Family values.

they've been drinking it for a long time and the effects are showing. What a bunch of pathetic losers!

This vid has been around for years! I always thought it was funny - a well done PSA parody.

Cantor "sent" it around? I don't get it.

As an Italian American...with a VERY ethnic first name...my entire career in finance dealt with having to overcome stereotypes, mafia references, "dumb ginny" references.

This is the kind of completely out of touch bullshit that is constantly spewed by the right wing, elitists of this country.

It is the same insensitivity and callousness that allows them to float "Barack the Magic Negro", that allows Mark Levin, Hannity, and Limbaugh to make veiled racist comments...and then think by saying..."ohhh...but I'm not a racist"...that that makes it ok.

This asshat should be censured and openly ridiculed. Let's see Fox News spend THREE days lambbasting this asshat.

Finally a union that represents the hard working old lady pushers.

If the film was graded by how many curse words they could get in it, I guess it would get five stars.

Personally, I think it's a POS

You guys are right, he does remind me of little ricky.

I'm a union pipefitter and found that funny as shit.

That's the beauty of being a union member... you don't have to put up with shit.

of real men.

just had a segment about this video. Said it's been around for a couple of years but that Cantor's office sent it out as a joke. Now Cantor is apologizing.

Abi said that labor groups are none too happy with Cantor right now.

living around the tristate area over the years i've met people who talk like that in jersey.
um, it's a funny video.

Hey John!
If you can't take a joke, F@#K You.
Why do liberals hate jokes?

This is only tangentially related but considering how bad repubs are at speaking extemporaneously the Dems really should force them to filibuster at least once! You know one of these chowderheads would at some point say something career-ending on the floor.

... but have I told you today how much I hate these people?

The GOP needs to be destroyed.

Republicans only believe in two things:

Cut taxes

Fuck you

This video is an example of #2

Make no mistake, Republicans like this guy are shitheads. No disagreement from me there.

BUT...

Let's all reach down and locate our testicles, ok? First of all, that video was funny. I know it's anti-union, and racist, blah, blah, blah, but it's still funny. And it doesn't make you a bad person to find humor in life!

Secondly, what the fuck has happened in this country that even LIBERALS are terrified of language? Everywhere you look now - including this website, and other progressive sites like the Huff Po - anything that has so-called "bad" language in it carries a disclaimer. 'Warning, Offensive Language', 'Viewer Discretion', 'Foul Language'. Foul language? Has this suddenly become a sport or something? Give me a fuckin' break, will you please? Foul language my white ass.

Why do we allow ourselves to be censored? What is liberal or progressive about that? I'll tell you what's liberal about that, absolutely nothing!

And don't hide behind your kids because you're afraid they'll hear the word FUCK on TV. I guarantee you they've heard it before at home. And if not at home they fuckin' learned it at school like the rest of us. Grow up and be realistic about this. And besides, have you heard the way kids talk nowadays? Most of them sound like they've spent 15 years in the Navy. Kids will be ok, stop worrying about them.

And those of you who still want to censor everything I have a suggestion: TURN EVERYTHING OFF. Don't watch TV, don't go to the movies, and get the fuck off of the Internet. If you don't like real language then avoid it, cause this is how people really talk. It's real. No one stubs their toe in a dark room and screams "Gosh dang it!" No! Of course not. Even your pastor says, "SHIT that fuckin' hurt!" when he snaps his little pinky toe in two. Trust me.

The extent to which they just don't get it continues to boggle my mind.

on the 5:00 show; he played the tape with all the bleeps. So far there is not much outrage and soon some rightwing nutjob will be whinning about how unfair this is.

He is messing with the wrong people.

is that this video isn't even anti-union. Massive fail on Cantor's part!

I loved it. Those AFSCME people are people I know. Don't mess with AFSCME. My husband was UMWA and so was my dad!!!

And this is the party that wants to reach out to us. Riiiiiiiiiight...

That Cantor has made a video painting AFSCME as being like the Mafia...

... or that Cantor derides AFSCME (as the Mafia) for protecting bin men, road construction, health care workers and little old ladies from Florida, rather than what the Mafia usually protects: prostitution, drugs, money laundering and corruption.

So... if we get rid of AFSCME, is Cantor planning to replace it with protecting those old-fashioned right-wing values they have cherished so much over the past decade, such as prostitution, drugs, money laundering and corruption?

Thanks, I'll take AFSCME, even AS the Mafia. Stupid video. As well as counterproductive.

. . . that "tragedy plus time equals comedy" (it's apparently from the movie "Crimes and Misdemeanors": http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Crimes_and_Misde...). Since we're in the midst of tragedy, even I cannot find the comedy in this.

If this were sent out 6 months ago or were to be sent out a couple of years from now when we've overcome this mess, this may have been funny.

Can't wait to see how the comedy professionals (Letterman, Stewart, etc.) handle this one!

Hi:

The ad does not insult Italian Americans or union members. How so?

Note that the rich businessman jerk is driving around looking at all the helpful union members. Union members help, fat cats don't. Get it?

Would you rather deal with a helpful person doing necessary hard work, for example helping the old and infirm, who talks with a working-class accent, or a nicely coifed, lazy fat cat who speaks with the lofty tones of the ruling class? Who's the better person? Do actions speak louder than well-pronounced words?

