Former House Speaker John Boehner in his new book repeatedly dumps on the ‘crazy caucus’ in he says has gained too much sway in the House Republican Conference – and says even conservative icon Ronald Reagan couldn’t advance in today’s party.
Boehner makes the observation inside his biting memoir, which is filled with foul-mouthed attacks on political rivals like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and where he also reassesses some of his own actions – including around the Clinton impeachment.
‘I don’t even think I could get elected in today’s Republican Party anyway. I don’t think Ronald Reagan could either,’ writes the longtime Ohio Republican in the book, which was obtained by the Washington Post.
Former House Speaker writes in his new book he doesn’t believe he could even get elected in today’s Republican Party
‘That was fine by me because I’m not sure I belonged to the Republican Party he created,’ he added.
Boehner drew a direct line between his own struggles trying to reign in conservative lawmakers like the House Freedom Caucus on the budget and government shutdowns, and the January 6th MAGA riot.
‘The legislative terrorism that I’d witnessed as speaker had now encouraged actual terrorism,’ he wrote in an epilogue to the book that he penned after the attacks that resulted in five deaths.
‘Trump incited that bloody insurrection for nothing more than selfish reasons, perpetuated by the b——- he’d been shoveling since he lost a fair election the previous November. He claimed voter fraud without any evidence,’ Boehner wrote.
Boehner, who once worked his family’s Ohio Barr, shares the reflections in his new book, ‘On the House.’
He also called out GOP tactics going back to the 90s, when he included himself among those who erred in impeaching Bill Clinton, who had an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and lied about it in a deposition to Ken Starr and his prosecutors.
‘I don’t even think I could get elected in today’s Republican Party anyway. I don’t think Ronald Reagan could either,’ the former Ohio lawmaker wrote
Boehner backed the House GOP effort to impeach Bill Clinton, which resulted in Democratic gains in 1998
Boehner accused his conference of blindly following former House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas in the impeachment effort
He did so while taking a shot at his former leadership rival Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who was the powerhouse in the conference when Boehner held the title of conference chair, which he lost before plotting his comeback.
‘I know what we all said at the time: Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath. In my view, Republicans impeached him for one reason and one reason only . . . Tom DeLay believed that impeaching Clinton would win us all these House seats, would be a big win politically, and he convinced enough of the membership and the GOP base that this was true,’ Boehner writes.
Boehner backed the move, but now has second thoughts.
‘Clinton probably did commit perjury. That’s not a good thing. But lying about an affair to save yourself from embarrassment isn’t the same as lying about an issue of national security,’ Boehner says.
He also describes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has twice held the gavel and retains it at age 81, as a ruthless operator.
He describes her fingerprints on the effort by fellow Californian Henry Waxman to depose former dean of the House John Dingell of Michigan from his powerful perch as head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Although she claimed neutrality, ‘she was all over this. I could just smell it.,’ Boehner writes.
‘Pelosi had gutted Big John Dingell like a halibut she found floating around San Francisco Bay, then calmly sat back and had a cup of coffee afterward. His entrails were left on display for everyone in the House of Representatives to see — and to remember,’ Boehner writes. ‘I don’t think Nancy relished mounting Dingell on her wall — she certainly didn’t brag about it — but that’s not the point. The point is she did it, and I have no doubt she slept just fine that night.’
While going after conservative firebrands for ‘legislative terrorism,’ Boehner also takes a shot at future White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who headed the Freedom Caucus when he was a North Carolina lawmaker.
After Meadows made a statement by voting against him for speaker as a House freshman, he came to Boehner’s office as a supplicant, ‘dropped off the couch and was on his knees. Right there on my rug. That was a first. His hands came together in front of him as if he were about to pray,’ Boehner says.
He writes that Meadows was on the verge of tears. ”For what?’ Boehner says he responded, shrugging off the act of rebellion.
