House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) launched a lengthy tirade about coastal drilling and the Democratic House majority doing some of the exact same things the Republican House majority was doing less than two years ago, when he probably took his rhetoric one step too far.
Responding to questions over whether Pelosi could call a special session – which Democrats insist won’t happen – and vote on other issues that Republicans may not want to face, such as an expansion of childrens’ [sic] health insurance programs, which President Bush and GOP congressional leaders have opposed.
“She’s gonna bring us back and not deal with it? The American people are gonna hang her,” Boehner said. When pressed further, Boehner said it would “be fine, as long as we get a vote on our bill.”
I’m quite sure Boehner wasn’t speaking literally, and wasn’t actually calling on Americans to try to kill the woman third in line for the presidency. But there are certain expectations about how elected leaders are supposed to conduct themselves, and Boehner said something he shouldn’t have.
It didn’t take long for other House members to respond. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) said in a statement, “[N]o public official should use language implying bodily harm to anyone, whether they are referring to the Speaker of the House or any other American. That is completely outrageous.” Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) added, “Assertions of physical violence toward the Speaker of the House have no place in the halls of Congress. Period. After a week stuck in an echo-chamber of their own making, this group of Republicans has turned ugly. Democracy is about settling differences through debate, without violence. It is unfortunate that the Minority Leader allowed violence to creep into his overheated rhetoric.”
I bring this up in large part because Boehner has spent much of the few years perfecting the art of the hissy fit, and if there was a level playing field, and a Dem had said what Boehner had said, he’d be whining incessantly about the desperate need for a censure resolution.
Last October, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) said something intemperate about the president’s motivations in Iraq. House Republicans, led by Boehner, threw a fit and introduced a resolution to condemn Stark.
A few weeks prior, MoveOn.org took ran the “Betray Us” ad in the NYT. House Republicans, led by Boehner, threw a fit and helped bring a censure resolution to the floor.
More recently, Republicans were apoplectic when Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) said he was “glad” al Qaeda and everyone else could see Cheney Chief of Staff David Addington on C-SPAN.
I’m reminded of a great column Michael Kinsley wrote in the wake of the “Betray Us” nonsense.
Goodness gracious. Oh, my paws and whiskers. Some of the meanest, most ornery hombres around are suddenly feeling faint. Notorious tough guys are swooning with the vapors. The biggest beasts in the barnyard are all aflutter over something they read in the New York Times. It’s that ad from MoveOn.org — the one that calls General David Petraeus, the head of U.S. forces in Iraq, general betray us. All across the radio spectrum, right-wing shock jocks are themselves shocked. How could anybody say such a thing? It’s horrifying. It’s outrageous. It’s disgraceful. It’s just beyond the pale … It’s … oh, my heavens … say, is it a bit stuffy in here? … I think I’m going to … Could I have a glass of … oh, dear [thud].
Look, occasionally political figures and officials are going to say intemperate things. They’ll generate criticism, which is often deserved. But since being relegated to minority status, Republicans, most notably Boehner himself, have been in high dudgeon at the drop of a hat, as if their delicate sensibilities and virgin ears can’t bear to hear a Democrat say a discouraging word.
Given this, Boehner can’t be too surprised if the umbrage wars start moving in his direction — he did, after all, talk publicly (albeit metaphorically) about violence towards the House Speaker.
IOKIYAR is a defense, but it’s not a compelling one given Boehner’s repeated hysterical fits every time he hears a Dem say something that sends him looking for a feinting couch.