Thread: Boehner’s Crocodile Tears for Amnesty

Boehner’s Crocodile Tears for Amnesty

By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | December 13th, 2013 at 04:30 AM | 52

RESIZE:AAA

It is an odd fight. Such a weird little battle over meaningless and known outcomes. Conservatives, aware from press reports and congressional leaks, knew what would be in the Paul Ryan drafted budget plan. The conservative groups released statements in opposition to the plan based on what they had been told. But there was never any doubt about the Ryan plan passing.

After the plan was publicly unveiled by the Republicans at six o’clock on a Tuesday night, conservative fears were realized. Those things they knew would be in the plan were, in fact, in the plan. The plan funded Obamacare. The plan raised taxes. The plan broke the sequestration spending limits that only a month before Republican leaders had said would never be broken.

Speaker Boehner then did something curious. He held two press conferences wherein he lashed out at conservative groups. He denounced them for making up their minds before the plan was publicly unveiled. Never mind that everyone knew what would be in the plan. Never mind that he only gave the public thirty-six hours to explore the text of the plan — a violation of a campaign promise to give at least seventy-two hours of examination. Speaker Boehner’s statement sounded like former Speaker Pelosi claiming we had to pass the Ryan plan to find out what was in the Ryan plan.

Superficially, it is a very odd fight. But Speaker Boehner’s crocodile tears in his attacks and cries against the conservative movement are really about the next fight. Speaker Boehner intends to pursue immigration reform, with an amnesty component. Before he gets there, he needs to shape battle lines.

There are a number of fence sitters on the right. Speaker Boehner needs them on his team. By castigating the conservative movement now and making them the unpopular crowd, the Speaker and Republican leaders intend to draw the fence sitters to them. Once they have done so, they can move on to a primary season where they can fight against the unpopular crowd intent on driving some incumbents from office.

Then the real fight will begin — immigration reform. The Speaker assumes he can marginalize conservatives through primary season, make conservatives unpopular, then push through an amnesty based immigration reform plan daring his tenuous coalition to move over to the unpopular kids’ table.

While conservatives and much of the rest of the country are scratching their heads over Speaker John Boehner’s temper tantrums this week, the Speaker is laying the ground work for his legacy — he will be the man who gets immigration reform through the House of Representatives. He is already staffing up on this front.

Rebecca Tallent is the Speaker’s new immigration policy director. Until last week, Ms. Tallent served as the director of immigration policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. Before that, she worked for Senator John McCain as his Chief of Staff. Ms. Tallent helped Senators McCain and Kennedy formulate their amnesty based immigration plan in 2007. Before that, she worked for former Representative Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican, helping him with plans to overhaul the American immigration system.

It would be very unusual for Speaker Boehner to bring on Ms. Tallent, given her background, unless he was ready to go forward with immigration reform. Likewise, it would be unusual given her background for Ms. Tallent to go work for someone not interested in comprehensive immigration reform.

Speaker Boehner, for all his faults, has been skillfully maneuvering pieces on the chess board getting ready for this fight. He may have beclowned himself with his unusual temper tantrums this week, but it is for a greater good in his mind. Many have speculated this will be his last congressional session as Speaker. He denies it, but given the fractious nature of his Speakership it would not be surprising. Any Speaker would want to go out with a legacy heralded by the media. Immigration would do that for John Boehner.

Fence sitters in the Republican Party should be careful, lest they wind up working against their own goals in the next fight.

http://www.redstate.com/2013/12/13/b...s-for-amnesty/

The GOP is a disaster with Boehner and McConnell at the helm these two men are simply DC people looking to further there power and wealth while taking from the working class, is not this the same as liberals.

MARK LEVIN: BOEHNER TRASHING CONSERVATIVES TO GET AMNESTY VOTES



by TONY LEE 12 Dec 2013 69 POST A COMMENT
On Thursday, conservative talk radio host Mark Levin said House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is lashing out at conservatives and throwing "temper tantrums" because he wants to delegitimize them as preparation for the looming fight over amnesty.

Levin said Boehner is "raising his voice" and throwing "temper tantrums" because he needs the votes of Republicans who are on the fence about immigration reform.
"He's making it clear that it's now time to take sides," Levin explained.
Boehner has blasted conservative groups for opposing the budget, saying the Tea Party has "lost credibility."
In reference to Boehner's assertion that conservative groups criticized the budget before they knew what was in it, Levin said he was briefed on the deal over the weekend when the Republican leadership "wanted me to know about it."
"And I'm not the only one," Levin said. "So why does he keep saying this? Why does he keep lying about this?"
Levin said Boehner was "lying through his teeth," trashing conservative groups because his ultimate endgame is the amnesty that the Chamber of Commerce, the Bush family, Karl Rove, and the Republican establishment's corporate donors have demanded.

