Who is John Boehner, and would you like to be in his shoes?
Some conservatives are predictably lashing out in frustration at John Boehner, whom they already neither liked nor trusted.
Sellout. RINO. Wuss. You know the drill.
But I don’t see it quite that way.
Before there’s any misunderstanding (although as Popper said, misunderstanding’s gonna happen no matter how you try to head it off), let me say I’m not a Boehner fan. He’s uninspiring, seems naive, and exhibits nothing especially superior in either the brains or the rhetoric or the spine department.
But I don’t think he’s dumb, nor do I think he’s all that naive. It’s been my observation over time that people don’t get to be head of a party (either party) in Congress without having some smarts in at least the strategy and tactics department. Or without being somewhat good at playing political poker.
Now, Boehner may be one of the worst of recent political party leaders at that. Or he may be one of the better ones, given the not-so-great hand he’s been dealt. I don’t know; I can’t really tell because I sense that most of what goes on in Congress right now (or ever) is hidden from view. But I’m willing to at least entertain the idea that Boehner may (as this American Thinker piece by Fisher Adams claims) be playing a smarter game than is immediately apparent.
As commenter “T” (who linked to Adams’ article) wrote:
I am reminded of Henry Kissinger’s comment about foreign affairs: he said that there are always two chess games being played, the one on the table that everyone watches and a second game under the table that no one sees. Could that be the case here?
Could be. Fervently hope so, anyway. Because the alternative is pretty grim.
Boehner has a rather interesting history that at least indicates the possibility of a considerable amount more toughness than is apparent on the surface, as well as more devotion to conservative principles than many people credit him with. For example, he had a hardscrabble childhood and young manhood and managed to work his way up from it:
[Boehner] grew up in modest circumstances, having shared one bathroom with his eleven siblings in a two-bedroom house in Cincinnati. His parents slept on a pull-out couch. He started working at his family’s bar at age 8, a business founded by their grandfather Andy Boehner in 1938…All but two of his siblings still live within a few miles of each other; two are unemployed and most of the others have blue-collar jobs.
Boehner attended Cincinnati’s Moeller High School and was a linebacker on the school’s football team, where he was coached by future Notre Dame coach Gerry Faust…[Boehner was] the first person in his family to attend college, taking seven years as he held several jobs to pay for his education.[
If Boehner’s a RINO now, he certainly wasn’t at the outset. Or, if he was a RINO even back then, he certainly managed to keep it pretty quiet:
Boehner, along with Newt Gingrich and several other Republican lawmakers, was one of the engineers of the Contract with America in 1994 that politically helped Republicans during the 1994 congressional elections during which they won the majority in Congress for the first time in four decades.
By 1997, when Gingrich was perceived by the others as a political liability, Boehner was also one of a group of Republicans that tried to get Gingrich to resign as Speaker. But when Boehner ran for Majority Leader in 2006, he “campaigned as a reform candidate who wanted to reform the so-called ‘earmark’ process and rein in government spending.” Of course, because Republicans lost in the House in 2006, he was demoted to Minority Leader and it wasn’t until 2010 that he got to be Speaker.
For the most part, Boehner’s political positions have been conservative. So if he’s actually a RINO, he’s a very odd one indeed. What he is, however, is a guy who’s been in Congress and in some position of party power for a long, long time, which would officially make him an “establishment Republican.”
As for naivete, there’s very good evidence that Boehner knows at least some of what he’s up against in Obama and Pelosi, et al. He may not know exactly what to do about it, given that the Senate is in Democratic hands. But he knows the intent of today’s Democratic leaders:
House Speaker John Boehner told a group of Republicans the day after President Barack Obama’s [2012] inaugural ceremony that the president’s focus was to “annihilate the Republican Party.”
In remarks to Republicans attending a closed luncheon sponsored by the Ripon Society, Boehner pointed to the president’s speech as evidence Obama recognizes he can’t achieve his agenda because of the GOP-led House of Representatives.
