As the debt talks devolve into the rhetorical equivalent of a backyard sandbox, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has been labeled the big, bad bully ruining the otherwise well-behaved debt ceiling negotiations between Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), the White House and Congressional leaders.
But if that’s the case, one GOP aide asks, why did Reid compliment Cantor for his honesty after the first White House meeting? Cantor never tried to cover up his stubborn resistance to tax increases and was very forthright about it from the get go.
At the first White House meeting, this source says, the President laid down the basic components of big deal that would reduce long-term deficits as well as prevent the country form defaulting on its obligations, and then went around the room asking everyone if they could support it.
Everyone in the room backed the rough outline Obama laid out, except for Cantor, who said he couldn’t support the bigger deal as the President described it, because he thought it involved a tax increase. Then. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) piped up, saying he “associated himself” with Cantor’s comments.
But then Reid, according to the GOP aide, did something unusual considering his current attack on Cantor as an unreasonable obstructionist.
“After the meeting ended, Sen. Reid came up to Eric and said, Eric, I don’t know you very well, in fact I don’t know you very well at all, but I just want to thank you for being the only one to have the guts to be honest in this room,” the staffer recounted. “A lot of us come in here and say a lot of things, but I really appreciate what you did today.”
Reid’s office didn’t deny that the conversation occurred, but did characterize it somewhat differently. “What Reid actually said was ‘At least you’re being honest’,” claimed Reid spokesman, Adam Jentleson. He said, “Sen. Reid politely thanked Eric Cantor for being frank by way of advising him that in his experience, great agreements are only achieved through open, frank exchanges, and a willingness to put ideology aside and reach a reasonable compromise.”
Reid’s office also said that a lot has transpired between the first White House meeting last week and the current intractable impasse. They repeated Reid’s comments to the effect that Cantor is to blame for playing chicken with the nation’s credit worthiness.
“Sen. Reid had high hopes that Eric Cantor would rise to the occasion and demonstrate the courage and the ability to forge a bipartisan deal that will cut our nation’s deficit and put us on a path to fiscal sanity,” said Jentleson. “But after seeing Eric Cantor’s performance over the last few days, Sen. Reid is disappointed to see that Eric Cantor has demonstrated neither that courage nor that ability, and has instead been nothing but a disruptive force over the course of these negotiations.”
Jentleson also lashed out at the GOP aide for leaking details of a private conversation.
“Sen. Reid also hopes that whoever is leaking the details of a private conversation between himself and Eric Cantor would have the courage to do so on the record, instead of hiding behind blind quotes,” Jentleson said. “Just a few days ago, Eric Cantor himself expressed outrage at the practice of leaking the details of private conversations, so we certainly hope it isn’t his office that is circulating this account.”
