Do we really have to wade through this nonsense again? And I don't say that as any particular fan of the orange man from Ohio, either. I was perfectly happy to see the Speakership go to somebody else at the start of this Congress almost seven months ago, but rather than Boehner's right flank taking the task seriously, preparing and organizing months in advance and unifying behind a viable candidate that would be a serious threat to the Big Gavel, nine flitfly pretenders popped up like inverted corn kernels boiled in vegetable oil at the last minute in the most slapdash fashion imaginable, stepped all over each other and turned the "coup attempt" after which the Tea Party base so yearned into a pathetic farce that made the latter look even more unserious and amateurish than it did already.
Two months later another rumored "coup attempt" started making the rounds over Boehner following Mitch McConnell's craven lead in caving to the Obama Regime over DHS Obamnesty funding. This time, at least, the candidates were (1) fewer and (2) Boehner deputies - i.e. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise. The remaining problem being that since McCarthy is a long-time border erasure proponent, only Scalise would have been an acceptable Speaker to TPers. But this "coup attempt" never materialized, and the rumor quickly disappeared.
And those two are just the latest of a whole series going back at least two years, and probably farther than that, which indicates how little attention I spend on tracking such windmill-tilting.
Y'all don't like John Boehner, you don't think he's "pure" enough, you don't like how he refuses to "Fight! Fight! Fight!", and you don't like his excruciatingly large selection of hideous pink neckties. I get it. I'm even sympathetic. But these intermittent bush league "coup attempts" are plainly and simply a complete waste of time.
And look! Here comes another one!:
A U.S. House Republican filed a procedural move Tuesday that could set off a longshot maneuver to topple Speaker John Boehner from his post -- if a committee controlled by the Speaker allows it to advance.
North Carolina Representative Mark Meadows’s procedural move to declare Boehner’s office vacant, while almost certain to fail, again demonstrates the frustration with Boehner among conservative Republicans. They have made previous challenges to his leadership.
The measure filed by Meadows would need the Rules Committee’s approval to move forward, said a House leadership aide who sought anonymity to discuss the matter. The aide said Meadows could have used a different procedure to try to force an immediate vote.
Meadows was briefly removed from a subcommittee chairmanship in June for siding against House Republican leaders on a procedural trade vote. [emphasis added]
I dunno, maybe if Boehner hadn't reversed course on heavy-handedly stripping Meadows of his subcommittee chairmanship over the Trade Promotion Authority imbroglio, something might have come of this "procedural move," although I still highly doubt it. Which neatly explains why Boehner backed down on that to avoid providing any potential "coupsters" with unnecessary ammunition to rally a significant portion of the House majority caucus against him. Which illustrates that Boehner knows how to play the political game, and Tea Partiers still proudly and obtusely do not. Which means they'll never beat the "establishment," because the only way to accomplish that is to play the game and win. Which TPers adamantly refuse to do.
Which is why there will be no end to these intermittent "coup attempts" that never go anywhere except to the Great Cosmic "failed 'coup attempts'" pile, right alongside the Great Cosmic Pile Of Mismatched Socks. Fortunately by the time the next one rolls around I hope to be too distracted by another Seahawks Super Bowl run to notice.
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