Boehner To Face Leadership Challenge

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015668.php


BOEHNER TO FACE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE.... House Republicans have lost a combined 52 seats over the 2006 and 2008 election cycles, so it wasn't too surprising when the party overhauled its leadership team last week. Starting next year, the House GOP will have a new Minority Whip, new chairman of the Republican Conference, and probably a new chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

For reasons that have never made any sense to me, though, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has faced very little pressure. He over saw a debacle, and has no vision whatsoever for the party's future, but Boehner isn't quitting, and no one else wanted his job.

Today, that changed.

A conservative California congressman announced Friday that he's mounting a leadership challenge to House Minority Leader John Boehner, as the GOP continues to assess the fallout from last week's election losses.

Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., becomes the first rank-and-file House member to announce his intent to challenge the top House Republican in next week's leadership elections.... "I am embarking on this effort because I think our Party is in trouble," Lungren wrote in a letter to colleagues Friday afternoon. "If we don't admit our difficulties and address them aggressively, we not only run the risk of becoming a permanent Congressional Minority but we will do a disservice to our nation."

The Hill noted that successful leadership bids "are usually announced right after an election. Lungren waited 10 days to make his announcement, which he made in a 'Dear Colleague' letter."

ABC News' report described Lungren's bid as "a conservative challenge to Boehner." I suppose that's largely true -- Lungren is very conservative -- but no one can seriously suggest Boehner is some kind of moderate. We're talking about two wings of the Republican Party here - the far-right and the even-further right.

—Steve Benen 3:30 PM

[AspenRose]

1. Get your popcorn ready

:popcorn:

It's time for another episode of....

REPUBLICANS EATING THEIR OWN

[malaise]

8. Butter please

Ready and waiting for the cannibalism live on TV. :rofl:

[gratuitous]

9. Today on monkey knife fight: Lungren vs. Boehner

Oooh, he ain't pretty no more!

[Winterblues]

2. Just what the Republican Party needs, become MORE Conservative

More Nasty, more bitter, more obnoxious, more partisan, more sniveling. Yep that's the ticket. That is what america is yearning for.

[DJ13]

3. Lungren is even dumber than Boner

[babylonsister]

5. I doubt there's anyone we'd agree would be the right one, so I'm

going with 'change is good'.

[sharp_stick]

4. Joe the unlicensed Plumber

in a special election to replace some other puke then to take the reins of the new Joe the Plumber/Sarah Wolf Killer Republican party. It would be unstoppable. Can you imagine these two geniuses of right wing Republican ideology leading the rest of the puke flock into battle in the left wing hell-hole of Washington DC? They would resurrect the conservative agenda from the ash heap of history where it now lays?

I don't think there is a single puke Congressloser that could save that POS party from it's proper destruction. The religious right has controlled it for so long that they will not want to give it up and the rest of the country is finished with them.

[AlCzervik]

6. oh dear Gawd Lungren is my rep.

[FLAprogressive]

7. The GOP Civil War keeps on raging....

....although I don't really see where Lungren and Boner have ideological differences....they're both Club for Growth-esque neocons.....

[crazylikafox]

10. I guess he'll cry his eyes out over this one.....again

[lib2DaBone]

11. Boehner should find a good 12-step program......

He can defeat the evil drink if he really wants to.....

[opihimoimoi]

12. The GOP Death Spiral Intensifies....down down it goes....where it stops..no one knows...

The GOP is in its death throes....they have embraced a sick and disgusting Philosophy, that of greed and selfishness...the primitive MEism we see in toddlers...Now, they pay a price...their demise of sorts, slow and agonizing, but sure as shit sliding down the rabbit hole .....