After facing two rounds of devastation election defeats, tomorrow House Republicans will gather to elect their leaders.
I wish that I could tell you that after the drubbing we took, that the incumbent Leader of House Republicans, John Boehner of Ohio (a.k.a. “Mr. Nice Guy”) had done the appropriate and honorable thing (like the #2 and #3 members of his leadership team) and stepped aside.
I wish that I could tell you that there is a vibrant contest taking place for who will be our new leader, with the idea that whomever it would be would be able to present a new face, and new image, and a new commitment to returning the Republican policy agenda on Capitol Hill back to one of increasing freedom for Americans and putting the federal government on a diet.
I wish that I could tell you that with the election of a new Republican Leader, that would mean that a long over-due shuffling of Committee Ranking Members would be taking place, the kind of changes that only take place through the dynamics of a competitive race for leader.
I wish that I could tell you that the infamous pork-loving GOP Appropriators that help over-spend us into a minority on Speaker Dennis Hastert were no longer ON the Appropriations Committee…
Alas, I cannot. The hard, cold facts are that House Republicans apparently seem committed, tomorrow, to re-electing John Boehner as their leader. What? You want me to repeat that? Boehner appears to be headed to election to a newly minted position called, “Permanent Minority Leader.”
“Why on Earth,” you ask, “would Republicans re-elect Boehner at a time when it is critical for the GOP to show that they are hungry to regain the majority?”
Great question. I can only tell you this (which is not a very strong sign of courage and leadership, generally, amongst House Republicans. John Boehner has a reputation for being “Mr. Nice Guy” – which is to say that I am not aware of even one instance where Boehner has exercised party discipline in order to keep liberal Republicans in line, and keep our party on the path towards achieving a principle conservative majority. I don’t know of one ranking member of a committee who has lost their spot (on the contrary, many of those that you and I would consider to be minority makers in this positions continue to retain their fiefdoms), or even a GOP Congressman who has lost their committee assignments due to turning their backs on our GOP policies.
We really have to go back to the nearly twenty year reign of former Minority Leader Bob Michel to find another leader who was a super nice guy, but lacked the leadership skills to rally (using both the carrot and the stick) House Republicans back to a majority.
We’ll see what happens tomorrow. California Republican Congressman Dan Lungren is waging a fairly low-profile campaign against Boehner, where he argues that a “coronation” of Boehner with no real discussion isn’t healthy for the party. He is not expected to topple the nice guy.
And so what really happens is the maintenance of the “status quo” – by and large the Boehner team IS the former Hastert Team – the majority Republicans who lost their way. The number three member of Boehner’s leadership team, Eric Cantor, is going to bump up to the number 3 spot (Cantor is considered to be a conservative, though we haven’t seen any public disagreements between Cantor and Boehner, which is disheartening. There is some good news in that Mike Pence, a strong conservative, looks to be the new #3 guy. But Cantor and Pence moving up is really only progress on the margins.
The real question is this – do you want to have John Boehner become Speaker if through some miracle we took back the majority in 2010? Frankly, I don’t. The forces that push constantly in Washington, D.C., for more and more spending, and bigger government need to be met with someone of gravitas and strong bearing. That simply is not Mr. Boehner (whom we opposed for this spot two years ago as well).
You’ve heard the expression, “Nice guys finish last” – well, apparently there is an exception. Amongst House Republicans, the nice guy finishes first – to our detriment.
As a Republican Leader – I want to be for something. I want to be excited about the future of the GOP. Don’t you?
Well, it’s hard to get excited when you see this kind of circular firing squad forming on The Hill, and you wonder how far we have to fall before it’s time to have a new strategy, and new leaders, to take lead us back to a principled majority.
Please, GOP Congressmen — cast a vote of "no confidence" in Boehner, and open up the doors wide for a full and vibrant leadership contest through the holidays, with the election of a new GOP Leader in January…
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