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House Minority Whip Eric Cantor has asked the ethics committee to greenlight a national book tour this August for a new GOP manifesto he’s co-authoring with two younger members of Congress, according to sources familiar with the situation.
This is classic Cantor: a hyperambitious move to publish and push ideas he thinks will help rebrand the GOP, on his terms — and not necessarily those of his boss, Minority Leader John Boehner.
If this were an isolated incident, it would pass without a peep. But it’s not: Cantor is earning a reputation for pushing his ideas so hard and so often that some GOP colleagues are questioning his motives. Is he guided by a burning desire to help the party — or to boost himself?
“Boehner is running 1994 all over again,” a senior Republican lawmaker said, meaning Boehner wants to rely on a wave of voter anger with Democrats to ride into the majority. “Cantor and [California Rep. Kevin McCarthy] see it totally differently.” McCarthy serves as Cantor’s top lieutenant in the whip organization and is one of the co-authors, along with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), of Cantor’s new book, “Young Guns.”
Those close to Cantor don’t deny his ambitions — but even they are uncertain of his next move. If Republicans take control of the House in November, the 47-year-old Cantor would become the youngest majority leader in more than 60 years. That would put him next in line to become speaker if and when Boehner leaves.
Boehner, though, concedes the two men “have very different styles.” POLITICO talked to numerous GOP lawmakers for this story, some on the condition their names would not be used, so they could speak candidly about a sensitive topic and relationship.
The two did spar privately over the creation of America Speaking Out, Boehner’s pet project for crafting a new agenda. Cantor wanted the program run out of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which would have allowed party leaders to capture names and then hit those people up for cash and campaign help.
Cantor was familiar with the problems of mixing politics and policy. He was forced to pull the plug on the National Council for a New America, after Democrats complained that it violated ethics laws, which prohibit mingling policy staff with political work. It was an embarrassing flop for Cantor.
Cantor’s aggressive approach delights younger, more conservative Republicans, some of whom are uneasy with Boehner’s steady-as-we-go attitude. These members believe Republicans are mainly winning right now because they are the lesser of two evils. To truly rebound, they want fresh ideas, fresh blood and a fresh approach to politics.
Politico has become ANOTHER propaganda arm of the Democrat-Commie-Progressive party.
they have become another mediamatters.
take what they say with a YAWN.
