Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Richmond Times Dispatch Slams Boehner and Cantor





In Virginia few newspapers are more far right than the Richmond Times Dispatch which almost without exception always backs Republicans.  Thus, it is surprising to see the Times Dispatch basically ripping Eric Cantor and John Boehner a new one.  While in its typical form, the Times Dispatch slams the Affordable Health Care Act, it's trashing of Cantor and Boehner for not standing up to the Tea Party/Christofascist who have shutdown the federal government and now threaten to bring a world wide economic catastrophe is nothing less than scathing.  More surprising yet, the editorial encourages Virginians to contact Cantor and raise holy hell.  When even GOP stalwarts like the Richmond Times Dispatch are blaming the GOP for the disaster in Washington, the GOP needs to get its head out of its ass and wake up.  Here are some editorial excerpts:

Every day that passes without a resolution of Washington’s deadlock or a hike in the statutory debt ceiling increases the harm done by idled operations and the risk of an economically catastrophic U.S. default. The GOP leadership in the House — Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy — has been too beholden to the radical wing of the Republican caucus. The leadership’s sensible original plan would have averted the stalemate, but momentum fell to House members who equate compromise with unconditional surrender.

[I]n trying yet again to stop a law that already has gone into effect, they are pursuing a fool’s errand. They do not have the votes, and never will. In the meantime, they risk inflicting great harm on millions of Americans, many of whom share their views.

Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy should be too focused on the nation’s well-being to give buffoons such as Michele Bachmann the time of day, but she and her comrades have exerted considerable pressure on the leadership to go over the cliff with guns blazing. Without countervailing pressure to do the right thing, the leaders might — taking the whole country with them.

The public need not sit idly by and watch such a catastrophe unfold. It can exert pressure by letting the leaders know this is their chance to put national interests before narrower partisan or personal ones. Residents of the commonwealth probably will want to address their concerns to the Virginian, Cantor, through one of these means:

Written message: form available at http://cantor.house.gov/
Washington office phone: (202) 225-2815; fax: (202) 225-0011
Richmond office phone: (804) 747-4073; fax: (804) 747-5308
Culpeper office phone: (540) 825-8960; fax: (540) 825-8964
Twitter: @EricCantor, @GOPLeader

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