Young Poor & Angry Press

           While most were tuned in last night to watch President Obama field questions on the recent   plan for an economic comeback, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va) was watching      another kind of comeback. GOP aides confirmed to the Huffington Post that House Minority      Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) attended the pop concert at the Verizon Center, where Britney      appeared on stage brandishing a leather lash and cavorted with scantly dressed dancers that  would make Sarah Palin blush.

     One House GOP leadership aide said Cantor went at the request of a fundraiser. “If suffering through a Britney Spears concert will raise one more dime to help Republicans take back the House, then I’m glad Cantor’s willing to do it.” Yes, because watching the half naked Brittany dance around half naked really is “suffering” while the jobless rate hits a all time high. As one House Democratic aide shot back, “Looks like Eric Cantor’s not that innocent.”

The gossip blog Wonkette first reported the Cantor sighting on Wednesday afternoon, and then ran the quote from Cantor’s office alleging that Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu was also in attendance.

But Landrieu’s office denies the charge. An aide insists that numerous witnesses can place the Senator at Matchbox during that time (a bar/restaurant that is suspiciously close to where Spears performed). What was once a funny story has now effectively turned into Brittany-Gate. Here we thought Barack Obama liked to hang out with celebrities. The question remains, who did Brittany vote for?

But the aide held firm. “I can assure you she was not at the concert,” he said. Nor did she attend the show after the meal. Instead, she went to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s annual spring reception, he said.

AP- Matthew Lee

MEXICO CITY — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that America’s “insatiable” demand for illegal drugs and its inability to stop weapons from being smuggled into Mexico are fueling an alarming spike in violence along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Clinton said the United States shares responsibility with Mexico for dealing with the violence and that the Obama administration will work with Mexican authorities to improve security on both sides of the border.

President Barack Obama himself said Tuesday that he wanted the U.S. to do more to prevent guns and cash from illicit drug sales from flowing across the border into Mexico. But Clinton’s remarks appeared more forceful in recognizing the U.S. share of the blame. In the past, particularly under the Bush administration, Mexican official have complained that Washington never acknowledged the extent that the U.S. demand for drugs and weapons smuggling fuels the violence.

“I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility,” Clinton told reporters accompanying her to Mexico City a day after the Obama administration said it would send more money, technology and manpower to secure the Southwestern frontier and help Mexico battle the cartels.

“Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade,” she said. “Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.”

Criminals are outgunning law enforcement officials, she said, referring to guns and military-style equipment like night vision goggles and body armor that the cartels are smuggling into Mexico from the United States.

“Clearly, what we have been doing has not worked and it is unfair for our incapacity … to be creating a situation where people are holding the Mexican government and people responsible,” she said. “That’s not right.”

Clinton said she would repeat her acknowledgment as loudly and as often as needed during her two-day visit to Mexico City and the northern city of Monterrey during which she will brief Mexican officials on U.S. plans for the border and counter-narcotics aid to Mexico.

In her discussions, Clinton plans to stress Obama’s commitment and encourage Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his top aides to boost efforts to combat rampant corruption by promoting police and judicial reform, according to senior U.S. officials.

Just hours before she arrived, the Mexican army announced it had captured one of the country’ most-wanted smugglers, a man accused of controlling the flow of drugs through Monterrey for the powerful Beltran-Leyva cartel. Clinton will visit Monterrey on Thursday.

The administration announced Tuesday that it would increase the number of immigrations and customs agents, drug agents and antigun-trafficking agents operating along the border. It will also send more U.S. officials to work inside Mexico.

Those measures fall short of calls from some Southwestern states that troops be deployed to prevent further spillover of the violence, which has surged since Calderon stepped up his government’s battle against the cartels.

Today, Fixed Business Network anchor Dagen McDowell appeared on Fox News to make the case against the tax on AIG bonuses by comparing it to sexual abuse. 

Of course this is the same abuse that the anchors of Fixed News have been dishing out for a long time:

You don’t want to think if you get in bed with Uncle Sam he’s going to strip you naked, chain you to the bed, leave you there and then take nasty pictures of you and then put them on the Internet. Because that’s what’s been happening.

 

 

Let it be said only a Fixed News anchor would liken sexual abuse with the economic plan. That makes about as much sense as Sarah Palin preaching green energy and abstinence training to Trig Palin. He might be listening, but we all know the kid doesn’t get it.

