Posted on 01/07/2015 7:29:59 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Around 10 a.m. this morning, Representative John Fleming (R., Md.) received a phone call from a colleague asking him to vote against Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) on the House floor today.
Fleming has a longstanding alliance with Representative Steve King (R., Iowa), Representative Jim Bridenstine (R., Okla.), and other ringleaders of the unsuccessful effort to oust Boehner from the speaker’s chair, which makes it surprising that this was the first time anyone had contacted him about the issue.
“To ask me to vote against the speaker on the last day like this, without having an alternative to vote for, without really having a chance to vet that person and debate this and discuss this, I said, was just a really bad idea,” Fleming told National Review Online, explaining why he voted to confirm Boehner as House speaker. “If we’re going to change leadership, we need to do it in a very systematic and organized way.”
Fleming’s experience is indicative of the disorganization that characterized the coup attempt. And it points to a second problem: the lack of a top-tier alternative — someone such as House Ways and Means Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) — willing to rally the opposition against Boehner. Ultimately, those factors combined with the difficulties inherent in challenging a sitting speaker, sinking the coup.
“We should have done all of that after the election, and then in December, that’s when we should have had the battle over who should be speaker,” Fleming says.
Representative Ken Buck (R., Colo.), who took office this morning, said that the rebels made it harder for freshman lawmakers to oppose Boehner by waiting so long to go public with the fight.
“If this effort was going to be successful, it would have had to start in November, and it had to be an effort that included the freshman class,” Buck, who also voted for Boehner, told NRO. “A lot of the freshman class never received any phone calls from anybody, and that put us at a disadvantage.”
That was especially problematic given that the freshmen don’t know much about Representative Daniel Webster (R., Fla.), the lawmaker who placed second among Republican candidates for speaker. As of Sunday, Buck said, Webster hadn’t decided if he was willing to get in the race, and Webster’s ambivalence prompted Representative Ted Yoho (R., Fla.) to throw his hat into the ring. “The delayed effort told me that some people aren’t ready to lead,” Buck says.
Boehner’s detractors responded to those criticisms by pointing to the events of the lame-duck session. After President Obama used executive power to confer the benefits of legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, many immigration hawks wanted the House GOP leadership to fight back immediately. Instead, Boehner backed a $1.1 trillion spending package known as a “cromnibus” — an omnibus bill funding most of the government for a year, but keeping the Department of Homeland Security on a short-term continuing resolution — rather than staging a dramatic attack against Obama’s orders.
“We didn’t get 72 hours to read [the cromnibus] — 1,600 pages that spend $1.1 trillion,” Representative Walter Jones (R., N.C.), who voted for Webster to replace Boehner, told reporters. “Everybody’s finding out every day what’s in it. That’s not what’s in the best interest of the people.”
That argument didn’t sway Fleming, despite his dislike for the cromnibus. “The cromnibus was consistent with other things the leadership has done,” he says. “We shouldn’t have been surprised.”
In keeping with Fleming’s point, Jones confirmed that he had a meeting with Webster and small groups of other lawmakers in September, when House Republicans were fresh off of an internal fight over how to respond to Obama’s immigration policies and the border crisis.
But the effort began to heat up seriously only in December, when Boehner’s most ardent opponents started sounding out a small group of lawmakers to assess their chances of cobbling together the 29 votes needed to prevent Boehner from winning on the first ballot.
They worked hard for weeks to get the support of colleagues such as Representative Tom McClintock (R., Calif.), but they fell short. McClintock, who says he is also “disappointed” in Boehner’s leadership, agreed with Fleming that this debate should have taken place in November, at the conference’s organizational meeting. By starting the fight on the House floor, McClintock argued, conservatives risked creating a scenario in which they ended up with a more liberal House speaker.
“Having shattered the precedent that the House Republicans are bound by the decision of the House conference on this issue, that then gives license to 29 of the most morally flexible members of the conference to go to Nancy Pelosi and say, ‘Hey, let’s work a deal for a truly bipartisan, post-partisan House,’” McClintock told NRO.
