Friday, November 17, 2006
Pence Trounced By Boehner
Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) trounced Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) in the race for House Minority Leader by a vote of 168-27 according to the Hotline Blog. Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) defeated Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) by a 147-37 vote for the House Minority Whip position. Also, Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) defeated Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) for the conference chair position. Republicans who were hoping that the House Republican caucus would shake up their leadership after the beating they took in last week's election are going to be very disappointed by today's outcome. Both Boehner and Blunt have shown themselves to be the consummate insiders who practice pork barrel politics and are ethically-challenged. They present a face of the Republican Party that voters resoundingly rejected in this past election. The GOP may have to suffer yet another election defeat before they figure out something is wrong with their leadership.
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11 comments:
I just heard it reported that is was a 168 to 127 vote for Pence.
.....rather, a loss for Pence.
168 + 127 is 295 - that don't make sense - assuming its only those GOPers who will serve the next term who voted.
Unbelievable.
Every Republican congressman who voted for these two deserves to go down in the next election.
And I say that as a Die-Hard Republican. What a pack of fools we have in Congress.
In agreement with 12:55, I would note that Indiana's own Steve Buyer was one of the Republicans who was openly supporting Boehner and Blunt. Like so many others in DC, Buyer has really lost his direction. Very disappointing - on many fronts.
Why are you disappointed in Buyer?
On one hand, he is the consummate arrogant insider himself. He used his army lawyer experience... dusty boots to the contrary .. to ride into Congress proclaiming term-limits-- which he will not submit himself to. Not to mention that he put 1000s of servicemen and women in a meaningless war, while cutting veterans benefits, as his Uebermasters wanted.
He's so arrogant that he won't even come to Lafayette and have an open forum -- or debate his opponent, choosing to deride him instead because he DEIGNED to CHALLENGE the great and powerful Buyer. (Sounds like Oz..)
AND.. Buyer knows where the power is.. so of course he voted Boehner . He has no more principle than ... a gecko.
This is one Democrat who will not poke (much) fun at the other side.
We had our in-house disagreement yesterday.
When it's all said and done, these two days prove one thing:
Inside the Beltway politics is alive and well, regardless who is in power.
No, they didn't hear the results last week...either party. There was a message for each party, and they refuse to listen.
Not difficult to imagine, when we have a president whose dad's troops have to ride in with the calvary to salvage what's left of his presidency. W is in Vietnam today complaining that if we leave Iraq it'll be another Vietnam.
No discussion about why we are in Iraq in the first place.
W shouldn't be using Vietnam in any sentences..he dodged combat duty pretty artfully himself. And his grasp of history is spotty, at best.
Gary, if you are able to learn anything (I haven't been) the dynamics of the Pence loss would be interesting to learn. I was expecting him to do much better (though I am no admirer.) Was it a cascade of support for Boehner only after it became clear Boehner would win, or did a bunch of congressman claim to support Pence but abandon him in a secret ballot? (Was a secret ballot involved?)
Chris, it is a secret ballot. I think a lot of the people who may have had some beefs with the leadership went down to defeat in last week's election. The vast majority of those who survived last week's elections are from very safe Republican districts so they have a warped perception of things. I think Pence's biggest stumbling block is his determination to halt earmarks in the budget process. Most in the caucus don't want to end the earmarks process. I also think they feared he would be more aggressive on ethics reform. Again, the guys in charge of the GOP caucus now have no ethics.
MSBNC reported tonight that Boehner's two chief staff vote-counters were Delay holdovers.
So, Chris and Gary, long knives cut deepest.
Budget earmarks in the federal budget have tripled under Republican leadership. I doubt this is what Newt had in mind, as he left his dying wife's bedside, divorced her, and came up with the Contract With America.
Unfortunately we are left with a shell of the GOP still in the House -- and those being reps from more conservative and highly GOP districts. They are the ones who think the reason they lost is that they didn't ride the right wing of the party line the hardest. It is a warped view, but it is one we are unfortunately stuck with for several years now. I don't think Pence would have been a much better answer, but getting rid of earmarking and instituting some ethics would have been a start.
The good news is that Pilosi is not doing much to show ethical leadership or a change from beltway mentality so far, and neither will Nevada Harry. So we get both parties continuing down the same paths...
-Tiger
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