“Given what we heard yesterday about the president’s vision for his second term, it’s pretty clear to me that he knows he can’t do any of that as long as the House is controlled by Republicans. So we’re expecting over the next 22 months to be the focus of this administration as they attempt to annihilate the Republican Party,” the House speaker said.
Boehner underlined his point, adding, “And let me just tell you, I do believe that is their goal ”“ to just shove us into the dustbin of history.”
My only disagreement with what he says would be that it’s not merely “the Republican Party” they want to “annihilate.” It’s the whole idea of small government and conservatism which they wish to discredit and demonize. They are well on their way to doing so, with the help of a compliant MSM, and unfortunately events such as the shutdown and the debt ceiling negotiations have the paradoxical effect of helping them in that endeavor with a large segment of the American public.
Republicans face a dilemma. The Congressional elections of 2014 are of the utmost importance. They have a chance to take the Senate (although even if they manage to do so—and to keep the House, which they must also do—Obama will retain veto power). But the conservative wing of the Republican Party is clamoring (and understandably so) for more action now, and threatening to defect if more isn’t done to stop the Democrats in their tracks. Boehner is in the position of having to weigh approaches that could backfire, knowing he will be reviled if he fails, and knowing it is very late in the day and the stakes are incredibly high.
But that’s the role he asked for.
Right wing Republicans are a lot like the Scots and the Irish. They love the glory of a losing cause. Given a Democrat Senate and a street fighter liberal president, the options for Republicans are extremely limited. Falling on one’s sword is honorable, but does little good.
I definitely would NOT want to be in his shoes. He’s in an incredibly difficult position. That said, if the Republican Party is just going to be a rump of the Democratic party, and the left is just going to do what it’s gonna do anyway, might as well get there sooner than later. As I’ve heard it many times, not much difference in driving over a cliff at 75 or 100 MPH. So, they either need to stand and fight, or capitulate, and either likely means the death of the Republican Party. If I’m him, I’d rather go down fighting my ass off. I’m reminded of the scene in Band of Brothers where they are moving in to Bastogne, and Dick White says, “We’re paratroopers, we’re supposed to be surrounded.” That’s the kind of mentality it’s going to take to win this battle. They’re also going to need to take some advice from DrewM at Ace’s spot, and do a better job of messaging.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rYWMs-1SLc
Sometimes I think I almost want to like Boehner. But then I remember I’m a clamorer and I don’t have to. Clamor is what I do! Aint a whole lot of room left over after a good clamor.
Clamor.
You think clamoring might be related to clams, Boston, the Irish.
Mr. Frank, you might have a point. I’m not sure. Biden and Obama are Irish, after all “Theirs not to reason why,Theirs but to do and die.”
At least we can die with glory. Give me liberty or give me death.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
http://poetry.eserver.org/light-brigade.html
No disagreement here with neo’s take on Boehner, he’s a bit of a cypher as far as his beliefs go. As far as his actions go, he’s no fighter, nor a leader but a consensus builder. That’s fine for a congressman but not for a party desperate for leadership.
I don’t agree that Republicans standing and fighting is likely to mean the death of the Republican Party. in fact, I think really fighting is the ONLY thing that can save the Republican party. I for one will no longer support a party that caves on principles and many millions of conservatives share that POV.
Clearly, Obama wants a shutdown, well what exactly is wrong with giving it to him? The Feds receive about 250B revenue per month. Debt payments come to 20B, refusing to raise the debt ceiling is taking away the credit card and forcing the feds to live within our means.
Force Obama and Congress to prioritize, make the public face the fact that there is only so much money and that nations must live within a budget, just as individuals and families must. Then let that public hold them accountable for the choices their elected officials make and let them reap the consequences of the choices they make.
The only reason NOT to do this is to avoid responsibility and avoid a showdown in which the country must face that it can’t have its cake and eat it to. Placing our children’s children in ever increasing debt is an immoral evil and indefensible.
