Posted on 01/10/2015 4:56:10 AM PST by HomerBohn
After 25 conservative Republicans attempted to unseat him as speaker of the House this week, Rep. John Boehner (Ohio) declared himself the most anti-establishment speaker in history. He then promptly proceeded to punish colleagues who’ve failed to toe the party line.
“During my years here when I voted, I had the eighth-most conservative voting record in the Congress, and it does pain me to be described as spineless or a squish,” Boehner told reporters Thursday. “But what pains me the most is when they describe me as the establishment.
“I’m the most anti-establishment speaker we’ve ever had.
“Who was the guy who got rid of earmarks? Me. Who’s the guy who believes in regular order? Me,” Boehner continued. “Who believes in allowing more members to participate in the process from both sides of the aisle? Me.”
If Boehner sounds a little bitter, it’s because he was re-elected to his position with more defections from his own party than any lawmaker in the position’s modern history.
Within hours of the Tuesday speaker vote, Boehner had set the wheels of retaliation in motion, booting two leaders of the rebellion against his speakership, Florida Republicans Rep. Daniel Webster and Rep. Richard Nugent, from prestigious slots on the House Rules Committee.
Reps. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) criticized the move late Thursday.
“According to the Congressional Record, Congressmen Daniel Webster and Richard Nugent, Members who voted against John Boehner as Speaker of the House, have been kicked off the Rules Committee,” they said in a joint statement. “This retribution compromises the ability of Members of Congress to faithfully represent their constituents and subverts our representative democracy. The Speaker must immediately reinstate these Members. No Member should be punished for voting his or her conscience. We expect other Members of the House of Representatives to condemn this act of political retribution.”
The Hill predicts possible other victims of Boehner’s revenge:
It’s possible three Republicans — Reps. Scott Garrett (N.J.), Marlin Stutzman (Ind.) and Bill Posey (Fla.) — could lose their seats on the influential Financial Services Committee. And Garrett, who is serving his seventh term, heads the panel’s subcommittee on capital markets.
Boehner’s allies also could seek retribution against GOP Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.), who was appointed to the coveted House Appropriations panel late last year.
Other Boehner dissidents, including freshman Rep. Rod Blum (R-Iowa), will almost certainly lose any fundraising help from the Speaker and his friends. That could cost Blum tens of thousands of dollars in donations as he runs for reelection in his swing district.
In addition, Rep. Randy Weber of Texas said this week that he was blocked from sponsoring a bill this week for bucking Boehner.
“I’ve already lost the authorship of one bill. Look, it shouldn’t be that way. It was going to be a bill on regulation of clean nuclear energy,” he told Bloomberg.
Boehner is billing his retaliation tour as a “family conversation” that will be going on within the GOP in the weeks ahead. And some conservative Republicans warn the Boehner’s establishment retrenching won’t be pretty.
Massie said that those who voted against Boehner could be “deprived of fundraising opportunities, removed from their committees and they very well may end their political careers by voting against the speaker” before the dust settles.
The only exercise he gets is flicking his Bic and hoisting his Dewars.
Next time Johnny ,bye
Boehner is a drunk, neutered Leftist, pushing the Administrations Agenda.
Then this P.O.S. wonders why people don’t like him?
The dumb@ss wonders this after the country overwhelmingly voted AGAINST the Administration.
This is yet another Republicrat who could fu*k up a steel ball with a rubber mallet!
(At least my Congressman voted AGAINST Boner!)
Bonehead goes after conservatives but doesn’t have the courage to say jack Shiite to Obama. How sad is that for America?
And now Bonehead has been the target of a mentally disturbed Ohio country club employee who planned to poison Bonehead while shooting him in the head.
Go figure.
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