The Politico’s Patrick O’Connor today dubbed House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) the “Democrats’ new villain,” comparing him to Rahm Emanuel and calling him a “telegenic young Republican trying to bring life to his party on Capitol Hill.”

(Note: no one has ever accused Cantor of being telegenic before. Not with that smug, stiff grin he wears.)

O’Connor even states, “Forget Rush Limbaugh.” Ha.

The story attributes the (negative) attention being given to Cantor not to his own self-promoting theatrics, knack for spewing revisionist garbage (click link to see how telegenic Cantor is), and being a shoe-in to win the unofficial race to be known as “America’s most baldfaced lying disgrace of a politician.”

Rather, the Politico writes, “House Republicans say Democrats are targeting Cantor precisely because he’s effective.”

False: Dems are attacking Cantor because almost no one, aside from bloggers and wingnuts, knows who he is.

We don’t need this fake balance. Politico does, however, precisely because the reason the outlet is pumping up Cantor’s profile is because tomorrow’s Coffeehouse Conversation is with a certain special guest:

Catch Rep. Eric Cantor in a Coffeehouse Conversation hosted by Starbucks and POLITICO at 6 p.m. Wednesday inside the Starbucks at 237 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C., S.E.