(ThyBlackMan.com) “For it matters now how straight the gate/how charged with punishment the scroll/I am the master of my fate/I am the captain of my soul.” That is the fate stanza of the poem ‘Invictus’ as written by William Ernest Henley. It is also apparently the mindset of a visibly angry John Boehner. To that, I say it’s about time. It’s going down.
Maestro, cue up John Williams’s Darth Vader theme from ‘Star Wars’. Boehner strikes back. Boehner versus Heritage Action and other conservative think tanks? Boehner versus the Ted Cruz and Tea Party faithful? Boehner versus the obstructionist wing of the GOP? The GOP Civil War is real. It’s been building for quite some time, folks.
Consider Mr. Boehner’s comments on the Tea Partiers at last Wednesday’s press conference after the Ryan-Murray budget deal was announced. He said: “Well frankly, I think they’re misleading their followers, I think they’re pushing our members into places where they don’t want to be. And frankly, I just think they’ve lost all credibility. They pushed us into this fight to defund Obamacare and to shut down the
government. Most of you know, my members know, that wasn’t exactly the strategy that I had in mind.
But if you recall, the day before the government reopened, one of the people that — one of these groups stood up and said, ‘Well, we never really thought it would work.’ Are you kidding me?!?” A reporter then asked Mr. Boehner if he was asking the Tea Party conservative base to stand down. Without hesitation or reservation, Mr. Boehner replied, “I don’t care what they do.” Whoa, Nelly.
Predictably, the members of the so-called “suicide caucus” of the Grand Old Party weighed in on Speaker Boehner’s epic rant. Rush Limbaugh posted on Facebook: “I’ll be darned, it just seems like the Republican Party is absorbed, is consumed with eliminating any conservative influence inside the party whatsoever.” Rushbo also added that the GOP is “shell-shocked by Obama”. Michael Needham – CEO of Heritage Action – said of Boehner: “The Speaker is trying to turn this into a boring fight between outside groups and himself so we are not having a policy debate about whether or not this (the budget agreement) is a good deal… The Speaker also wants to clear the way for immigration reform next year.” Chris Chocola – President of Club for Growth – vowed that his group stands with lawmakers who oppose the deal. Mr. Chocola asserted via a released statement: “We stand with Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Tom Coburn, Rand Paul, members of the Republican Study Committee and every other fiscal conservative who opposes the Ryan-Murray deal.
We support pro-growth proposals when they are considered by Congress… this isn’t one of those.” Matt Kibbe, Executive Director of FreedomWorks, had this to say: “Speaker Boehner’s real problem here isn’t with conservative groups like FreedomWorks. It’s with millions of individual Americans who vote Republican because they were told the GOP was the party of small government and fiscal responsibility.”
So what do we have here? We have Republican Senators mad at Republican Congressmen. We have conservatives attacking neo-cons. We have establishment GOPers warring with Tea Partiers. We have conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Levin angry with all Republicans for fighting each other instead of gathering on one accord to attack President Obama and the Democrats. And somehow, it’s all John Boehner’s fault.
The House Speaker is striking like a rattlesnake. He’s calling people out: “They (the Tea Party) are using our members and they’re using the American people for their own goals. This is ridiculous.”
John Boehner may not have much control over House Republicans, but he’s as conservative as he claims to be. He’s been as good a soldier for the GOP as humanly possible. And it looks to me he’s come to a decision: if he’s going down as Speaker of the House, he’s going down swinging.
This is the Speaker Boehner I wrote an open letter to last summer in my piece “Dear, Brother Boehner”. This is the John Boehner President Obama has been waiting for to emerge so that the very serious issues Americans need resolved can be fully addressed. This is the man who spent so much time trying to appease his increasingly dysfunctional and unreasonable conservative colleagues than he lost muffled his own political voice. Well, Speaker Boehner seems to be undergoing his own Howard Beale experience.
You remember Howard Beale – the unhinged, fictional TV news anchor from the 1976 satirical movie ‘Network’ who famously screamed (on-air): “I’m mad as hell… and I’m not going to take this anymore!” Could we be poised to bear witness to the transformation of John Andrew Boehner? How will this affect 2014? Stay tuned, brothers and sisters. This is going to get good.
Staff Writer; Arthur L. Jones, III
This talented brother is a local Minister, weekly featured Democratic Op-Ed columnist, non-profit advisor, and sees the Braves winning it all this fall. Rev. Jones welcomes your comments! Please email him directly at: tcdppress@gmail.com.