From ReichwingWatch

Cantor Moves to Appease Huckabee and the Right


Just yesterday I wrote a post noting that Tony Perkins and the Family
Research Council were not happy with the new National Council for a New
America and it's obvious lack of concern about the social issues that
are central to the Religious Right's agenda and wondered if Mike
Huckabee might be about to emerge as key player in any unfolding drama.

Well, guess what? Greg Sargent reports that that is exactly what is
happening as Rep. Eric Cantor scrambles to appease the Right by reaching
out to Huckabee:

In a fresh round of GOP infighting over the soul of the battered
party, Mike Huckabee just took a shot at a host of potential primary
rivals, disparaging Eric Cantor’s new group to revive the GOP, the
National Council for a New America, and the high-profile Republicans
that make up the group’s “panel of experts.”

The experts Huckabee was referring to include Mitt Romney, Sarah
Palin, and Bobby Jindal, all of whom are being talked about for 2012.

Huckabee’s broadside came in a statement attacking Cantor’s group,
which Cantor has said was formed partly to “listen” to the American people.

“It is a sad day when our party comes to the point where we think
it is necessary to form a `listening group’ to find out what Americans
think we should be fighting for,” Huckabee said. “Our problem is not
lack of `experts,’ but too many of them and not enough attention to the
hard working people in our communities that aren’t connected to the
Beltway, but to the heartland.”

In a sign that social conservatives aren’t in the mood to give
Cantor’s group room to rebrand the party, Huckabee also took a shot at
the group’s lack of immediate emphasis on social issues, saying that the
group has dismissed “values voters” and urging an emphasis on
“traditional marriage” and the GOP’s role as “a party that values life.”

Cantor spokesperson Brad Dayspring extended a conciliatory hand
towards Huckabee.

“Eric reached out to Governor Huckabee, appreciates his efforts as
a leader in our nation and he looks forward to remaining in close
communication with all leaders,” Dayspring told me, adding that social
issues would be a focus of Cantor’s group: “All issues, all topics, and
all ideas will be included in the dialogue that the National Council for
a New America will have.”