...

[Cha]

2. eric cantor belongs in the dana milbank

merchants of Smear column.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

3. He's a weasel ot the 1st Order.

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. Off topic but, there are *many* Jewish DEMS in the House.

>>(I believe that there are at least two Jewish Democrats in the House, maybe even more)>>

Frank, Weiner, Lantos, Lowey, Engel, Ackerman, Nadler... many more.


>>>It is truly disappointing that Senator Obama called Israel a 'constant wound,' 'constant sore,' and that it 'infect{s} all of our foreign policy.' These sorts of words and characterizations are the words of a politician with a deep misunderstanding of the Middle East and an innate distrust of Israel.>>>

Cantor's a vile creature and here's the proof. The *deliberate* distortion of a carefully nuanced ( and true!) statement of fact in order to drive a wedge where there is none.

No one should be surprised... but I admit to being surprised that Obama and Co. are letting them get away with this much. Fact of the matter is... some votes will in fact be swayed by pronouncements such as Cantor's. Will they be the votes of smart people? No. But I want not-so-smart people voting for Obama also.

[PCIntern]

7. Just a couple more...

Senate
(13— 2 Republicans, 9 Democrats, 2 Independents)

Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Benjamin Cardin (D-MD)
Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Joseph Lieberman (I-CT)
Carl Levin (D-MI)
Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
Charles Schumer (D-NY)
Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)

House
(30— 1 Republican, 29 Democrats)

Gary Ackerman (D-NY)
Shelley Berkley (D-NV)
Howard Berman (D-CA)
Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Stephen Cohen (D-TN)*
Susan Davis (D-CA)
Rahm Emanuel (D-IL)
Eliot Engel (D-NY)
Bob Filner (D-CA)
Barney Frank (D-MA)
Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)*
Jane Harman (D-CA)
Paul Hodes (D-NH)*
Steve Israel (D-NY)
Steve Kagen (D-WI)*
Ronald Klein (D-FL)*
Tom Lantos (D-CA)
Sander Levin (D-MI)
Nita Lowey (D-NY)
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Steve Rothman (D-NJ)
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Allyson Schwartz (D-PA)
Adam Schiff (D-CA)
Brad Sherman (D-CA)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)
Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Anthony Weiner (D-NY)
Robert Wexler (D-FL)
John Yarmuth (D-KY)*


*New members

[Frank Booth]

8. Why any decent publication, particularly the left-leaning Atlantic, would hire Jeffrey Goldberg

is beyond me. This guy was ahead of the curve in pushing for war with Iraq, in the New Yorker, no less.



Prior to the American-led invasion of Iraq, Goldberg wrote two lengthy articles in the New Yorker which argued that there were extensive ties between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Much of what he wrote in a mammoth March 2002 story was based on the testimony of Mohammed Mansour Shahab, a prisoner in a Kurdish-controlled town in northern Iraq. Jason Burke of the London Observer later demolished Goldberg's story when he spoke to the same prisoner and found that he couldn't even describe the city of Kandahar, where Shahab had claimed that he'd traveled on Al Qaeda-related business. “Shahab is a liar,” Burke concluded. “Substantial chunks of his story simply are not true.” Goldberg also peddled the Iraq–Al Qaeda connection during a February 2003 interview on All Things Considered, delivering the grim news that Saddam's agents had some years earlier helped Al Qaeda “in the teaching of the use of poison gas.”

Goldberg's hysteria peaked when it came to his claims regarding Saddam's “weaponization” of a biological agent called aflatoxin. Aflatoxin, he wrote on October 3, 2002 in Slate, “does only one thing well: It causes liver cancer. In fact, it induces it particularly well in children.”
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/06/sb-goldbergs-war-1151687978

[arewenotdemo]

10. Thanks for pointing that out.

[endthewar]

9. Cantor is just a headfake by the McCain campaign to try to get more press coverage

They pulled this V.P. speculation stunt using Robert Novak during Obama's world trip as well.

[CitizenLeft]

11. this is the asshole Matthews humiliated for insisting that...

...generals should make policy decisions. He is incredibaly stupid, and I PRAY he makes him his VP. What an ignoramous and embarrassment he will be. And as nasty as a runny nose.