House Minority Whip Eric Cantor thinks House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "is in another world" if she believes raucous anti-health-reform demonstrations could lead to violence -- and he says he hasn't personally witnessed racist comments during a summer of passionate town hall demonstrations.The Virginia Republican, speaking to POLITICO on a day when President Barack Obama was meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in New York, expressed a dim view of the White House's Middle East policy, saying Obama doesn't seem to be a "true friend" of the Jewish state.
Cantor, who hasn't met with senior administration officials for months, also criticized Obama for failing to coordinate Afghanistan policy with congressional Republicans, who he believes are key to overcoming Democratic opposition to troop buildups.
The House GOP's No. 2 man -- labeled "Dr. No" by Democrats for opposing the stimulus package and other Obama initiatives -- expressed frustration with Pelosi's suggestion last week that the vitriol injected into the health reform debate could end in violence akin to the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in the 1970s.
"I think she's living in another world -- I really do," Cantor said of the California Democrat. "I'm not condoning any of the things that, you know, the media may catch in terms of messages on the signs and what have you. But I have not run into any violence. I have not run into crowds running over people. We should want spirited debate, although civil, ... and I've not been anywhere over the last several months where I would even think such a situation where violence is in the offing exists."
Cantor shook his head from side to side and pointed to the flat-screen TV in his office on the third floor of the Capitol when asked if he personally heard any racist remarks about Obama during several public meetings he held in the Richmond area in the past two months -- which included a health care forum he held with Rep. Bobby Scott, an African-American Democrat from Virginia.
"I've certainly seen it on the television screens -- but I have not personally run into it," he said. "Certainly, if I did, I would be as turned off as you would be -- it's abhorrent and it has no role in this discussion. ... That's why when Jimmy Carter stepped out and said this about the president's race, ... my comment was, 'That's abhorrent, that's living in another world, another time.'"
Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly didn't respond to Cantor directly but referred to the speaker's emotional remarks from last Thursday.
"Our country is great because people can say what they think and they believe," Pelosi said. "But I also think that they have to take responsibility for any incitement that they may cause."
One senior Democratic aide was more blunt, asking, "What about hanging [Maryland Democratic Rep. Frank] Kratovil in effigy, death threats against members or the signs at the tea party rally on Sept. 12 saying, 'Bury Obamacare With Kennedy'?"