John Boehner

GOP Declares War On Obama

Bob Fertik — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:00:59 -0500

One day after the election, Speaker Pelosi offered an olive branch to the tiny Republican minority:

"A country must be governed from the middle," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday. "You have to bring people together to reach consensus on solutions that are sustainable and acceptable to the American people."

So how did House Minority Leader John Boehner reply? With his middle finger:

"They want us to stand aside for the next two years, abandon our principles, and give the new administration and the Democratic leaders of Congress a free pass," the Ohio Republican said in a letter. "It ain't gonna happen. ... Democrats should not make the mistake of viewing Tuesday's results as a repudiation of conservatism or a validation of big government. Neither should we."

The second ranking Republican in the Senate, Jon Kyl, threatened filibusters against Obama's Supreme Court nominees.

Richard Bond, a former GOP chairman, said Republicans would and should take on Mr. Obama aggressively.

Rightwing talk show host Michael Reagan, Ronald's adopted son, wants to start impeachment.

And rightwing bloggers told conservatives to "gird your loins" to "fight every attempt" to enact Obama's progressive mandate.

GOP Ready to Throw Hastert and Boehner Under the Bus

Bob Fertik — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 00:11:46 -0500

Before most votes were even cast, righter-wing House Republicans got ready to throw rightwingers Denny Hastert and John Boehner under the bus, according to their house organ The Hill:

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the outspoken chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), is expected to run for House minority leader if the GOP loses its majority by a sizable margin, a Republican aide with knowledge of his intentions said yesterday...

If he runs, the loquacious conservative would join Energy and Commerce chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) in the field of candidates expected to challenge Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) if Republicans lose control of the House...

A broad array of rank-and-file members and some current leaders are considering bids for the elected leadership, including Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Carter (R-Texas), Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) and Kay Granger (R-Texas). Cantor and Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) are the two members of the current elected leadership whose stars have risen in the aftermath of the Foley scandal, but they remain mum about their ambitions after the election.

I can't wait for their competing campaign slogans:

I didn't take as much from Abramoff as he did!
I only fantasized about pages, I never IM'd one!
I got more earmarks than anyone else!

DEMAND Hastert's Immediate Resignation

thepen — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 14:28:38 -0400

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/pnum528.php

In response to his indefensible handling of a known child predator in their midst, Dennis Hastert whined today that liberals were out to "get to me". Isn't that just so precious? Little Denny Hastert is now the REAL victim in all of this, not the children exposed to the abuse of Mark Foley because of Hastert's own complicity.

The fact is that Foley began making inappropriate advances to underage pages from the day he entered Congress in 1995, and the Republican leadership knew so much about it that, as reported by the Washington Post, they were warning the pages to stay clear of Foley from day one.

Hastert today says "we took care of Mr. Foley" by asking him to resign. Of course that's exactly what he told John Boehner, "it had been taken care of", when fresh allegations surfaced 11 months ago, which Boehner at first admitted, then denied, then admitted again. This has been common knowledge among the Republican leadership for 10 years, it is only the Democrats and the American people who have been kept in the dark. So for Mr. Hastert "taking care of" something MEANS to sweep it under the rug yet again, all the while Foley is paying off the National Republican Congressional Committee.

President Bush yesterday said we should still trust Hastert because he is a "father". What parent would not aggressively move to investigate such inappropriate overtures which they knew all about? What parent would be lulled into inaction by concerns that it "might have affected campaigns". It NEEDS to affect campaigns alright, starting with the resignation of Dennis Hastert.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/pnum528.php

Even the reactionary Washington Times has called for Hastert to go immediately. A liberal media conspiracy indeed! Is there no craven hypocrisy too depraved for the current Republican leadership to swallow? Tell them to take some "personal responsibility". Tell Hastert to resign.

Can the GOP Survive So Many Scandals?

Bob Fertik — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 12:01:38 -0400

Christy surveys the ever-expanding list of GOP scandals and shakes her head in disbelief. We have truly gone through the Looking Glass.

We Democrats look at these scandals and assume the normal results will follow. For the individual politician, that means humiliation, resignation, and exile to oblivion. Then his closest colleagues are exposed and follow the same trajectory: humiliation, resignation, and exile. Then the party hangs its head in shame, removes all bad apples, and returns to the path of God.

But the GOP doesn't play by the rules: there is no shame at the GOP.

There is no shame over Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, Mark Foley, or any of the other Republicans who have resigned in disgrace.

There is no shame over the coverup by Speaker Denny Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner, the two most powerful Republicans in the House.

There is no shame - only attacks on Democrats like Bill Clinton (Hannity lies again!) and long-forgotten former Rep. Gerry Studds.

There is a simple reason why shame has no place in Republican politics: that's because the GOP is a top-down corporation, not (like the Democratic Party) a franchise operation of individual politicians who rise or fall based on their character and accomplishments.

Take George W. Bush. What had he ever achieved before he became the GOP nominee for President? Less than nothing. He went AWOL from the National Guard, failed at several businesses, and was drunk until 40. But Bush Inc. (led by James Baker and Karl Rove) decided he had a winning personality (unlike his dull father) that would make him electable, so they made him Governor (an easy task in solidly red Texas) and got him through the Republican presidential primaries in South Carolina by accusing John McCain of having an illegitimate black child.

Of course Bush didn't win in 2000 or 2004. But Baker and Rove made sure he was declared the victor by their Republican Secretaries of State (and Bush-Cheney campaign chairs), first Katherine Harris and then Ken Blackwell. In 2000, Baker even had to get his 5 Republicans on the Supreme Court to throw out 175,000 never-counted ballots.

That's how the GOP works: it's a corporation and everyone in the GOP is a loyal employee who does whatever (s)he is told.

