Well, to Boehner, his defeat is embarrassing. But to me it is glorious.
Last night, in the second hour of his radio, Mark Levin called for a “Levin surge.” He gave out the phone number for the congressional switchboard and asked his audience to call their representatives to urge them to vote against Plan B, which he called the “Boehner tax increase.” It was in the beginning of the third hour that Boehner made his statement announcing the defeat of Plan B.
Now we have the Washington Post Wonkblog speculating that Boehner’s speakership may be in trouble over this embarrassing defeat. I ran the math – Boehner needs 218 votes to be elected Speaker. There are 234 Republicans in the new House of Representatives. So if 17 of those Republicans refuse to support Boehner, he will be defeated.
It’s going to take a lot of guts for Republicans in the House to stand up to Boehner. Courage is not appreciated by the Republican leadership. If members stand up and Boehner remains the leader, they will certainly face retribution.
Look at the three who were stripped of committee assignments for their courage in honoring campaign pledges not to raise taxes. Look what was done to Michele Bachmann, who has been one of the most courageous members of the House. It was scandalous. I listened myself to the interview Reince Priebus gave on Mark Levin’s show during the campaign. Mark asked him specifically if the Republican National Committee would help her in her campaign. Reince assured Mark that if she needed help, they would help. Well, as it turned out, Michele won in a real squeaker of an election that wasn’t settled until the morning after election day, and she received not one penny of support from the Republican National Committee, or the National Republican Congressional Committee. Can we say, “Left hanging out to dry”? It appears that’s what happened. And why? Clearly because she has too much courage for Boehner.
Similar treatment could be in store for any other Republicans who make life difficult for Boehner. But I hope there will be enough to challenge him. During the campaign, I hosted a meet and greet for our Republican congressional candidate in my house. I took the chance to ask him if he would vote against Boehner for Speaker. He said he would. I hope he and 16 other Republicans do just that.
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Boehner must go. He is not a champion of Liberty, a defender of the Constitution or a Reaganite. He is a beltway apparachik, deal maker par exelance. But he does make a good doormat for Hussein Obama.
Comment by Dave Hall:
Amen, Bro.