Levin mentioned that the country's debt has increased over $3 trillion since Boehner became House Speaker. He mocked those establishment Republicans who are trying to convince Americans the budget deal would reduce the country's debt despite its doing away with the sequester.
"Are you kidding me?" Levin asked.

Levin said the Republican "sellouts," "losers," and "RINOs" want their legacies defined by the big media outlets like the "New York Slime" and the "Washington ComPost." He emphasized that Boehner is squarely in this camp.
Boehner has said amnesty was "absolutely not" dead. Breitbart News previously reported that amnesty advocates were special beneficiaries of a budget deal, as one would clear the legislative calendar so the House could vote on amnesty.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...o-Pass-Amnesty

Boehner is showing his Washington colors now. I hope his constituents pay VERY close attention.

BOEHNER SHOWS TRUE COLORS TO TEA PARTY WITH RYAN-MURRAY BUDGET DEAL



by JOEL B. POLLAK 12 Dec 2013

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), has effectively declared war against the conservative members of the GOP caucus, as well as the Tea Party and other outside conservative groups. Not only did he attack outside groups twice in as many days, but he pushed through the Ryan-Murray budget compromise in 36 hours on a deeply lopsided vote, 333-94, that will likely free his hand to disregard future conservative opposition.

In September and October, Boehner allowed House conservatives to guide Republican strategy during the federal government shutdown. His pushback is a sign of the conservatives' weakness after the shutdown ended in a perceived defeat for the GOP--even though the Obama administration now admits that it would have been far better to delay the launch of Obamacare, which was the conservatives' key demand in the shutdown fight.

Conservative blogger Erick Erickson speculated at RedState that Boehner intended to marginalize conservative lawmakers now in order to pave the way for the passage of "comprehensive" immigration reform legislation early next year. "Boehner needs to draw fence sitters to him, make conservative groups unpopular, and then dare the fence sitters to go sit with the unpopular crowd during the immigration fight," Erickson wrote.

Business groups, some of which have pledged to work against House conservatives in upcoming primary contests, applauded the budget deal. Ironically, House conservatives found an unlikely ally in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who objected to giving up the sequester cuts that were the Tea Party's major achievement to date. McConnell opposed the shutdown and faces a Tea Party challenger in his 2014 primary.

There is a high political risk for Boehner in his aggressive tactics, in that his position as Speaker will be far less certain in the next Congress even if Republicans do retain the majority. The advantage he holds is that very few of the incumbent Republican members of the House will face strong Tea Party candidates, and that Tea Party leadership within the caucus has been decentralized. Some key Tea Party figures also lost their seats in 2012.

In addition, it is possible that Boehner and the current House Republican leaders will overplay their hand by angering conservative voters so much that they stay home next November. That could happen if the Speaker pushes through immigration legislation that conservatives fault for granting legal status to illegal aliens before securing the borders. Unless the Tea Party develops an effective response, both sides could go down to defeat.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...-1-Tea-Party-0

Lobbyists are reportedly "pumping their fists" over House Speaker John Boehner's declaration of war against the Tea Party last week.

y TONY LEE15 Dec 2013,


According to The Hill, lobbyists were "pleasantly surprised by" Boehner's "strident remarks" last week in which he said Tea Party groups have lost "all credibility" after they opposed the budget compromise that increased taxes. Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin said Boehner's words were a declaration of war on grassroots conservatives.

The budget deal was brokered by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA). Amnesty supporters, including big-business lobbyists, wanted the deal so it could clear the legislative calendar for comprehensive immigration reform, which the Congressional Budget Office determined would lower the wages of working-class Americans.

The budget deal passed the House on Thursday, and the Senate will take up the measure this week.

“You didn't hear all the applause across downtown?” Dirk Van Dongen, president and CEO of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), told The Hill. “Folks were absolutely pleased that he said it... It needed to be said.”

The Chamber of Commerce said it will target conservatives in the 2014 midterm election, especially those who oppose amnesty. Grassroots conservative groups have fired back. Club for Growth has responded by pointing out, "Corporations are some of the biggest seekers of welfare in this country." Heritage Action for America, meanwhile, has commented, "The fact that K Street is applauding confirms that the deal was bad, and Speaker Boehner's comments confirm conservatives' worst suspicions about Washington -- that the game is rigged."

Moreover, on Friday, Michael Needham, Heritage Action’s CEO, emphasized that Boehner "wants to clear the way for immigration reform next year," which is something big-business interests and the the high-tech lobby have coveted.

Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin also slammed Boehner for rushing the budget through and blasting conservatives because he wanted amnesty for illegal immigrants.

When the budget deal was announced, Breitbart News reported that such a deal may clear the way for a vote on amnesty in the House in the early part of 2014.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...r-on-Tea-Party