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Boehner Stoked About 2010
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
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House Minority Leader John Boehner told reporters today his party is pumped for campaign season. As the calendar ticks down on 2009, Boehner says he likes his party's chances at making significant gains against what he sees as a fractured Democratic majority.
"The Democrats seems to be having a field day tearing each other apart," he said. "I think 2010 will be a stormy year."
Boehner criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her comment yesterday that House Democrats are in "campaign mode" already, saying that voters will take the comment as an abandonment of key priorities.
"Tell that to the millions of Americans without jobs," Boehner said. Despite the decidedly campaign tone to this rhetoric, Boehner said his caucus hasn't begun its campaigning yet.
"We're not campaigning," he said. Boehner claimed that House Republicans are focusing on Pelosi's legislative agenda in mailings, press releases, speeches and press conferences in order to "put pressure on Democrats to stand up to" the "liberals" Boehner said had pushed mainstream Democrats too far to the left in the House.
Boehner said his party will highlight the House votes on cap-and-trade, health care and spending bills as evidence that the Democrats under Pelosi have "put politics ahead of the American people" since they regained the majority in 2006. He said his party will put forward their own legislative program to offer their "solutions" on the campaign trail as well.
Boehner said he looked forward to watching Pelosi try to laud the bills her caucus has passed this year.
"I hope she does a great job trying to market the garbage they passed this year," he said, with a grin.
All in all, Boehner said, 2009 has left Republicans fired up about their chances next year.
"I'm really looking forward to a very exciting 2010," he said.
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CT Voter
December 17, 2009 1:06 PM
They should be stoked up. Democrats are in the process of cannabilizing themselves.
I don't think it's going to be as easy as Boehner suggests, but Democrats are definitely helping at this point. And if HCR goes down, well, look forward to significant Republican gains.
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masanf
December 17, 2009 1:25 PM in reply to CT Voter
Passing the health care bill is not going to help the Democrats. It is so unpopular, it will hurt them.
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CT Voter
December 17, 2009 1:31 PM in reply to masanf
Keep dreamin', troll.
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
December 17, 2009 1:28 PM
Right, Count Fakenbake. We totally have the market cornered on that this year. Nothin' but love, harmony and smooth sailin' for your side.
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CN
December 17, 2009 5:59 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
Ooh, ooh, let me guess. Tax cuts. Capital gains cuts. No estate tax. Spending freeze.
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Why oh why
December 17, 2009 1:35 PM
Boehner's face alone is enough to make even the most bitter and disillusioned ex-Obama supporter run to the polls in November.
Speaker Boehner, or Speaker Pelosi... Obama could give Fort Knox to Goldman Sachs, the choice would still be easy.
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SS247
December 17, 2009 1:55 PM
"Tell that to the millions of Americans without jobs"
I'm sorry, didn't Pelosi just ram through a Jobs Bill that expands unemployment benefits with no GOP support? Right now, she's the toughest person in Washington.
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Moloko+
December 17, 2009 2:23 PM
Republican approval rates in the 20's. How's that going to improve? Another 9/11?
Time to get rid of the electoral college and go for straight democracy.
Expand election day to a weekend.
Get the voting machines fixed and un-breakable.
Get everyone registered.
Do campaign finance reform.
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cawleybo
December 17, 2009 6:34 PM in reply to Moloko+
And where are democratic approval ratings? The problem is what's left of the republican base is more motivated than what's left of the democratic base.
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runfastandwin
December 17, 2009 2:28 PM
Classic republican. Go negative, early and often. Deny that you are going negative, early and often. Accuse your opponent of going negative, early and often. Ain't gonna work this time.
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Original Dave
December 17, 2009 3:16 PM in reply to runfastandwin
Yes - classic and predictable. I noticed last year
that Grumpy and his airhead sidekick really had
nothing at all to sell except that negativity.
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Progressive Party
December 17, 2009 3:12 PM
He got a deal w/ Pharma and is doubling up on his viagra
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theFont
December 17, 2009 3:33 PM
Boehner criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her comment yesterday that House Democrats are in "campaign mode" already, saying that voters will take the comment as an abandonment of key priorities.
...
"We're not campaigning," he said.
Wasn't it the Republicans who embraced the "continuous campaign"?!
Yes it was: What's Wrong with the Presidency. Here is the relevant graph.
Lastly, we come to the "continuous campaign," the term now applied to the political operations of the presidency. Though every president had been mindful of re-election, it was under Richard Nixon that the idea of perpetual campaigning really took root. Nixon believed that he faced ruthless political enemies out to destroy him and his administration and a continuous campaign effort was needed to thwart them. "The staff doesn't understand that we are in a continuous campaign," he told H.R. Haldeman in March 1971.
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juke R
December 17, 2009 5:33 PM
All this doom and gloom predicting massive Democratic losses are premature. I do think there is a greater danger for Dems in not passing a health care bill than there is in passing it.
If they don't pass it, then they will be tarred with every paranoid fantasy about what could have been in the bill. Individual Dems will be painted as being for death panels and free medical care for illegal immigrants and all that nonsense.
If they do pass it, then a year from now, people will be able to assess the impact of the bill. Most folks won't see a significant rise in taxes (but, in the absence of the bill, everybody will be sure that it would have raised their taxes to the breaking point). A year after passing this bill, most people will know a real person with health insurance who, previously couldn't get it.
The same is true with the economy and the job situation. Obama has been very conservative with the way the recovery package has been spent. There is a lot of it left to be spent. That means that a carefully targeted program could be pumped full of cash in a way that maximizes the momentum towards job growth in the months leading up to the 2010 elections.
I'll add to this that the Republicans have no real ideas on the table right now for anything. That differs significantly from this time in 1993.
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Matt Jones
December 17, 2009 5:59 PM
Apparently Boner believes that the average voter is so stupid that they'll forget where much of the economic instability and unemployment came from (hint: before Obama took office).
Unfortunately, he's probably right.
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cawleybo
December 17, 2009 6:29 PM in reply to Matt Jones
He probably is right.
And what makes anyone here think that voters will be so thrilled with the mandate? If I were the republicans, I would not be obstructing any longer. I'd let this go through in its present form in a heartbeat. Then I'd beat the democrats senseless over the fact that they are forcing people to spend thousands of dollars per year on health insurance every year or face fines.
To put a different spin on juke's comment: a year after passing this bill most people wil know a person who couldn't afford health insurance - and still can't - but is being forced to (over)pay for it or being fined.
This bill is a win-win for the republicans: a windfall for their insurance and PHrMA buddies and a chance to kick the tar out of democrats.
As much as I despise Boehner, he's right to be optimistic about 2010. To think that we had the opportunity to banish these bastards to the political wilderness but, between being wimps on the stimulus and HCR, the democrats have managed to open the door right back up for them.
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