"Cantor On The Summit: We’ll Be There!" (with video)

Greg Sargent, with video (04:40):

Cantor had written a letter with John Boehner yesterday to the White House, apparently laying down some preconditions for attending the White House’s health care summit. But on Fox, Cantor said Republicans would “absolutely” be showing up.

It’s on! Eric Cantor, on Fox News just now, made it official: Count Republicans in.

Cantor had written a letter with John Boehner yesterday to the White House, apparently laying down some preconditions for attending the White House’s health care summit. But on Fox, Cantor said Republicans would “absolutely” be showing up:

As Think Progress notes, the Boehner/Cantor letter had attracted some derision from conservatives, with at least one warning that it would be “politically dangerous” not to attend. But the GOP leadership’s letter did leave plenty of wiggle room, saying only that Republicans would be “reluctant to participate” if Dems didn’t scrap their health plan.

The fact is that it was never a realistic possibility that Republicans would pull out. As I noted below, some Republicans privately acknowledge that refusing to attend would only play into the White House’s hands. It would make the story all about GOP intransigence, rather than about Obama’s course correction.

At any rate, it’s definitely on.