Cantor pushes back against Limbaugh

[MercedesV]

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) criticized conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, on Friday, for drawing comparisons between President Obama and Adolph Hitler. And, in a sequence that seems rare in modern Republican politics, the Virginia Republican seems eager to publicize his rebuke.


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/1...349030.html&cp

It appears that Cantor needs to put some space between his appearance at the tea party, and the Nazi and Holocaust imagery there. Further in the article is this quote which is well worth reading by someone who knows of what he speaks. The quote from the article is:


On a more emotional and honest level, decorated writer and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel tweeted (yes, he's on Twitter) that the signs at the Capital Hill protests were an "indecent and disgusting" form of "political hatred."

[dref99]

I couldn't agree more about those disgusting signs - I did say as much on here yesterday, but my post seems to have disappeared.

jmo

[MercedesV]

Originally Posted by dref99

I couldn't agree more about those disgusting signs - I did say as much on here yesterday, but my post seems to have disappeared.

jmo

A lot of posts about the tea party and signs were removed. And I find it strange that Cantor speaks out today, but yesterday he stood with those signs and those chants and didn't speak out then. Either by words or actions/leaving. Where was his voice yesterday?

[snookums1]

Originally Posted by MercedesV

A lot of posts about the tea party and signs were removed. And I find it strange that Cantor speaks out today, but yesterday he stood with those signs and those chants and didn't speak out then. Either by words or actions/leaving. Where was his voice yesterday?

He probably heard from all the decent Republicans in his district either by phone or e-mail between then and now. And what he heard could not have been good.

[Details]

I'd be quite extremely happy to be proven wrong - but right now, all I can think is ...tick...tock...tick....tock...

And I've had hopes before, only to see them dashed.

[HeyHeyStupid]

Originally Posted by MercedesV

A lot of posts about the tea party and signs were removed. And I find it strange that Cantor speaks out today, but yesterday he stood with those signs and those chants and didn't speak out then. Either by words or actions/leaving. Where was his voice yesterday?

Probably with the show of appreciation by Rush, when the ACLU saved his bacon.

[MercedesV]

Originally Posted by Details

I'd be quite extremely happy to be proven wrong - but right now, all I can think is ...tick...tock...tick....tock...

And I've had hopes before, only to see them dashed.

I'm with you. If he didn't have the courage of his convictions yesterday faced with that ugliness, when Limbaugh goes after him he'll be falling all over himself to apologize. Like all good Republicans seem to do.

[Fairlady]

Originally Posted by MercedesV

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) criticized conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, on Friday, for drawing comparisons between President Obama and Adolph Hitler. And, in a sequence that seems rare in modern Republican politics, the Virginia Republican seems eager to publicize his rebuke.


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/1...349030.html&cp

It appears that Cantor needs to put some space between his appearance at the tea party, and the Nazi and Holocaust imagery there. Further in the article is this quote which is well worth reading by someone who knows of what he speaks. The quote from the article is:


On a more emotional and honest level, decorated writer and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel tweeted (yes, he's on Twitter) that the signs at the Capital Hill protests were an "indecent and disgusting" form of "political hatred."

Well .... look at that, Mercedes. Someone who CERTAINLY knows what he's talking about, noticed the "political hatred".

jmo

[MercedesV]

Originally Posted by Fairlady

Well .... look at that, Mercedes. Someone who CERTAINLY knows what he's talking about, noticed the "political hatred".

jmo

Yes, he most certainly does know. And he certainly is deservedly well respected world wide. And he didn't sit quietly by, he called it what it was, political hatred.

[theal3]

What strange about it all is the the people who show up at these "rallies" are more like the Liberatarian (who do use the nazi type symbols, images) and some independents, rather than what I'd term GOP party type folks, but for Republican Congress people to cater to them, or pander for a photo op and not rise above it is really condoning it. As it make all Republican look bad and many can't tell the difference between like the LaRouchers, and Paul supporters. I guess it's up to the GOP to sort it out.

[Fairlady]

Originally Posted by snookums1

He probably heard from all the decent Republicans in his district either by phone or e-mail between then and now. And what he heard could not have been good.

I was thinking the same thing snooks. I wonder if Boehner(sp) heard anything, since he apparently saw nothing wrong with any of the signs. Maybe we'll hear from him next ...... nahhhhhhh

jmo

[daniel green]

Originally Posted by MercedesV

snipped

It appears that Cantor needs to put some space between his appearance at the tea party, and the Nazi and Holocaust imagery there. Further in the article is this quote which is well worth reading by someone who knows of what he speaks. The quote from the article is:


On a more emotional and honest level, decorated writer and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel tweeted (yes, he's on Twitter) that the signs at the Capital Hill protests were an "indecent and disgusting" form of "political hatred."

