Boehner: I’d Consider Stepping Aside As Majority Leader For Tom DeLay
Boehner: I’d Consider Stepping Aside As Majority Leader For Tom DeLay
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:
RUSSERT: If he [DeLay] is acquitted and chooses to come back to Washington and wants to become Majority Leader again, would you step aside?
BOEHNER: I’m sure we would talk about it. Tom and I have a different approach.
RUSSERT: You would talk about it?
BOEHNER: Tom and I have a different approaches. But I think what’s going on in Texas with tom DeLay is unfortunate, unfair, and highly partisan. And that’s why I gave him that money out of my PAC to help him pay for his tremendous legal fees.
RUSSERT: But if he’s acquitted and decided to come back to Washington and reclaim the Majority Leader position, you would consider it?
BOEHNER: He stepped down as Majority Leader. He vacated his seat. We had an election and I won. But I like Tom Delay. He’s been a great leader for our party. He’s a friend of mine. And we’re going to continue to work closely together.
RUSSERT: But you would step aside for him?
BOEHNER: I said we would talk about it.
Meet the new boss. Placeholder for the old boss.
UPDATE: Watch the video at Crooks & Liars.
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What is amazing is how Boehner said he would not return money from the Chippewa’s because he was “representing” them. Here in Ohio’s 8th, our population consists of 0.2% American Indian/Alaskan. The primary tribe of this area is the Miami tribe. He sure wasn’t representing his constituents.
As matter of fact, the senior population is 13.8% here. Numerous seniors I know have been calling his office none stop asking for someone to come speak or at least give some advice on the Medicare-D program. His office flat out refuses to even listen to these people. He is just another congressman that represents from his wallet.
Jamie
February 5th, 2006 at 11:39 amhttp://intoxination.blogspot.com
So that is how they clean up congress elect a fake leader till Delay can come back?????? Please wake up DELAY DOES NOT OWN OUR CONGRESS,Bush does not OWN America, WE DO.( now lets all pray, to whom you please while that is still legal).
February 5th, 2006 at 11:44 am[...] Some “cleanup,” huh. Like two Mafia dons fighting over turf: [...]
February 5th, 2006 at 11:46 amI saw MTP this morning and you’re not reading Boehner right. What he’s really saying is that he has no intention of ceding his new post to anyone, especially DeLay. Other than that, it was fun watching the egregiously corrupt majority leader lamely try to tap dance around some surprisingly pointed questions.
February 5th, 2006 at 12:04 pmI don’t know – he didn’t seem to amenable to stepping down. He’s just playing “reasonable” on TeeVee for the viewers.
February 5th, 2006 at 12:06 pmDeLay won’t be back. The seniors got screwed with the Medicare Part D. There is something terribly wrong when it’s against the law for the US Government to buy drugs at wholesale prices when WalMart and other pharmacies can. What a bonus for Big Pharma! It would be wise for senior citizens to calculate the cost of their medications (generic where possible) when purchased through a pharmacy versus the cost of medications plus the cost of medication insurance premiums when purchased through Medicare D. And then there is the doughnut hole to worry about. It’s really a lose/lose situation for senior citizens.
February 5th, 2006 at 12:07 pmEven more telling is that the guy said at one point that he had met Abramoff once and two minutes later said he had never met him at all. Can you say ‘making it up as he goes’
February 5th, 2006 at 12:12 pm“representing†…. the Miami tribe? – knowing these two-faced mofos, I’d guess Bo-ner was trying to get them back to where they came from, if JEB would take them.
That would reduce that .2% o make room for some more Good White Christians.
February 5th, 2006 at 12:13 pmAnother comment on Boehner’s comedy routine. When asked about passing out tobacco industry cash on the House floor, he allowed that it was “a mistake” but then quickly added that it was “a longstanding tradition.” Let’s see, passing out bribes on the floor of Congress is something like fireworks on the Fourth of July or turkey on Thanksgiving?
