refrain, the president did something different today in texas. he didn t just talk about republican opposition to his jobs plan in vague terms, his opponent wasn t just a sea of faceless republican lawmakers on the other side of the aisle. he gave the gop opposition a face and a name. yesterday the republican majority leader in congress, eric cantor, said that right now he won t even let this jobs bill have a vote in the house of representatives. this is what he said. i d like mr. cantor to come down here to dallas and explain what exactly in this jobs bill does he not believe in? what exactly what exactly is he opposed to? at least put this jobs bill up for a vote so that the entire country knows exactly where members of congress stand. president obama no doubt focused his remarks on cantor after the number two house republicans said yesterday the
along with the pass this bill refrain, the president did something different today in texas. he didn t just talk about republican opposition to his jobs plan in vague terms, his opponent wasn t just a sea of faceless republican lawmakers on the other side of the aisle. he gave the gop opposition a face and a name. yesterday the republican majority leader in congress, eric cantor, said that right now he won t even let this jobs bill have a vote in the house of representatives. this is what he said. i d like mr. cantor to come down here to dallas and explain what exactly in this jobs bill does he not believe in? what exactly what exactly is he opposed to? at least put this jobs bill up for a vote so that the entire country knows exactly where members of congress stand. president obama no doubt focused his remarks on cantor after the number two house republicans said yesterday the
on jobs. the american people have gone with it far too long. people trying to work together despite our agreements. there s a report tonight from the associated press that democrats want to swap out some of the way president obama proposed to pay for his jobs bill for 5% tax surcharge on millionaires. senate majority leader harry reid predicted don t when the bill comes to the floor almost all democrats will get behind it. joining me, political analyst, alex wagner. am i wrong eric cantor is a very unappealing politician? is that a loaded question? to each his own i would say. eric cantor, a lot of americans don t know who eric cantor is. let me ground this in some data. a cnn poll in july shows 46% of americans have never even heard of him. right. and i think given that, there are some question marks around the president s strategy to
thanks, chris. thank you. coming up, republican opposition has a new name now. eric cantor goes on the attack and president obama struck back. that s next. it s day 18 for occupy wall street which meant among other things a big lawsuit filed on behalf of arrest protesters. unions joining the growing movement tomorrow. we ll have the latest. like so many great pioneers before me, guided only by a dream. i m embarking on a journey of epic proportion. i will travel, from sea to shining sea, through amber waves of grain, and i won t stop until i ve helped every driver in america save hundreds on car insurance. well i m out of the parking lot. that s a good start. geico, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent, or more on car insurance. i ve tried it. but nothing s helped me beat my back pain.
and i think, you know, speaks to a caucus that s, if not in disarray, there s a lot of people are unsure, i think, as to what they want to do with the jobs act and sort of where the president is and how need to play themselves against him. what s interesting, right, is if you go there s a really good piece in the new york magazine about eric cantor and one of the points he makes in that is talks about cantor being the mastermind being republican unity in opposition to the recovery act. this was eight days after the president was elected with the huge electoral majority. it was sort of shocking. in some ways the lesson you learn from that is unity confers its own advantages, right? that if the democrats would unify around this bill that produces sort of increasing gains, politically, which they seem incapable of actually understanding. yeah, but i think that s a testament to the weakened power of the president right now. there s some sense there s blood in the water and that g