Buh bye, John.
From the WaPo.
It was one of the tea party’s few highlights in Tuesday’s congressional primaries. But laying claim to former GOP House speaker John Boehner’s old seat (in all likelihood) is a big one, both for the bragging rights and the momentum it gives House conservatives in their ongoing fight to purify their party ideologically.
Warren Davidson, a businessman and former Army Ranger, won a 15-way Republican primary Tuesday in the special election for Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. The tea party candidate rather easily bested more moderate candidates, including two state lawmakers, in a campaign that quickly became ground zero for the party’s ongoing identity struggle in the House that Boehner used to run. The winner of a June special election will serve out the rest of 2016 in Boehner’s seat, and in such a deep red congressional district, that winner is likely to be Davidson.
Let’s step back and assess why this matters. Sure, adding one lawmaker to the ranks of the hard-line House conservatives who have made life difficult for their moderate, pro-business Republican colleagues won’t single-handedly change the outcomes of most intra-party dramas. Davidson also won in large part thanks to a crowded primary, taking less than one-third of the vote.
But you can imagine how good it feels for the conservatives to get to say they took the former speaker’s seat, especially after spending the past few years directly challenging Boehner and, eventually, forcing him out. Congressional conservatives and their outside backers can now reasonably claim they won two battles against Boehner: They played a role in forcing his retirement last fall, and then they won the seat he vacated this spring.
……Davidson’s win Tuesday could give those lawmakers reason to dig their heels in as things escalate. They can make their case to Republican leaders that, sure, putting their foot down on a proposed budget that increases spending might hinder Republicans’ goal of passing a budget on time. But what they’re doing is really in the interest of a growing number of Republican voters. Look no further than this highly symbolic seat they just won.
Boehner’s legacy:
Boehner has a considerable history of being a total wuss when it comes to confronting the Dems and their corruption. Being called spineless pains him terribly.
Boehner surrendered so much, he should have a white flag tattooed on his ass. He refused to advocate impeachment for Obama. He capitulated twice to Obama over the debt ceiling with no strings attached, and the pompous ass had the gall to dismiss concerns over his feckless behavior with a sarcastic rendition of Zip a Dee Doo Dah as he exited a press conference. His collusion with Dems has helped increase the debt by $3,8 trillion in 3 years.
He also disrespected fellow Republicans who take issue with his chickenshit approach to ‘immigration reform’. And he refused to have Lois Lerner arrested for her unlawful, unconstitutional targeting of conservative groups.
In the biggest mutiny against an incumbent speaker in at least a century, 25 House Republicans voted to oust Boehner from the Speaker podium. Unfortunately, they did not succeed. He was challenged by Rep Louis Gohmert (R-TX) for the Speaker’s job, and in spite of his statements to the contrary, retaliated against the Republicans who voted to oust him.
He finally resigned from the position of House Speaker in October of 2015, but his replacement, Paul Ryan, isn’t much better.
At least Davidson will be a refreshing change and help steer the GOP back on track.