John Boehner: Congress ‘Ought To Be Judged On How Many Laws We Repeal’

[Galraedia]

Source: ThinkProgress

In an interview on CBS’s Face The Nation on Sunday morning, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said that Congress passes too many laws and should actually be working to undo existing measures.

When asked about the lack of legislative activity in the current Congress, Boehner told host Bob Schieffer that the lawmaking body “ought to be judged” on how many laws it repeals:

BOEHNER: Well, Bob, we should not be judged on how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal. We’ve got more laws than the administration could ever enforce. And so we don’t do commemorative bills on the floor. We don’t do all that nonsense. We deal with what the American people want us to deal with. Unpopular? Yes. Why? We’re in a divided government. We’re fighting for what we believe in. Sometimes, you know, the American people don’t like this mess.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/07/21/2333351/john-boehner-congress-ought-to-be-judged-on-how-many-laws-we-repeal/

---

"We deal with what the American people want us to deal with." ~ John Boehner

[otohara]

1. After We Fail to Repeal The AHCA 60 More Times

maybe we'll get to that jobs program...

[Roy Rolling]

42. Okay, let's do it your way Boehner....

This Congress has repealed ZERO laws (my estimate), and has tried to repeal ACA 38 times and failed 38 times.

They are a colossal failure even by their own measurement.

[Katashi_itto]

56. Ok, lets see you've repealed Zero Laws...thats 0...none nada...

Ok so I am happy to judge you on that.

[Turbineguy]

2. That's brilliant

it's a bit like the entrance exam for the christian universities who supply talent to republican administrations. You get in based upon the number of entrance exam questions you get wrong.

[Trillo]

3. lol! "Laws"? Or inalienable rights?

[Sunlei]

4. I'd be more 'American proud' of R-Congress & Boehner if their positions were vacant.

Americans would be better off without 'them'

[mwooldri]

37. Mr. Speaker, Repeal Thyself!

Now that might be some effective legislation right there.

Though Mr. Boehner does have a point in that there are probably too many laws. Congress isn't judged by a number of laws passed or repealed. It's judged by how effective it is. Sitting there voting against the ACA for the umpteenth time isn't effective. Taking up the Voting Rights Act right after Roberts and the Supremes have done their song and dance and actually working it out to be good legislation for all of America, not just the confederated states of America, now that would be effective.

[bluedigger]

5. They still get an F.

[HomerRamone]

6. "We deal with what the American people want us to deal with."

That's why they're "unpopular"?

[silverweb]

41. Right?

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]That insane contradiction jumped out and smacked me in the nose, too.

[Kadie]

45. Reading that made my head hurt.

I wonder if he ever listens to what he says?

[HomerRamone]

48. I wonder if "journalists" listen to anything their interviewees say nt

[AlbertCat]

7. Completely loony tunes

And he doesn't even believe what he's saying!

Have another drink, Johnny.

[Orsino]

46. Completely in the pocket of industries that want fewer regulations. n/t

[GP6971]

8. No

They deal with what the corporations want, not the people. They could care less about what the people want and need.

[Boomerproud]

14. You win the best response award.

Succinct, true and powerful. Someone sitting at the table should have said that to his ugly face.

[Mr. David]

9. And how many has been successfully repealed through?

Your continued repeal of Obamacare has netted nothing but laughter and guarantee that more Republicans will not be in the House in 2014 and beyond.

[DetlefK]

10. Pure campaign gold.

[A Simple Game]

11. I do agree with him on this, we have too many stupid and antiquated laws.

And we seem to make more foolish laws all the time.

So yes Congress ‘Ought To Be Judged On How Many Laws We Repeal’ but, congressmen should be judged by which laws they choose to repeal.

[Lasher]

31. Then Gramm-Leach-Bliley would be an excellent place to start.

Then all the rest of the Bush tax cuts should go. But I'm pretty sure this is not what Boner has in mind.

[DRoseDARs]

12. Taken a step further, Congress ought to be judged on how many unsuccessful attempts it makes...

...to repeal just ONE law: The Affordable Care Act.

