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Speaker John Boehner, Speaker Tip O'Neill

Contrasts in Courage—The Boehner / O’Neill Challenge



Conservative talk-radio here in north Texas this morning aired a story introducing Representative Sam Johnson of Texas's 3rd congressional district. This week marking the anniversary of various national as well as international milestones--first shots of the Civil War, first human in orbit, for example--Rep. Johnson also has a milestone worthy of remembrance. This week marks the 45th anniversary of Johnson's shoot down over North Vietnam, which began 2500 days in captivity for him, most of which he spent in solitary confinement. This week-end, on April 17th, Representative Sam Johnson will launch the Congressional Veteran Commendation (CVC) program to honor fellow military personnel from his district here in Texas at an inspirational service to be held at Canyon Creek Baptist Church in Richardson. His service and devotion to country, state and citizenry are greatly appreciated.

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And while this most patriotic of events, honoring one of this nation's great heroes and long-standing public servants is truly deserved and worthwhile, conflicting thoughts as they pertain to courage under fire versus courage in office cannot help but come to mind. Listening to Rep. Johnson speak of his horrendous encounter that day over North Vietnam, as he spoke this morning with such calm and resolve in his voice, would convince any listener that this once military man was indeed as his former captors had defined him, "a die-hard". Yet without missing a beat, as he segued into talks with the interviewer on the subject of the current budget offer between Speaker John Boehner, Harry Reid and the Obama White House--now known dis-affectionately as the "Deal"--even this "die-hard" of a man, supposedly Conservative to the core, began to summon utterly UN-Conservative, NON-diehard phrases the likes of: "compromise", "bargain", and "deal". Thoughts of Boehner, scurrying away from the cameras as quick as his loafers could shuffle him--after announcing how "proud" he was of his $38.5 billion dollar shellacking of the liberals--came to mind. Representative John Boehner, who, only months earlier signed his second "pact" with America since the mid-1990s--promising this time to eliminate Obamacare and roll back non-discretionary spending to 2008 levels, vowing to save $100 billion in his first year alone--appears to have abandoned the "Pledge to America" as completely as he has his Conservatism. Satisfied instead to continue in his obsequious manner with the Democrats, "We're only one half of one third of the government, give me a break here, guys..." Boehner singlehandedly authored a phony deal with the left that--under the lights of a new week's worth of investigation--has become exposed for its true worthlessness. How in the name of pledges, vows and tear-soaked microphones on a late November evening did we come to this? Wasn't this supposed to be the Conservative take-over? The GOP House might only represent one half of 1/3rd of the government, but, by golly, this is where the money starts--AND STOPS! The House has the power to fund--AND DEFUND! Where's the courage? Recall the days of Reagan, and these past 100 days appear even more disturbing. Before Reagan entered the White House, perhaps the most liberal of the liberals was awaiting the Gipper, Speaker of the House Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill, Jr. Contrasting the courage between Tip and Boehner may not set well with conservative readers of today--particularly in light of recent rhetoric by Obama to once again ratchet up the partisanship--but divulging precisely how powerful the position of Speaker truly is cannot be completed sufficiently without such an exercise. Knowing Tip, and by contrast identifying Boehner, exposes profound weaknesses in what was supposed to be the rebirth of the Conservative movement. Tip O'Neill once warned Jimmy Carter--perhaps the most profoundly inept president until number 44 took over--to "Keep your left hand high". Referencing an old boxing term, Tip ensured Carter that at any time, from out of the blue, a well-seasoned athlete, trained at the sport, could cold cock a man without warning. True to his word, although Tip seemingly supported his liberal ally through the malaise that best describes the Carter presidency, Tip would privately blame Carter for the drilling their party received at the hands of the Republicans in 1980--calling Jimmy Carter, "inept". If Tip was dispassionate for his own party's leader, he was vociferously outspoken towards the Republican leadership. Tip considered government--in particular the Democrat party--as belonging to inner-city people; the downtrodden, poor, working class folk who were often sick and more often somehow deprived of rights and/or privileges they were due from the more successful within society simply on the grounds of his perceived sense of right and wrong. Never mind that the road to ruin is paved with good intentions and that the first rule of bureaucracy is that the bureaucracy never dies, Tip was so hell-bent on his commitment to keeping the citizenry on the dole that he vowed to his dying day to battle against every legislative effort to balance the federal budget, because, he said, it would "dismantle the programs that I've been working for as an old liberal." Tip battled against one of the most respected presidents in the history of the office, time and again insulting Ronald Reagan in private, in Congress and before television audiences across the nation. He was brash, arrogant, disrespectful and downright disturbing to be around. And he had courage that moved political mountains. Tip was one