John Boehner Re-Elected House Speaker

by JASmius



Not to say I told you so, but I told you so.

Let's go back to what I said three days ago:

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.

There's an old saying - actually, there's an endless supply of old sayings, and I appear to have them all stored somewhere in my fertile brain, but I digress - "If you're going to strike at the king, you'd better not miss".  The corollary to that is, "You'd also better be able to hit him hard enough to take him out if you're on target".

Louis Gohmert, Ted Yoho, Steve King, and the rest of the anti-Boehner cabal proved, as I predicted, to be the legislative equivalent of Skinny-Armed Rob Lowe, and couldn't get the lid off of the Speaker's mayonnaise jar:

John Boehner was elected Tuesday to serve another two years as the speaker of the House, beating back opposition from a surprisingly large group of conservatives who wanted a fresh face atop the Republican conference.

But unsurprisingly, not large enough.

The Ohio Republican got 216 votes out of 408 cast, while twenty-five dissenting Republicans voted for candidates as varied as Representatives Daniel Webster (R-FL8), Jim Jordan (R-OH4), Louie Gohmert (R-TX1) and Jeff Duncan (R-SC3), House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA23) and Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL).

What?  Ted Cruz didn't get a vote?  I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you!

Tea Partiers like Eric Odom can throw all the ludicrous, obnoxious, and intelligence-insulting "Every single Republican who voted to confirm John Boehner as Speaker of the House just voted to support Amnesty, Obamacare and his big government, big spending agenda" temper tantrums they want - and I have no doubt that they will, and that the "establishment" is roaring with laughter at ever last whiney syllable.  But the facts y'all have to face up to sooner or later are that (1) It is very, very difficult to remove a sitting House Speaker, (2) If you're going to try, you'd better lay the groundwork for a coup well in advance to maximize your chances of succeeding, and (3) this attempt was not only doomed from the start, but scattered like a piss stream in a wind tunnel.  Twenty-five dissenting votes - which, credit where credit is due, was closer to the twenty-nine vote runoff threshold than the preliminary estimates - and they got split seven ways?  Really?  Seriously?  What was the point?  Even that much caucus dissent, and they couldn't get organized behind a single challenger, like Louis Gohmert?  That is nothing short of pathetic.  Or, in other words, just like the last time Boehner was up for Speaker two years ago to big, fanfared conservative opposition that fell embarrasingly short.  Mr. Odom should be far more incensed at his own wing of the Party for wasting our time and raising (some) conservatives' hopes naively, just to be crushed yet again.

I dunno, maybe some TPers get turned on by feeling perpetually enraged.  Call it a "betrayal complex".  But they shouldn't blame the "establishment" for continually thwarting their insurgencies if they remain this stubbornly incompetent at playing the political game, and just as bitterly cling to their fanciful belief that political victory is an entitlement.

You do realize, of course, that historically, by far the most common factor in toppling House Speakers is when the majority party gets blown out at the ballot box.  Recall that I wouldn't have been sad to see John Boehner deposed, but is that outcome so important to people like Eric Odom that it would be worth aiding and abetting a Nancy Pelosi restoration?

Yes, I believe it is.  Which is why people like Eric Odom will never get what they want.

In the meantime, John Boehner is still the Speaker, it is vital that the GOP remain in control of the House of Representatives, and it is to us to hold them to the pledges and promises that got them their biggest majority in eighty-six years as best we possibly can.

Or, in the words of Jimmy Dugan....



....and there's no crying in politics, either.