John Boehner isn’t resigning from his position as House speaker–despite dubious Internet rumors to the contrary–but there is clearly a campaign to try to push him out. Breitbart’s website, RedState, and a group called American Majority Action seem to be at the forefront.
Boehner was already under attack from the right over last night’s fiscal cliff deal. It didn’t help that he punted on a Hurricane Sandy aid bill, sending cable-soundbite kings Chris Christie and Rep. Peter King into histrionic fits. Boehner likely calculated that the pork-filled Sandy aid bill would hurt him with conservatives after the fiscal cliff deal, so he sought a delay. But Breitbart’s website speculates that Boehner had more sinister motives:
Cantor wanted the bill passed before the new Congress starts on Thursday, too. And it looks like Boehner was going to go along with it and let the vote happen but canceled it all of a sudden out of bitterness after his top two deputies–Cantor and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy–voted against the “fiscal cliff” deal that passed late Tuesday. Boehner voted for the fiscal cliff deal, and Cantor’s and McCarthy’s move may mean they’ll challenge Boehner’s speakership.
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel downplayed the Speaker’s reversal on providing aid to Sandy victims quickly. “The speaker is committed to getting this bill passed this month,” Steel said. Aides to leadership have confirmed Boehner has killed any effort to provide Sandy victims aid until next Congress.
I don’t know if Eric Cantor is actively trying to unseat Boehner behind the scenes. But if he’s not, stories like the one above make it seem like he is–and that can’t be helpful for him. It’s true that he’s the one of the few members who would have a real shot at Boehner’s position, but Boehner will most likely prevail. If it looks like Cantor’s stabbing the speaker in the back–and then loses–that’s a problem.
As Mark Levin writes on Facebook ,“I’m told Cantor’s office is leaking all over Boehner today, hoping to replace him as speaker. As far as I am concerned, Boehner, Cantor, & McCarthy need to go. All 3 of them.”
Cantor and McCarthy should have stood with their Speaker on the tax deal. For backbenchers to snub their party's leadership is one thing. When the leadership splits, there no longer is a party. Great work, guys.
I don't think there is a party anymore, and hasn't been for about a year now, since the start of the primaries.
Boehner must be doing something correct because the same attacks are coming from the left and the right, for different reasons.
Any person who takes the advice of Mark Levin is politically deaf and will help lead conservatism to a political death. The man is lethal to our cause.
the incompetent idiot Matthew Boyle is a toady for House staffers…… it takes an outstanding level of incompetence to get booted off the daily Caller, but Boyle finally managed it and had to take his fecal-smeared scribblings to Breitbart.
No. The unwashed masses are mad and the entire GOP leadership needs to go
King and Christie should shut the hell up and tell their constituents to call their insurance agents. n nMy daughter lost her house in a rock/mud slide. She was uninsured for mud slides; tough stuff. As I told her at the time; "too bad you were not involved in a politically significant disaster", instead of a small scale, personal one. n nI am sick of the idea that the U.S. taxpayer should bail out everyone who does not bother to get the appropriate insurance for the risks that they face. My town got hit hard by a tornado about 50 years ago; different era. Folks called their insurance agents, not their Politicians.
If Cantor and McCarthy, let alone all the other so-called "conservatives" in congress were something other than lying garbage they would ALL be against this pork-laden bill. n nAs for Christie, his little temper tantrums are tiresome. Where was his outrage when help from other states was turned away because they weren't union? He's just another hyperbolic POS politician. n nToo bad, when he took on the media and slapped those dungbags around I thought he might be different. He's not.
How about adding a "right to work" amendment to the relief bill — that all the stuff it pays for must be offered in an open shop environment? That would really really twist the knife a bit, and it would be nice…
Boehner didn't want to pass a 60 billion dollar bill laden with pork that had nothing to do with Hurricane Sandy. The entire budget of NJ is 30 billion. By dividing it into two parts he got rid of all the extra goodies.
Oh Alana, I trust you saw today's NY Daily News cover…. n nOver the past week, my little island way off the Maine Coast has see FAR worse weather than in all of Hurricane Sandy, higher winds for longer, etc, etc, and the difference is that we don't build things two inches above the high tide line — nor do we cry when a tree comes down on something, we have chain saws for that sort of thing. n nI think "histrionic" is the right word for King & Christie, even if it usually is applied to women… n