February 5th, 2006 at 12:17 pmSo you say that a boycott will take time or will not work?
Nonsense.
Idiot conservatives called CBS 3 or 4 years ago in droves to protest the airing of a Reagan movie they did not see but heard that it would not portray Reagan well. They threatened a boycott of CBS and the advertisers.
That did not take long to get CBS to shift the movie over to showtime which had a much smaller viewership.
Many progressives called Sinclair Broadcasting in droves before the 2004 election threatening a boycott of them and their advertisers if they would not take a movie smearing John Kerry off the air. It worked quickly.
If we can get a movie off Sinclair stations then whey can’t we call companies in droves that give money to the Republican party and their candidates and Republican senators and representatives and threaten them with a boycott in order to get a comprehensive progressive agenda passed?
Why?
People must CALL their senators and representative AND these companies in droves making the connection between a boycott of these companies and a demand that they want a progressive agenda passed in congress.
Do you want to increase the minimum wage?
Write your senators and representative and demand they increase the minimum wage.
Browse http://tinyurl.com/bl2fa
Do you want to scrap the current meager Medicare Part D discount and replace it with 80 percent medication coverage under Medicare Part B?
Write your senators and representative.
Browse http://tinyurl.com/7zj69
Next time you fax, email or call a senator or representative, include this in with your demand:
Until the legislation or action I demand gets done I will boycott products from Republican contributors Walmart, Wendy’s, Outback Steak House, Dominos Pizza, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Eckerd, CVS and Walgreens, Curves for women health clubs, GE and Exxon/Mobil.
Hold Republican contributors accountable for their officeholders opposition to progress.
February 5th, 2006 at 12:23 pmDon’t sit too close to that guy – he’s pretty slimy.
February 5th, 2006 at 12:24 pmHe couldn’t keep his lies straight, defended illegal practices as “tradition,” on MTP. He’s a clone of Delay all right, but I don’t think he’d go down easy if Delay ever comes back. That’s a moot point, IMHO, though, because I think Delay is toast.
YOU GUYS ARE IDIOTS!!! You are worse than Fox Muldur. THERE IS NO CONSPIRACY! Boehner is not placeholding Delay’s position, Delay is done, he is through, the Delay era is over. But what you left wing, wing nuts must come to grips with is that YOUR SIDE LIES TOO!!! You are going to beat up the congressmen on the right for taking Abramof money, while turning your head to the liberal congressmen that did the same thing? Are you the same “voters” that decided that Clinton/Gore taking campaign money through Chinese front organizations was no big issue? You guys might try reading a little bit, educating yourself a little bit, getting out of the theoretical world a little bit, because you sound like mindless morons. Oh and for Ms McElhannon…..your right to freedom of religion in this country and praying to whom you want is only in danger if you are a Christian. And if we loose this GWOT, then nobody will have any rights. Heads out of our asses people, if you are going to talk, think first.
February 5th, 2006 at 12:41 pmIf Delay is proved to be innocent, then Delay is innocent. Any amount of uproar that the progressive left makes after that fact of innocence is made is only a cry baby effect.
True he’s hard core.
But if he’s innocent, he’s innocent.
And somehow my gut says that he won’t be proved innocent.
February 5th, 2006 at 12:59 pm[...] Not so clean, per this morning’s Meet the Press: RUSSERT: If he [DeLay] is acquitted and chooses to come back to Washington and wants to become Majority Leader again, would you step aside? [...]
February 5th, 2006 at 1:01 pm#12 “There is none so blind as he who refuses to see.” You are obviously blind to something called “The Truth.” Like a jailed mafia don, no matter where that cretin DeLay is, he will control this corrupt party. If you were not the idiot you accuse others of being you would see that, and get off the sinking ship before it takes you to the bottom, as it wants to take this country down. The Regressives like you are far worse then any foreign agressor.
