Free Republic

The news alert about Kevin McCarthy’s abandonment of his pursuit to become John Boehner’s successor hit my phone just as I was about to go for a run. Rather than read the whole story, I just smiled and hit the pavement. Within the first few steps I wondered how long it would take before the hyperbole-laden garment rending would begin in the left media about conservatives being the death of the Republican Party, congressional compromise, and the frolicsome joy we so love to see in puppies and kittens. It was a short run, but they were on it by the...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The political careers of several members of Congress — including a Republican seeking to become the next U.S. House speaker — could come to an abrupt halt under a sweeping overhaul of Florida's electoral map. Florida Circuit Judge Terry Lewis on Friday recommended new boundaries for the state's 27 congressional districts, some of which would make it nearly impossible for U.S. Rep. Dan Webster — one of the hard-line conservatives who pushed John Boehner to resign as speaker and then turned on Boehner's No. 2, Kevin McCarthy — to win re-election from his current central Florida...

Via Breitbart. We’re at a delicate moment right now within the commentariat where sounding any critical note about Ryan is proof that you’re a wingnut who wants the House to burn rather than govern. So here’s proof that my RINO credentials are still in good order: I’ve always liked Ryan personally (who doesn’t?) and I admire him for having tried — and seemingly failed, alas — to raise public alarm about the crisis in federal entitlements. It’s no small thing either that the guy’s managed to earn the goodwill of people on both sides of the centrist/tea party divide within...

Washington is a roaring dumpster fire—or, at least saying so on the stump whips up the type of thunderous applause that’s capable of putting a reality T.V. star within striking distance of the White House. Yes, I agree with most Americans that something’s definitely rotten in the state of Denmark, but sometimes our best saviors are not the ones yelling the loudest from the outside, but the ones quietly working the hardest on the inside. Enter Paul Ryan…or not, unfortunately. When Speaker John Boehner announced his impending resignation last month, the name “Paul Ryan” inevitably entered the race with neither...

The sudden implosion of the supposedly inevitable ascension of establishment Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to the office of Speaker of the House, now occupied by his mentor John Boehner, has shown the Capitol Hill Republican establishment to be a fragile edifice ready to collapse. Paul Ryan. Conservatives should not be suckered into propping it up any longer by abandoning their battle to elect principled conservatives to run the House of Representatives. But that is exactly what is going on in Washington right now as those establishment politicians who stand to lose out if new leadership is elected and...

Since House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., shocked his congressional colleagues early Thursday by withdrawing his name from consideration to replace John Boehner, R-Ohio, as Speaker of the House, Republicans have launched a relentless press aimed at convincing House Ways and Means Committee chair Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to put himself forward for the job. Fox News has learned that Boehner himself is imploring Ryan, Mitt Romney's running mate on the 2012 Republican presidential ticket, to put himself forward for the top job in the House, largely because Ryan is one of the few unifying figures in the House Republican Conference.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is making a promise to conservative Republican lawmakers—“I’m not John Boehner”—as he seeks their support to replace Boehner as speaker. […] “I think McCarthy’s pitch was ‘I’m not John Boehner, I’m going to run things differently, I’m my own man,’” said Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas. “And I think that’s a case that he does have to make. One of the things I hear all the time from my constituents back in Texas is we don’t want John Boehner 2.0.” …

Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) decision to resign from Congress at the end of October is “a victory for the crazies,” Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) said Friday. “I’m disappointed. This is a victory for the crazies,” King told Newsday. “You can’t appease these people.” King said Boehner was resigning “to avoid putting the party through tumult” amid challenges to his leadership and an impending government shutdown. The Long Island Republican also told Reuters that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is the leading contender to replace Boehner as Speaker. …

House Speaker Rep. John Boehner still won’t be able to win reelection without Democratic votes, Breitbart News has learned, and he has abandoned yet another plan to try to embarrass conservatives seeking his ouster, which he was going to move forward with on Friday. The day after Pope Francis addressed the Congress for the first time—in front of a teary-eyed Boehner—the Speaker had planned to move forward by bringing forth a resolution to vacate the chair, then holding a vote for his reelection intended to prove he had widespread support in the GOP conference. But just as when Rep. Mark...

