In yet more evidence of a brewing civil war in the Republican Party, WorldNutDaily founder Joseph Farah has called for the House Republicans to vote John Boehner out as Speaker.
Boehner began waving the white flag of surrender to Obama soon after Republicans made him speaker in 2011. Since all spending bills need to originate in the House and because the Republican majority in the House has had absolute power to freeze spending, Boehner was dealt a powerful hand to keep Obama in check. Instead, he folded. Not only did he fold repeatedly, he even signaled before negotiations about spending ever began that he intended to fold.
He has repeatedly dismissed the idea that freezing the debt limit was a political option. That’s like unilaterally disarming before one’s enemies.
But it gets worse.
So determined is Boehner to raise taxes as part of a deal to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff,” he recently purged from chairmanships every conservative Republican who took a harder line than he did over the last two years.
Boehner is not part of the solution. He’s part of the problem – a big part of it.
Never mind that back during the debt limit fight last summer, Obama and Boehner had a deal all but ready to sign--only to have Boehner walk out at the eleventh hour under pressure from his own caucus' right wing. It may have been what the teabaggers wanted, but it contributed in part to the cut in our bond rating. And never mind that Boehner won't even allow a vote on a bill passed in the Senate that would lock in the Bush tax cuts for all but the top bracket.
So now Boehner's getting pounded from both sides. The Democrats don't like that he won't even allow a vote on the Senate bill. And now the main mouthpiece of the tea party has turned on him. Hmmm ... could we be seeing some cat fud flying?
If Farah does get what he wants, though, the Repubs don't have too many choices for a successor assuming that he wants Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy gone as well. At least, no one that won't get diarrhea of the mouth often.