The new e pluribus unum: “We are the 99 percent”

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 04:35:00 +0000

Wow, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is running a little scared now. Ten days ago, he denounced Occupy Wall Street as a "growing mob." On Fox News Sunday, he softened his stance, agreeing "there is too much income disparity" and promising to work on getting the top 1 percent to create jobs and opportunity for the rest of us.

In fact, Cantor said Monday that he's going to deliver his very own speech on income disparity "and how Republicans believe the government could help fix it" on Friday. A spokesman elaborated: Cantor will talk about on how Washington can assist "a single working mom…a small business owner..and how we make sure the people at the top stay there."

Got it? We're going to address income inequality by making sure "the people at the top stay there." That sounds like a plan. A note of personal privilege here: This Cantor blog post lets me quote Charles Pierce on the same topic: "Cantor has demonstrated a remarkable ability to combine complete ignorance of practically every major issue with the unctuous personality of a third-string maitre d' at a fourth-string steakhouse." Best quote of the day.

Salon.com > Rep. Eric Cantor

The new e pluribus unum: “We are the 99 percent”