An Open Letter to Rep. Eric Cantor R-VA

Sunday, March 1, 2009 11:02 AM

A Twitter friend of mine is a registered Republican who works in the health care industry in Northern California. He was appalled to read an item on George Stephanopoulos' blog that the Republican Whip, Virginian Eric Cantor, repudiated Rush Limbaugh. He sent an email to Rep. Cantor, and gave me permission to publish it here:

Dear Congressman Cantor:

I am writing because of an incident which was reported in George Stephanopoulos blog, where you were quoted as wanting President Obama's initiatives to succeed, and as repudiating talk-show-host Rush Limbaugh.

I am a semi-retired Jewish Republican living in Northern California. I have been listening to Rush Limbaugh's radio show for a long time.

I am going to assume that Stephanopoulos quoted you accurately, although I would be delighted to hear that he misquoted you or misprepresented you views.

You should know that you are a hero of the Republican Party for having led the unanimous GOP resistance to HR1, the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the Porkulus Bill, or, to those who naively believed the rhetoric that it would stimulate the economy, the "Stimulus Package."

Obviously, if you wanted the Porkulus Bill to succeed, you would have urged the House Republicans to vote for it. Since you did the opposite, I can assume that you wanted the Porkulus Bill to fail.

At the time of the Porkulus vote, that bill was the centerpiece of the Obama agenda, and as I just wrote, you obviously wanted it to fail. (And, I might add, you have my gratitude, and that of millions of Americans for taking that strong stand against Obama.)

I therefore find it quite surprising to read that you reject Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric. I can't say that it's hypocritical, because I understand that anyone who says overtly that they want Obama to fail is risking a huge amount of criticism, including charges of racism. Still, I can't believed that you actually want Obama to succeed.

Obama wants to raise taxes on the "rich," who created jobs and shoulder most of the tax burden. Do you, Congressman Cantor, want Obama to succeed in raising taxes on the "rich?"

Obama wants to nationalize the health care industry, creating, in effect, a government monopoly. Do you, Congressman Cantor, want Obama to succeed in nationalizing the health care industry?

Obama wants to be more "evenhanded" between Hamas and Israel, and to give American funds to Hamas, laundered through a UN agency. Do you, Congressman Cantor, want Obama to succeed at giving American taxpayer funds to Hamas?

It is my best guess that your answer to all three of these questions to be "no." Why, then, pick on Rush Limbaugh when he says, openly and honestly, that he wants Obama's initiatives, which are what the Obama presidency is all about, to fail?

Now here is the part of my letter where I will show a little "chutzpah." I am going to suggest two things. I still believe that there are some Congressmen who listen to their constituents, and I believe that you are one of them. My "chutzpah" is derived from the idea that the US Congress rules by consent of the governed. So, here we go:

1. I can't believe that you would have condemned Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric if you had listened to his program, and I can understand that anyone in public service is too busy to listen to a radio program three hours per weekday. I therefore recommend that you ask a trusted, loyal, Republican staffer to listen to Rush, all three hours, and then report to you what he or she has heard. He or she can download podcasts of Rush so that you can listen to recommended items. Yes, all at taxpayer expense. In the long run, it would be extremely cost-effective.

2. After you become better acquainted with Rush Limbaugh, I recommend that your staff contact his office so that you can appear on his program. Other courageous Republicans have done the same. And, although I am not a professional political analyst, I'll bet that your appearance on Rush Limbaugh's program will get you more political capital than anything you were ever quoted as saying on George Stephanopoulos' blog.

Respectfully,

[signed]