Posted on 09/29/2015 6:37:04 AM PDT by Kaslin
I am going to miss John Boehner as speaker of the House. The GOP looks like the fun party with its ring-a-ding leader and his dash of Dean Martin. Boehner even sauntered into his resignation news conference Friday while crooning, "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay. My oh my, what a wonderful day." The speaker chose not to cling to power but to walk away without compromising his supporters.
"Why do I want to make my members, Republican members, walk the plank?" Boehner explained on "Face the Nation" Sunday. The son of a barkeep wants to avoid a government shutdown -- also known as (another government shutdown. He knew his effort to thwart a kamikaze mission could invite his party's "knuckle draggers," as he calls them, to challenge his leadership. Republicans who stood by Boehner then might face a primary challenge.
Boehner knew his perch was precarious; he likened being speaker to trying to keep 218 frogs in a wheelbarrow. So rather than fight, Boehner, 65, shrugged. His is not so much an Ayn Randian Atlas shrug as it is what Politico's Glenn Thrush called an "'I'm just playing the cards I've been dealt,' nicotine-induced zen" shrug.
I am going to miss the era of smoke-filled rooms and chain-smoking power brokers. Boehner's likely replacement -- Kevin McCarthy, 50, of Bakersfield, California -- has a West Coast sensibility. McCarthy leads his fellow R's on early-morning mountain bike rides when the House is in session. (I learned on "Face the Nation" that Boehner does yoga, but not, I presume, while caucusing.)
I am going to miss those basset hound eyes that shed endless sentimental tears. I am going to miss that orangy mug. It takes a tough man to tinge his skin the same tint as Arnold Schwarzenegger's hair. I am going to miss references to Boehner's patronage at Trattoria Alberto and Pete's Diner. There's something endearingly old-school about a pol who frequents businesses known by an owner's first name.
I think President Barack Obama will miss Boehner more than I. The softy speaker, after all, fell for Obama's ruse about wanting to reach across the aisle to cut a grand bargain.
I am going to miss the speaker who got rid of earmarks -- pet pork-barrel spending -- out of conviction, even though it made it harder for him to impose discipline among his ranks. I am going to miss the barkeep's son who didn't believe in fighting for the sake of fighting. He didn't go for destructive stunts like the 2013 government shutdown championed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. After that house of cards collapsed, he hoped tea party members would see that shuttering the government is a losing tactic. As he said Sunday, "have the courage to do what you can do. It's easy to have the courage to do what you can't do."
Change it to :”I’m sorry to see Miss Boehner leave”.
What destructive stunt? There was a net Republican gain in the House and Senate.
This article would be equally at home in Pravda or The Onion.
...or on the bottom of a bird cage.
I wonder if she’s also going to miss how he punished conservative house members who deigned to support his challengers by stripping them of their committee assignments. I wonder if she’s going to miss the way he snuggled up to Obama and cut deals that stabbed his own party in the back.
Barf alert??? Are you kidding? This was piece was so snarky, my Snarkometer is broken. LOL
Really, I was expecting this to be about Miss Sinator Linda.
He had the courage to appease and capitulate against the wishes of Americans. That’s his legacy
Kaslin, thanks for your contributions.
I once heard a leader in the Oklahoma Senate enter a news conference by singing “Here I come, to save the day! That means it’s Mighty Mouse is on the way.”
Boehner would have been better as a fighter for conservative issues - not the sissified go along to get along demeanor.
We (USA) need a Mighty Mouse, empowered through our Creator.
Gwjack
Kissing Obama’s butt every chance he got....is unforgiveable.
“I’m gonna miss you,John.”
“I know you are,I tampered with the sights on your rifle.”
My next goal is retiring Mark "I love Boehner" Amodei.
Jeb is such a nice young man. All the kids in the neighborhood look up to him and he’s kind to his mother.
What in hell does that mean?
I don't get it....and dollars to donuts Boehner doesn't either.
You're welcome
We (USA) need a Mighty Mouse, empowered through our Creator.
I could not have it said any better
{shed endless sentimental tears. }
These crying jags are sadly the result of nervous system damage from alcoholism and not “sentimental tears.”
If he lives long enough, he will likely suffer from alcohol dementia. He is probably in the early stages now, based on his behavior.
It means he is playing the excuse card. With the ultimate desideratum firmly pegged at “preserve the institution” he has a box that he cannot think outside of. Get Congress to do something it hasn’t done before or only infrequently or only long ago? Unthinkable!
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