The House
made a terrible decision of re-electing John Boehner who sold out conservative
principles of agreeing with Obama to raise taxes!
Conservative
opposition to John Boehner’s reelection as speaker on Thursday was more
determined than it originally seemed, as a small band of hard-liners either
flat-out opposed the speaker or simply abstained from casting a ballot.
There were
some signs that conservative resistance to Boehner was well-organized, at least
by one member who has never been a big fan of the Ohio Republican.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp
(R-Kan.) — who was recently removed from key committees and supported
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for speaker — sat on the House floor during the
speaker vote brandishing an iPad. A message was displayed on the screen ticking
off members of the House Republican Conference he hoped would oppose the
sitting speaker. The title of the document: “You would be fired if this goes
out.”
Among the
Republicans on the list were Reps. Steve King (Iowa), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.),
Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Scott Garrett (N.J.), Steve Fincher (Tenn.) and Scott
Desjarlais (Tenn.). All of them ultimately supported Boehner.
It’s not
clear that any of the Republicans on Huelskamp’s list knew they were on it, or
even knew of the list’s existence.
In the end,
nine Republicans abandoned the Ohio Republican’s bid for a second term as
speaker, and cast votes for people as varied as a former member of Congress who
lost his reelection bid in November and a 1990s-era U.S. comptroller general
who appears on cable television.
Two
Republicans – Reps. Raul Labrador (Idaho) and Mick Mulvaney (S.C.) – sat in the
chamber, pointedly ignoring the call of their name to cast a vote for Boehner,
who edged to victory with 220 votes. And newly elected Rep. Steve Stockman
(R-Texas), who returned to the House after 15 years, voted “present,”
demonstrating his lack of fear for the diminished Boehner.
Majority
Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) — long a foil to Boehner — got three votes. As a
trio of Republicans lawmakers cast their votes for him, Cantor shook his head
on the House floor, visibly displeased. His office declined to comment on the
vote.
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