In his presser, Speaker Boehner(r-OH) accused wingnut groups of using their members and said they lost all
credibility.
He told the press that the House had been working on jobs all year
(what?). He concern trolled Obamacare and gave a hat tip to the
orgasmic repugican fantasy of the IRS targeting wingnuts.
But the Speaker had a cold this morning which may have emboldened
him. Asked about the wingnut groups targeting repugicans for real
(unlike the IRS) over the Murray/Ryan “Mini Budget”,
the Speaker told reporters, “Frankly, I just think they’ve lost all
credibility.” He then proceeded to unload on them, ending with him
shouting, “Are you kidding me!!!?”
“These groups are using our members. They are misleading their
followers, they’re pushing our members in places they don’t want to be.
They’ve lost all credibility. They pushed us into this fight to defund
Obamacare and to shut down the government. And most of you know, our
members know that wasn’t exactly the strategy I had in mind. One of
these groups stood up and said ‘We never really thought it would work?’”
Boehner’s entire face twisted in outrage as he continued shouting
over the reporters’ laughter, “I said, ‘Are you kidding me!!!?’”
Boehner looked as shocked at his own behavior and the repugican cabal shutdown as any sane person. Poor thing.
Asked if repugicans would be more willing to compromise now, the
Speaker said, “When groups come out and criticize an agreement they’ve
never seen, you begin to wonder just how credible those actions are.”
This is ironic, since repugicans criticize all kinds of Obama’s
policies and agreements that they’ve never read about and indeed, we
have all wondered just how credible those actions are.
Boehner was then asked if this was an example of him finally saying
no to the tea party. A reporter asked, “Some tea party groups are
calling this a sellout bill that you’re compromising too much. Is this
an example of you finally saying no to the tea party?”
Boehner puffed up proudly, “This budget will get us more deficit
reduction than what we have under the Budget Control Act. I came here to
cut the size of government!” (When he’s not making sure the House gym
is operating during a repugican cabal shutdown.)
What Boehner didn’t say is that compared to the sequester, imposed by
his party and then publicly denied by his party when it cuts things the
public wants, the “Mini Budget” is a “compromise”.
It is not a compromise in any real sense and it does not acknowledge
the fact that Democrats won the White House and the Senate running on
their plan for Americans, while repugicans only kept the House by
gerrymandering themselves into safety. But by doing anything at all or
even pretending to do something, Boehner causes the repugican cabal to lose
austerity points.
A reporter then asked a very clever question that the Speaker
pretended not to understand, and that was if his members agree to this
budget then they won’t have any cause for a debt ceiling showdown since
they approved the spending. Clever woman. But Boehner’s not having any
reality imposed upon his presser. He pronounced, “I don’t understand.
Listen we are taking these issues on one at a time. The goal for today
is to get this budget agreement passed.”
The Speaker is pretending that the House’s approval over spending
would have no bearing on their refusal to pay for said spending come
time to raise the debt ceiling. Luckily for Boehner, the repugican base
doesn’t understand the debt ceiling.
Now we know where repugicans feel safe drawing the line with the big money that runs them. If the big money attacks Paul Ryan, the repugicans “jesus”,
even Speaker Boehner will find his center. And that is truly the only
reason he felt safe enough to stand up. He had little Paul Ryan, the repugican cabal jesus, next to him in spirit.
But the truth is that this show that Boehner is “compromising” with
this noxious deal feeds into a narrative that helps repugicans. The repugicans are seen as unwilling to compromise, the party of “No”. So
it helps Boehner to make a big show of saying “No” to the groups leading
his party around by the nose.
In reality, any budget touched by Paul Ryan is bound to be a way to
enrich the top 2% at everyone else’s expense, and true to form, this
budget acts as if repugicans had a leg to stand upon when it comes to
fiscal responsibility. They do not.
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