Majority Leader Cantor sees win-win as a loss
As Michigan State football coach Duffy Daugherty once said in a game against Notre Dame: “A tie game is like kissing your sister.” In a 60-Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl, House Leader Eric Cantor expressed the same sentiment. Cantor rejected the word “compromise” in favor of “cooperation.” He said that he would never compromise his principles.
Cantor’s idea of cooperation is allowing parts of the GOP wish list to be packaged into separate bills as long as no significant item from President Obama’s wish list is included. Cantor explained that it was okay to pass the GOP agenda in stages.
Cantor is just one of those guys you meet from time to time who rejects win-win as just another name for loss.
If one had to identify the key person most responsible for our dysfunctional Congress, it would have to be Representative Cantor. Cantor planted a pre-Christmas political “bomb” for President Obama by pressuring House Speaker John A. Boehner to reject the bill to extend the payroll tax cut for two months after it had been approved by the Senate in an overwhelming 89 to 10 compromise. Cantor continues to insist on pursuing his winner-take-all strategy even after the political “bomb” he planted for Obama blew up in his own face when the House approved the Senate bill at the last minute.
Our representatives in Congress are not putting in a full day’s work if all they are doing is just cheering for the “home” team and denigrating the “opposition” before heading off to play golf with the lobbyists. They need to forget party allegiance and evaluate each part of each piece of legislation on its own merits. It is a lot more work that takes a lot more mental energy, but that is precisely what we have sent them to Washington to do.
The fundamental problem with Congress is the two-party system. At some point we are going to have to face the fact that our two-party system is inherently dysfunctional.
Several steps need to be taken. For starters, party designation should be dropped from all election ballots. If you don’t know anything about a candidate other than their party designation, you shouldn’t vote for them. In addition, seats in Congress should be randomly assigned and not assigned on the basis of party affiliation. Congressional committee chairs should be selected either by merit (ideally) or seniority (more realistically) but not by party affiliation. You may have some even better ideas to add to this list.
The important thing is to get our representatives in Washington to stop playing party politics and start focusing on the problems we sent them there to fix.
Mark Hastert
1 year, 4 months agoWith a majority leader like Cantor, Boehner doesn’t need any enemies. Underlying Cantor’s (and others of all stripes) attitude is the absolute certainty that your view, your plan is right and cannot be improved opon. They view all things and a competition with winners and losers a necessity.
First, unless the party across the table is God incarnate they’re are full of beans.
Secondly, people are sick of governance by the sword. Already there are Republicans (mostly up for election this year)showing signs of conversion to a milder colleagial point of view. I’d be willing to wager (no, not $10,000) that even Cantor’s seat isn’t as secure as it was two years ago. I’d also be willing to wager that at his first opportunity Boehner will take his revenge on him. (perhaps as leader of a fact finding trip to examine new waste water strategies.
JR Beillenhouser
1 year, 4 months agoWhere’s the article about Harry Reid? Where’s the operating budget for the last 3 years?
Lawrence C. Marsh
Kansas City
1 year, 4 months agoThe earliest known use of the phrase “A tie is like kissing your sister” was by Navy football coach Eddie Erdelatz after a scoreless tie against Duke in 1953.
Mark Hastert
1 year, 4 months agoCantor has doubled down on the Tea Party and it’s looking like a sucker bet.
Mark Hastert
1 year, 4 months ago“You are growing increasingly desperate me thinks….” Read more here: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/majority-leader-cantor-sees-win-win-as-a-loss/#storylink=cpy
(tranquil smile)…desperation never felt so good…
Tom Ryan
Crossroads, Kansas City
1 year, 4 months agoThe 60 Minutes piece starring Eric Cantor served as a terrific advertisement for Eric along with the advertisements purchased by companies. It’s quite a marketplace, isn’t it? Did you confuse this with journalism? :-) Seems time for Leslie Stahl to retire. She appeared confused.
Mark Hastert
1 year, 4 months ago“The 60 Minutes piece starring Eric Cantor served as a terrific advertisement for Eric”
Read more here: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/majority-leader-cantor-sees-win-win-as-a-loss/#storylink=cpy
Gee, I think that Eric rather made a fool of himself. His comments on Ronald Reagan, in view of the well documented evidence to the contrary, made him look either ignorant or willfully ignorant.