Heh, Joe Scarborough just demanded that Mike Pence tell the public why the R’s shouldn’t be considered “George Bush Bums”. I like very much.

You know, I’ve been telling myself lately, “Laffy,” says I, “What we need more of in this country is violent imagery. If only there were more people like Former Half-Gov Reload McKillMoose and Miss FunGuns herself, Pamela Gorman to shoot off their mouths while shooting living things!” And before I could say, “Kill, baby, kill,” I got my wish, courtesy of none other than a handful of self-appointed Rushpublic “leaders”:

The book is jointly written by House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Virginia; Republican Chief Deputy Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-California; and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, according to Brad Dayspring, who is acting as part-time publicist and spokesman for all three lawmakers as they release their new book.[...]
The term “young guns” was used in the fall of 2007 by the Weekly Standard’s Fred Barnes to describe Cantor and other up-and-coming House Republicans under the age of 45.

Somehow three GOBP nerds in suits who resemble–dare I say it?–  insurance salesmen, don’t strike me as “young guns”.

Nice try, but the imagery loses something in the translation.

They forgot to invite the hottttest Rushpublic of all!

I’d just as soon put Evan and Harold Jr in a box and ship them to Siberia as listen to their corporate shilling, but as we all know, as soon as Evan steps down he’ll become a regular on all the talk shows as a prime example of a “Moderate Democrat”. Maybe him and Harold Jr can take the show on the road… Via Think Progress.

Mr Boehner and Mr Cantor, please note who was in control of the government all those months we lost jobs. Our numbers ain’t great, but they’re a hell of a lot better than anything you guys created. I swear, at this point you can just substitute “Waaa Waaa Waaa” for anything the R’s say and it would make as much sense.

Washington (CNN) – The top two Republicans in the House were quick to respond Friday to the June jobs report.

The Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy lost jobs for the first time this year, as modest hiring by businesses only partly offset the end of temporary government Census jobs. According to the report, there was a net loss of 125,000 jobs last month, higher than the loss of 100,00 expected by many economists. Businesses hired 83,000 people, a bit weaker than was expected. But the hires were offset by a loss of 225,000 Census positions.

The unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent from 9.7 percent in May. Economists had forecast it would climb to 9.8 percent, but the improvement was due mostly to many discouraged job seekers not bothering to look for work during the month and no longer being counted as in the labor force, not because of any gain in jobs.

(snip)

“This jobs report is a disappointment for every family and every small business who heard President Obama declare just weeks ago that our economy is ‘getting stronger by the day.’ The writing is on the wall for President Obama’s ‘stimulus’ policies and everyone – taxpayers, economists, and the rest of the world – sees it but him. How much longer are we going to continue with this disastrous spending spree that is scaring the hell out of the American people and piling debt on our kids and grandkids?” said Boehner.

There was a similar message from Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House Minority Whip, who also criticized the federal stimulus program, which was backed by the administration and Democrats in Congress.

“Despite the moniker of the Administration’s ‘Recovery Summer,’ President Obama continues to avoid correcting the structural deficiencies in our economy. Much of what the Administration touts as a ‘jobs recovery’ has caused- and will continue to cause- the deficit to soar. As the administration continues to spend, our debt keeps piling up, preventing private sector job growth. Government jobs that are paid for by taxing small business people and borrowing from the Chinese should not be celebrated by a summer road show,” said Cantor, in a statement.

Oh this is too rich. Talk about being a day late and a dollar short- Cantor is being dissed over his “ambitions” (and as someone who subscribes to his YouTube vids, I can confirm that he thinks his poop is magical), Boehner is being marginalized for being lazy and the country at large is warming up to the health care reform. I say run with it boys!

The top two House Republicans signed onto two petitions to force votes to repeal Democrats’ healthcare reform law in its entirety.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said they had signed onto discharge petitions set to be offered by members of their conference, one of which would seek to repeal health reform in its entirety.

(snip)

“The American people asked Congress and President Obama not to pass the massive healthcare overhaul, and they were ignored,” Boehner and Cantor said in a statement. “Three months later, they remain opposed to it, worried about the consequences it is having for job creation, the national debt, and the cost and quality of their healthcare.

To be sure, you’ll always find a few malcontents in any crowd. But it’s worth keeping in mind that this isn’t some Tea Party rally. It looked to be made up of donors and more policy-oriented folks. Yet the claim that Obama is a “domestic enemy” was well received, and Cantor’s dismissal of it provoked audible groans from at least a few of the attendees.

By GottaLaff

My segment starts at about the 30 minute mark.

Nicole Sandler is a pleasure to talk to. It’s like a couple of pals gabbing our heads off, a sort of stream of consciousness.

Thank you, Nicole, for putting me at ease and making a half hour fly by!

By GottaLaff

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From March 25

No, this wasn’t the same one who shot a bullet in the air that didn’t hit Cantor’s office. This death threat was on video, and it was not a figment or a distortion.

It was apparently very real:

The Web site Talking Points Memo reported Monday that the U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia has filed a two-count complaint and warrant charging Norman Leboon with threatening to kill Rep. Cantor, R-Va., and his family.

According to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office, “in or about late March, 2010, Leboon created and then transmitted a YouTube video to Google over the internet, in which he threatened to kill Congressman Cantor and his family. No harm came to the Congressman or his family as a result of Leboon’s threats.”

[...] The Congressman was later notified that an arrest was made and a suspect was in custody,” said spokesman Brad Dayspring.

Via TPM:

In the video, Norman Leboon says Cantor will “receive my bullets in your office, remember they will be placed in your heads. You and your children are Lucifer’s abominations.” [...]