37 times and counting...

I think that's earned you, Boehner, a lovely medal made out of rancid cat shit. You should eat it.

[Fuddnik]

13. You can start with the Patriot Act, Marijuana Laws, NDAA.....

[treestar]

15. One useless man is a disgrace, two are a law firm

and three become a Congress!

[valerief]

16. Congress should be judged on how few assholes get elected to it.

Unfortunately, it's a hotbed of assholes like Mr. Tangerine.

[City Lights]

17. Get back to me, Boner, after you've repealed the "Patriot" Act.

Until then, I continue to

[Crowman1979]

23. +1

[silvershadow]

38. +1

[LonePirate]

51. And after he's repealed the remnants of DOMA, too.

[wordpix]

18. cry me a river and get honest about your drinking, John

[47of74]

34. A-FUCKING-MEN!

[tabasco]

19. Yes, marijuana laws.

Good point, Boehner.

[liberal N proud]

20. Boehner and the republicans want a lawless land

Where the only thing the government does is instill fear in the people and start more wars.

[adieu]

21. Even with repealing,

they're doing a terrible job at that. They ought to repeal all those stupid abortion laws. And trying to repeal the singular Obamacare law again and again without success indicates to me that they're not good a repealing either.

[heaven05]

22. he's

spitting in our faces people.

[onehandle]

24. So boner wants to redefine the meaning of success?

Good luck with that.

The history books will remember you as the weakest Speaker in history.

[Thav]

43. "The politics of failure have failed. We need to make them work again!"

That's all I think of whenever Bohner talks.

[Thinkingabout]

25. Boehner sure can not measure his successful term as Speaker by doing NOTHING, he can not even get

own party behind him and his best successes have been with the help of Democrats. He needs to stand up to the TP to show his strength but he just can't do this, he has too many breathing down his neck. Can you imagine this as president as he stands third in line for the job? Useless House, controlled by useless GOP members.

[wordpix]

53. hey, Boner does some things---golfing, drinking, and cigarette smoking, to name a few

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/disgraced-ex-congressman-attacks-john-boehner-in-new-book-20130305

[Thinkingabout]

54. I guess this is like stimulating the economy, gotcha ya.

[santamargarita]

26. Our the size of their bar bill, Boner

[ashling]

27. Oh, Johnny,

when you repeal a law. you are still passing (creating) a frickin' law!

But you can't even do that competently!

[dsharp88]

28. Unjust, hateful infringements of freedom on women's rights?

Patriot Act? Marijuana laws? Secretive, rubber stamp spying court sessions?

[Botany]

29. I saw part of that interview and Boner looked extra hung over and would not answer ....

.... Bob Schieffer's question about if he would let an immigration bill come to
the floor for a vote. You could also smell the burbon on his breath through the TV
screen.



He also had a nice little "gin blossom" under his left eye.

[dusty trails]

30. What ever happened to ...

JOBS JOBS JOBS ???

[jmowreader]

32. Apparently this is the Sergeant York Congress, then

The Sergeant York was one of the great boondoggles of the Reagan Administration. It was an antiaircraft gun mounted on an M48 tank chassis, and it was intended to fight alongside the M1 tank and M2 infantry fighting vehicle. The designers at prime contractor Ford Aerospace would tell the Army, "this gun is intended to defeat (aircraft type)." The Army would then take the one prototype they had out and try to shoot down that aircraft type. When it couldn't do it, Ford Aerospace would come up with a different kind of airplane for it to not be able to shoot down. When they finally got down to "this gun will shoot down hovering helicopters" and the damn thing wouldn't even do that, the Army put the prototype out in front of the Air Defense Museum at Fort Bliss and welded all the doors shut.

Apparently Boehner is trying the same shit: Congress can't fix the economy so now their mission is job creation, until they can't create any jobs and then their mission is overturning Roe, until they can't overturn Roe and now their mission is repealing laws. Which, as their 40-fold attempts to repeal Obamacare have shown, they can't do either.

