Tag: John Boehner

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Politics

Teaparty Throws Retirement Party for John Boehner

I didn’t know the Republican House Speaker was retiring, and I’m sure he didn’t know he was either. In fact, it was just a month ago when Boehner said he was running again to be House Speaker.

But the Teaparty has other plans where Boehner’s reelection is concerned and their plans include J.D Winteregg – I couldn’t make up that name up if I tried.

J.D Winteregg is running on the Teaparty ticket to unseat Boehner and he is anticipating a win. So confident he is, that he has taken the opportunity to throw Boehner a retirement party, and invited “1,000 of John Boehner’s closes friends and D.C. political reporters.”

According to AATTP, J.D. Winteregg represents the worst nightmare of Republicans in Congress.  If any Republican tries to make a deal with a Democrat, their seats will be threatened by a primary challenge.

The Tea Party Leadership Fund Political Action Committee has already spent over $300,000 supporting Winteregg over Boehner.

In a political ad that was released earlier this month, Winteregg accused Boehner of having “electile dysfunction,” and had many immature “jokes” that made a play on Boehner’s last name.  The ad played as if it were a Cialis or Viagra commercial, and targeted Boehner for working with President Obama.

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Politics

Greedy John Boehner Cheers On Supreme Court’s “Money is Speech” Ruling

I call him greedy because now that the Supreme Court has decided that anyone with enough money can give any amount they want to a particular campaign, Boehner is seeing dollar signs.

With that decision, the Supreme Court doubled down on their Citizens United decision,  where they proclaimed Corporations – you know, those flesh and blood entities built by actual human beings that need to be registered to do business – the Supreme Court in their Citizens United decision called those entities “people,” and thus,  able to contribute unlimited amounts of dollars to any SuperPAC that supports their candidate.

Today, the Court took another step in their Conservative activism, their continuous effort to silent democracy and the voice of the people. Today, the Supreme Court took us one dtep closer to turning our democracy into an oligarchy.

Their 5-4 decision will allow anyone to give an unlimited amount of cash to anyone running for office, because, according to the decision, restricting the amount given would be the same as restricting freedom of speech.

So not only have they redefined “people” with Citizens United, this Republican led Court effectively redefined speech to mean money. And the more money you have, the louder your voice becomes. And if you can shout louder than everyone else, then your voice becomes the voice the politicians listen to and your priorities magically becomes theirs… because… money!

But don’t just take my word,  listen to the politicians as they praise the fall of democracy. John Boehner praised the decision, claiming that “freedom of speech is being upheld.”

“What I think this means is that freedom of speech is being upheld. You all have the freedom to write what you want to write. Donors ought to have the freedom to give what they want to give.”

And the people who will receive these gifts of course, are politicians. Especially those in leadership positions like John Boehner – Speaker of the House of Representatives. Imagine being rich enough to buy the Speaker of the House! Imagine how much shouting your money can do then!

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Health Care Healthcare Politics repeal obamacare

John Boehner Is Still Promising to Repeal Obamacare

Relax Americans, the good old folks in the Republican party are working hard on your behalf, and they are promising to do everything they can to take away your health care and to deny you the basic right of having affordable health care.

In a statement issued on his website, House Speaker John Boehner said;

“The president’s health care law continues to wreak havoc on American families, small businesses and our economy, and as I’ve said many times, the problem was never just about the website – it’s the whole law.  Millions of Americans are seeing their premiums rise, not the lower prices the president promised.  Many small businesses are afraid to hire new workers, instead cutting hours and dropping health coverage for existing employees.  Many Americans can no longer see their family doctor, despite the pledge no one would lose access to their physician.  Seniors are feeling the impact, losing their Medicare Advantage plans the president promised they could keep.  And taxpayers are being forced to pick up an unaffordable tab.

“House Republicans will continue to work to repeal this law and protect families and small businesses from its harmful consequences, and that’s why we’re taking action this week to repeal the law’s 30-hour rule that has become a significant barrier to job growth and higher wages.  We will also continue our work to replace this fundamentally-flawed law with patient-centered solutions focused on lowering health care costs and protecting jobs.”