Ya think?????? The fact that Cantor stood there while that huge banner was on display and the hateful signs and chants about Nazis says all one needs to know.

Wiesel is right about this, of course. And, as always, he speaks about about it.

[syringa]

I don't know why everyone here insists that the speakers "had to have seen" a particular sign from the podium. When I have been in front of large crowds, it appears as just a sea of people and I don't concentrate on any one part. Here is a view from the podium where I can only read 1 sign, but see a mass of people.

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Rep-Lo...ba4768f3fd6795

[daniel green]

One of the most disturbing images from yesterday’s Tea Party rally against health care reform on Capitol Hill was a protester’s gruesome sign showing a pile of dead Holocaust victims. The banner — captured by ThinkProgress here — read: “National Socialist Health Care: Dachau, Germany – 1945.” Another sign said that “Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds [sic],” a reference to the famous Jewish banking family often implicated in conspiracy theories. Today, Nobel Prize winner and Holoacaust survivor Elie Wiesel strongly condemned the signs, calling them “indecent and disgusting.” From his foundation’s Twitter page:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/06/...sel-tea-party/

[daniel green]

The National Jewish Democratic Council is calling on top Republicans to condemn the Holocaust imagery and anti-Semitism on signs seen at Thursday's "Tea Party" protest in Washington. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) were among the GOP leaders who spoke in front of the more than 5,000 activists protesting Democratic-sponsored health-care reform legislation. The crowd, according to media reports, included attendess holding a pair of banners picturing Holocaust victims with the words "National Socialist Healthcare, Dachau, Germany, 1945" and a smaller sign stating that "Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds." NJDC president David Harris said the signs were "vile and disgusting" and it was "morally incumbent" for any speaker at the rally to condemn them.

Asked how a speaker at a rally could be expected to know the content of all signs in the crowd, Harris said that, according to media reports, the Dachau sign -- with its familiar image of stacked bodies -- was front and center and very visible to anyone at the podium. "It might be uncomfortable and awkward" for a speaker to interrupt their speech to talk about signs in the crowd, but they should have done it, Harris said. "It's inconceivable that they were unaware" of the signs, he added.

http://blogs.jta.org/politics/articl...ea-party-signs

[daniel green]

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is calling on the organizers of today’s grassroots rally in Washington D.C. to publicly repudiate the use of Nazi and Holocaust imagery, sometimes gruesome, in the protest against government policies. This comparison has continued to be invoked despite numerous protests from the Wiesenthal Center and others.

Numerous websites have posted a photo of protesters hold a sign showing slain concentration camp victims with the caption: “National Socialist Health Care Dachau Germany 1945”. Another sign declares that the White House and its alleged “government takeover” of the economy, banks, the media and healthcare, is “Just Like Nazi Germany!”.

“Using the victims of the Holocaust in the debate over health care is a cheap and disgusting abuse of history,” said Mark Weitzman, the Wiesenthal Center’s Director of Government Affairs. “It reflects only the ignorance and callousness of those who cannot debate an issue on its merits and should be immediately repudiated by all responsible parties,” he continued. “Both the memory of the victims of the Nazis and the American public deserve better,” he concluded.

http://blogs.jta.org

[MercedesV]

That sign was huge, it could not be missed. And yet Cantor stood by silently on that subject as did every other Republican there. Protesting health care does not require stooping to such hateful indecent lows. Many signs were horrible, but that was beyond the pale and inexcusable. And that image is what many are taking from the protest. Mr. Weisel certainly called it what it was, among other things, political hatred.

[daniel green]

I think that Cantor's comments today was in an attempt to push back on the swift calling out by the various Jewish organizations and leaders.

[MercedesV]

Originally Posted by daniel green

I think that Cantor's comments today was in an attempt to push back on the swift calling out by the various Jewish organizations and leaders.

Oh I agree completely. He was a coward yesterday but today he can say something. And I'm sorry, it isn't just Cantor, but every elected official there, on govt time, participating in and sponsoring this event should be called on the carpet for it. They had a mike there, they had a chance to do the right thing, and not one of them did. Not with the signs and not with the chanting. Shame on them all.

Limbaugh is paid well to be outrageous and supposedly entertain. I'm not paying his salary. Elected officials, who couldn't manage to tell the Constitution from the Declaration of Independence, or say the Pledge right, had a moral obligation to speak out against such wrongs.