Eventually Boehner is going to admit that the mission of the last few Congresses is to serve as potted-plant simulators. THAT, they can do.

[Lil Missy]

33. And everyone should strive for D's and F's instead of A's and B's

asshat

[Brigid]

35. OK, somebody help me out here . . .

Have they even repealed anything? I can't recall hearing of anything.

[47of74]

36. I think I'll refer to St. John of Orange as a cūlus aēnī

[lsewpershad]

39. Is there a syndrome

[a name] for "as republicans become older they become more stupid"?

[lsewpershad]

40. sorry

Repubilcan congress critters.

[sinkingfeeling]

44. "Boehner For Chaos - 2014" Well, I guess that's one way to reduce

government. Repeal all the laws!

[RiverNoord]

47. And this creep is the Speaker of the House of

Representatives, one of the two bodies Constitutionally granted the power to legislate for the United States. Legislation is developing laws! When a prominent American politician can simply come out and say this, our Republic is in a death spiral.

[tclambert]

49. Okay, so how many laws have you repealed?

What, NONE? So I guess that makes you . . . an EPIC FAILURE!

[truthisfreedom]

50. Anarchist!

[wordpix]

52. former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) trashes Boehner, *Cheney, McCain et al. in new book

snip: The book’s 377 pages are packed with insider criticisms of some of Washington’s biggest names of the past two decades. The targets for the longtime GOP officeholder are almost all fellow Republicans, including current House Speaker John Boehner; former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; the assistant attorney general who prosecuted him; Republican strategist Karl Rove; former President George W. Bush; former Vice President Dick Cheney; former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay; and Sen. John McCain. snip

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/disgraced-ex-congressman-attacks-john-boehner-in-new-book-20130305

Ney’s most dramatic accusations are against his fellow Ohioan John Boehner, the man he once saw as his biggest rival to someday being speaker. He describes Boehner as “a bit lazy” and “a man who was all about winning and money. He was a chain-smoking, relentless wine drinker who was more interested in the high life--golf, women, cigarettes, fun, and alcohol.” He said Boehner “spent almost all of his time on fundraising, not policy.” He “golfed, drank constantly, and took the easy way legislatively.” Ney recalled Boehner handing out checks on the House floor and said his ties with a tobacco company were so tight that lawmakers could get free cigarettes from Boehner’s office. His golfing, Ney said, was “nonstop” and “paid for by lobbyists.”

Ney wrote: “If the Justice Department were ever to make John produce receipts for his addiction to golf just for the years from 1995 to 2004, he would be hard-pressed to comply. John got away with more than any other Member on the Hill.”

The most inflammatory accusation against Boehner in the book is Ney’s contention that he ended his reelection campaign after winning the primary in 2006 only after Boehner, then the majority leader, summoned the cash-strapped and embattled congressman to his office and told him if he quit the race, Boehner would take care of him. “If you resign the next day, I will personally guarantee you a job comparable to what you are making, and raise legal defense money for you that should bury all this Justice Department problem for you,” Boehner said, according to Ney. He said he pressed Boehner, repeating the terms and getting assurance that the offer was “ironclad.” When Ney called back the next day to accept the deal, he wrote that he again repeated the terms to Boehner, who agreed. “Because of Boehner’s promise, I stepped aside,” he wrote. But Ney said Boehner did not keep his word. “I had been lied to and ditched,” Ney said.

[wordpix]

59. " John got away with more than any other Member on the Hill.” ---former Rep Bob Ney

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/disgraced-ex-congressman-attacks-john-boehner-in-new-book-20130305

snip: He describes Boehner as “a bit lazy” and “a man who was all about winning and money. He was a chain-smoking, relentless wine drinker who was more interested in the high life--golf, women, cigarettes, fun, and alcohol.”

[father founding]

55. Repeal this

The first law on the list definitely should be the unpatriotIc act.

[Stinky The Clown]

57. The singularly most feckless, ineffective, cowardly Speaker ever.

[rpannier]

58. Next Up on John Boehner says

Congress should be judged on how early we adjourn, how late we start and how many glasses of beer we can down in one gulp