Coward of the House: John Boehner’s pathetic lawsuit reveals his weakness - By Joan Walsh
Wimpy "leader" thinks suing the president will appease his partys base. The good of the country is another story
JOAN WALSH
Never underestimate the cynicism of House Speaker John Boehner. The day after he told reporters he opposed the impeachment of President Obama, he announced plans to go ahead with an unprecedented lawsuit, on grounds so puny as to be laughable. The speaker will sue the president, he says, for postponing the imposition of the Affordable Care Acts employer mandate for a year and waiving the fine it imposed.
So: after all of Boehners huffing and puffing about the presidents lawlessness, after an op-ed that claimed Obama had abused his power on a range of issues, including his health care law, energy regulations, foreign policy and education, he wants to sue him for not implementing a minor ACA provision Republicans are known to oppose, within a law they want to repeal entirely? And
as NBCs First Read notes, Boehner didnt advocate suing President Bush in 2006 when he waived penalties for low-income seniors who missed the deadline to sign up for new Medicare prescription benefits.
Clearly Boehners silly lawsuit is a sop to his partys right-wing base. But hes throwing table scraps while the wing nuts want red meat. The GOP establishment, such as it is, has apparently decided impeachment is a bad political detour for the party. Yet few of the conservative voices now speaking out against impeaching the president have the courage to say: Its because he hasnt done anything that would be grounds for impeachment. Instead, they focus on the terrible politics for their party in a midterm election year when theyre expected to do well.
Boehner merely said I disagree when asked about Sarah Palins Facebook rant demanding that the House GOP impeach Obama and then he fleshed out his alternative legal plan. The man who gave us Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain, said Thursday: There are not the votes here in the United States Senate to impeach the president of the United States and I think that we should focus our attention on winning elections.
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http://www.salon.com/2014/07/11/coward_of_the_house_john_boehner%E2%80%99s_pathetic_lawsuit_reveals_his_weakness/