Which is sort of the point.
There is a reason, I think, why successful conservative candidates such as Ted Cruz and Mike Lee always seem to me to be head-and-shoulders more impressive than their Democratic opposite numbers: because they are. The political headwinds being what they are, conservatives have to be twice as good to succeed. Our more energetic conservatives have no love for Speaker of the House John Boehner, but stand the man next to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and he looks like Cincinnatus.
The whole thing is worth a read, although I can guarantee you that some of the people who click through will promptly come back here and tell me that I’m full of it*. Sorry, folks, but I try to tell people the stuff that I think that they should hear, not necessarily the stuff that people want to hear.
Moe Lane
*We’ll also get the people who will tell me that I’m full of it simply because it will amuse them to do so.
He’s full of it.
Stand Boehner next to Pelosi, and he still looks like an unprincipled lickspittle. She, at least, is trying to advance an agenda. (Evil and wrong though it may be.)
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“Growing the federal government slightly more slowly” is not a compromise that I’m willing to accept, not even if the surrender is “negotiated”.
I will accept “reining in the federal government less aggressively than I’d like”, but it’s abundantly clear that the majority of our “negotiators” have no interest at all in reducing the size and scope of the federal government.
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Do I agree that the populace will not support slashing the federal government back to Constitutional levels?
Yes.
Do I care?
Not a whit.
Fiat justitia ruat caelum.
The crash can no longer be avoided, and if necessary, I’m perfectly happy spending the time remaining in recriminations.
Let. It. Burn.
This. x1,000
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However I do feel bad for Boehner (and the same goes for McConnell), because I think he would have made a great Speaker under a conservative Republican President. John Boehner just isn’t a very charismatic opposition leader.
The fingerprints on the knife in Gingrich’s back argue otherwise.
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Mew
Remember Boehner became Speaker of the House just after the most corrupt, deranged, etc. Speaker of the House in my lifetime.
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Quite frankly, I can understand not wanting to do anything that would make him look like Pelosi in any way.
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Honestly, we need someone like Newt Gingrich to be Speaker, since he actually could put up a fight.
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That said, I think Mitch McConnell in many ways is more of an issue than Boehner. Remember, Boehner has tried to take some stands only to have the rug pulled out from under him by McConnell and RINOs in the Senate. That’s why it’s more important to knock McConnell out (2 year term vs 6 year term).
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If we can get them both knocked out of office, great, but if I had to choose, I’d say McConnell is a higher priority.
Agreed, completely. If I could evict either McConnell or Boehner from Congress, but only one of them, it would be McConnell without even a second thought.
If you stood Forrest Gump next to Nancy Pelosi, he’d look like Cincinnatus too.
I love how people who proudly proclaim they are pro-science (because that and their political affiliation makes them smarter than me) still suck up to this woman for free birth control and abortion.
I get the political headwinds being what they are, but they keep getting worse. I still canmt understand why so many chose Obama over the competent Romney. But then you also have Kobe Bryant saying Obama could play in the NBA. I understand now why people say the USA is screwed.
Actually, I’d compare abortion to eugenics (which it often is used as eugenics). I could also compare it to attempted genocide.
I think Williamson has 2/3 of a point here.
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I don’t think Rand Paul is seriously running. Going through the motions? Hell yes. Will run if drafted? Abso-pockin’-lutely! Snowball’s chance in an Iowa barn fire of winning the nomination?. Hell no. (nor will I vote for him in the primary – not a governor)
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If drafted, though, he’d prolly win, given the crap on the Dem bench, and the gigantic sucking sound his anti-war pro-legalize positions would have on the Dem youth voters.
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I think, though, that Rand wants to get out of the Senate and into the cabinet, and run from *there* in 2020 or 2024, and if his campaign today moves the Overton window toward libertarian ideas along the way, that’s a nice side benefit. I could, of course, have these backwards.
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All that said, I am in overall agreement with Luke’s points above – Boehner may be good at agreeing to deals, but he’s not moving the ball *or the aforementioned window* in acceptable directions.
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See also Heinlein’s definition of Bad Luck. Boehner’s compromises do not convince me that he opposes the mob, let alone understands why he should do so.
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Mew
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p.s. I would be perfectly happy with a Walker/Paul or Jindal/Paul or Perry/Paul or Daniels/Paul ticket.