Eric Cantor To Jon Stewart: 'We Are Not Going To Repeat The Mistakes Of The Past'

Republican Whip Eric Cantor talked with Jon Stewart last night, in promotion of his new book, "Young Guns: A New Generation Of Conservative Leaders."

Cantor said that the Republican Party, ready to take control of the House of Representatives, "are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past."

This very idea is at the center of his new book: "We're coming to this with a sufficient dose of contrition," Cantor said. "I mean, look, we got fired."

Cantor talked about reevaluating the government's role in order to keep it more in tune with the needs of the American people.

"Right now, everybody wants a job. That's really what this election is about," he said. "Washington has seemingly ignored that priority for the last 20 months."

As the discussion moved to talk of small businesses and the policies that restrict them, Stewart asked: "What is the toxin for the small businesses?"

In response, Cantor said, "The toxin started with access to credit and capital, small businesses saw their lines of credit dry up."

Cantor continued, "But now you got Washington basically saying, 'We don't like this outcome, let's put a regulation in place to stop it. This person's got too much of an advantage, let's go in and change the playing field."

At one point, the Virginia Representative referred to his new book. Stewart responded that he'd read it, and "thank you for the font size."