Yes Americans, having access to quality healthcare is apparently not a good thing. You should be allowed to get sick and die if you have no insurance. And for the selected few that have insurance, your policies should be subjected to denial by the insurance companies if they so choose.

You know… freedom! Like it was in the good old days.

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Politics

Boehner Confidence – Will Run for House Speaker Again, Says He Will Win

Under his leadership, the People’s House, also called the House of Representatives, produced the least amount of legislations for any Congress in the history of this country. But Boehner is not done yet. He plans to run again to lead the House and he is confident that he will win.

“I think I’m in better shape with my own caucus than I ever have been in the last three years,” Boehner told his hometown Cincinnati Enquirer in an interview Monday.

The speaker dismissed speculation that he’s going to step aside from Congress and give up the House’s top leadership job, which was fueled partly because Boehner and his wife recently purchased a condo in Florida. The vacation home “has nothing to do with my future,” Boehner is quoted as saying.

There’s no question that Boehner sometimes has had difficulty with his restive GOP caucus — especially some of the newer members elected with Tea Party support in 2010 who helped Republicans win the House majority

 ”I need this job like a hole in my head,” Boehner told The Wall Street Journal early last year after a dozen Republicans declined to back his second term as speaker and he battled with his fellow Republicans on a deal to avoid going over the “fiscal cliff.”

Boehner got props from his GOP troops after he stuck with them in last fall’s government shutdown, going ahead with a legislative strategy that saw some Republicans try to defund President Obama’s health care law even as federal workers were furloughed.

But Boehner infuriated some of the Tea Party-backed conservative groups late last year when he criticized the Senate Conservatives Fund, Heritage Action, FreedomWorks and others as  having “lost all credibility” for coming out against a two-year budget deal that averted another shutdown.

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Immigration Reform Politics

Teaparty Representative Promises to Challenge Boehner’s Seat if Immigration Vote is Held

Speaker John A. Boehner should lose his gavel if he pursues immigration this year, a prominent tea party Republican said in an interview with CQ Roll Call on Tuesday.

“I think it should cost him his speakership,” Rep. Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho warned, if Boehner puts an immigration overhaul on the floor.
But even if Boehner shelves immigration, Labrador said, the party needs new leadership — and the two-term lawmaker is not ruling out a run for leadership himself.

“There is a hunger in the conference for bold, visionary leaders, and this is not just conservatives — you talk to more middle-of-the-road members of the conference, they’re kind of frustrated with the direction of this leadership, and they’re looking for ways to change that,” he said.

Labrador, who was part of a failed coup attempt in 2013, has made a name for himself inside and outside the Republican Conference by pushing Boehner and other Republican leaders to embrace a new brand of conservatism.

“I think you’re going to see some changes here in the House over the next year,” he said. “I think that this is an opportunity for whoever wants to run for leadership to show that they have a clear vision for America.”

Labrador said the new GOP leadership in the 114th Congress could include members currently in leadership, particularly Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, with whom Labrador has a strong working relationship.

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Politics

John Boehner Blames The Republicans for The Government Shutdown – Video

The House Speaker and leader of the Republicans went on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night, and explained that the government shutdown of 2013 was a wrong move, and that the blame was squarely on the backs of the Republicans.

Boehner also explained that he told his “colleagues” not to shut down the government, but the chose not to listen.

“I told my colleagues in July that I don’t think shutting down the government over Obamacare was going to work, because the president ‘I’m not going to negotiate.’ So I told them in August, ‘Probably not a good idea.’ Told ‘em in early September.”

“But when I looked up,” he told Leno, “I saw my colleagues going this way. And you learn that a leader without followers is simply a man taking a walk. So I said, ‘You want to fight this fight? I’ll go fight the fight with you.’ But it was a very predictable disaster.”

“So the sooner we got it over with the better. We were fighting for the right thing, but I just thought tactfully it wasn’t the right thing to do.”

“Some members,” he continued, “I have to be the big brother figure. Some, I have to be the father figure. Others, I have to be the dean of students or the principal. Some of them, I have to be the Gestapo.”

“There’s nothing I could do that was ever conservative enough for them.”

