Go ahead! Laugh at Boehner! But…
…Boehner would have every reason to respond with “Apres moi le déluge!” Or maybe “Lotsa luck, Dems!”
Marin Cogan writes:
At a Marco Rubio speech delivered at the Values Voters Summit Friday morning, the audience broke into cheers and applause when Boehner’s retirement was announced.
But that’s precisely why you should not be happy about Boehner’s resignation. Yes, he was very conservative (even if his colleagues didn’t always think so), but he was one of the last of the old-guard Republicans who tried to keep the party on the right side of sanity. He wanted to stop his party’s most destructive elements from taking over. His leaving will open up a leadership vacuum. The next person in line for the job is Kevin McCarthy, who became majority leader only a year ago and has struggled in the role. But there will probably be a scramble for the gavel, and whoever gets it will likely be even more precariously positioned than Boehner was. Last weekend, Boehner described to Politico how he was able to move forward with so much dysfunction” in his party with his usual candor: “Prisoners learn how to become prisoners, all right?” They do. The question now is, who else will be willing to put up with that kind of confinement? …DailyIntel
If “le déluge” sounds a tad dramatic, you might want to check out what Norm Ornstein has to say about Boehner’s departure.
By any reasonable standard, John Boehner is a bedrock conservative—opposed to big government, pro-life, and in favor of big tax cuts. Boehner would have been placed at the right end of his party a couple of decades ago. But as a realist operating in the real world of divided government and separation of powers, he became a target within his own ranks. Now he is almost at the left end of a party that has gone from center-right to right-center to a place that is more radical than it is conservative—what Tom Mann and I called “an insurgent outlier.” On the verge of losing complete control, Boehner bailed. Boehner, with a month to go, may try to avert a shutdown and make the job of his likely successor, Young Gun Kevin McCarthy, easier. That won’t last long. In the new tribal world of radical politics, the first constitutional office has lost its luster. …Ornstein,Atlantic
We really need to be more careful — more caring — about the language we use. We’ve been living in a mucky backwater of right-speak.
Since 1994, the Republican right has used language distortions to bolster/justify its imperialism. Insisting on the correct use of words and terms may seem like an irrelevant exercise in pedantry, but our political lives and choices have been affected by the misuse of words like “conservative.”
Real conservatism now resides somewhere between the two main political parties and within the Democratic party. Radical politics have moved in with Republicans who like to present themselves as “moderates.” How do they justify “moderate”? Well, by not actually going home to bed with members of the tea party… but allowing a little huggy-kissy when necessary. In the end, they worry a lot more about losing (and Obama has learned how to use this to his advantage).
Republicans worry about coming across as radicals while also realizing they need their radical right to keep seats in Washington and in state capitals. With the departure of Boehner, they have more to worry about. What Ornstein and his colleagues call “insurgent outliers” in the Republican party have managed to assist in changing the leadership of the House — “the first constitutional office.” The tea party — Republican radicals, not “conservatives” — move into that first constitutional office by the end of the year and at the beginning of an election year.
If we’re fighting radicals who want to take over/demolish government, it would help a lot if we were clearer about the meanings of the words “radical” and “conservative” and “liberal” and learn to use them effectively.
