After all, he has been an AIPAC cutout since he first was elected to office. He's been to more AIPAC meetings than he can probably count. And he should have figured out by now that the lobby is extremely careful, obsessively careful, to always emphasize loyalty to the United States while simultaneously endorsing Israeli policies that undermine our foreign policy objectives.
AIPAC officials never, ever, say that when push comes to shove their loyalty is with Israel not the United States. In fact, the accusation that this is the case is the charge AIPAC hates most.
But the soon-to-be Majority Leader came right out and said it: Israel, right or wrong.
It took a few days for Cantor to understand how utterly offensive his statement was. (He might have heard from a few Tea Party types who, say what you will about them, tend to take their patriotism seriously.)
So today Cantor explained he was misunderstood. His inconvenient truth, his gaffe, was replaced by a laughable untruth.
This is how the Washington Post's Dana Milbank reports it:
Brad Dayspring, Cantor's press guy, tells me Cantor's promise that the Republican majority would "serve as a check on the administration" was "not in relation to U.S./Israel relations."
Mmmm. So Cantor's pledge to stand with Netanyahu against Obama was "not in relation to US/Israel relations" despite the context of Cantor's statement -- just before Netanyahu's meeting with Clinton -- and the fact that the person he was talking to was the Prime Minister of Israel.
So, what was Cantor's pledge "in relation to"?
Was it in relation to either repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" or the Bush tax cuts for millionaires? Maybe it was about farm subsidies.
Come on, Eric. Don't make us laugh.
It is eminently clear what you said and what you meant. And this time we will take you at your word.
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