"Eric Cantor's most recent tantrum in response to the Occupy Wall Street is characterized by false outrage and political analysis that cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called rigorous, or even thoughtful. It is, however, not altogether insignificant, because Cantor's words capture right wing attitudes towards Occupy Wall Street and more generally towards those who draw attention to the rather obvious and devastating impact of recent economic history in the US.
Cantor's use of the word "mob" to refer to the demonstrators on Wall Street and elsewhere drew some attention, but one cannot get too upset by that one word. In politics, a mob is generally defined as a large loud group of people with whom the speaker disagrees, so Cantor can be excused for using that word. More revealing is the anger and frustration Cantor and others feel towards what they describe as "class warfare."
Republicans and other right wingers are not troubled by class warfare in the abstract, otherwise they would have said something during the last three decades when the political and financial leadership of the US, with the close support of the Republican, and too frequently, Democratic parties, have waged class warfare on the poor on behalf of the wealthy. Deregulation, cutting social programs and increasingly regressive tax structures have all been part of an effort to shift wealth from the poor and middle class to the wealthy. This kind of class warfare has been met with no concern at all from the right. When Republicans get upset about class warfare, what they are really angry about is that poor and working people are fighting back. That may be beginning now on Wall Street and elsewhere, leading to such concern from Cantor, Mitt Romney and other conservatives.
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