Déjà Vu With Your Host, John Boehner

Hmmm, this reminds us of someone else in recent political memory: On Thursday, House Minority Leader John Boehner said that, should the GOP take control in this year’s midterm elections, as The New York Times put it, “he would try to fundamentally change the way the House of Representatives is run to give both parties a fair hearing while making their doings more transparent.” Good luck with that.  —KA

The New York Times:

As minority leader, Mr. Boehner, of Ohio, is in line to become speaker if his party captures control of the House, and in his speech Thursday, he set out specific ways in which he would overhaul the legislative process, from upending the appropriations system to giving rank-and-file members more power and requiring that the enactment of any new program be accompanied by at least an equivalent cutback in another program.

Mr. Boehner placed Republicans and Democrats alike in the cross hairs, arguing that both parties had engaged in the sins of earmarking, overreaching and partisan pettiness. Mr. Boehner was perhaps trying to appeal to an electorate weary of partisan bickering and legislative inaction and to respond directly to the calls for “changing the system” that have fueled many Tea Party candidates this year and President Obama’s campaign in 2008.

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AP / J. David Ake

House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio talks with a member of the audience before addressing the American Enterprise Institute in Washington on Thursday.