IMO, Ace @ Ace of Spades has it right;
my emphasis
Geoffrey Britain:
I had already linked to that post you mention from Ace’s in my post above this one. But it’s not by Ace, it’s by one of the other bloggers who regularly post there, DrewM.
Geoffrey Britain,
I agree that standing and fighting is the only real alternative which will allow (not guarantee) the survival of the Republican party.
As for the shutdown keep it up and keep it on. The Dems are so certain that blame is redounding to Repubs that they’re doing everything to put the pressure on the Repubs to concede. IMO what they don’t realize is that the longer the shutdown drags on, the more the American public realizes that their life is not impaired in the least and that they can get along quite well without the govt.
Now those on EBT and welfare and govt employees will begin to hurt if not so already, but they’ll never vote Republican anyway, so no loss there. Just like the sequester: “Sequester? There was a sequester?” The longer the shutdown continues the stronger the case for reducing the size of govt becomes. Me? I hope it lasts 6 months or more. When your adversary is committing suicide, don’t interfere.
of majesty
power yourself
of horizens
your will will Be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1MBDFxyQhE
“Now, Boehner may be one of the worst of recent political party leaders at that. Or he may be one of the better ones, given the not-so-great hand he’s been dealt. I don’t know; I can’t really tell because I sense that most of what goes on in Congress right now (or ever) is hidden from view.”
If you know the ideas that motivate a man, you can predict his behavior. The more you know, the better you are a predictor. An allied psychologist submitted a analysis to the combined chiefs about Hitler that was spot on.
Why is the character of a 63 y/o long-service congressman who wants to get along with everyone (barkeep/wheeler-dealer), a Charles Halleck/Jerry Ford type unwilling to challenge the Democratic status quo, a man with no sign whatsoever of Grant, Sherman, or Sheridan gumption in a time of travail, a mystery?
because G-d has breathed into him
Why one earth the democrats would want to destroy the republican party escapes me. The republicans have been far more effective at tying the hands of conservatives than the democrats could. While the democrats might be able to destroy the GOP, they can’t eliminate conservative voters (republican and democrat) and certainly can’t predict how new coalitions or even parties will sort out when the GOP dies.
Adelbert Ames,
What if Boehner appears to be a 63 y/o long-service congressman . . . ? You are making assumptions based upon what you see and the entire subject of this thread is that there may be something you do not see. People like George Patton had similar complaints about Eisenhower in WW II. Eisenhower was tasked with holding together a coalition with egos the likes of Patton an Bernard Law Montgomery. No easy task that, yet he won the war.
Like Boehner, Reagan withstood a tremendous amount of criticism and sarcasm for the SDI (Star Wars defense). They trashed the entire approach as stupid and unworkable all the while missing the point that the SDI initiative had nothing to do with launching defensive hardware into space, it had to do with making the USSR spend so much money to compete (which he knew they would) that their entire governing structure just imploded.
Is Boehner working at that level of sophistication? We’re just asking the question here.
“The republicans have been far more effective at tying the hands of conservatives.”
Randy just maybe, could be, on to something!
“Why one earth the democrats would want to destroy the republican party escapes me. The republicans have been far more effective at tying the hands of conservatives . . . .”
because they really are that megalomaniacal and stupid. They just hide it better than the Repubs under the unwarranted veneer of their own superiority.
Obama declares the tea party is dead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAkUJk0tB1M
The Tea Party dead?
Yeah, so was Al Quaeda.
Does anybody like music today? What happened? How did it get co-opted by Jay-Z and Beyonce? Ich. Fuck them. They are pathetic not knowing whether or not they suppor Obama. Now that’s some cultural contradiction!
Time for some Jethro.
“When Jethro Tull began, I think I’d been playing the flute for about two weeks. It was a quick learning curve…literally every night I walked onstage was a flute lesson.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWubhw8SoBE
How does this tie into Boehner?
