House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has not been shy about his dislike for the Occupy Wall Street movement. As it turns out, the feeling is mutual.
On Sunday, NewsCenter posted a C-SPAN video to its YouTube channel that shows Occupy movement sympathizers talking back to Cantor in a big way. When Cantor came to speak at Rice University in Houston, Texas, a large portion of his audience stood up for a “mic check.”
The audience, which the video says included many Rice University graduate students who support Occupy Houston, began shouting as soon as Cantor uttered his greeting of “Good morning.” After the initial mic check, students started a planned call-and-response routine, expressing their disagreement with Cantor’s policies.
“We find it an outrage to welcome Eric Cantor, who regularly votes against the interests of the people,” the crowd began.
As the demonstration continued, a school official put himself in front of Cantor and took the microphone.
“Free speech does not include the right to interfere with the expressions and ideas with which you disagree. You will be escorted away from this forum for not respecting the fundamental principal of free speech within the university,” the unidentified official said.
Subsequently, the video shows students, still shouting, being escorted away from the forum.
So far, the top-rated comments on the YouTube video are in support of Occupy Houston and filled with disdain for Cantor.
“eric cantor hid behind that little old shrunken man. way to ‘MAN UP’ eric,” commented becky50.
“where was this guy when Cantor’s Tea Party supporters were disrupting ObamaCare Town Hall meetings?” wrote airdriver of the school official protecting Cantor.
But by far, the comment most highly rated by viewers is a critique of Cantor’s role within the political climate at large. Tradeofjane wrote: “The top 1 percent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money has not bought them: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live.”
If that’s how this video’s nearly 9,000 viewers predominantly feel, Cantor may want to delay his next speaking event for later.