GOP Voters Want To Dump John Boehner As Speaker

by JASmius



Yes, I'm sure they do.  Personally, I don't care much one way or the other, for a reason that I don't think most "GOP voters" realize:

Sixty percent of Republican voters want John Boehner replaced as Speaker of the House, a new poll shows, as a conservative mutiny grows against the Ohio congressman they consider too accommodating with President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats.

The Caddell Associates' survey of 602 Americans who voted Republican in the midterm elections also found that they agree with the simmering conservative revolt, as 64% called Boehner too "ineffective" in opposing Obama’s agenda.

I don't know that he's been "ineffective" so much as he's only had the power base of the House.  As I said many times over the past four years, when you only control one house of Congress and the other side has the other legislative chamber plus the White House, opposing Obama's agenda is a lot more politically dicey of a proposition than most "GOP voters" want to realize or admit.  And the corollary to that reality was that John Boehner had one of the most thankless jobs in D.C., facing off against Barack Obama and Harry (G)Reid on one side while fending off Tea Party long knives aimed at his hexaribs on the other.

Then came the 2014 midterm blowout, gaining the GOP nine Senate seats and a comfortable majority to go with the biggest House majority in eight-six years, followed promptly by the CRomnibus debacle.  Hence, my indifference to whether or not Boehner stays or goes.  In the past I have defended the Ohioan, but "GOP voters" gave him a winning hand, and he pre-emptively folded it, with alarming implications both for the country and the political survival of his own party.

Does John Boehner deserve to be sacked?  Absolutely.  Will he?  There's the rub:

The election for speaker is scheduled for January 6th, and Boehner would need the support of a majority of members present and voting.

The resignation of Republican Michael Grimm of New York-11 dropped the total number of House members in the new Congress to 434, with Republicans holding 246 seats. Boehner would need at least 218 votes. So far, as many as eighteen Republicans are privately opposing him.

A coup, this isn't.  Even Barbie could figure out this math.

When you want to take out a sitting House Speaker, you need to have a challenger tanned, rested, and ready.  This would-be cabal doesn't even have a name they can throw into the proverbial ring - those few that are willing to publicly admit their opposition, that is:

Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina-3, one of the few Republicans who are publicly against the speaker, says he "cannot vote in good conscience for John Boehner."

"Right now, I’ve been meeting with a small group, and we — about sixteen, eighteen — and we’re hoping to have a name of a sitting member of Congress that we can call out their name," he told North Carolina’s Talk of the Town radio program.

Trey Gowdy is the name tossed about by the grassroots, but the South Carolina congressman and Chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi has already shot down any "draft" Speakership candidacy pre-emptively, citing his disinterest in a leadership position and his ability to be more influential where he is.

And you know what?  He's absolutely right.  You know why?  Because if Trey Gowdy were to assume the Speakership, his popularity with "GOP voters" would plummet like the retail value of a new car the moment it's driven off the dealer's lot.  You know why?  Because leadership positions preclude taking a bold, individualistic stance on policy issues and legislative tactics, that's why.  When you're Speaker, you have to represent the entire majority caucus, not just one wing of it; that's one of the tenets of a leadership position.  It's the same reason why Ted Cruz will never occupy a leadership position on the other side of the Capitol - or the White House, either, for that matter.

And then there's the matter of leadership posts being, as a day-to-day proposition, akin to herding cats.  Trey Gowdy knows this, which is why he doesn't want the job.  He's far from being alone in drawing that conclusion.  And I certainly can't blame him.

I'm not unsympathetic to Representative Jones or what I'm assuming is the other publicly declared anti-Boehnerite, Thomas Massie (KY4).  But until they field a plausible challenger to the Speaker that actually has a name and can be swindled into taking the job, they're just wasting their time, and burning fundraising bridges behind them.