Chart: Inside Eric Cantor's Brain

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) spoke at the American Enterprise Institute about a new path for the GOP, which turned out to be a lot like the GOP's old path, except "softer." Now, instead of screaming "HELL NO" at the Obama agenda, Eric Cantor will quietly whisper, "nooooo."

Nevertheless, it was an impressive address considering that at least half of Cantor's brainpower is consumed by maintaining that buttery accent.

Previously
Eric Cantor Holds Hurricane Relief Hostage
Sometimes We Are All House Republicans

Tags: Eric Cantor, House of Representatives, Republicans

Tweet Untweet: Classic Villains

Eric Cantor is the Eve Harrington to Boehner's Margot Channing.

— Lizz Winstead (@lizzwinstead) December 20, 2012

Tags: Eric Cantor, John Boehner, Tweet Untweet, Twitter

Tweet Untweet: Labor's Collective Sigh

Today, we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success.

— Eric Cantor (@GOPLeader) September 3, 2012

Tags: Eric Cantor, Republicans, Tweet Untweet, Twitter

Quote Unquote: Monolithic Americans

Rep. Eric Cantor urges his fellow Republicans, and Americans in general, to take personal responsibility and take a stand against religious bigotry and homophobia…

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"There can’t be some kind of monolithic opinion handed down from the government or a political party. I don't think we're monolithic beings."

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As much as I agree with the sentiment, I don't like how he needed to throw a shot in there at John Kerry.

Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but I'm pretty sure Kerry's part Easter Island statue on his maternal grandfather's side.

Tags: Eric Cantor, Homophobia, House of Representatives, Islam, Quote Unquote, Racism

John Boehner and Eric Cantor Are Ready to Come Out of Timeout

Someone should have bought Speaker John Boehner a copy of I'm Going to Be a Big Brother! when Eric Cantor became House Majority Leader last January. It may have helped him better adjust to having a new, young member of the Congressional family stealing his spotlight and throwing tantrums about budget negotiations…

When Boehner cut a deal with Obama on the 2011 budget just months into his speakership, he hailed it as a major win in that it sliced tens of billions of dollars from the federal budget. Cantor and other hard-line conservatives privately grumbled that it wasn’t enough and that Boehner should have shut down the government, even temporarily, to prove his point.

Several months later, Boehner began secret White House talks with Obama over a "grand bargain" to cut trillions from the budget while simultaneously reforming the Tax Code. After Cantor found out about those talks, he stormed out of debt ceiling negotations chaired by Vice President Joe Biden. Boehner included Cantor in later talks with the president, but no deal was reached.

After rumors that the chiefs of both camps weren't on speaking terms, questions of infighting abounded. Boehner continued to maintain that he and Cantor had no problems. But once everyone left the playroom, it was wedgie time…

The interoffice tensions were so prominent that elected Republican lawmakers were chafing at the public and private tribulations of the ongoing Boehner-Cantor drama — one GOP lawmaker stood up and complained about it in a recent closed-door meeting of House Republicans — and the two operations came to the realization that the constant sparring between their camps could hurt both lawmakers politically.

How sweet. The two are now making efforts to play nicely. Now if only someone could persuade them to do the same with their cousin Obama. That "someone" may end up being the mother of all politicians: Election Day.

Photo by Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images

Tags: Barack Obama, Eric Cantor, House of Representatives, Joe Biden, John Boehner, Republicans, Taxes