Goodbye, Eric Cantor. I'm sure not going to miss you. Another diarist has posted a good reminder of his plotting to destroy the American economy. It has inspired me to post my own recap of one of his other despicable deeds: pretending he was a victim to try to defuse the mounting anger over threats of violence levied against Democrats in 2010.
In the immediate aftermath of the passage of the ACA by the House at least 10 Democratic members received violent threats or acts of vandalism. Including:
*a gas line was cut outside the Virginia home of Rep. Tom Perriello's brother after the Tea Party posted the address online, mistakenly thinking it was the congressman's house.
*Representative Louise M. Slaughter, a senior Democrat from New York, received a phone message threatening sniper attacks against lawmakers and their families, and a brick was thrown through a window of her office in Niagara Falls.
*James Clyburn of South Carolina, the highest-ranking black lawmaker in the House, received an anonymous fax showing the image of a noose.
*The front door of Gabrielle Giffords' Tucson office was shattered.
* Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) received a fax with a drawing of a noose and an anonymous voice mail saying: "You're dead. We know where you live. We'll get you."
So what does Eric Cantor do?
He calls a press conference and blames the Democrats for “dangerously fanning the flames", saying "“It is reckless to use these incidents as media vehicles for political gain.”
You say to yourself: I know that Republicans love these jujitsu-type word games, but seriously, how could he? Well, the key element of his rhetoric, necesarry to give him the standing to make his outrageous accusation was as follows:
"I've received threats since I assumed elected office, not only because of my position but also because I'm Jewish. I've never blamed anyone in this body for that, period. Any suggestion that a leader in this body would incite threats or acts against other members is akin to saying that I would endanger myself, my wife or my children. Just recently I have been directly threatened. A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week, and I've received threatening e-mails. But I will not release them, because I believe such actions will only encourage more to be sent," he said.OK, some small problems:
It wasn't a "campaign office".
The building is a nondescript and avocado-green with a blue door, according to Google Maps Street View. There are no markings on it that would indicate that the building houses a political office. Other tenants include Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling’s (R) campaign office, two political consulting firms and a Republican direct-mail distributor.There was no way of establishing that Cantor was "the target".
the bullet hit a window of a shared first-floor conference room that is occasionally used by the Congressman...The office of Cantor’s political action committee, Every Republican is Crucial PAC — ERICPAC — is on the second floor.And, oh yes: it was a spent bullet that was probably fired from a mile away, according to the Richmond Police Department:
A first floor window was struck by a bullet at approximately 1 a.m. on Tuesday, March 23. The building, which has several tenants including an office used by Congressman Eric Cantor, was unoccupied at the time. A preliminary investigation shows that a bullet was fired into the air and struck the window in a downward direction, landing on the floor about a foot from the window. The round struck with enough force to break the windowpane but did not penetrate the window blinds. There was no other damage to the room, which is used occasionally for meetings by the congressman.All of this was known before Cantor's press conference.
Good-bye, you scumbag.