House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) went on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today and tried to laugh off his use of a BlackBerry during President Obama’s health care speech last night to a joint session of Congress.
But first, Joe Scarborough pretended to be sending a text on his own mobile. Co-host Mika Brzezinski stopped him and, transitioning to Cantor’s apparent texting last night, told the GOP Rep, “I hope it was an important text.”
Cantor smiled, sort of. “Listen, c’mon now, I’m here to try and talk about the issues,” he said.
And what of those issues? Cantor questioned whether Obama’s health reform plan would really allow people to keep their doctors if they want to and said last night’s speech didn’t really remove “the fear that most people have about a potential replacement of the existing health care system.”
Cantor described concerns of a “Washington-engineered health care benefit plan” — and said it’s a “puzzle” how Obama’s plan would be deficit-neutral. Cantor predicted that “the President is looking to fund this bill on the backs of small businesses. And that’s the problem.”
