Praise By Faint Damnation
By Mitch Berg
If this is the best criticism the House GOP leadership can come up with – “they’re just as bad as we were” – then the national GOP’s problems may not be over…:
On Tuesday afternoon, House Minority Leader John Boehner lashed out at the Democrats who control Congress, accusing Speaker Nancy Pelosi of using strong-arm, partisan tactics to force through legislation without attempting to negotiate with GOP lawmakers. Of course, as Boehner himself acknowledged, the Democratic strategy has virtually mirrored Republican tactics when they controlled the House.
NPR host Robert Siegel asked the Ohio lawmaker about his pledge earlier this year that Republicans would work with Democrats in addressing issues important to the country: “What evidence of that has there been so far, since you’ve been leader?”
“Well, unfortunately, Robert, there hasn’t been any,” Boehner confided, although he insisted the unfriendly atmosphere in Washington was not the GOP’s fault. “I was hopeful that Speaker Pelosi wouldn’t make some of the mistakes that the Republican majority made by overreaching and going it alone. But what we’ve seen all year is an effort to overreach, to only consider what the Democrat majority wants to do.”
True as far as it goes – and I’ve loved the richness of the irony; when not in power, the Dems (and their media flak friends) decry “partisanship”; when they’re in office, it’s their way or the highway.
But Boehner…oh, my. Blah.