Clamor.
Thanks, Neo, for the sensible, clear post on Mr. Boehner. I pray that your assessment is spot-on. ‘Fraid my attention level with the speaker is heavily influenced by his physical presentation. Too much tanning booth. Way too much weepage. I’m glad he smokes, though. But, the tanning and weeping give me a rash and—Sorry—I have to avert my eyes. He’s no dummy and I freely admit that I keep waiting for a ruthless Gut Fighter to revealed behind the curtain. Your post gives me reality based Hope.
In my ideal USA the house would pass a 2014 balanced budget based upon a reliable estimate of tax revenues in the fiscal year ahead, send it to the senate, and immediately adjourn with the speaker announcing that the house will remain adjourned until the senate passes its budget, and the president signs it into law.
It is painfully obvious that it is impossible to negogiate with the narcissist in chief so stop trying to negogiate and start ignoring the MSM which is the real enemy. Under the Constitution the house holds the purse strings. Its time for the house to tighten those strings and do its duty under the rule of law. IMO trying to defund or delay parts of Obamacare was stupid. Instead the house should have insisted there be no exceptions or delays to implementing the entire law 1/1/14.
A slight change in lyrics sharpie….
In the shuffling madness
Of the debt ceiling breath
Runs the all-time narcissist
Headlong to his historical cluelessness.
He feels the polls slidings
Nicotine sweat breaking on his brow
The tea party stole the handle and
The debt won’t stop growing
And there is no way to back down.
He sees his worshippers jumping off
At the polls thousands by thousands.
His woman and Hillary
In bed and having fun.
Barack wishes he was never born
Because his mother should have been a nun.
That’s great!
I haven’t had enough pain. What is life without pain?
That little pussy we have as a President? What pain has he suffered? None. Doesn’t it make you sick when he paints himself as a victim? How much pain have you suffered? Do you think Obama has suffered as much pain as you have?
How can that candy ass pleasure loving I have to go golfing been given everything Obama represent you, Mr. Liberal? How?
Damn, got carried away with my hatred.
Topic: John Beohner.
Hey, what’s with that name?
“What pain has he suffered? None.”
What I have always seen in BHO as he first came across my radar is a little boy abandoned by father, pawned off to grandparents by mother, and his formative teenage years spent on the outside looking in. I think BHO devolved into a pathological narcissist as defense mechanism. Inside he is fearful and weak while he simultaneously lusts for dominion over all who dare question his imagined magnificence. But what do I know? I’m a farm boy, not a psychiatrist.
Force me to take up the banner, damn it, I will.
What is it about Winston Churchill’s address that draws me. Why does his address strike me that he is reading the latest stock report? And yet, not. And in that word “never” when he says “we will never surrender” I hear a crack, the same crack in the Liberty Bell, the crack of a rifle shot heard around the world . . . do you hear it. Please tell me that you do. Does it stir you? Does it make you cry? When will you get off your toes, your slippers, your man made flippers? How much is enough? And aren’t you ready to direct your hatred against Obama and Reid and Pelosi and the FBI, CIA, NSA, and all of it? All of it is for us? Against us? For us? Who cares? It’s time now to have that comfortable feeling of rampage.
Just kidding.
Absolutely you are right, Parker.
I forgot about that. I was thinking only physical pain.
Y^s, Barock smant too feel the making me type this Barack 9is grate!
Go home, ohh go away
Ku lil lil dorrie
da is do re
Iss te mein
flor upon
ein shay
because your shine
is to
is mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u0XXpVGUwk
The world has changed and career politicians like Boehner have not. This isn’t the good old ’90s any more. If he dished the same contempt and distain that he holds for the Tea Party to the Dems instead he might actually be remembered as the man who helped correct the course of the nation.