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Politics Steve King

Republican John Boehner Called Republican Steve King “an asshole!”

Hey, I’m just reporting what the man said.

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) claims in a recent article for Texas Monthly that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) an “asshole” in July after King compared undocumented immigrants to drug mules with “calves the size of cantaloupes.”

In the article, Castro reflects on his first year in Congress and expresses his disappointment in the House’s inability to pass immigration reform last year.

Castro himself calls King one of the “less tactful Republicans,” who “seemed to even go out of their way to express disdain for immigrants.” Boehner condemned King’s statements in a July press conference, calling them “deeply offensive and wrong.”

In his piece, Castro offers a candid opinion of Boehner and the circumstances under which the comment was made:

The Democratic caricature of the speaker is that he’s an overly tan, overly emotional cat-herder who has lost control of his flock, but in person, he comes across as approachable and down-to-earth, and you can see how he earned the trust of his colleagues and became their leader. On a day not too long after Boehner’s political body check of Steve King for his immigration comments, the speaker was milling around the aisle walkway in the middle section of the House floor where the Democratic and Republican territories meet. Another Texas Democrat and I were standing a few feet away, and as the speaker passed us we thanked him for denouncing King’s offensive comments. He slowed his stride and then paused to turn toward us. “What an asshole,” he said. My thoughts exactly, Mr. Speaker.

Boehner’s office declined to comment on Castro’s account.

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Politics

John Boehner Has Had Enough! “It’s time to move on” from Christie Scandal

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Thursday said that lawmakers and the media should move past the controversy surrounding New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge last year, noting that the governor has “held people accountable.”

“It’s time to move on,” he said during a Thursday press conference. “I think the governor made clear that mistakes were made.”

Boehner would not address whether Christie should campaign for House Republicans now that the state legislature is investigating potential political motives behind the lane closures.

The federal government is running a separate probe into Christie’s use of Sandy relief funds.

h/t TPM

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Politics

FOUND – Secret Taped Meeting Proves Their Goal – Bring Down Obama

A secret audio tape of a May 8th meeting of the conservative group “Groundswell” (a total nightmare amalgamation of creatures mostly bearing Southern drawls, birther conspiracy beliefs and a reliable paranoia of being persecuted) shows the group using their collective power (media, sleeping with SCOTUS, money, evangelical base/money, GOP Congressional aides) to pressure elected Republicans into making something out of the now debunked Benhazi scandal.

They want a special committee or else.

If they don’t get it, they warned Speaker Boehner (R-OH) and Obama fake scandal manufacturer Darrell Issa (R-CA), the two could face a loss of support and financial backing.

Birther Frank Gaffney made it clear on the tape that he told the puppets to play ball or else! He told the group that he had reminded Boehner and Issa that their donors are getting restless (aka, deliver us an Obama scandal or your PAC gets it), “I’m somewhat encouraged that they’re taking this thing very much to heart and we really impressed upon them that there’s a lot of restiveness on the part of folks like us, and some of their donors as a matter of fact, about what — what’s happening here.”

Jerry Boykin of the Family Research Council told the group of conspirators that in their secret meeting the night before, Speaker Boehner warned them that the media would see this as an attempt to bring down the Obama administration (gee, ya think?). But, have no fear, patriots, “We got an ugly baby here and it’s going to get ugly today. We are not backing away from our call for a special committee with subpoena power… We’re not backing away from a special committee, but we kinda have a pledge from Issa and the Speaker.”

The tape of the meeting was published on Crooks and Liars by Karoli, who writes that the source wished to remain anonymous. The meeting was led by Catherine Engelbrecht, a founder of True the Vote. True the Vote is the organization found guilty of illegally aiding Republicans by operating like a PAC instead of a non-profit, and the very same organization trotted out by Darrell Issa and the media as just one example of Obama’s IRS picking on conservatives. Naturally, that wasn’t true, but it didn’t stop the media or the Republicans from running wild with their fictional accusations.

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Politics

John Boehner Rents DC Apartment From Tanning Bed Lobbyist

Speaker of the House John Boehner has long denied that his perpetual tan skin color is the result of sunless tanning. He just spends a lot of time outdoors, the Ohio Republican is known to say.