Mark Foley is a loyal employee. When Karl Rove told him to resign, he did so immediately.

Denny Hastert is a loyal employee. When Karl Rove told him to block an investigation of Foley and his enablers, he did so immediately. When Karl Rove tells him to resign over the Foley scandal to protect the rest of the GOP leaders (Boehner, Reynolds, Shimkus, etc.), he will do so immediately.

Republicans don't care if their actions are immoral or even criminal. They know the Corporation will take care of them, both through the propaganda system (a.k.a. The Media) and through the legal system.

For the first 4 years of the Bush Regime, both of these systems worked perfectly. But in 2005, reality began to bite back. Jeff Gannon was exposed as a rightwing gay prostitute who was placed as a mole in the White House press corps. Iraq turned into a debacle, and the Downing Street Memos exposed the deliberate lies that brought it about. Retired generals exposed Rumsfeld's massive failures and demanded his replacement. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald got sick of White House lies and put the most powerful officials under oath repeatedly to get the truth, finally indicting Scooter Libby on perjury and exposing the whole character-assassination game.

And Bob Woodward finally woke up and smelled the rotten fish in the Oval Office.

So one by one, top Republicans are being exposed for their most blatant crimes. And one by one, Republican voters are waking up to the corruption at the heart of the GOP.

But will that be enough to cost Republicans control of Congress? Not as long as Republicans control the counting of votes in key states like Florida and Ohio and in thousands of counties where votes are counted by Republican machines programmed by Diebold, ES&S, and Sequoia.

Republicans are in power for two reasons: they control the media and they count the votes. Progressives have broken the GOP monopoly on the media by creating our own - the blogs and Air America radio. But until we break the GOP monopoly on vote counting, Republicans will continue to control our government.

I'll offer solutions to this problem in the days and weeks to come...

Republican's Pull a Boehner

wahoo — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 20:20:12 -0500

GOP leader: Keep privately paid trips
Boehner backs tighter disclosure, opposes other proposals

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The new Republican leader in the House of Representatives backed more stringent disclosure rules for lawmakers and lobbyists Sunday, but criticized measures such as a ban on privately paid travel proposed by other GOP leaders.

Rep. John Boehner, who was elected House majority leader Thursday, also said limits on "earmarked" spending bills would help clean up Congress amid a wide-ranging influence-peddling probe.

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant," the Ohio congressman told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"If there is more disclosure of travel before you go, more disclosure of the relationship between lobbyists and members and their staff, let the American people take a look at this," said Boehner. "Let them watch it and let them judge what we're doing. I think that will reduce the amount of corruption and graft that goes on."

Boehner has taken trips valued at more than $157,000 since 2000, paid for by nonprofit trade organizations and think tanks, according to Federal Election Commission records compiled by the online research group Political Moneyline.

He told "Fox News Sunday" that the trips -- which include visits to Scotland, Belgium and Spain -- are necessary to keep lawmakers informed on the issues before them.

"We can't lock members up in a cubbyhole here in Washington and never let them see what's going on around the country and around the world," he said.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, and Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, a California Republican, have proposed a ban on privately paid travel as part of a reform package they outlined last month. Democrats have proposed a similar rule. (Full story)

The proposals followed January's guilty plea by Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist with extensive ties to top Republican leaders. Abramoff agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with federal prosecutors in an investigation that knowledgeable sources said could yield charges against a half-dozen people.

Among the lawmakers under scrutiny over privately funded travel is Rep. Bob Ney. Sources have identified Ney as the unnamed official listed in Abramoff's plea deal who allegedly took action for the lobbyist after receiving from him a golf trip to Scotland and other favors. Ney has steadfastly denied wrongdoing.

Democrats, meanwhile, have pounded at what they call a Republican "culture of corruption" on Capitol Hill.

In addition to the Abramoff scandal, they cite November's resignation and guilty plea by former California Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who admitted taking bribes from defense contractors, and state money-laundering charges against former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, who denies wrongdoing.

But Boehner, who sold himself to his GOP colleagues as a reform leader to replace DeLay, told Fox that some of the proposals being floated would treat members "like kids."

"Understand that all the activities associated with Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, former member who resigned in disgrace, and other members who have problems -- they've already violated the law and/or they violated the rules of the House," he said.

"Bringing more transparency to this relationship, I think, is the best way to control it."

And he said he would not push for a complete ban on spending "earmarks," which are used to fund special projects for lawmakers' districts, but said they should be restricted.

"There's an appropriate place for some of these earmarks, but we need less numbers of earmarks and more transparency and more accountability," he told Fox. "Members' names ought to be associated with them. They ought to be visible, and members ought to have a chance to see these before they become law."

Critics, who include Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, say the use of earmarks, often added at the last minute to massive spending bills, have been a boon to lobbyists who push for them.

Boehner said he had "no relationship" with Abramoff, though some of Abramoff's "underlings" met several times with "some low-level employees of my office."

But he said that the investigation and the ongoing war in Iraq could spell trouble for the GOP in November's elections

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/05/house.leadership/index.html

He sounds like Tom Delay II

Same old crap

Boehner: I’d Consider Stepping Aside As Majority Leader For Tom DeLay

Ted Kahl — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 01:42:15 -0500

From Think Progress:

The right-wing spin is that John Boehner (R-OH), Tom DeLay’s replacement as Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, represents a “clean break” from DeLay. The reality is that Boehner is as tightly connected to K Street lobbyists as any member of Congress. He has handed out tobacco industry checks on the House floor and has been wined and dined by special interests at the world’s most luxurious resorts and golf courses.

In case there was any doubt about where Boehner’s loyalties lie, he cleared it up this morning on Meet the Press. Boehner said that if DeLay is cleared of the criminal charges against him, Boehner would consider stepping aside and letting Delay assume his old role...