If Boehner cannot fathom that it was the more conservative, small-government voters who gave him the Speaker’s gavel, then he deserves to lose everything in 2014. If he wakes up and realizes people like Cruz, Lee, Paul, Amash and others are the key to the party’s future, he’ll see an engaged and energized electorate next year.
I don’t feel any compassion for NBC News poll-watchers like John Boehner, whatever his background might be. You dance with the one that brung ya.
“I don’t feel any compassion for NBC News poll-watchers like John Boehner, whatever his background might be. You dance with the one that brung ya.”
😉 The dance inside the beltway is a very private affair funded by people we peasants will never meet on Main Street. There is no detour around the twilight zone. No opportunity to pass Go and collect $200,000,000,000 dollars unless you are a member of the exempted class.
Next they access your voting history to determine if you live or die. They will, one day, come to take you away. http://tinyurl.com/koclkle All you can do is prepare to resist and survive.
IMO, Boehner is an opportunist. That explains his contradictory positions over the years…he hitched his wagon to whatever star was ascendant.
He’s not a leader and cannot speak to his convictions because he has few.
Because he has few convictions, he has no vision. Because he has no vision, he can’t see the value in fighting if there’s not a guaranteed victory. But refusing to fight without a guaranteed outcome isn’t fighting at all; it’s hedging one’s bets. That’s not going to motivate the troops.
If the Dems and complicit MSM manage to deceive Boehner into believing their skewed polls, you’ll see him abandon his post as gracefully as possible.
Oh, and I heard that recent poll everyone was talking about (NBC?) not only included 20% government workers (a ridiculous oversampling compared to the general population), but also started at D + 9.
As Cruz said at the Values Voters summit, the greatest trick the Democrats ever pulled was to make Republicans think they couldn’t win.
They’re a pack of liars, so I have a hard time believing anything that comes out of their mouths.
Neo – The real question you should ask is does Bohner want to be where he is? I would answer an emphatic YES.
There is no place Boner would rather be.. he’s been running for the job since his days with Gingrich. As you point out, was eager to get rid of Gingrich, once Gingrich’s strategy had secured a majority in the House.
Boner is not that big a mystery – when he urged Gingrich to resign, he was putting his party first, and was probably saving his own skin at tht time. It was a popular thing to do back then — to turn on Gingrich.
I would argue Boner’s instincts are survival first and principles second. There’s not a bone in Boner’s body that would compel him to retire or give up his office or speakership out of principle, or because he got tired of it. He’d rather cut off his arm than leave the House – he tells us this everytime he’s relates his personal journey — he can’t hold back the tears. He loves this job.
Like all good politicians, he has a strong survival instinct. If he’s playing any game, it’s to remain speaker of the House as long as the Republicans hold it. He’s caught between conservatives who want to throw him out, and doing what he really wants to do – not make waves. I’m sure he believes that being moderate and cooperative are winning tactics to hold onto power, but his own history in the House argues that acquiring that power required conservative candidates to gain the majority.
One simple question to ask yourself whether or not Boner would take the initiative to fight for spending cuts of any kind on his own, or does it require pressure from conservative members. Would he lead the charge in the House? It’s an easy answer, and it’s emphatic “NO”.
Another reason to question Boner’s conservative soul is to ask yourself why he’s refused to have hearings to name a special prosecuter from investigating the IRS scandal? He’s happy to let Issa hold hearings to keep the conservative loonies somewhat quiet, but he’s not that eager to get the Tea party funding up and running either. Ditto for most of the other scandals, but for different reasons — special counsels could mean negative media attention and outcomes. Immigration reform is something else he supported until the conservatives threatened him.
I’m sure he’s a nice guy and means well; I just think he’s focused on John Boner and not on any specific idealogy – he might have a conservative view of things, but if it means voting to fund Obamacare, he’ll do that; if it means defunding Obamacare, he’ll do that too. Whatever it takes to live another day.
Reagan promised to abolish the Department of Education. It’s still here despite Republican presidencies and controls of both houses of Congress.