February 5th, 2006 at 1:03 pmIt’s a culture of Corruption. No way out but Impeachment.
February 5th, 2006 at 1:18 pmI watched this guy on MTP this morning. What a joke of a “reformer” he projects as a congressional leader. If this is the best the republicans can put forth as a leader, the democrats will have no trouble in becoming the majority party.
February 5th, 2006 at 1:19 pmThey still make’em like this. But who can tell who is behind the mask?
February 5th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
February 5th, 2006 at 1:30 pmLets try that image again
I was surprised that Russert actually asked some pointed questions and pressed him for answers. I wanted a question asked about the irregularities in Boehner’s election to majority leader. It goes to show that the GOP is begining to devour on itself.
February 5th, 2006 at 1:59 pmRe#15. None so blind as he who refuses to see? I am going to give you credit for not TOO badly maligning a biblical quote. But no credit for your common sense. I don’t need to accuse leftist’s of being idiots, they announce it when they speak. As long as the media continues to be pro-left (like this “non-partisan” web site), and not hold the left accountable for it’s statements in the press, then NOBODY has a legitimate ground for accusing anyone on the right of not knowing the truth. If the Alito hearings didn’t prove that the senators on the left had no idea of the meaning of truth, then nothing will. Defamation of character was the focus, and frankly I can’t believe that ANYONE would accept Ted Kennedy questioning anyones’ ethics. Like I said earlier…..read something other than the new york times, watch something other than network news, go to the library, think with your own brain rather than let someone else tell you how to think, and you will be just fine. One last thought on the truth. When asked why he was supporting closure on the Alito debate, rising democratic star Barack Obama opined that (to wit)the left had failed to convince the American people that Alito was outside of the mainstream, that he didn’t represent their values. His point was that the left had to CONVINCE America that Alito’s values weren’t their own. And Obama relaized that they hadn’t done that. At least he knows the truth; that Alito’s values ARE America’s values, and that the left couldn’t convince America otherwise. Now, aren’t you proud to be among the people that would seek to change American’s rather than represent them. Don’t preach to me about the truth….you have no credibility there.
February 5th, 2006 at 2:00 pmBoner is just a stand in for Tom Delay!
He is corrupt and a patsy for the GOP too!
February 5th, 2006 at 2:03 pmAnd if we loose this GWOT, then nobody will have any rights. Heads out of our asses people, if you are going to talk, think first.
Comment by donaldleehackle #12
donaldfckdupduck,
You sh*thead al Cracker loser…
You’ve got a lot to learn about our political system…
…corruption is deep seated, intractable, and Boehner’s “ascension” to the republiscum “leadership” position is proof positive…
The man is a K-Street who*e…
Dumbass DeLay was a K-Street who*e…
…net effect of the republiscum’s answer to fighting corruption?
nil…
February 5th, 2006 at 2:22 pmAmerica is really an incredible country.
February 5th, 2006 at 2:51 pmThe Politicians rant on and on about CORRUPTION in almost every other part of the world, yet when it comes to CORRUPTION within the (good ‘ol US of A) what do we find.
Why surprise of surprise, OUR POLITICIANS are as CORRUPT as those of any other nation.
It has been said that people deserve the Government they elect.
We, the voters are DIRECTLY responsible for the politicians we elect.
We cannot blame them pesky Arabs, nor can we blame them Chinese, nor indeed can we blame them Europeans, nor indeed them wetback Mexicans, nor those African nations Leaders who willingly if not complainingly (they alway6s want more) salt away (In their Swiss bank accounts around 70% of all the (AID)) we give them.
Who can we blame?.
Hell folks! why not try ourselves.
“Conservatives are fond of pointing out there are problems in this world can’t be solved by throwing money at them. There are even more that can’t be solved by dropping bombs on them. ” — Molly Ivins
February 5th, 2006 at 3:06 pm#12…..”You are going to beat up the congressmen on the right for taking Abramof money, while turning your head to the liberal congressmen that did the same thing?”
not one dime….and you call lefties idiots
February 5th, 2006 at 3:18 pmWhich case does he need to be acquitted from. All of them?