And when Limbaugh starts in on Cantor, I imagine Cantor will be rushing full speed to apologize to Limbaugh for these statements.

[theal3]

Originally Posted by MercedesV

Oh I agree completely. He was a coward yesterday but today he can say something. And I'm sorry, it isn't just Cantor, but every elected official there, on govt time, participating in and sponsoring this event should be called on the carpet for it. They had a mike there, they had a chance to do the right thing, and not one of them did. Not with the signs and not with the chanting. Shame on them all.

Limbaugh is paid well to be outrageous and supposedly entertain. I'm not paying his salary. Elected officials, who couldn't manage to tell the Constitution from the Declaration of Independence, or say the Pledge right, had a moral obligation to speak out against such wrongs.

And when Limbaugh starts in on Cantor, I imagine Cantor will be rushing full speed to apologize to Limbaugh for these statements.

Cantor, like in Eddie Cantor, of broadway Tv fame, any relation? It's a surname after all or is Cantor a stage name? Eddie Cantor was Jewish....Ziegfeild Follies, Banjo Eyes, Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye; Blackface Comedy/Al Joelson etc from vaudville; I saw him on Tv in the 50s....great entertainer. Lordy, America is a great melting pot. IMHO

[Fairlady]

Originally Posted by daniel green

http://blogs.jta.org

"Using the victims of the Holocaust in the debate over health care is a cheap and disgusting abuse of history,” said Mark Weitzman, the Wiesenthal Center’s Director of Government Affairs. “It reflects only the ignorance and callousness of those who cannot debate an issue on its merits and should be immediately repudiated by all responsible parties,” he continued. “Both the memory of the victims of the Nazis and the American public deserve better,” he concluded"

Good morning daniel. The last paragraph in that quote is right on the money !! Those people are NOT asked to debate the issue on its merits, and they seem to think by holding up a very offensive sign, it gets their point across.

jmo

[MercedesV]

I think that paragraph really sums up so well what happened.

During the campaign last year, McCain stood up and did the right thing. I don't think he liked being put in the position, after all he was trying to win against Obama. But when push came to shove he stood up and told the truth and faced down the nasty comments from the crows. I'm not a McCain fan, wouldn't have voted for him, but that doesn't matter. Sometimes you just have to do the right thing, and I admire him for doing that. Unlike his running mate Palin who went above board to stir up ugly feelings.

There wasn't a Republican there with the moral compass to stand up and do the right thing.

[Abraxas]

Originally Posted by Fairlady

"Using the victims of the Holocaust in the debate over health care is a cheap and disgusting abuse of history,” said Mark Weitzman, the Wiesenthal Center’s Director of Government Affairs. “It reflects only the ignorance and callousness of those who cannot debate an issue on its merits and should be immediately repudiated by all responsible parties,” he continued. “Both the memory of the victims of the Nazis and the American public deserve better,” he concluded"

Good morning daniel. The last paragraph in that quote is right on the money !! Those people are NOT asked to debate the issue on its merits, and they seem to think by holding up a very offensive sign, it gets their point across.

jmo

Get their point across? What Point? IMO, those who cannot debate, sometimes just throw hate. I am very offended by those signs.

[LisaM22]

Originally Posted by MercedesV

I think that paragraph really sums up so well what happened.

During the campaign last year, McCain stood up and did the right thing. I don't think he liked being put in the position, after all he was trying to win against Obama. But when push came to shove he stood up and told the truth and faced down the nasty comments from the crows. I'm not a McCain fan, wouldn't have voted for him, but that doesn't matter. Sometimes you just have to do the right thing, and I admire him for doing that. Unlike his running mate Palin who went above board to stir up ugly feelings.

There wasn't a Republican there with the moral compass to stand up and do the right thing.

I agree with you 100%, I will not forget that mccain did those things, it said a lot about the man, would never vote for him as we disagree on too many thing, but at least he knows where to draw the line,something his sidekick palin and many other republicans have yet to learn

[crocdog1]

Originally Posted by syringa

I don't know why everyone here insists that the speakers "had to have seen" a particular sign from the podium. When I have been in front of large crowds, it appears as just a sea of people and I don't concentrate on any one part. Here is a view from the podium where I can only read 1 sign, but see a mass of people.

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Rep-Lo...ba4768f3fd6795

This may be so but, there were quite a large number of mean spirited, nasty personal signs and banners about President Obama in the Crowd.

It is very hard to believe some signs/banners were not noticed.

Makes me think of Ezekiel 12:2

They have "eyes to see, and see not."

Just My Humble Opinion