Poor, poor, overextended John Boehner is catching hell from all sides lately, with even his friends saying "Ofcourseyou'll still be speaker" while they give lusty glances to Paul Ryan. The latest band of haters to join the parade is the Republican Party of Virginia's 6th congressional district, which sent a formal request to their congressman, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Starbucks), to "oppose the re-election of House Speaker John Boehner" next month.
Goodlatte, fresh off an appointment as chair of the House Judiciary Committee, isn't doing too bad for himself, but now he's stuck between a rock and a tan place. And Boehner must be ever so teary.
While it's unlikely Goodlatte's vote would be particularly valuable on its own, there's little doubt that if other district-level groups get in on the "tell reps exactly how to vote" bandwagon, some nonsensical tomfoolery could be about to go down. Especially in light of why VA-6 wants Boehner gone, per Zombie Breitbart :
The party believes Boehner hasn’t used his full power to fight against Obamacare.
“The imposition of Obamacare against the wishes of the people is an unequivocal expression of the anticipated tyrannical powers,” the district committee wrote to Goodlatte. “Yet even though every member of the House of Representatives is aware of his ability to thwart this measure, no such effort of protection is forthcoming.”
Damn you, John Boehner, for not adequately fighting tyranny!
The letter astutely observes that the House is utterly powerless to "repeal and replace" the bill, because the Senate and White House aren't going to be down with it even a little bit, and that is how our republic works.
They've got an idea though, to subvert the democratic process, FOR FREEDOM: Just don't pay for that silly socialist shit.
“His unwillingness to lead the effort to de-fund Obama’s healthcare, a truly feasible mechanism for restraining this tyranny, is a conscious dereliction of duty. His recent commitment to active pursuit of its funding, coupled with his capitulation on the issue of amnesty and his agreement to raise taxes are acts that are nothing short of treasonous to our interests and our security.”
Treason.Paying for legislation that was passed by both houses of Congress, signed by the president, and almost entirely affirmed by the Supreme Court is TREASON. Everyone clearly agrees with this gross abuse of power, which is why every state including Virginia went to Mitt Romney.
Ok, ok, so maybe Goodlatte's district is entitled to its opinion, even if that opinion is that compromise and declining, for once, to not obstruct long-settled debates, is TREASON, for which he should be hung up like a RINO Christmas display. We'll find out soon enough how much sway that has: Though Republicans simply will not accept unions having non-secret ballots, they don't afford the same protection to the House caucus. Somebody will leak that shiz.
And all this capitulation and theoretical tax-hiking Boehner has been doing? It hasn't even been FUN. From the Wall Street Journal :
Mr. Obama repeatedly lost patience with the speaker as negotiations faltered. In an Oval Office meeting last week, he told Mr. Boehner that if the sides didn't reach agreement, he would use his inaugural address and his State of the Union speech to tell the country the Republicans were at fault.
At one point, according to notes taken by a participant, Mr. Boehner told the president, "I put $800 billion [in tax revenue] on the table. What do I get for that?"
"You get nothing," the president said. "I get that for free."
FO FREE. That's what an electoral mandate looks like. It's enough to almost, maybe, feel a little bad for the guy: Beaten up by a president during negotiations, beaten up by a horde of paranoid internet-commenters posing as a political party for even going to negotiations in the first place. There's always... golf?
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Then you tell the lapdog media that the band refused to take requests, and the dance floor was too big, and the hosts weren't open to new suggestions about what refreshments to serve.
They don't understand how a blah could win two consecutive elections without some major "funny business". Those darn liberals.