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Ear to the Ground

John Boehner Hits the Skids With Tea Party

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Posted on May 17, 2011
Flickr / DVIDSHUB

House Speaker John Boehner’s battle for budget cuts has not won him many points with the cost-conscious tea party, particularly in light of a Congressional Budget Office study that indicates the latest spending bill will not cut the deficit nearly as much as advertised. Tea partyers who claimed credit for helping the Republicans take over the House majority last year now complain they have been shut out of the decision-making process. The divide between “establishment” candidates and those endorsed by the tea party will carry into the 2012 elections as disenchanted movement members shun centrist leaders.  —KDG

Reuters:

Fed up with “broken promises,” some Tea Party activists have already moved beyond the fantasy stage and aim to “primary” Republicans who have let them down—that is, challenge them in primaries. Some talk of long-shot attempts to unseat leaders like House Majority Whip Eric Cantor.

Led by Boehner, Republicans in Congress are at odds with Democrats and the White House over how to raise the limit on how much debt the United States can afford. President Barack Obama’s administration warns of global financial chaos if lawmakers do not increase the current cap of $14.3 trillion.

Boehner, in a May 9 speech in New York, did insist that any increase to the debt limit include “cuts in trillions.” But conservatives expect the Republicans will not uphold his demand.

If the Republicans lose the debt limit battle, more Tea Party groups say they will aggressively seek candidates to challenge establishment figures in the 2012 primaries.

“At this point, all of them are potential targets,” said Dawn Wildman, president of the SoCal Tax Revolt Coalition, who lives in San Diego. “All the way up to Boehner.”

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morongobill's avatar

By morongobill, May 18, 2011 at 7:55 am Link to this comment

One of the eggheads needs to write a treatise entitled “The schooling of the Tea Partier’s” or similar.

Another class of freshmen riding into town full of piss and vinegar and running headlong into good old fashioned Washington inertia.

F——-g idiots actually believed their own propaganda.

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By TDoff, May 18, 2011 at 7:47 am Link to this comment

The Vegas morning line is 8 to 5 that The Boner will cry when the Tea Baggers tell him to ‘Eff-Off’.

And 10 to 1 that he’ll pee in his pants when Newt tells him to ‘Piss-Off’.

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By Big B, May 18, 2011 at 4:11 am Link to this comment

Boner, Ryan, and the rest of the “new” conservatives are begining to see the light. They see 2012 just over the horizon and see a bunch of white hairs starting to grumble about SS and medicare reforms backed by corporate tea party hacks and gutless repugs like Boner and Ryan.

They think they can win without the support of Blacks and Hispanics. They know they can’t win without the votes of old people. And the US is becoming very old.

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By gstoddard, May 17, 2011 at 8:10 pm Link to this comment

The great irony is that these Tea Party folks wear the colonial hats and
uniforms arguing for a return to Constitutional values that never existed. They
prefer to envision a totalitarian government in which they can dictate the laws
and anyone who disagrees is damned.

We are a nation that was born by compromise and democracy requires that all
citizens have a voice. Progress is only made when the divergent views can be
openly debated with each side listening and considering the views of the other,
thus working toward a workable compromise.

It’s a messy and complex process, an example of which that is sorely needed in
a world when millions are just catching whiff of freedom and a hint of the
potential of democracy.

The deep sadness is that as so many millions are taking to the streets in the
Middle East and Africa rather then us offering an example of democracy that is
positive and life enriching, we are bogged down in hoary petty political rhetoric
that is wounding our own national soul.

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By TDoff, May 17, 2011 at 2:42 pm Link to this comment

Y’know, there’s another prominent republican who bursts into tears frequently. Ol’ H.W. Bush, he wails and is excessively lacrymose every time he sees his son, The Dummy, ‘W’. But that’s understandable, how would you feel if you were the head of a family, much like a mafia Don, and were constantly reminded that your sperm were defective?

Now The Boner, that appears to be a different situation. No one seems to know what causes his weeping. He doesn’t appear to have enough self-awareness to realize the pitiful failure he is as a political ‘leader’. Perhaps it’s s sexual problem. Do you suppose he’s afflicted with arthritis in his right hand, his masturbating hand, and he feels his love is unrequited when it doesn’t respond as he would wish to his sexual advances, so his weeping expresses his sexual uncertainty and inadequacy?

We may have to wait for the definitive answer until someone writes his autobiography, ‘The Boner Weeps’.

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