Harry Reid had some telling things to say this morning on the Senate floor about his working relationship with John Boehner.
While there are certainly internecine and factional rivalries in the Democratic party, it’s all but impossible to imagine the outpouring of celebration, schadenfreude and smackdowning that is greeting the retirement of Speaker John Boehner. Even a kind word on the day of his retirement appears beyond the ability of most of those he led. Yes, there’s been base clamoring against Nancy Pelosi and even more at certain times with Harry Reid. But it simply doesn’t compare to the angry joy we’re seeing now toward a quarter-century member of the House. The only analogue I can think of is the enmity that grew toward Joe Lieberman. But of course, by that time he wasn’t even a Democrat anymore, let alone one of the party’s top leaders.
Of course, it is of a piece with Boehner’s tenure – a largely reviled and half-effective, never-ending and seldom-lauded effort to keep half his caucus from carrying through with the latest ridiculously self-defeating and often country-damaging gambit. Boehner’s whole Speakership was, in a real sense, a permanent exercise in indignity. So the ending is not surprising.
Which was your favorite government shutdown? Let me know by the comments email under the TPM Logo.
Parody can barely outsprint reality these days. And yes, there really is an Ahmed Truth Movement (ATM): a swirl of conspiracy theories collectively suggesting that the boy who made that clock that was mistaken for a bomb, Ahmed Mohamed, maybe wasn’t so innocent after all and actually was up to no good. We mentioned the day the story broken that the Mayor of Ahmed’s town, Irving, Texas, is actually a big anti-Islam, anti-Sharia crusader. And surprise, surprise, she’s stepping forward to lead the Ahmed Truth Movement. Katie Thompson has the story.
NASA to announce new evidence of flowing liquid water on Mars. Watch.
With a weekend for the dust to settle, we now have a clearer idea of what led to the dramatic and unexpected departure of House Speaker John Boehner. He wasn’t pushed exactly. Not exactly. Perhaps best to say that the pressure was getting him closer and closer to the precipice and rather than be pushed he decided to jump on his own terms. Pope Francis’s visit to Capitol Hill appears to have played a genuine role in determining precise timing, though not the decision itself. So what does it mean for the House, the GOP caucus and more globally the progress of national politics over the next year?
Three points are worth noting.
Eliminating the estate tax (and calling it the “death tax”) was the big tell that Donald Trump’s ballyhooed tax plan was just your father’s warmed-over GOP tax orthodoxy repackaged in a billionaire populist wrapper. But the deeper you look, the worse it looks. Brookings’ Vanessa Williamson dives into the numbers at TPMCafe.