Long reviled by Democrats, John Boehner is now getting some hate from his own party. Yes, the tearful and fearless leader of the Republicans in the House is learning the hard way that having a complete disregard for economic principles isn't beneficial to your popularity.
Tonight, House speaker John Boehner wanted to force the hand of Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership by bringing his bill to solve the fiscal cliff — titled Plan B — to a vote. There was only one problem: he couldn't even get enough Republican support for the bill to make a vote worthwhile. That rendered Boehener essentially powerless, and it led to the walking Creamsicle from Ohio saying the Serenity Prayer on the House floor:
Activists from several national AIDS organizations stormed House Speaker John Boehner's office earlier today to protest budget cuts to anti-HIV/AIDS programs.
Yesterday the Ron Paul rEVOLution was thrown out in the gutter, alongside the storm-bathed protesters carrying 99% signs. Thanks to the RNC's backroom rules changes, the good doctor's delegates were not seated. Supporters' chants of "point of order!" from the convention floor failed to incite a floor fight. Their overwhelming "nay" vote on the rules changes went ignored by John Boehner (R-Leatherette), who gaveled the faint "ayes" into the record books.
Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski has done us all the great and noble service of collecting the yearbook photos of 69 different politicians and political figures. Did you know that Nancy Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren were high-school foxes? That John Boehner looked like Jonah Hill playing Lurch? That Mike Huckabee, in flannel jacket and big headphones, looked like an L-train rider? That Harry Reid was way ahead of the contrast-shirt craze? That David Axelrod was, based on his photo, an honorary member of the Choom Gang? [Buzzfeed]
As expected, the House has passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), despite objections from the Obama administration. The bill allows private companies and the federal government to share information in order to prevent cyber-attacks. (You can read Adrian Chen's far more eloquent explanation here.)
Look, people, we appear to have figured out what it takes to get House Republicans to agree on something: Having every other person on the planet scream at them for several days! The official announcement will come at 5:00, but everyone's now reporting that House Republicans will agree to the Senate's bipartisan compromise to extend the payroll tax cut and assorted other things for two months, before resuming work on the full extension in 2012.
One should never underestimate House Republicans' ability to save face after attracting the entire political world's ire, but this latest corner they've trapped themselves in over the payroll tax cut extension will require some stunningly creative moves to escape. Maybe Rick Perry can teach them some of these moves? Otherwise, yikes.
Now this is strange. What compels a Speaker of the House, as he's (supposed to be) trying to reach a deal to preserve various expiring government goodies before Congress recesses for the year, to move a resolution that would "commission the placement of a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the Capitol"? Here he is, talking about it, softly crying, of course, but not in full Boehner Bawl mode. Winston Churchill, he was one helluva a guy. Anyway, this is all about race.
We've been trying something different, as Congress has been pretending to nearly shut down the government or arbitrarily destroy the global economic system for the fourth time this year: Not biting! They'll always reach an agreement, after acting out a months-long scripted fight that we've seen before. But now we're at the stage when children lawmakers begin channeling action movies for inspiration, so we'll take that as our cue.
Worried about Occupy Wall Street's effect on your bottom line? Why not hire lobbying firm CLGC to conduct "opposition research [and] targeted social media monitoring" to "construct fact-based negative narratives" about the movement? That's right—for only $850,000 you can hire some guys to follow a couple Twitter accounts and write some chain emails!
What do you say to a harsh criticism from astronaut-hero Mark Kelly, husband of wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords? You can't call him a jerk or anything. He's astronaut-hero Mark Kelly, husband of wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords! You just have to take it. Hear that, John Boehner? You will just have to take it.
The progressive activist group Courage Campaign snuck into a private golf club in California yesterday morning to harass John Boehner, in a little move they called "Occupy Golf Course." Their goal was to urge Boehner to pass President Obama's jobs bill, while using all of the hot anti-1% lingo you hear everywhere nowadays.
Hank Williams, Jr., living monument to the irrelevance of genes in determining ability, appeared this morning on Fox & Friends to, as philosophe Steve Doocy put it, "break down the 2012 GOP field." And break down he did!
Ever wondered what the Vice President and Speaker of the House talk about while waiting for the President to address a joint session of Congress? Of course you haven't. But now you can hear it anyway!
Last week, President Obama announced he'd reveal his plan for job creation before a joint session of Congress at the same time as tomorrow night's Republican presidential debate. John Boehner wasn't happy about this and asked the President to push his speech back a night; a few hours later, Obama acquiesced. No big deal, right? Or as Jon Stewart put it on tonight's Daily Show, "non-crisis averted!"
In a gratuitously and joyously dickish move today, the White House announced that it would address a joint session of Congress next Wednesday at 8 p.m., right when the long-planned NBC/Politico debate for Republican presidential candidates is scheduled to take place. And this afternoon, Speaker John Boehner issued the President his formal invitation to visit Capitol Hill — only for the next night.
