Eric Cantor On Richard Blanco's Inaugural Poem: 'I Can't Even Tell You What Was Going Through My Mind'

My piece on Eric Cantor's people power conservatism is up on the site this morning. I toured a private school for low-income students in Petworth yesterday with the House Majority Leader, and we spoke by phone later in the day.

At the end of our interview, I asked Cantor about the picture of him that went viral on inauguration day. It was a screen shot of the Virginia Republican on NBC News during the reading of the inaugural poem. Cantor was shooting poet Richard Blanco a look that said, 'You have GOT to be kidding me.'

Here's a transcript of my question to Cantor and his answer:

What was going through your mind - everybody screen shotted that picture of you listening to the poem on inauguration day. What was going through your mind when you heard that poem?

Cantor: Oh, you know, I don't know. Listen, I was, I was--I can't even tell you what was going through my mind. I don't know what the screen shot was.

Cantor aide Rory Cooper: I actually don't think he has seen it.

Cantor: I have not seen it, so there you go. And I'm pretty active on my Twitter, so maybe I'm not following the right people.