IN BASKETBALL, THEY CALL WHAT CANTOR JUST DID A "FLOP"

In basketball parlance, the Republicans needed to draw a foul. They needed to alter the current political momentum because they think Barack Obama is on a hot streak.

They wanted to change the perception that he's the reasonable guy who's acting in good faith and they're just petulant spoiled brats demanding 100% of what they want. So Eric Cantor just went out there and faked being fouled:

President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of a stormy debt-limit meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday, a dramatic setback to the already shaky negotiations, according to GOP sources.

"He shoved back and said 'I'll see you tomorrow' and walked out," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters in the Capitol after the meeting.

... Democratic sources dispute Cantor's version of Obama's walk out, but all sides agree that the two had a blow up. The sources described Obama as "impassioned" but said he didn't exactly storm out of the room.

"Cantor's account of tonight's meeting is completely overblown. For someone who knows how to walk out of a meeting, you’d think he'd know it when he saw it," a Democratic aide said. "Cantor rudely interrupted the president three times to advocate for short-term debt ceiling increases while the president was wrapping the meeting...."

...Cantor, for his part, delivered the blow-by-blue of his interaction with Obama to a gaggle of Capitol Hill reporters in the Speaker's Lobby, where lawmakers typically mingle with reporters during votes. It wasn't through aides -- it was Cantor taking on the president, directly....

First of all, this is Barack Obama we're talking about. Does he get testy sometimes? Sure. Does he blow up at people and storm out of rooms? As a guy who actually does that sort of thing myself, I gotta say, I don't think so.

Second, Cantor clearly couldn't wait to rush out to the assembled reporters and tell his tale. Look what he did to me! Look what he did to me!

As I said, in basketball it's called a flop:

In basketball, flop is a pejorative term that refers to a defensive player intentionally falling backward to the floor upon physical contact with an offensive player. The hope is that it will appear to the official that the defensive player was knocked off of his feet by the offensive player's contact, thus prompting the official to call a charging foul against the offensive player....

Because it is inherently designed to deceive the official, flopping is generally considered to be unsportsmanlike. Nonetheless, it is widely practiced and even perfected by many great professional players....

Example:



Chris Bosh is you, Eric.