He is involved in Abramoff.
He is involved in Cunningham.
He is involved in Money Laundering.
These are three seperate cases, not one.
February 5th, 2006 at 3:21 pm[...] Read more Boehner [...]
February 5th, 2006 at 3:31 pmOh so sorry donaldleehackle, that unlike you, I don’t buy the talking points of Faux News. Alito’s ideas are the ideas of mainstream Regressive thinking. I refuse to accept that there is where the majority of Americans stand. As for my reading habits, I read rather widely. Contrary to your smug conceptions, I am a progressive and not ashamed of it. As I see it history is repleat with examples of reactionary conservative thinking. The regressive have controlled every aspect of the government of this country for the last five years and what do we have to show for it? A National debt that goes on forever, (and Bush wants to waste more money for his failed policies)More than 2220 of our youth killed in an necessary war based on known false premises, surrounded by lying repeatedly to both the Congress and the American people. Jobs being shipped overseas, a lousy job market at home. Oh and let’s not forget those tax cuts in a time of “war” for the benefit of the rich while cutting benefits for Veterans including those severly mained in Bush’s false war. Your lot certainly has much to be proud of don’t you? And you dare to call others idiots?
February 5th, 2006 at 3:41 pmP.S. I meant unnecessary war above.
February 5th, 2006 at 3:43 pmwell, Jesus H! just give the “corruption reform” Congress back to the patron saint of corruption…
February 5th, 2006 at 3:54 pmREAD THIS EVERYBODY WAR IS COMING SOON
http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2006/02/battle_plans_fo_1.html#more
February 5th, 2006 at 4:03 pmI liked how Boehner’s lips pulled back at the corners every time he lied. Good liars can look you in the eye when they lie but they can’t control subconscious twitches that reveal they are lying ala GWB’s periodic out of control lip twitches. I liked how specter pulled out the “it depends on your defintion of is” defense of Bush’s domestic spying. God help us.
February 5th, 2006 at 4:09 pmAlmost thirteen years ago, I had the great misfortune of moving to Ohio. As a (then) conservative Republican I was pleased at moving to a state where fiscal and moral responsibility were presumably important to the political players–a state where working people were held in high regard and where a functional economy was designed to benefit everyone alike. True, some would manage to get wealthy by their efforts, and others would merely “make a living,” but the point was that at minimum, exercising personal responsibility, everyone could profit by a benign and honest capitalism.
February 5th, 2006 at 4:18 pmWhat I in fact entered was a state where working people are damned even as we are condescended to by a wholly unethical ruling elite for whom lying is as natural as urinating. My own Congressman, Bob Ney, is in my opinion as dishonest as any other grifter, and Boehner is just a more refined version of a rattlesnake–without the rattle.
#32–WOW. HOLY JESUS. I’ve never read a more concise, rational, laid-out theory of the what, where, and why we’d fight Iran.
I implore y’all to read it. Even the trolls. Looks like we’re one small Iranian strip of land away from global oil domination. Truly amazing read.
February 5th, 2006 at 5:32 pmREAD THIS EVERYBODY WAR IS COMING SOON
http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/ archives/ 2006/ 02/ battle_plans_fo_1.html#more
February 5th, 2006 at 6:14 pmAbsolutely chilling, Smedley.
February 5th, 2006 at 6:28 pmYes war is being planned on Iran, even as we post these comments! By the end of March is the proposed deadline for
February 5th, 2006 at 9:48 pmmissiles and bombs to land on Iran > fired from Israel and our bases in Iraq! The Neocons think that Iran will cower and not retaliate, but they are very stupid and naive! Iran will retaliate most likely by sending 10 to 20 divisions into Iraq, as Syria sends in another 5 to 10, so our troops will be caught in a vice in Iraq and slaughtered! When 100,000 of our troops are dead or wounded, then I wonder what the Republican swine in DC will say about it?
