Liveblogging Eric Cantor at the IOP

7:15pm. I’m sitting here watching folks shuffle out of the room. Maybe it was just the jitteriness of the audience or the fact that I’m prone to get sentimental about things like this, but I have to admit, I was moved. It’s almost unsettling. Cantor claims that Republicans are the party of creation and of “limitless possibility.” He want us to be free to do big things. This is seductive, if totally unsubstantiated. It might play well to an audience of elites — of Harvard students on their way to Big Lives — but one wonders whether he cares about the difference between his vision and its reality as most Americans experience it. Does he get that the doing of Big Things depends on living in a society that fosters your power — through education, for example — and that accepts you as an equal? Does he care if my Big Life is designed only to help myself (or, even, to hurt others)? And further, aren’t the most ambitious Big Things the ones, in the end, that we take together, as a people? To conclude the night where we began — with JFK!! — I’ll pull out one of my all time favorite Kennedy quotes: “we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills…” Cantor’s vision of greatness — having everything to do with the individual, and nothing to do with the collective — forecloses on the chance of another moon shot for America. – Max Novendstern
7:03pm. That’s a wrap. Final “that’s what America is all about” of the night. Talking about “what America is all about” is what America’s all about, apparently. Also Silicon Valley and Harvard. Gotta love this country. – Max Novendstern
7:01pm. Cantor cites the doctored Live Action videos in his defense of the cuts to Planned Parenthood. No response to student’s question about this being an attack on a woman’s right to choose. – Jenny Ye
7:01pm. Last part of the most entertaining question of the night:”or are you so committed to a radical free market system that refuses to use government spending for any investment in human beings lives.” – Max Novendstern

6:55pm. Tough choices, you say? Questioner takes Cantor to task on tax cuts for the wealthiest. “Why do you favor tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires over pell grants, K-12 education, global AIDS relief, and many other programs?” Cantor quickly deflects: “I just don’t look at it in those terms.” To Cantor, apparently, the government doesn’t get to make choices about other people’s money. O RLY? “No. The choice really is ‘how do you provide for the ability to expand the pie.'” – Max Novendstern
6:51pm. Fun question: “You can talk about cutting entitlement back to 2008 levels but the truth of the matter is if you cut it back to 1900 levels, it wouldn’t even make a dent in the deficit.” – Andrew Seo
6:50pm: Though, to be fair, he does clarify that he “would not support bigotry to anyone.” -Andrew Seo
6:50pm: Classic non-statement on Defense of Marriage Act: “If we can find some way to come together.” “On the issue of gay rights, and others, I think there’s really a lot more work that can be done to foster an understanding. On the hot button issues, if you will, I think my record is clear.” – Max Novendstern
6:45pm: “We talk about the right to life here at home. How can we cut programs that will literally lead to hundreds of thousands of  deaths in the world?” Possible coalition between pro-life groups and global health folks? – Jenny Ye
6:45pm. Cantor believes that American wealth will save lives overseas. I do not follow the majority leader’s logic on that one. –Andrew Seo
6:40pm. A Kennedy School student from Lawrence, Massachusetts describes to Cantor how her town contains abandoned textile mill after abandoned textile mill. She wants to know how he can ensure that businesses will not ship jobs overseas after we make all these sacrifices to ensure their growth. – Andrew Seo
6:39pm. Tradeoffs, tradeoffs. He has been returning to the idea of tradeoffs all night. American jobs and austerity over AIDs funding, Americorps. -Andrew Seo
6:38pm. Cantor thanks the Americorps people for “being here.” “No where else in the world could we come together like this.” A little condescending? Scattered laughter. The rub of his response: “Americans are generous people.” We don’t need government mandated service. (What, one wonders, is the congress for which he is Majority Leader?) – Max Novendstern
6:37pm. Americorps speaks up! Teach for America “spurs social entrepreneurship.” They provide “people like me who want to serve their country with opportunities to do so.” Absolutely eloquent speech. The room erupts in applause. – Max Novendstern
6:35pm. Loud shouting outside. The Save Americorps people, perhaps? – Max Novendstern
6:30pm. Claps in the audience as next audience member commends the defunding of Planned Parenthood. – Jenny Ye
6:29pm. Protesters erupt in chants “Budget cuts kill! Fund Global Health!” Republicans erupt in “shushes.” – Max Novendstern
6:28pm. “We just don’t have the money,” says Cantor to the first question about Global AIDS funding from 20 standing protestors. – Jenny Ye
6:24pm. Speech is done! That was short. Nothing about the concrete plan to regain “innovation” and “individual entrepreneurship.” – Jenny Ye
6: 22pm. Cantor receives a round of applause from the audience after telling his family’s story of success. European immigrants to majority of the House. – Andrew Seo
6:21pm. American exceptionalism thesis: “Here in America, it’s so much less about where you come from than where you are going.” Cantor tells the story of his family chasing the American dream. –  Jenny Ye
6:14pm. But he’s worried! Washington has forgotten that these places are the backbone of our society. NB: am I the only one that hears a ring of elitism to this all? Are Harvard and Silicon Valley really what America is all about? – Max Novendstern
6:12pm. Cantor is making it clear what he does and doesn’t like. Doesn’t like: Europe, bureaucracy. Does like: Silicon Valley, Harvard. “At places like this, there are no limits, no limits to applying your intellectual capital to achieve incredible things.” – Max Novendstern
6:10pm. Opening anecdote: picture Greek students protesting government cuts to retirement funds. Did you get that? Students! Thinking about retirement! Contrast this with the Tea Party. “On the one side of the atlantic, people expected a government-funded future. On the other, they wanted it stopped…real life examples of the choice our nation faces right now.” – Max Novendstern
6:07pm. Cantor begins. This just in: JFK quote number two. – Max Novendstern
6:04pm. Clapping! Trey Grayson is making introductions. Going over ground rules. For those pounding shots at home, we’ve got our first JFK quote of the night: “Civility is not a sign of weakness.” – Max Novendstern
6:03pm. From a source on the ground, the Rally to Save AmeriCorp turnout was large.  Source indicates that approximately “200″ people were in attendance. The rally met in JFK Park, which is why many who attended the forum at the IOP did not see them. –Andrew Seo
5:58pm. Someone in the row in front of me is reading this liveblog on his blackberry. So meta. – Max Novendstern
5:51pm. I’m in! The police presence was heavy (as expected) and the protester presence was pretty light (surprisingly). Where was the Save Americorps rally we heard so much about? 101,000 signatures online, but nowhere to be found on the ground. An organizing misstep? Am I missing something? – Max Novendstern