Videos tagged with his name involved everything from the stock market collapse to the kids’ movie “Babe,” and he seemed to have talked about politics and world leaders including President Obama. He also says in another video where he talks about child molestation, “Leaders you will perish” and ” I control your jets your missiles, I control everything.”

In yet another video, Leboon seems to threaten Obama.

Apparently, he’s no “liberal”, just in case that meme makes its way into the media.

Nobody, but nobody, should be receiving death threats. It’s wrong. It’s scary. And it’s getting way out of hand.

This is one thing both parties can, and should, agree on publicly, without then turning around and pointing fingers. It’s time to truly change the tone in this country before it’s too late.

UPDATE: He’s an equal opportunity hater.

H/t: Gr8RDH

By GottaLaff

My pal VNDNBRG had an interesting comment under the Cantor: I Didn’t Know Shot Was Random Until After My Presser post.

Cantor is a liar:

It was a nondescript building (no signage at all), bullet through 1st floor window (Cantor used 2nd floor for meetings once in a while), and building was not in his district (Richmond is in Bobby Scott’s 3rd district). It was a threat all right!

Yeah, a threat to whoever was located on the first floor.

VNDNBRG was angry enough to do a little poking around.

He struck gold.

Here’s a photo of the building that was hit:

The round struck with enough force to break the windowpane but did not penetrate the window blinds.” The building, as you can see from this picture, does not show any visible sign that it belongs to Cantor.

Here is a map of the district in question via Bobby Scotts homepage. The dot on Richmond closely corresponds with the Google map of building address:

(click on image to enlarge)

Here’s a closer look:

Now check out the address at the bottom of Cantor’s own page (click to enlarge):

That’s right. Eric Cantor doesn’t refer to the building that took the bullet. The address for their Richmond office:

March 25, 2010

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

How does he dress himself in the morning? He apparently doesn’t even know his own office address. And if he does use that other office, it must be only occasionally, because he forgot what floor it was on.

Maybe his advisers could remind him:

There is no sign identifying the light-green building as the campaign headquarters for Cantor, although its principal occupants, Ray Allen Jr. and M. Boyd Marcus Jr., are well-known in the political community as advisers to Cantor. It is identified as the Reagan Building.

Reminder of what Cantor said:

“Just recently I have been directly threatened. A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week, and I have received threatening emails,” Cantor said, citing the fact that he is an elected official, and that he is Jewish.

Excellent work, Agent VNDNBRG!

By GottaLaff

Hey Eric. It’s always a good idea to get your facts straight before you shoot your mouth off (no pun) to the press, blame Democrats for “dangerously fanning flames” (and boy, are their arms tired; rimshot), and claim a bullet was intended for you.

“Just recently I have been directly threatened. A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week, and I have received threatening emails,” Cantor said, citing the fact that he is an elected official, and that he is Jewish.

(Follow the links above for more details.)

Timing is everything:

Cantor’s spokesman is now claiming in media interviews that Cantor didn’t know that the bullet was randomly fired when he revealed the incident on national television Thursday.

The incident occurred at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning — more than two days before the Cantor press conference. This afternoon, spokesmen for Cantor told CNN and the Plum Line that Cantor did not know when he gave the press conference that the bullet was randomly fired.

Maybe he should have checked the police report. Others did.

Of course, ClusterFox jumped right on the pretend “Cantor’s office was shot up” bandwagon:

The news of the “shooting” was apparently first reported in a Fox “exclusive.” Within an hour of the press conference, Fox was framing the incident this way on TV: “Gunman Shoots Up Office Of Number Two Republican.”

Oddy, Cantor’s people didn’t acknowledge the following out loud when it became public:

Things looked even worse for Cantor when the Richmond Police Department today began explicitly describing the incident as “random gunfire”. But now, Cantor’s office is claiming in media interviews that Cantor didn’t know that the bullet was randomly fired when he held the dramatic press conference.

Let’s recap:

A random bullet landed on the floor of an office in the same building that houses Cantor’s office. It wasn’t intended for him at all. Yet he pointed fingers at the Democrats and said it was an anti-Semitic attack on his very life, but that’s okay because he claims he just. Didn’t. Know.

How responsible of him.

Mr. Reliable. And voters are supposed to trust this guy? Or are they just supposed to go into auto-sympathy mode while he plays the finger-pointing victim?

By GottaLaff

Remember earlier when Eric Cantor blamed the Democrats for fanning the flames of the threats directed at them?

He then claimed that:

A bullet was shot through his own campaign office this week, but he won’t release details, because that encourages threats. They should be treated as security issues dealt by law enforcement.

I liveblogged that this morning. “A bullet shot through his own campaign office…”

He said he was “directly threatened.”

He wouldn’t release details, because that would be politicizing the situation, said he.

But by bringing it up, he did just that. Did Cantor just shoot himself in the foot?

The Richmond Police Department released this statement Thursday:

March 25, 2010

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 [...] The building, which has several tenants including an office used by Congressman Eric Cantor, was unoccupied at the time. [...]

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 [...]

So it was a building where Cantor had an office, but the bullet did not enter the office.

The gun was fired into the air. Apparently, it was not intended to hit Cantor’s office in particular.

We need gun control, but okay that’sanothersubjectforantoherday.

Shooting in the air is dangerous, and this shouldn’t have happened. But, Cantor doesn’t appear to have been the target.

If you’ll excuse the metaphor, Cantor’s story was shot full of holes.

H/t: VNDNBRG