Given the risks involved and the difficulty in finding a candidate, it’s perhaps more surprising that the rebels convinced 24 Republicans to vote against Boehner than it is that they came up short. One Republican congressman said that the results today actually understate the conference’s interest in new leadership.
“People — especially activists — hate Boehner,” the lawmaker, who voted for Boehner in order to guarantee that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) wouldn’t get a chance to become speaker, told NRO. “It’s the most unpopular vote most of us will ever take.”
—- Joel Gehrke is a political reporter for National Review Online.
The act like they are in high school.
Seriously, we are f%^&ing doomed.
Time to give up the delusion of trying to work within the Republican Party.
Time to go UKIP.
It’s time for the Republican Party to officially die.
Dear Mr. McClintock:
I write again to express my disappointment in your failure to stand in support of the conservative members of the Republican caucus during yesterday's floor vote for House Speaker.
Although you may have protected your personal political interests through your support of Mr. Boehner, it remains to be seen whether as House majority leader our (yours and my) shared conservative principles and commitment to the U.S. Constitution and traditional American values will be advanced under his thusfar ineffective leadership and his obvious antipathy toward conservative members of the caucus (including you) and his repeated disregard for the conservative base. (The actions of Mr. Boehner against those conservatives who voted against him and the smile on Ms. Pelosi's face when Mr. Boehner was, with your support, re-elected as Speaker provide clear evidence of my concern and lack of confidence in Mr. Boehner.)
Notwithstanding my disappointment I do wish you continued good health and, so far as it does not conflict with your publicly-avowed and demonstrated commitment to conservative principles as did your vote yesterday, continued success in the new House. I ask that you bear in mind, Mr. McClintock, the action of the Republicans in the House to retain Mr. Boehner as Speaker conflicts directly with the wishes of a large majority of Republican and conservative voters to turn the Congress to a more conservative direction, as demonstrated clearly in polls, surveys and the results of the November 2014 election.
Respectfully,
“By starting the fight on the House floor, McClintock argued, conservatives risked creating a scenario in which they ended up with a more liberal House speaker”
More liberal? At least it confirms that Boehner is liberal.
Any vote that is not done with a secret ballot is illegitimate.
I've seen it said that a vote to change the Speaker can happen at any time, but I don't know the real world mechanics of that. I bet it's historically rare. That conceded, it is a plausible future action with this Speaker and this electorate. But before pulling that trigger they need to be sure they have enough more votes to prevent 218 GOP votes for Boehner AND a sufficient cushion to handle lower 'majorities' d/t any Democratic 'sickouts' etc.
Remain steadfast and vigilant, FRiends. The GOP-e and Left crave Conservative despair and disenfranchisement.
We’ve made progress in recent election cycles.
The state of Ohio could take care of that likewise what happened to the whip!!!
It was a set up to bash the patriots/constitutionalists, and I’d wager 0bama knew about it, too.
They knew they were fighting a losing battle
The pricks in conservative media are out in force
The Five, Hewitt, Bennett, laughing at scoffing at the futility of pretending boehmite isn’t a conservative and how good he’ll finally be now that, what? I don’t know. They’re not clear on that. Then screeching re he’s not vindictive and wouldn’t punish anyone for voting against him
“If this effort was going to be successful, it would have had to start in November, and it had to be an effort that included the freshman class,” Buck, who also voted for Boehner, told NRO. “A lot of the freshman class never received any phone calls from anybody, and that put us at a disadvantage.”
Poor Ken, they didn't tell him what to do soon enough. What, has he been in a frickin' coma the last six years? Even Lamborn turtled to save his spot in the good ol' boys club.
{{{spit}}}
This is the best we can elect? a bunch of hand winging sniveling wimps.
We are so screwed.
Feeling the heat. The Gelded Old Pansies have Whigged out.
Anatomy of a Failed Coup: Boehner’s opponents were slow and uncertain.
Not really, it is more the image of the Republican Party. Add to it weak, gutless and scared.
Sounds like some Rinos trying to cover their ass for defying the overwhelming majority of the Republican party in voting to reconfirm a backstabbing failure as speaker.
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