Wealth & Money Quote by Eric Cantor

A politician almost never gives you contrition this blunt unless there’s a strategic payoff. Cantor’s confession isn’t therapy; it’s triage. The repeated “we” does double duty: it spreads culpability across the party while positioning the speaker as the rare grown-up willing to admit what everyone already suspects. “We fell in love with power” is moral language with a tactical edge, reframing electoral defeat as the consequence of hubris rather than ideology. That matters because it invites a reset without conceding policy ground.

The specifics are carefully chosen. “Earmarks” is a partisan shibboleth, a word that lets conservatives translate budgetary complexity into a simple story of indulgence and insider dealing. “Too much money” sounds like austerity, but it’s really an appeal to credibility: if you can narrate the sin, you can lead the repentance. “Corruption” is left conveniently undefined, broad enough to cover ethical scandals and the ambient stench of Washington without naming names or implicating donors. It’s accountability as atmosphere.

Context does the rest. Cantor, a top House Republican leader, is speaking from the chastened aftermath of losing the majority (and, more broadly, the post-2006/2008 era when GOP branding collided with Iraq fatigue, fiscal crisis, and anti-incumbent rage). The line “And that’s why we lost” tries to close the case. It offers voters a clean causal story: defeat wasn’t bad luck; it was deserved. The subtext is a pitch for a comeback: we’ve learned, we’re purified, give us the keys again.