A rising star in the Republican Party has dimmed over the past week. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.), a politically shrewd up-and-comer in the GOP, has broken with his party on two high-profile issues. And the defections on last week’s AIG bonus tax bill and the Obama administration’s troubled assets plan have exasperated some members in the GOP conference.

The grumbling started when Cantor unexpectedly voted with Democrats last week on a measure to recoup the bonuses of AIG executives. Many Republicans called the bill unconstitutional, with more than half of the GOP conference rejecting it. Cantor, who has been labeled “Mr. No” by some Democrats, was one of only two Republican leadership officials who voted for the bill. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) was the other.
“All the unconstitutional stuff aside, if you don’t believe in raising taxes, why would you vote to raise taxes?” House Republican Conference Secretary John Carter (Texas) said.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) added that supporting the retroactive tax cut “sets a terrible precedent, just terrible.”

But Cantor voted for that retroactive tax, saying that he didn’t want to “reward failure,” meaning the AIG officials would keep their bonuses if the legislation hadn’t passed.

Yet Cantor’s vote last Thursday now looks even worse to some of his GOP colleagues. AIG employees are vowing to give their bonuses back and Democratic leaders say their bill — even if it’s not passed — accomplished its mission. The legislation appears to be dead.

The vote last week was a tough one for most Republicans amid the public’s outrage over the $165 million in bonuses after the company received $170 billion in bailout funds. Most politically vulnerable Republicans backed the Democratic bill, but there were some conservatives other than Cantor who voted yes, including Reps. Dave Camp (Mich.), Joe Barton (Texas), Paul Ryan (Wis.) and Roy Blunt (Mo.), who is running for the Senate.

A Republican legislator said, “Some members wanted to stick it to AIG — bonuses and recipients — but at some point in time your obligation is to stand in front of the mob and say, ‘Look, we’re going in the wrong direction, let’s think about this.’ ”

Another Republican suggested more members might have voted no if Cantor had.

The GOP legislator who rejected the Democratic bill said sarcastically, “When your whip votes against you, it’s kind of tough to whip for it.”

Cantor’s colleagues in leadership called the bill “a sham.” Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that it was “more than an attempt to cover someone’s rear end because of the political damage that’s out there.”

Boehner told reporters last Thursday that he did not know how Cantor was going to vote on the bill. Boehner voted no early on, while Cantor waited until late to register his vote of yes.

But a leadership aide privy to conversations among GOP leaders said that in the end, Cantor “got spooked.”

Throughout his career, Cantor has made many wise political moves as he climbed the leadership ladder. Some thought he could have supplanted Boehner as GOP leader this year, but Cantor opted to be patient and easily claimed the No. 2 GOP post in the House.

Cantor remains quite popular among his Republican peers, though his handling of the AIG bill has some members believing he has more to learn before he can helm the GOP conference.

Boehner attempted to downplay the significance of Cantor’s vote in favor of the Democratic measure.

Their relationship has been strained at times, most notably earlier this year when Boehner initially indicated Cantor was not whipping against the economic stimulus bill that passed the House. Boehner subsequently backtracked on that claim.

Cantor this week adopted a position on Obama’s plan to buy troubled assets from banks that is at odds with that of other GOP leaders on Capitol Hill.

The 45-year-old lawmaker issued a statement that excoriated the administration’s proposal.

Meanwhile, Wall Street and Republican leaders in the Senate embraced the plan as the Dow Jones Industrial Average spiked nearly 7 percent.

Cantor called it a “shell game that hides the true cost of the program from the taxpayers that will be asked to pay for it.”

The top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee labeled it “a genuine and sincere effort.”

Boehner distanced himself from Cantor’s characterization of the assets initiative.

Boehner told reporters on Tuesday that Republicans were going to take a wait-and-see approach before offering an alternative.

“We’ll wait for more details before we prescribe what we think would be a better solution,” Boehner said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Monday that he was willing to “give the secretary of the Treasury credit for finally turning to the real issue here.”

Cantor spokesman Rob Collins said the AIG vote was a vote of conscience, dismissing the notion that the lawmaker’s position has hampered his leadership of House Republicans.

“On critical issues like the stimulus and the upcoming budget vote, members on both sides of the aisle know that Cantor is a tireless advocate for common sense policies that rejects the partisan extremism we have seen from the Democrats,” said Collins.