If the Republicans don’t thrice live up to their rhetoric, why vote for them?
Perhaps total and complete surrender to Obamunism is the correct strategy. It’s the one the party has pursued for 100 years. Worked so far. Or not, depending what one thinks the goals are.
Some people joke about the French being cheese-eating surrender monkeys. They’re not. The Republican party is. Republican voters are dupes, voting again and again for empty rhetoric.
T said
“The Dems are so certain that blame is redounding to Repubs that they’re doing everything to put the pressure on the Repubs to concede.”
Nope.
What Dems say and what they do are, as we well know, entirely different.
The Dems need the Repubs to cave; they’ll say and do anything to get ’em to cave. Make things up ? Fine. Whatever works.
Southpaw – I think you are spot on. What a useless thing, power for its own sake. That’s why they never “die on that hill”, because they have no hill they’re willing to die for.
Mr. Frank:
“Right wing Republicans are a lot like the Scots and the Irish. They love the glory of a losing cause.”
Hmm, maybe, but I think they would prefer the glory of victory. It’s just that the glory of the lost cause is preferable to surrender.
“Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace”
I condemn when little pig tailed hippie droop ass liberals demand compromise and then that compromise is for them Republican hypocrisy.
Ohhh, it’s not Obama who raised the debt.
So, you’ve earned it. No more compromise. Can’t trust you. Don’t believe you. Must defeat you.
Shite, I feel the power upon me.
Randy, Lennon was a complex character. I can understand the sentiment of his “Imagine.”
But two sources supply me with greater wisdom: Scripture and History. When has “no countries” provided better than the country of the Good Ole U.S. of A?
And Scripture informs that G-d has made the nations. If you don’t like the theo, then consider the authority of the Scriptures as learned wisdom of millenia.
southpaw:
I don’t disagree with you. I thought it was evident from my post that Boehner is ambitious for himself in politics, and that much of his brainpower and strategic thinking was geared toward gaining the power he has now.
I was merely pointing out that he does have political principles, and they are of the conservative type, not that he is a person who puts them above his own political ambitions. In fact, very very few politicians would do that, which is what makes them politicians.
I was attempting to counter the idea that he lacks principles at all, or that politically he is more to the left than he actually is, or that he is a stupid man. That was the point of the post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2mU6USTBRE
Boehner aint phat. That comes from us, the phat boyz in the hood.
Sharpie,
I absolutely loath the Lennon lyrics. I posted them in the context of my previous comments. I cannot “imagine” life without something to “kill or die for”. Life is hollow, as Solomon discovered, if it is nothing more than respiration, mastication, digestation, recreation, and fornication.
I guess my intent was too oblique.
So nice to be repudiated.
I should have known.
Gwarsh.
Randy: Yes, a serious misreading on my part.
It’s has always intrigued me that Scripture was written in Hebrew and not Greek. The former, being a language of context, the latter being a language of definition, I find it compelling that G-d’s commandments should be enshrined with a narrative.
The liberals have taken note.
I also think people would be happier or saner if they had something to kill or die for.
Sharpie,
Old Testament: Hebrew
New Testament: Greek
Both translated by into Latin (Vulgate) by St Jerome (4th to early 5th century AD)
Neo – he obvious often escapes me, not to mention the harder stuff.
He may have principles, but they’re expendable, which sort of means he doesn’t.
But honestly I thought you were defending his intentions as being in the right place, and I detected some sympathy, which I think is one thing he’s playing, with all the trudging back and forth to the White House with offers. I get the feeling one of his tacts is looking somebody to notice how hard he’s working but cares, he being stuck between all of those idiot conservatives who want to live up to their campaign promises, and an intractable president who wants to humiliate him. There’s a lot of “poor John” articles circulating these days.
Thоѕе REPUBLI-KLANS nееd tо gеt thеir аÑt tоgеthеr оr thеу will nеvеr win аnоthеr Election in thiÑ• country.