That's how I interpret this ad.

Thanks,

egr

I have had that clip on my blog for a long time now and I think individually, like sharkcellar said, I think it's hilarious! I guess within the context here, it's not as funny. I think taken individually the clip is just a extremely exaggerated wiseguyish parody of commercials of this type. Like you John, I love mafia movies. I don't know if someone watching the clip would necessarily infer the guy is an Italian guy or just some guy from NYC/NJ.

Tweety was on top of this. The guy Tweety was talking to about it said that Cantor is going to have a hard time come re-election. Same with Shuster.

There is no video for me to watch unfortunately. Anyone have the link?
*

As an Italian American and a Unionist...I find this video absolutely hilarious! Am I the only one? Yeah the guys an asshole...but come on...don't pretend you didn't laugh!

This should nicely end Cantor's political career in one fell swoop.
Thanks for playing though, "Rookie".

I sure would like the chance to wipe the constant smirk off of Cantor's face. Just saying. Maybe the mob will do it for me. Who knows. I would never condone violence though.

Cantor may find a horse in his bed tonight after this. This discriminating, vulgar video has grown legs now and has gone viral. Cantor's day in the sun is over as a politico. If he can't control his own staff, he surely can't be trusted with the future of the american people.

Absolutely hilarious. Anyone who goes running to their mother's skirts over this is a goddamn pussy.

Can you even imagine what would happen if a Democrat sent out a video mocking the Republican base as a bunch of idiot rednecks who can't speak three words without uttering a profanity?

It'd be everywhere.

because if you have ever dealt with New York labor unions of any kind, this is how they talk and act. (I deal with mostly entertainment unions & guilds). So I don't think it's necessarily trying to parody Italian Americans as much as it's satirizing hard core union labor representatives and their members and how they feel about their local union. And the video nails it.

Now why Rep. Cantor sent it out, that's another question. He's always been a few cubes short in the ice tray.

Dear House Member Cantor:

I'd like to tell you a story about two hard working unionized Italian-Americans I know. They are my parents.

My parents grew up in the same coastal town in Sicily after World War 2. The economic crisis at that time was so bad that, shortly after they were married when my mother was 19 and my father was in his early twenties, they moved to northern Italy so my father could find more work. My father was working in construction and my mother worked whatever jobs she could find. Shortly thereafter, my brother was born.

After a few years of my father working construction jobs, the economic situation grew worse. My father and mother, still in their early twenties and now with one young son, packed their suitcases and took a ship from Italy and immigrated to New York City. A year later I was born.

My father found work in New York City, once again, in the construction industry. My mother was working in some of the worst sweat-shops in downtown Brooklyn. Still, between them, my parents were able to save enough money that they bought their first home. My father eventually found work as a cabinet maker, and my mother continued to work as a seamstress. Even though our family lived in the United States, we did not avoid difficult economic times. My father's work was seasonal and he would frequently be out of work between Winter and Spring. My mother would sometimes have to bake bread for the family in an effort to reduce our expenses. Through all this, our family continued to survive and do the best we could.

Eventually my father found a job as a buildings and grounds mechanic for American Airlines. My mother eventually found a job working as a fitter and tailor for one of the most prestigious clothiers on Madison Avenue. They continued to save their money and bought a six-family house as an investment property. When my father was not working at his job, he would work to make improvements to the property, building up the six-family home's equity and making the building a shining example of absentee ownership on the block. My mother continued save wherever she could.

My father is now retired. My mother continues to work on Madison Avenue but plans to retire in a couple of years, hopefully after an upturn in our economy.

Mr. Cantor, these two Italian-Americans worked their entire lives to make their American Dream the American Success Story. Not only have they seen more economic hardship than you or I will ever know, they worked difficult, thankless jobs their entire lives. Jobs that you and I would never be able to do as they were hard back-breaking forms of labor. Moreover, they were unionized jobs Mr. Cantor, and they were damn proud of them.

These two Italian Americans, who you so degraded in that anti-union video which was released by your office, were able to work hard, become the cliche of an American success story through unionized labor, and raise two sons in this country; one that is a prestigious cancer surgeon in San Francisco, California, and another who passed the New York State Bar Exam on the first try and works as an attorney on Long Island.

In the end, Mr. Cantor, on behalf of my mother, my father, my brother and myself, and the rest of the hard working members of my family, I reject your characterization of us in that appalling video. I find your apology to be disingenuous and insincere. I would not believe that members of your office would make such a video without even your tacit approval, or after having done so would face no discipline from you if you were truly as appalled as you would have us believe.

Very truly,

Michael J. Ciaravino, Esq.

The Republicans have become nothing but one big freak show . How Hitler would have loved this party !

Cantor reminds me of someone who was a nerd as a child, disliked and taunted by his peers and made fun of by the girls. Now, as an adult he has feelings of inadequacy and is out to prove otherwise. Unfortunately, the inadequacy is real. Sort of like a Ben Stein, but more pathetic.

haha, censure him? for this? linking to an old youtube vid? jesus, dude, who cares.

confronting the faux outrage of conservatives over every stupid little thing every liberal has ever done doesn't mean you have to do the same to conservatives.