of the country's most outspoken critics of Nixon, reminding Congress as well as anyone with a microphone that O'Neill personally considered it the duty of government, post-Watergate, to restore public confidence in the institution of Congress. So charged by his commitment to this duty was Tip that he authored a House Ethics Bill, a Bill that seemed to be going nowhere fast early on in his career. Channeling Speakers of old, perhaps considering himself a then-modern day Sam Rayburn, Tip took to the floor of Congress, verbally punching the tickets of nearly 100 Democrats who benefitted from his campaigning months earlier and also reminding 200 beneficiaries of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Fund (which he chaired) precisely who their loyalties belonged to. By the end of Tip's (threatening) speech, the "Ethics" Bill was inked: 344 to 79. Call it courage, call it browbeating, call it old-fashioned blackmail: Tip O'Neill knew how to get a "Deal" done. By contrast, John Boehner was elected to the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives in what was by all accounts a symbolic ceremony. Having been unanimously selected as House leader by the GOP last November 2010 (prior to the official swearing in of Tea Party winners elected that same month), Boehner was essentially guaranteed his post as House Speaker come January 2011. Interesting to note, even before the de facto win in January, pundits posited potential riffs between Speaker to be Boehner and the Tea Party Freshman class to come. In hindsight, one wonders if the freshmen now voting against Boehner's "deals" would have liked another candidate to vote for. Boehner's ongoing acquiescence to Continuing Resolutions and stopgap measures, born from a Democrat controlled Senate's complete failure to execute the requirements of their office and submit a budget for 2011--this fiscal issue growing worse by the month thanks to Reid and Company's continued refusal to offer one iota of assistance in dealing with the mess they started--resulted in 6 months of free spending by the liberals, which should have been axed before President's Day. Adding insult to injury, Obama would lay before Boehner a proposed spending measure so ludicrous that the mere penning of the offer would have had a REAL Speaker uttering phrases questioning the president's sanity and ability to use simple arithmetic. Alas, not this Speaker; not John Boehner. Too afraid of his ghosts from 1995, Boehner would expose his soft underbelly time and again for the progressive bloodsuckers to pounce upon, causing true Conservatives--particularly the Tea Party Freshmen as well as the Tea Party Caucus within his own party--to grow increasingly restless. And now, in a move that could end his political career, Boehner presents his party and the American citizenry with what is being (dishonestly) dubbed as the $38.5 billion dollar deal. As respected publications including the Heritage Foundation as well as the oft-quoted on-line newspaper The Hill weigh in--while the mandatory 3-day viewing period draws to a close on Boehner's "deal" with the Senate and Obama--"the largest spending cut in history" is rapidly being exposed as the result of cheap accounting gimmicks and parlor games. What was supposed to be Boehner's crowning achievement is quickly unraveling, revealing itself--and Boehner--as just another Beltway debacle. What's worse about this whole charade is that what began (just a couple of short continuing resolutions back) as a monumental effort to not only reign in massive government spending but also a move to defund both Obamacare AND Planned Parenthood--not to mention a whole host of other useless liberal programs--has now actually emboldened every single progressive liberal platform the GOP hoped to squelch. In one short span of 6 months, Boehner has almost singlehandedly guaranteed to Obama and the Democrats that he and the GOP will never: shut down the government; combine defunding Obamacare with budget negotiations; negotiate Planned Parenthood as a pretext for budget discussions; take the lead with military funding; slash Obama's spending habits; or stand in the way of raising the debt ceiling or taxes on the citizenry. In other words, Boehner is Tip O'Neill incarnate. Michele Bachmann and the entire Tea Party Freshman class have a serious issue before them. Today, Obama addressed the nation, not as a man looking to solve an economic crisis, but as a man looking to be re-elected. Tip O'Neill once called Ronald Reagan (unquestionably among the top 5 greatest leaders the nation, and the world, has ever known) the most ignorant man ever to occupy the White House--uncalled for vitriol from an uncalled for Speaker. But what of Boehner's reaction to Obama's stump speech today? How did Boehner react to Obama's latest campaign trail address? After all, those who know Obama know full well, as Paul Ryan stated,
"Instead, what we got was a speech that was excessively partisan, dramatically inaccurate and hopelessly inadequate to addressing our country's pressing fiscal challenges," Ryan said. "What we heard today was not fiscal leadership from our commander in chief. What we heard today was a political broadside from our campaigner in chief."
I'll tell you how Boehner reacted: he said that Obama's call to raise the debt limit will not be accepted by the American people "unless it is accompanied by serious action to reduce our deficit." Unless?! Really John? Unless? Is that all you've got? Well, at least he made happy hour on time...


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Christopher Massie -- Bio and Archives

Christopher Massie, BS, CS, Founder & Patriot of Drain The Swamp 2010,
Critical Reading for the Conservative American


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