John Boehner Re-Elected Speaker Of The House
For the better part of yesterday, a group of conservatives including a writer at one of the Brietbart websites was pushing the rumor that an insurgency had developed against John Boehner that would be sufficient enough to prevent him from winning the Speakership on the first ballot, something that has not happened in the House since 1923. It sounded like a fanciful tale, and many Republicans in Congress came forward during the day to debunk it. By the end of the day, the claims by these people had expanded to include the utterly ridiculous idea that Boehner was going to resign at a Wednesday evening meeting of the House GOP caucus. None of that happened, of course, and when it came time today for voting, though, the supposed coup against Boehner turned out to be nothing more than a disorganized rant by petulant children:
Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) was reelected Speaker of the House on Thursday after a week of rumors of a possible GOP revolt.
Boehner won a bare majority in a vote that saw nine Republicans vote for other GOP members, and several others who abstained from voting or voted “present.” Two years ago, Boehner won all 241 available GOP votes.
In a vote that opened the 113th Congress, Boehner received 220 votes, compared to 192 for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the minority leader. Fourteen members voted for other candidates or present. Boehner needed 218 votes to win reelection.
Defectors from Boehner included Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), who voted for Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho). Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) and two freshmen, Reps. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) and Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), all voted for Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), but Cantor himself voted for Boehner.
Reps. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) voted for outgoing member Allen West (R-Fla.). Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) voted for former Comptroller General David Walker. Speakers of the House do not have to be members of the House, although historically they all have been.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) voted for Amash, and Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) voted for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Boehner was reelected just days after facing one his toughest tests as Speaker of the House — the negotiations over the fiscal cliff.
There were also a few Democratic defectors, including a Georgia Congressman who voted for John Lewis, and two other Congressmen who voted for Colin Powell for some reason. It was a closer vote than Boehner would have liked, no doubt, but his victory was obviously assured in the end, largely because the opposition couldn’t even agree among themselves on who to support as an alternative. This wasn’t an organized coup, it was a bunch of people who were a little upset showing their anger by stomping their feet on the floor.
Fixed.
No kidding…learned something today.
My dream of becoming Speaker of the House lives again! (OK, not really. I can’t imagine wanting a job that horrendous. I’d rather do everything ever shown on the show “Dirty Jobs” all at once for a year.)
And in related news…Michelle Bachmann introduced the first bill of the 113th session…a bill to Repeal Obamacare.
Here we go again. Was there ever any reason to think anything would change?
Perhaps his caucus just hates him, and wants to make his life as miserable as possible?
Breitbart Websites?
In any event, so there are 9 GOP flakes — “Tea Party,” I presume — occupying the back bench fever swamps and sufficiently in states of arrested development that they had grab the poop from their diapers and fling it around the chamber. Great. Not surprising, though. I would have guessed around 7-8 of them fell into that category, but 9 is well within the ballpark.
All part and parcel of the big U.S. decline.
From the experience of the last few years, I would gladly return to deals made in “smoke filled rooms”
The stupid — even “protest stupid” — just burns.
@mattb: My vote would be for Sam Rayburn. Bob Dornan second choice.
@Tyrell:
Bob Dornan second choice.
Heh. The template for GOP crazy.
@sam: Yes, but Rayburn was a Democrat.