As a card-carrying conservative I never seem to run out of reasons to hate John Boehner. However, every once in awhile he does something that gets him in trouble on the national stage and I find myself standing up for Boehner and defending whatever it is that he has done.
This week is no different,I guess. After all the turmoil and gnashing of teeth over the “fiscal cliff”, of, as I have begun to call it, the “fiscal myth”, I found myself really irritated with Boehner and his inability to fight with these liberals and at least give us some sort of deal. This was a problem that Boehner should have dealt with before December 28th, and because he didn’t we were left negotiating with a party that won regardless of the outcome.
On the heels of this monumental GOP collapse I have began to read reports that Speaker Boehner scrapped a vote on the Hurricane Sandy relief bill due to the obvious “pork” and excessive spending that it included. Now Boehner is being made out as the bad guy who cares not for all of the Hurricane Sandy victims and their suffering. Many have even suggested that the Speaker is playing politics with peoples lives.
Let’s take a look at just a few things that were said about the Speaker recently. Governor Chris Christie, who apparently is a Republican, pointed the finger at Boehner and the Republican house saying that the Republicans in the house are the only ones to blame and he can’t believe anything that they are saying. I wish someone would remind the Governor of New Jersey that it was the senate that hand down a bill full of overspending and “pork.” Senator Gillibrand from New York also made here feelings know and said she thinks the Speaker should visit the affected areas but then went on to say she doubted he would have the guts or dignity to do so.
After reading all of these feisty comments, there is but one thing I can do. God help me, I support the Speaker. John Boehner did exactly what needed to be done to allow for someone to look over this bill and remove this excess spending.
Just to give you an idea of how ridiculous this bill is, it includes funding to states that were not even affected by Hurricane Sandy. In fact, these states are nowhere near the disaster area at all. Reportedly these relief funds were headed to the Gulf and Mississippi Valley for reconstruction from previous storms. These incentives were put in to entice Republicans in the senate to pass the bill. These have been dubbed the Sandy Kickbacks.
So to end this I would like to give a nickels worth of free advice to a few people in politics. First to Speaker Boehner, the congress has given you another chance to prove your leadership. Please don’t forget to stick to the conservative roots and remember that it was conservatives that put you in power. We will expect you to hold strong on the coming fiscal debates and the hard fight on guns that is yet to come. Don’t make your constituents regret supporting you. The stakes are too high and the time is too short.
Finally Chris Christie, you used to be a great conservative in many ways. People looked up to you as the voice of conservatism. However, after your hugging session with Barack Obama, it was you who was dumb enough to believe he was going to cut through the “red tape” and help you. If you want to blame someone for the hold up in funds please feel free to blame Harry Reid and the senate for trying to spend more money then was needed. If you have lost all caring about fiscal sanity and reliance on self instead of Uncle Sam then there is plenty of room on the left side of the aisle; just ask Arlen Specter for directions.
Image: Speaker of the House John Boehner; courtesy of Gage Skidmore; source: Flickr: John Boehner; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
Lower Image; President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; official White House Photo by Pete Souza; http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/8145795326/; public domain
