OK, this is my first diary and after searching the archives, I found nothing about this particular situation that has arisen, but never been discussed pertaining to Rep. Cantor and his wife. By my estimation, it has been extremely overlooked and a failing of the media.
Since the stimulus bill debate began, Eric Cantor has received major face time and become something of a Republican celebrity. The cable news channels have been falling over themselves to put Cantor on the air and let him promulgate the myth that the Republican Machine is lean, mean and ready to take back Congress using their time-honored principles of less government and tax cuts for the wealthy.
Once again, the GOP is attempting to pull the wool over the eyes and at the forefront of this sham is none other than Cantor, a man who has no principles and is simply an obstructionist that is gambling with America's economy to pick up seats at the mid-terms.
But why do I say this? What proof do I have that Cantor is Just Another Republican?
As many of you know (or do not know yet), Eric Cantor's wife runs the Virginia branch of New York Private Bank and Trust, a holding company for Emigrant Bank, which targets wealthy people. As reported by Aram Roston and Paul Kiel of ProPublica on Jan. 23, NYPBT received $267 million from the Treasury in the Bush Bailout.
Story here
Looks fishy, yes? But the bank says no:
A spokesman for the bank said Diana Cantor "has nothing to do with the operation of the main bank" and was "never aware that the parent bank was seeking or received [bailout] funding."
OK, fine, let's accept this at face value and pretend that someone who heads up an entire branch of the bank never caught wind of any sort of bailout. Let's just accept that the company held everyone in the dark. Diana Cantor never knew her company was going to receive any bailout bucks and she never discussed this with her husband, who wields a lot of power over the issue.
From Rob Collins, Eric Cantor's deputy chief of staff:
Rob Collins, Cantor's deputy chief of staff, said the congressman didn't know the bank was seeking bailout money and never interceded on the bank's behalf with government regulators. He also said Cantor had never intended the bailout bill to be used to buy up stock in banks.
"No one knew outside the Treasury Department, including Congressman Cantor, how the bailout money would be used," Collins said.
See? Eric Cantor couldn't have known that his wife's bank was going to receive bailout money because he didn't know what was in the bill! Does this not blow your mind? Eric Cantor has been in front of the media every day for the last three weeks talking about how irresponsible the stimulus bill is, partly because Republicans say they don't know what's in it.
Yet Rep. Cantor's deputy chief of staff said that Cantor had no idea what was in the Bush Bailout! All of this whining, all of this groaning and moaning from the GOP and it turns out that their "shining star" voted "yea" for a bill that he didn't even know what it contained.
This is why the foot must be kept on the throat of the Republican party. They are not principled, fiscally conservative or putting country first. One of their most prominent leaders has admitted (through his deputy chief of staff) that he voted "yea" on a bill that he was clueless about. The GOP continues to be a lousy bunch and their friends in the media haven't even bothered pressing Rep. Cantor on his ignorance, mostly because they are too busy letting him lie about the stimulus bill.
Someone needs to pick up on this and let Americans know that Rep. Cantor is a hypocrite and an obstructionist. He is a shameless politician that needs to be held accountable.