Through tears, former Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), blubbered ignominiously about how outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has always been “unfailingly gracious” to him on Wednesday night.
Good for you, John.
While you’re sniveling at Pelosi’s portrait reveal, conservatives are weeping for America — precisely because our country’s greatness and potential have been squandered by The Uniparty in the swamp over the past 30 years with Pelosi and an oft-feckless GOP Establishment in charge.
“My girls told me, ‘Tell the speaker how much we admire her,'” Boehner said at one point, holding back sobs. “As if you couldn’t tell, my girls are Democrats.”
He also remarked how she had been “incredibly effective.”
"Game recognizes game": Former House Speaker John Boehner tears up at Pelosi portrait unveiling. https://t.co/EFxvbTbq6g pic.twitter.com/2wNinXS6YR
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) December 15, 2022
Incredibly effective for who — he did not say.
Boehner’s admiration for Pelosi is well-documented. Boehner has been more complimentary of Pelosi than he has for the likes of the Tea Party, House Freedom Caucus, or former President Donald J. Trump.
Why?
Well, all three mentioned have stood athwart the D.C. establishment that has expanded the size of government, weakened our borders, and shipped American jobs overseas — among other disasters to the detriment of most Americans. Neither the establishment of the Democrat nor Republican Party likes being challenged.
The two speakers are enmeshed in The Uniparty and work to keep out challengers in the ranks. That’s why they have each other’s respect.
So rather than stand up for Republicans who buck D.C. politicians, Boehner has previously lamented that “not every Republican is a Reagan Republican. Some of them are just knuckleheads. I had my share of battles with the knuckleheads.”
That line was likely about the aforementioned House Freedom Caucus — the group co-founded by current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and now features folks like Representative Chip Roy (R-TX).
In 2017, Boehner whined, “They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they’re against. They’re anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That’s where their mindset is.”
Well, actually the Freedom Caucus can tell you exactly what it stands for. All you have to do is look at their Twitter bio.
“We support open, accountable & limited govt, the Constitution & the rule of law, and policies that promote the liberty, safety & prosperity of all Americans.”
Beyond that, they’ve demanded actual bills which would accomplish those goals — not just sound good for gullible voters.
What they want is not that complex. That’s what most Republicans claim to do on the campaign trail before they get to D.C.
So it’s not that Boehner doesn’t know what the group stands for, it’s that actually following through on conservative goals would result in being criticized and losing the friendship of the Left.
If you’re not taking true criticism from the Left, it’s unlikely you’re being “effective” at defeating them — which is the whole point of electing Republicans in the first place.
The only GOP-ers who Democrats appreciate are the ones who don’t stand in their way — in other words, controlled opposition.
Believe it or not, some elected Republicans sympathize with Americans who have been crushed by the heavy hand of big government. Some conservatives actually believe in traditional values and want Congress to defend life in the womb, promote policies that benefit the family, and defend America’s Judeo-Christian values.
Boehner doesn’t have sympathy for those citizens, but he has been moved by the struggles of Pelosi in recent years.
“What Nancy Pelosi and other sane Democrats — the ones who’ve been around long enough to know how things work — are dealing with from AOC and her Squad reminds me a lot of what I had to deal with during my days as Speaker from the far-right kooks of the Tea Party or the Freedom Caucus or whatever they were calling themselves,” he said in his memoir.
The GOP base is made up of “far-right kooks,” according to Boehner.
Pelosi, as he said Wednesday night, is “one tough cookie” worthy of praise.
It is difficult to recall Boehner calling Pelosi a “kook” for supporting amnesty, abortion, or any of President Joe Biden’s disastrous policies over the last few years.
In his speech, Boehner stated that he and the California congresswoman “disagreed politically on many things, but we were never disagreeable to each other.”
Yet based on his ire for those to his right, it is clear that while he had an “R” next to his name and Pelosi had a “D,” the two had more in common than he claims.
Such is the case for a number of officials in the Beltway. Many Republicans are not in D.C. to work on behalf of conservatives, they are there to make deals with Democrats at the expense of the base.
With Boehner — and his cronies still lingering around the GOP Establishment — it is all a smoke-and-mirror parlor game.
Perhaps that is what he meant when he told her, “Game recognizes game.”
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.