But despite his repeated denials of using tanning beds, Boehner has ties to the industry. Not only has he accepted campaign contributions from a group called the Indoor Tanning Association, Boehner actually lives in a D.C. apartment owned by a lobbyist for the American Suntanning Association.

Boehner rents a Capitol Hill English basement apartment from John D. Milne, a lobbyist with the firm mCapitol, Milne and Boehner’s office confirmed to The Daily Caller on Tuesday. Milne lobbies for the American Suntanning Association, which retained mCapitol for $90,000 in 2013

The Washington Post reported in 2006 that Boehner was paying $1,600 a month that year to rent Milne’s two-bedroom apartment. In that article, a Boehner aide stressed that Milne did not seek to influence Boehner on legislation. “John Milne does not lobby John Boehner on any issue and has not lobbied him on any issue during the time period in which John has been renting the property,” he said.

Forms indicate that the Indoor Tanning Association gave Boehner $5,000 in 2011. It gave money to a number of other lawmakers that year, including South Dakota Sen. John Thune, also known for his year-round tan skin color.

The Indoor Tanning Association opposed the so-called 10 percent sales tax in Obamacare, something the Republican conference also opposed in 2010.

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Mitch McConnell Politics

New Poll: Americand Don’t Approve of Boehner, McConnell, Cruz

Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) favorability rating has dropped to the lowest level since he took on his leadership position after the 2010 elections, according to a new poll. 

A CNN poll released Tuesday shows Boehner’s favorability rating hanging at 27 percent, down 6 points since last month. The number of people who hold an unfavorable view of him shot up 7 points to 55 percent — his highest rating ever.

Among Republicans, his favorability dropped 9 percent.

Boehner’s numbers follow an overall downward trend of the Republican Party a week after leaders came to an agreement to end the 16-day shutdown and raise the nation’s borrowing limit. 
Sixty-four percent of the public holds an unfavorable view of the Republican Party. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also saw their favorability ratings drop. 

McConnell’s rating dropped to 23 percent. It already stood at 27 percent before the shutdown. His rating dropped 11 percent among Republicans.

Cruz, who helped lead the charge to defund ObamaCare which ultimately led to the government shutdown, saw a 7 percent drop in his favorability rating since last month. Only 23 percent of people hold a favorable view of the freshman senator, while 42 percent hold an unfavorable view

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Domestic Policies News Politics Teaparty

Meltdown

I’ve used the tsunami wave metaphor in other posts about the decline of the Republican Party and  its associated havoc-wreaking on the country over the past two years.

Today we talk about the complete meltdown of the party. The debacle over the debt ceiling and the as-we-speak collapse of any kind of deal shows us the final truth about the right: This is not an entity that can be a partner in governing.

Here we are on the brink of a default that many conservatives believe will not be “that bad,” despite the warnings from banks, foreign governments and ratings agencies, most of whom could not remotely be labeled liberal, and they are still trying to knock off the Affordable Care Act. Yes, I understand how important it is to settle the issue of whether congressional aides can qualify for subsidies on the health insurance exchanges, but is is worth embarrassing the United States and inviting the wrath of the financial markets?

Clearly, it is. And that’s the problem with the GOP as is exists today. The extremism knows no bounds and the disdain of the president is ugly. They accuse Obama of not negotiating when that has been their strategy since he was elected. They want to stall, delay, overturn and defund anything he’s signed. They want no revenue increases in any fiscal bill. They want the Consumer Protection Board gone and they want the EPA to stop telling factories they can’t pollute. These are non-negotiable items, yet it’s Obama’s willingness to stand his ground that has them so incensed (I would be worse, though. Open the government and increase the debt ceiling for a whole year, says I).

It’s a sad state of affairs that only the party muckymucks can address. John Boehner doesn’t know which way to go, because all paths lead to The Tenth Circle of Hell (the one that Donald Trump bought and developed). He either has to continue giving in to the Tea Party or he has to sacrifice his speakership and get Democrats and moderates to get us out of this mess.

Some people who know more than I say that the American voters will probably forget all this by next November. I don’t think so. The next wave will be a Democratic takeover of the House.

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