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Go Home The Coming Boehner Purge

JONATHAN CHAIT SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

The Coming Boehner Purge

BY JONATHAN CHAIT

Is House Minority leader and likely next Speaker John Boehner looking to be purged? Last weekend, he said that he would support a middle-class tax cut bill if it came up for a vote, infuriating Republicans by giving away his willingness to compromise. Boehner has been backpedaling since.

Now Boehner is promising not to shut down the government:

“Our goal is to have a smaller, less costly, and more accountable government here in Washington DC. Our goal is not to shut down the government,” he said.

Here's the problem. If Republicans want to defund the Affordable Care Act in 2011 -- and it's their highest priority -- shutting down the government is the only way to go. So Boehner is signalling to his rank and file that they have to abandon their most fervent demand.

I think he's about one gaffe away from being deposed and replaced with somebody more willing to indulge Tea Party fantasies.

If anybody wants to start up a Republican establishment Dead Pool, I'm picking Boehner.

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11 comments

You have to wonder what his game is here.

- subterran

September 17, 2010 at 9:04am

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No game -- Boehner is just not ready for prime time as the leader of a party that has say-so in the governance of the country. He is good at raising money, holding lobbyists' hands and bucking up caucus members, but that's all done in private. In public, he is a disaster and the Republicans know it. Which is why people like Cantor and Pence have been trying to undercut him in vying for House leadership in the last two years, and why Boehner had to embark on a campaign of raising his profile in order to preserve his status as would-be Speaker.

- wildboy

September 17, 2010 at 9:25am

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Speaker Cantor? This really is starting to look like an episode from The West Wing.

- timteeter

September 17, 2010 at 9:59am

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Hey, when you're the self-described leader of the "Young Guns," how can you resist? Youth must be served! Cantor is also a way to make the Tea Party seem a little less "Christianist" (I hate using a Sullivanism, but it fits).

- Lymon1

September 17, 2010 at 11:02am

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I think that Boner is ready for prime time. He is just not ready to be the captain of the Tea Party and sail his party's boat down the river towards the rapids.

- liberal reformer

September 17, 2010 at 11:05am

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They could do what they did from c.00-06....have a figurehead as speaker and the power as the WHIP....Hastert = figurehead; DeLay= power.

- OscarPeck

September 18, 2010 at 9:27am

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Oscar: for a second, I thought you were referring to 00-06 C.E. ... mind wandered to Tiberius and Livia, wondering who would be the girl-diddling, pustule-ridden parallel ... DeLay as Sejanus, Cantor the Calligula ... Back to earth and 2010 C.E.; fine, but who will be whom?

- icarusr

September 18, 2010 at 11:02am

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Can someone tell me, did Boehner change colors?

- Nusholtz

September 18, 2010 at 11:03am

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Bourbon drinking, cigarette smoking Speaker? Yea! White wine drinking, cigarette smoking Speaker? Maybe. White wine drinking, non-smoking Speaker? Have my doubts. Non-drinking, non-smoking Speaker? Get outa here!

- rayward

September 18, 2010 at 1:52pm

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I think Boehner is not a good face for the party. He comes off bad in most interviews. I think Gingrich for all his recent craziness was a guy who could hold his own in debates and was skilled thinking on his feet. I think they might want Cantor and Paul Ryan as the face of the party. I mean I think Ryan is a total fraud and a doofus to boot (Young Guns...puhleeze). However, his own dorkiness covers up the reactionary nature of his program to many.

- MikeB.

September 18, 2010 at 8:15pm

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while I agree with OscarPeck's possible division of power, e.g. Hastert as Speaker with DeLay pulling all the strings, I believe the GOP has to wait for the returns to see how best to harness what will be a fractious coalition. If they get the majority, they would be smart to NOT put a true believer in the speaker's seat just like the Democrats should have put Steny Hoyer in place of Nancy Pelosi. Speaker Cantor would make Rahm Emmanuel go totally off the deep end :) Yeah, this is a la West Wing. Maybe the GOP should hire John Goodman to act as Speaker :) Michelle divorces Barack and marries Jimmy Smits :) Clint Eastwood becomes president:)

- K2K

September 19, 2010 at 3:04pm

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