Couple of small, but related items from today’s MTP on JABBS.
Please feel free to comment.
February 5th, 2006 at 10:36 pmIran can rebuff any invasion fron the US and Israel. The formula is simple – Iran has money.
February 5th, 2006 at 11:33 pmA scumbag by any other name…
February 6th, 2006 at 1:03 amThe idea of attacking Iran is preposterous. The US military is already stretched to the limit in Iraq and an attack on Iran would most certainly provoke a Shiite uprising in the south of Iraq which would render our already untenable situation there impossible. Remember, Sadr has already visited Tehran and promised to unleash his militias if Iran is attacked. The whole neo-con, Mossad plan to take over all the oil in the middle east is in complete shambles and what do we get? The idiot Rumsfeld waving his rubber sword at Venezuela.
February 6th, 2006 at 6:57 amWow…..#26, 27, 29……you are an articulate bunch, and did about what I expected, resorted to name calling when you have no ideas. I am going to guess that this “cracker” is a little better educated than you big papa. I could have opined that just from the way you wrote your response. Walter66, not a dime? Ask Harry Reid about that $50k that he refuses to return, that he only received AFTER Abramof started representing the NDN tribes (Walter, you really have to LEARN something…you can’t listen to Howard Dean because we all know that he is PSYCHOTIC). As for you John the Elder, I apologize for the inference that YOU personally might be an idiot. However, your contention that you are widely read does lead me to wonder why you haven’t learned anything? And for all of you, one of your leftist buddies on the internet invited me to this party. I somehow thought that you might not be interested in exchanging ideas, because there doesn’t seem to be a lot of them in here.
February 6th, 2006 at 7:28 am[...] The newly-elected House Majority Leader on what he’d do if the former Majority Leader came back for his old job: RUSSERT: If he [DeLay] is acquitted and chooses to come back to Washington and wants to become Majority Leader again, would you step aside? [...]
February 6th, 2006 at 11:16 am#9 & 11,
You suggest that Boehner JUSTIFIED certain practices as “longstanding traditions.” Exactly when and where did he say this? I can’t find any such expression in the transcript.
It’s true he did say something about the tobacco money having been an “old practice” (”tradition” if you like). But look at what he said about that practice:
“It was a big mistake, and I regret it. I shouldn’t have done it. It was an old practice that had gone on in the House for a long time, and I do regret it. But I also worked with Speaker Gingrich at the time to change the rules of the House to prohibit the practice.”
So, are you actually claiming that his admitting an act was “a big mistake”, that he shouldn’t have done it, AND then working to CHANGE the rules to PROHIBIT the practice is somehow trying to JUSTIFY it??!
February 6th, 2006 at 12:44 pm#7 writes: the guy said at one point that he had met Abramoff once and two minutes later said he had never met him at all.
OK, let’s get this straight.
First he said:
“I didn’t know Jack Abramoff. I may have met him once. I had no relationship to him, and the money that I raised from those tribes had nothing to do with him.”
Later he said:
Some of his under—underlings worked with some low-level employees in my office. I’m telling you, I never met the man.
Interesting.
#1)Boehner’s giving this interview and answering questions as they come up, not reading some carefully prepared statement. If he’s anything like the rest of us, he’s likely to say things that imprecise and not always perfectly consistent. So, when you do that, may I simply take if for granted YOU are LYING? Or would you hope I would give you the benefit of the doubt… and that, if I was troubled by any apparent inconsistency, I’d ask you about it? (Note that Russert did NOT do such a thing — is a dolt who didn’t perceive the lie?)
