"CANTOR'S CREATIVE DEFINITION OF 'THREAT'"

[Cha]

".... This week, we've seen an unacceptable number of incidents involving right-wing activists. To protest their rage about what they think the new health care law is, they're engaging in acts of political vandalism, assault, and harassment.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) seemed rather desperate today to characterize this as a bipartisan problem. During a bizarre press conference this morning, Cantor told reporters:

"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.

"Just recently I have been directly threatened: A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week."

Well, that sounds pretty serious. We've heard about plenty of vandalism at district congressional offices this week -- all of the cases involve Democrats as targets -- but this would be the first reported shooting.

The problem is, what Cantor told reporters wasn't true. When he said he was "directly threatened," Cantor was either shamelessly, blatantly lying, or he was popping off to the press about politically-motivated violence without getting his facts straight.

Here's what happened: early Tuesday morning, someone in the Richmond area fired a bullet into the air. It eventually came down and hit a building -- named, of course, the Reagan Building -- on the first floor. According to a report from the Richmond Police Department statement, "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."

Was Eric Cantor "directly threatened" this week? Not if those words still have any meaning at all.

—Steve Benen 4:05 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (14)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

And, why should he blame anyone in "this body" for his alleged threats because he's Jewish? The Dems wouldn't be doing it and cantor would cover for the teabaggers.

[quiet.american]

1. If they're GOP, and their lips are moving, they're lying. There's no other way to put it.

Kudos to Steve Benen for this succinct info on "what really happened."

[Cha]

2. Yeah, props to Steve Benen...we need to

expose this as much as possible bc you know the corporatemedia is in full blown teabagger violence Damage Control.

Must be gratifying to know ..no matter what you do wrong the US mediawhores will do their best to blame it on the DEMS.

[quiet.american]

3. Yep to all said. nt

[Cha]

4. Update: The Richmond Police Department

The Richmond Police Department is investigating an act of vandalism at the Reagan Building, 25 E. Main St., Richmond, Virginia. 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 Richmond Police detective was assigned to the case. 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.

The Richmond Police Department is sharing information about the incident with appropriate law enforcement agencies.

At this time there are no suspects.

Cantor said today: “Just recently I have been directly threatened. A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week.”

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/house-republicans/richmond-police-detail-shooting-of-cantors-office/

The more I'm typing about cantor the more I'm remembering something fishy about him from the General election..oh well he's gop who has nothing so he has to lie..poor things.

[get the red out]

5. It's about creating the illusion of "balance" in the media

This is just how the Republicans can try to trigger the false media "balance". They know the game, they give them one supposed incident against a Rep and it automatically becomes complete balance for the countless ones against Dems because that's how the media operates. That's also part of why we are in the shape we are in. All Rep criminal incitement falls into the same basket with anything the Reps can make up, and the media desperately tries to equate the two parties.

[Kind of Blue]

6. This is delicious...

Cantor's "campaign office" isn't in his congressional district

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x248658

[Cha]

7. Yay, more updates on the cantor lies!

Thank you, Kind of Blue!

I saw that post on there that says the media is still spreading cantor lies. We'll just have to keep working to spread the facts on the NET.

I think Lawrence O'Donnell was telling it straight on cantor last night..I'll have to check that. On my break now so I'll do it when I come back.

Edit~ Oh yeah, it was LO'D..right here in the BOG.:)

[Cha]

8. Cantor Jumped the Gun

"Cantor Spokesman Defends Bullet Claim At “Threat” Presser"

<snip>

In the wake of the cops’ statement, Critics have hammered Cantor over his claim yesterday: “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 emails.”

But Dayspring says Cantor didn’t know at the time of the presser what the police subsequently revealed. He says that before the presser, Cantor aides called the police to learn what was known.

“We didn’t want to catch them by surprise, we wanted an update on the investigation, and we wanted to be 100 percent accurate**,” Dayspring says, adding that the trajectory of the bullet was not discussed: “What was known at the time was that a bullet had been fired through the window and that the investigation was ongoing.”

<more>
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/cantor-spokesman-defends-bullet-claim-at-threat-presser/

No, cantor's never wanted to be 100% accurate in his political career..he musta thought the corporatemediawhores would cover..and they did for awhile. Prolly still some who are spouting on old information.

So he can come out now with his mea culpa..yeah right.

[Cha]

9. "CODA ON CANTOR"

".... We seem to have come to an end on the story of House Minority Whip Eric Cantor's (R-Va.) magic bullet, with the GOP leader's office acknowledging yesterday that Cantor's claim, repeated to a national audience, wasn't true.

The Minority Whip's remarks didn't leave a lot of wiggle room: "Just recently I have been directly threatened: A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week."

Despite some unusually stupid "journalism" in the wake of the claim, practically every angle of Cantor's story was wrong. There was no threat; the bullet was fired randomly; and it wasn't even Cantor's campaign office.

So, Cantor was either shamelessly, blatantly lying, or he was popping off about a harmless incident without getting his facts straight. Yesterday, his aides went with Door #2.


Cantor spokesperson Brad Dayspring] says Cantor didn't know at the time of the presser what the police subsequently revealed. He says that before the presser, Cantor aides called the police to learn what was known.

"We didn't want to catch them by surprise, we wanted an update on the investigation, and we wanted to be 100 percent accurate," Dayspring says, adding that the trajectory of the bullet was not discussed: "What was known at the time was that a bullet had been fired through the window and that the investigation was ongoing."

Police put out their press statement later in the afternoon, under intense media pressure.


For what it's worth, I'm inclined to believe most of this. Cantor isn't very bright, but even I find it hard to believe he would know the relevant details and then deliberately, brazenly lie on national television about something like this.

But the defense doesn't exactly make Cantor look good, either. The Minority Whip was so anxious to make it seem like violent threats are a problem for "both sides" that he, ahem, jumped the gun. He didn't really know what he was talking about, but he nevertheless told reporters and Americans about a "threat" that didn't exist. Many media outlets even bought into Cantor's claim at face value, assuming he wouldn't say something like this if it weren't true. For that matter, for a media desperate to characterize every ugly phenomenon as "bipartisan," Cantor gave journalists what they wanted.

But it wasn't true. Given the larger atmosphere, and the actual violence that's already occurred, people in Cantor's position have a responsibility not to be reckless with the truth. It's a responsibility Cantor clearly and conveniently forgot at an important moment.

—Steve Benen 8:40 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (36)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

cantor needs to mea culpa to the Dems and the American People.