Boehner to Resign
Via the NYT: Boehner Will Resign From Congress.
My initial response at seeing the headline was to double-check and see if it was from a satire site. So, on the one hand I am truly surprised. On the other, however, I do find the degree to which this is emblematic of the divisions in the Republican Party (divisions that have plagued Boehner’s Speakership) to be very interesting.
Regardless of the party dynamic aspect, that he is reportedly going to reign from Congress by the end of next month is actually pretty stunning.
More later, I suspect.
Update: Longer story here: Speaker John Boehner Will Resign From Congress
I have some amount of sympathy for his position. And there could be worse speakers. Speaking of which, who are the leading contenders to take over?
Given that he needs to pass bills to keep the government open and to raise the debt ceiling, him resigning and sending the caucus into a leadership race is a stunning act of selfishness and irresponsibility. But after all, like the Bible says, it’s every man for himself.
How much hate did Boehner engender in the left? My memory recalls how Pelosi and Reid would get shellacked on right-wing news, and I certainly possess an entirely un-Christian feeling towards his Senate counterpart, but Boehner’s come off like a dude with an impossible job for pretty much his entire run as Speaker. Not a tragic figure by any means, but certainly an ironic one.
The GOP sold their soul to the Tea Party in 2010. This is yet another sign that the time for the GOP to pay up is here! The Tea Party is literally crumbling the Republican party from within. And it is almost sad to watch it happening…
Boehner is fundamentally a decent person in a swamp of indecency. Although I didn’t agree with him, I kind of liked him. Especially when he was overcome by sentimentality and teared up. Since I do the same thing, I cringed when people mocked him for that..
The take over of the House by the crazies is now complete. Bad news in the short term but if we survive perhaps not so bad in the long term.
The Right is running out of so-called RINOs that they can blame for any failures to implement their reactionary agenda. We’ll really know that its over when Mitch McConnell resigns his Senate leadership position.
All of this is why I would only be a little surprised if Ted Cruz won the GOP nomination. That would officially end all the “but real conservatives weren’t given a chance” whining and bedwetting, wouldn’t it?
@al-Ameda: I’d love to see Cruz be the nominee. It might actually shut up a couple people when he got shellacked in the general.
The Republican party won’t be “fixed” till the fanatics suffer a massive loss at the polls. The nomination of a true believer who satisfies the ID of the base who then goes on the suffer a Magovern scale defeat or perhaps the House turning over to the Dems in 2016.
@al-Ameda:
There is nothing that prevents Ted from resigning his Senate seat to serve a Speaker of the House….