Oh, Yeah. That Thing.

(Updated below)

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Remember the National Council for a New America?

That big fundraising stunt outreachy "fill the leadership vacuum" with New Ideas™ thing started up by (erstwhile, it must be said) leading Republican and perennial vacuum-head Eric Cantor?

That held that one "pizza summit" that one time, with Willard "Mitt" Romney and Jeb "The Smart One" Bush, in Virginia?

What ever happened to that thing, anyway?

Rep. Eric Cantor, R-7th, has pulled the plug on a national organization that was launched with much fanfare a year ago.

John Murray, a spokesman for Cantor, confirmed a report from the Washington newspaper Roll Call that Cantor's National Council for a New America is "in a suspended state."

Wants to spend more time with its family?

Cantor plans to concentrate his efforts on another project designed to craft a legislative agenda for Republican candidates for Congress this fall, Murray said.

He blamed the demise of the council on "relentless" attacks from Democrats.

Oh, yeah. We never let up on that one. (?) Just ask some other Cantor-drone:

Roll Call reports that the Cantor camp is blaming "liberals" for killing the group:

"It's very simple," said Rob Collins, president of the American Action Network and Cantor's former deputy chief of staff. "The NCNA dominated the national media so effectively that liberals in and out of Congress -- including [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] -- attacked it."

Jesus. Never mind actually believing that. Just try to imagine being able to say it with a straight face. But back to the first article:

The organization also was the target of an ethics complaint, filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, claiming Cantor's office had violated House rules regarding funding for political organizations.

Oh ho!

Murray said the complaint has been dismissed.

Of course. That is why they chose to put it in "a suspended state."

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Thanks to No More Mister Nice Blog for the reminder, and thanks to Pat Cunningham for the picture.

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Update

2010-06-28 01:00

Not sure why this didn't occur to me to supply earlier, but it did occur to me now: because this blog is nothing if it is not Fair and Balanced (this blog is nothing), here is what CREW had to say last July, and here is what they had to say upon Eric Cantor going into a suspended state.

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Update2

2010-06-28 01:03

... upon Eric Cantor's organization going into a suspended state, I meant. Regret the error.

"The Lie Machine"

Tim Dickinson has an article in the latest edition of Rolling Stone about the right wing's Astroturfing organizations, their close connections with senior Republican officials, and how they work to stir up "the base."

Here's part of the excerpt they've posted online:

Far from representing a spontaneous upwelling of populist rage, the protests were tightly orchestrated from the top down by corporate-funded front groups as well as top lobbyists for the health care industry. Call it the return of the Karl Rove playbook: The effort to mobilize the angriest fringe of the Republican base was guided by a conservative dream team that included the same GOP henchmen who Swift-boated John Kerry in 2004, smeared John McCain in 2000, wrote the script for Republican obstructionism on global warming, and harpooned the health care reform effort led by Hillary Clinton in 1993.

"The insurance industry is up to the same dirty tricks, using the same devious PR practices it has used for many years, to kill reform," says Wendell Potter, who stepped down last year as chief of corporate communications for health insurance giant CIGNA. "I'm certain that people showing up at these town halls feel that they're there on their own — but they don't realize they're being incited, ultimately, by the insurance industry and the other special interests."

Behind the scenes, top Republicans — including House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Minority Leader John Boehner and the chairman of the GOP's Senate steering committee, Jim DeMint — worked hand-in-glove with the organizers of the town brawls. Their goal was not only to block health care reform but to bankrupt President Obama's political capital before he could move on to other key items on his agenda, including curbing climate change and expanding labor rights. As DeMint told an August teleconference of nearly 20,000 town-hall activists, "If we can stop him on this, the administration won't be able to go on to cap and trade, card check and the other things they want to do."

The article names plenty of names and details the financial connections. It's well worth reading, especially if you're not familiar with how the right-wing noise machine really works.

(h/t: James Fallows, via nikkibong)

It's a Listening Tour, All Right, But Apparently Only One Voice Counts

Once again, Rush Limbaugh bellows and elected Republicans crumble. This time it's Eric Cantor (R-Virginia), the House Minority Whip, fercrissakes:

All together now: If the GOP can't stand up to Rush Limbaugh, how will they ever be able to stand up to the terrorists???

Nico Pitney at the HuffPo has the whole story and the video, if the embedded version above doesn't work.

(h/t: watertiger)

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[Added] Oh, and speaking of listening tours, it would be irresponsible not to pass along this bit from another story on the HuffPo, describing Stormy Daniels, who is "spending her own money on a 'listening tour' to hear what people have to say as she considers a possible run." Against David "Diapers" Vitter, for the US Senate, that is.

"For those of you who don't know who I am," she told the lunch crowd at The Roux House, "I'd suggest that you don't Google that until you get home from work."

That. (NSFW)

John Cole on Eric Cantor

Here is how the proprietor of Balloon Juice views the House Minority Whip:

This is government by frat boy smooth talk ...

He's right.

[Added] Had I not already posted the above, this from JC in a different post would have been a line of the day:

Maybe standing athwart history shouting “Porkulus” might have been a bad idea.