#2) You, on the other hand, have had the opportunity to listen and think about what he said (and read the transcript? I hope) So I would assume you could more precise in your statements. Yet you quote Boehner as saying “I met him once”, when what he actually said was “I may have met him once.” Do you think that little word “may” is insignificant? Or were you just being careless and imprecise yourself. . . ? Then you add “at all” to his second quote.
And finally, you leave out his statement that he did not KNOW the man (whom he says he may have met once — is that so hard to understand? Have you or anyone you know ever had a job where you (they) meet numerous people? Do you know how easy it is in such a position for there to be people you know or have heard OF, but don’t really have personal dealings with, whom you don’t believe you ever actually met, yet you realize you might have…?
In short, you make BOTH statements significantly stronger than Boehner himself did, and made assumptions about him that you would object to our making about you or your friends.
Listen, you are perfectly entitled to follow up on the matter. If it turns out he was well acquainted with Abramoff, or otherwise had corrupt dealings, go after him! But from the two statements you’re referring to (rather sloppily, I’m afraid), you have. . . nothing.
February 6th, 2006 at 1:12 pmNo where in the transcript does Boehner say he will “consider” stepping aside for Delay.
So, stop making shit up. You are a fool and an asshole.
February 6th, 2006 at 1:23 pmI somehow thought that you might not be interested in exchanging ideas, because there doesn’t seem to be a lot of them in here.
Comment by donaldleehackle@yahoo.com
There are tons of ideas around here. Bush = Hitler, Bush owns the MSM, Bush is a racist cracker, Bush is a monkey, Bush sucks, etc.
February 6th, 2006 at 4:19 pmREAD THIS EVERYBODY WAR IS COMING SOON
http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/ archives/ 2006/ 02/ battle_plans_fo_1.html#more
Comment by Smedley — February 5, 2006 @ 6:14 pm
Absolutely chilling, Smedley.
Comment by Marie — February 5, 2006 @ 6:28 pm
Yes war is being planned on Iran, The Neocons think that Iran will cower and not retaliate, but they are very stupid and naive! Iran will retaliate most likely by sending 10 to 20 divisions into Iraq, as Syria sends in another 5 to 10, so our troops will be caught in a vice in Iraq and slaughtered!
Comment by Jay Randal
Iran has a military on par with Iraq. They will fold at the first site of a B1 if it even gets that far. The mullah’s rule the country but they don’t have complete control of the military and they certainly do not have the love of the people of Iran.
My guess is we will obliterate the offending nuclear reactors and “secret” enrichment sites and stand back and watch the Islamofascist regime implode. I would hope the USA has the foresight to also take out as much as the ruling political body as possible first then follow up with the strikes on the nuclear targets. All in all it promises to be a great show if short run. Don’t look for shock and awe look for surgical strikes and then complete chaos inside Iran as each faction tries to take over in the confusion.
The idea that Iran could manage a battlefield victory over the USA is ludicrous to anyone who knows anything about US military capabilities. The fact is the entire Islamic Empire could mobilize against the US and it would be like we were fighting WWII Germany . It would be a slaughter.
February 6th, 2006 at 4:32 pmLike usual I-R-I posts Rumsfeld fantasies on here > lol.
The entire Islamic world hates President Bush and will NOT rally for George against Iran! The Shia in Iraq have already stated that they will side with Iran if Bush attacks them > they represent about 60% of the Iraqi population!
Also Adolf Hitler thought Russia was a weak, and stupid nation, that would collapse when he attacked them > ended up he was wrong and lost a half million troops at Stalingrad! Bush will find out that Iran will bite his ass!
February 7th, 2006 at 12:18 amBush will find out that Iran will bite his ass!
Comment by Jay Randal
The Iranian people will not fight a war against the USA unless the mullahs hold a gun to their head. 60% of Iran are under the age of 30 and they love our culture and us.
I for one would HATE to use the full military might of the greatest military the earth has ever seen on these people. You are a monster for suggesting they stand a chance.
February 7th, 2006 at 10:10 am