Ezra Klein reported on "The Last Word" that Eric Cantor is laboring (possibly) as a saboteur of John Boehner's budget negotiating position with Democrats. If Klein's reporting is correct, then Cantor is the actual nitwit he works so diligently at merely sounding like.
For Cantor to essentially convert from majority leader to factional rebel in the service of a tea-party-endorsed government shutdown would be tantamount to a self-declaration of an open Democratic season on House and even Senate Republicans. The House GOP majority would be as good as gone, and Cantor's dreams of a Speakership would go with it.
Politico, on the other hand, characterizes the content of Klein's reporting as "the Democratic narrative," and instead frames Cantor's position in this way: He "risks undercutting efforts by the speaker’s office to bridge the House’s differences with President Barack Obama while also contending with tea party freshmen resistant to compromise." A critical verb, and my emphasis.
Either way, he's an odd little man, is he not?