Boehner allies lash out at his tormenters
Do you think, now that Speaker Jphn Boehner is on his way out, that all will be peace and harmony in the Republican caucus?
Not so fast. If the right succeed in their coup and one of their own is elected speaker, Boehner's numerous allies are saying they will cooperate with the new leadership with as much enthusiasm as the right cooperated with Boehner.
A fired-up House Ethics Committee Chairman Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), speaking not long after Boehner dropped the bombshell at a Friday conference meeting that he’ll leave Congress at the end of next month, ripped into hard-line conservatives.
He accused them of opposing Boehner at every turn, and noted they have “never had a horse of their own.”
“Any jackass can kick down a barn door. It takes a carpenter to hang one. We need a few more carpenters around here. Everybody knows it,” Dent said off the House floor.
Leadership allies are frustrated by what they see as a repeated exercise in futility.
They argue that the lawmakers who repeatedly tangled with Boehner aren’t team players, and they said a new leadership team shouldn’t cater to them.
Boehner repeatedly saw conservatives vote against the GOP rules governing debate on legislation. Those votes are supposed to be tests of party loyalty.
They also argue Boehner repeatedly bent to conservative critics on spending issues, only to see them stab him in the back.
“Frankly, I thought our leadership in too many cases has been too accommodating, too quick to appease those who will not govern,” Dent said. “They give far too much procedural consideration to those who will not vote for the bills at the end of the process. That’s going to end. We’ve had enough of that.”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a member of Boehner’s inner circle, suggested a new leadership team should implement new conference rules that would make the chamber more functional.
“You just can’t continue to have a super-ultra-minority continue to try to dictate what happens in the House of Representatives. It’s a big problem,” Nunes said.
Rep. Dent makes an interesting point. If the right ascend to power in the GOP, they then become the "establishment" and will be forced to govern. Since most of the base is opposed to governing the country, preferring posturing and showmanship to actually, like, you know, passing bills, it will create an interesting dynamic on the right. How do they remain true to the base and get anything passed with Democrats in full opposition and a split GOP caucus?
Boehner couldn't figure it out, and I suspect the next victim who becomes speaker will also fail. The dysfunction of the Republican party from top to bottom may hand the Democrats an easy victory in 2016.