Cantor's voting record is undeniably conservative. He's
undeniably bright. I think we could do much worse. But I also think
we could do much better. In 2007 at the National Review Institute
conservative summit (I THINK that is where it was; if not, it was
CPAC, but I think it was the former), he and John Boehner gave one
of the worst presentations I have ever seen at an event like that.
Utterly uninspiring. More a defense of the order than a call for
reform, even at a time when the 2006 election losses were so fresh
in the mind that EVERBODY with ANY sense was calling for big
reforms. And everybody I spoke to, during and after that
presentation, agreed with me. It was truly pitiful. I haven't seen
anything so disheartening at an event like that since Mickey
Edwards prattled on in 1983 at CPAC about how even though it looked
like the Reagan presidency was fading out, at least Reagan had
changed the terms of the debate. Edwards' tone was elegaic, as if
to a lost cause -- and Cantor's tone (and Boehner's) in 2007 AND
substance were in their own way equally defeatist -- except with a
tone that was almost surly in its defensiveness. As conservative is
he supposedly is, he sure as heck didn't seem to "get it."
topics:
John Boehner
