Eric Cantor Thinks Joe Biden Is ‘Awesome’

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va. look on at left as Vice President Joe Biden meets with congressional Republicans and Democrats in hopes of striking a deal on deficit reduction, Thursday, May 5, 2011, at Blai... House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va. look on at left as Vice President Joe Biden meets with congressional Republicans and Democrats in hopes of striking a deal on deficit reduction, Thursday, May 5, 2011, at Blair House in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS
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Now that former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is free of the constraints of serving in Congress, he can speak openly about how “awesome” he thinks Vice President Joe Biden is.

“I’m certainly not one who agrees with Joe Biden on all things—we probably disagree more than we agree—but from a human and relationship standpoint, the guy’s awesome,” Cantor said in an interview with Time magazine published Wednesday.

“Joe Biden is what you see. You know, he’s genuine,” he added. “Yes, he’s prone to gaffes publicly, and he’ll admit that. He’s very self-deprecating like that.”

Cantor praised Biden’s facility for negotiating with the opposing party during the 2011 debt ceiling talks, suggesting that the vice president could be the new GOP congressional majority’s go-to guy in the White House when it comes time to bargain.

“That’s one of the striking differences between the President and Vice President,” he told Time. “The President has not spent the time necessary even while he’s been in office the last six years, much less before, developing, nurturing relationships and understanding people’s thinking. And that is a huge impediment to the President’s ability to do a deal, whereas I think Joe Biden has been schooled in that way.”

The former majority leader also said he’s stayed in touch with Biden. Cantor said last week that while he received a call from the vice president after losing his primary race, he never heard a peep from Obama.

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Notable Replies

  1. Of course, Eric, Democrats are good people.

  2. Avatar for marby marby says:

    Cantor is probably describing Joe Biden accurately. However, I was struck by this comment, “Cantor said last week that while he received a call from the vice president after losing his primary race, he never heard a peep from Obama.” Did he really expect a sympathy call from the President?

  3. Sounds like Eric is doing some of the necessary advance work for the upcoming impeachment drive!

  4. Avatar for jw1 jw1 says:

    Cantor could spontaneously combust
    and I woudn’t waste urine on him.

    jw1

  5. Avatar for dswx dswx says:

    The bigger issue once is why Politico and now Time seek out another losing GOPer. All the media do. They immediate contact the losing GOP candidate for interviews. Rare is the case when a Democrat loses an election (or a primary in Cantor’s case) that the media is immediately after them for interviews. The constant shilling for the GOP by the media is vile. And TPM does not do any better. For example, no mention in this article about how President Obama called Cantor to wish him a Happy Passover and how Cantor essentially rebuked the President. Ms. Thompson is apparently taking lessons from Mr. Sahil about how to be sure to put a negative spin on President Obama regardless of the article you write. And I am not being totally sarcastic as it seems endemic to TPM reporters/articles.

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