Eric Cantor Wins BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award for His Flip-Flop on High-Speed Rail

Eric Cantor

Welcome back to the BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

It may not surprise you that the "rising star" of the Republican Party would win BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award three times in as nearly many months. But we call 'em as we see 'em, and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) has that two-faced quality that BuzzFlash loves to hate.

This time, Cantor's duplicity centers on transportation with his recent flip-flop on high-speed rail. But we'll let MSNBC's Rachel Maddow tell the sordid tale:

Maddow ends her report asking who's going to break it to Cantor that he's a total hypocrite.  Well, Rachel, we'd be glad to.

Rep. Cantor, just because you're the one bringing home the bacon, doesn't make it pork-free.

Here's what Cantor told the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the new rail project in Virginia:

If there is one thing that I think all of us here on both sides of the political aisle from all parts of the region agree with, it's that we need to do all we can to promote jobs here in the Richmond area.

So not only does Cantor all of the sudden think the government can create jobs (as long as they are for his constituents), but he's using his change of heart to sound bipartisan. Lovely.

Now, we weren't the first to comment upon Cantor's train hypocrisy.  In fact, back in March David Schuster used his Hypocrisy Watch segment on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to call the lawmaker out for using the Vegas-to-Disneyland route as a reason to oppose the stimulus. Schuster pointed out that the train line in question wasn't even mentioned in the stimulus package, and therefore should have no bearing on the argument.

But sometimes you have to wait and let conservatives marinate a bit before the hypocrisy is good and ripe. Sure enough, Cantor came out in favor of the Virginia rail line touching his district. Apparently, government stimulus only works if it's in his district.

For using an imaginary program as ammo against the stimulus, but then turning around and praising the same type of job-creating project when it landed in his district, we bestow upon Rep. Eric Cantor BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award. Many happy returns, undoubtedly.

Remember our motto: So many Republican hypocrites, so little time.

Catch up with you soon.

This is the third HOTW Award for Eric Cantor. He also won the award on April 3 and January 30 of 2009. You can see a list of all previous nominees here.

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