Would he make a difference as an ousted Boehner's replacement? The Hill reports today that House conservatives who’ve had it with John Boehner’s weakness as Speaker might be willing to get behind Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy as a replacement - provided more conservatives are added to the Speaker’s leadership team, which under Boehner is pretty much a squish brigade that sees its job as defending Boehner’s reluctance to fight Obama on just about anything difficult. The prospect of McCarthy as Speaker is a curious one for several reasons. For one, he is at present part of Boehner’s leadership team, and...

Boehner’s opposition grew Tuesday morning just a few hours before the vote... ...At least 12 House Democrats will be in Manhattan attending Mario Cuomo’s funeral Tuesday in Manhattan. Another “handful” of Democrats are already planning to skip the vote, and that number could grow much larger, according to Democratic insiders. But every Democrat who skips the speaker vote helps lower the threshold for Boehner to be reelected. Air travel is already slowed as well. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is holding aircraft at their destination until 10 a.m., and is experiencing delays of between 15 and 30 minutes for flights...

Why is Louie Gohmert challenging Boehner for Speaker of the House? by Wilson Monday, Jan 5, 2015 at 11:35 AM EST Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) announced Sunday that he planned to challenge House Speaker John Boehner for the top spot in Congress. Hot on the heels of his announcement, Louie joined Glenn on radio to talk about why he was running and the risks he faces if he loses.Louie explained that there were many representatives telling their constituents that they had to vote for Boehner because there was no other option. “I was persuaded. I’ll be the sacrificial lamb....

In January of 2013 T.W. Shannon established two milestones. He became the first black speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. And, at the age of 34, he became Oklahoma’s youngest House speaker in history. Also noteworthy is that this young black American is a Republican. Now T.W. Shannon is making new headlines. He has stepped down from his position as House speaker to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex) has just joined Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), Dr. Ben Carson and Sarah Palin in endorsing Shannon. Should Shannon...

A plan by President Obama and fellow Democrats to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would cost roughly 500,000 jobsbut increase wages for roughly 16.5 million Americans, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday. The report was immediately met with sharp Republican criticism for the wake hike plan. “While helping some, mandating higher wages has real costs, including fewer people working,” said a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “With unemployment Americans' top concern, our focus should be creating -- not destroying -- jobs for those who need them most.” ...Republicans argued the report puts authoritative weight...

I have confirmed with a group of Congressmen that House Speaker John Boehner will not be reelected Speaker tomorrow. He will either resign or be forced out tomorrow. Only 17 members are needed to block Speaker Boehner's election tomorrow. A Speaker needs an absolute majority of all votes cast for a specific person. If no one has a majority, the House is speakerless. I've confirmed these rules with the House Parliamentarian.

In an article published Friday by the Buzz, the idea of Debbie Wasserman Schultz running for Florida governor is said to be the subject of “intriguing chatter around some political circles in Washington DC.” The very thought of it strikes fear into many Florida conservatives.

NASHVILLE – State Rep. Jimmy Naifeh of Covington – the son of Lebanese emigrants who served as House speaker longer than anyone in Tennessee history – announced on the House floor today that he won’t run for re-election this year after 38 years in the General Assembly. Naifeh, 72, a Democrat, was first elected to the House in 1974 and re-elected 18 times. The House elected him its speaker, the chamber’s presiding officer, for nine two-year terms from 1991 until 2009 when Republicans won a House majority. He’s remained an outspoken House member since then. Addressing his colleagues on the...

One of the modern day dynamics of the House Speaker transition between Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner is the handing over of something much more far-reaching than the Speaker’s gavel: the “Speaker” handle on Twitter.Late Tuesday evening, hours before the Wednesday kick-off of the 112th Congress, Rep. Pelosi dutifully ceded the use of @SpeakerPelosi in exchange for @NancyPelosi. Meanwhile, @JohnBoehner remains to be actively used by the entering Speaker (he also used @GOPLeader, but that account has been handed over to Majority Leader-elect Eric Cantor), while @SpeakerBoehner appears to be locked for eventual use by the Ohio congressman became the...

Hope for America, finally...

Incoming Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said incoming Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is "known to cry." "You know what? He is known to cry. He cries sometimes when we're having a debate on bills. If I cry, it's about the personal loss of a friend or something like that. But when it comes to politics — no, I don't cry. I would never think of crying about any loss of an office, because that's always a possibility, and if you're professional, then you deal with it professionally," Pelosi (D-Calif.) told the New York Times magazine. Read the rest at The Hill Wow...That,...