Brian4Liberty
11-11-2010, 02:01 PM
On Fox News Sunday, Eric Cantor was pretty evasive about how much he wants to work with the new "Tea Party" members of Congress. Kind of like Marco Rubio. Thanks for the votes, the support, the donations and the majority, now get in the back seat and shut up. He finishes with a statement about fiscal discipline, so we will see if that turns out to be the first and only priority.
On second thought, "fiscal discipline" is pretty vague and generic. It doesn't speak to the size or scope of government.
WALLACE: OK. I've got a minute left and I want to get into one last area. There could be as many as 90 members of the tea party in the new House. And that would be more than a third of all Republicans.
Now, Michele Bachmann, the congresswoman from Minnesota, is running for the number four position in the leadership. But you and a lot of your colleagues in the leadership are backing a member of the Republican establishment, Jeb Hensarling, instead for that.
Instead of listening to the new members and saying, Let's come in, let's listen to you, isn't this a case of the old boys' network saying to the tea party, Wait your turn?
CANTOR: First of all, Chris, we are fortunate in the Republican conference to have two good conservatives running for this position. Both Jeb and Michele have a reputation as being some of the most commonsense, committed conservative -- constitutional conservatives in our -- in our conference.
And you know, I endorse Jeff -- I mean Jeb, because I feel that we've had a history of working together, and...
WALLACE: Yeah, but that's the old boys' network.
CANTOR: You know, we've had a history of working together and Jeb is someone who can produce results. But listen...
WALLACE: Doesn't the tea party deserve something for the role they played in this election?
CANTOR: Listen, you know, the fact is, again, you've got two conservatives in this race. You have an incoming class that is probably more diverse and more reflective of a growing conservative majority in this country than I've seen since I've been here in Washington.
And these individuals will be allowed to vote for which conservative that they -- that they choose. I mean, again, these are two conservatives. Neither individual could ever be accused of being anything but a conservative.
WALLACE: But real quickly, you're not willing to guarantee that there will be, if not in that position, a member of the tea party in the leadership?
CANTOR: Well, I think if you look at the tea party, the tea party are -- you know, it's an organic movement that played a tremendously positive role in this election. I mean, certainly, it produced an outcome beneficial to our party when you're picking up at least 60-some seats.
That is something that I think that the tea party has done which is fiscal discipline, and we're going to be focused on that.
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-news-sunday/transcript/key-republican-lawmakers-gop-agenda-new-congress?page=2
On second thought, "fiscal discipline" is pretty vague and generic. It doesn't speak to the size or scope of government.
WALLACE: OK. I've got a minute left and I want to get into one last area. There could be as many as 90 members of the tea party in the new House. And that would be more than a third of all Republicans.
Now, Michele Bachmann, the congresswoman from Minnesota, is running for the number four position in the leadership. But you and a lot of your colleagues in the leadership are backing a member of the Republican establishment, Jeb Hensarling, instead for that.
Instead of listening to the new members and saying, Let's come in, let's listen to you, isn't this a case of the old boys' network saying to the tea party, Wait your turn?
CANTOR: First of all, Chris, we are fortunate in the Republican conference to have two good conservatives running for this position. Both Jeb and Michele have a reputation as being some of the most commonsense, committed conservative -- constitutional conservatives in our -- in our conference.
And you know, I endorse Jeff -- I mean Jeb, because I feel that we've had a history of working together, and...
WALLACE: Yeah, but that's the old boys' network.
CANTOR: You know, we've had a history of working together and Jeb is someone who can produce results. But listen...
WALLACE: Doesn't the tea party deserve something for the role they played in this election?
CANTOR: Listen, you know, the fact is, again, you've got two conservatives in this race. You have an incoming class that is probably more diverse and more reflective of a growing conservative majority in this country than I've seen since I've been here in Washington.
And these individuals will be allowed to vote for which conservative that they -- that they choose. I mean, again, these are two conservatives. Neither individual could ever be accused of being anything but a conservative.
WALLACE: But real quickly, you're not willing to guarantee that there will be, if not in that position, a member of the tea party in the leadership?
CANTOR: Well, I think if you look at the tea party, the tea party are -- you know, it's an organic movement that played a tremendously positive role in this election. I mean, certainly, it produced an outcome beneficial to our party when you're picking up at least 60-some seats.
That is something that I think that the tea party has done which is fiscal discipline, and we're going to be focused on that.
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-news-sunday/transcript/key-republican-lawmakers-gop-agenda-new-congress?page=2