“I think it’s ridiculous. They should kick them all out of the Republican conference.”
Q: How about that insurrection — doesn’t that prove that Boehner is a weak leader who can’t control his caucus?
LaTourette: I think it’s ridiculous. They should kick them all out of the Republican conference. The picture in Politico of a sitting Republican member of Congress on the floor with an iPad showing a screen with a whip count to deny the Republicans the speakership of the House is asinine. This is what I’m talking about: These guys are OK when it comes to ideology and dogma, but they don’t have a clue how to participate in the legislative process.
I don’t know what their objective is. If it was to deny the speakership to Boehner and hand it to Mrs. Pelosi, I don’t know how their cause would have been furthered. If it’s to force the vote to a second ballot to make some demands, well, who the hell do these people think they are? Twelve out of 233, and they’re making demands? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard…
Q: What do you think the future holds for the House Republicans?
LaTourette: It’s a mess. I’m an optimist — I do hope that when they go down to their retreat these guys take it seriously when Boehner says, ‘Listen, we’ve got to get to 218 votes.’ These people have to be willing to sit down and find a bill that gets 218 Republican votes. But I really don’t see it coming. I don’t.
Boehner can’t be a leader if he doesn’t have guys behind him to lead. But I do know that he thinks this deficit and debt problem is just going to eat up the country. If anybody would meet him halfway or even a little less than halfway in the White House or the Senate, he would put his speakership at risk to make the big deal.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
They don’t have a clue how to roll over on every issue?
Blake on January 5, 2013 at 12:27 PM
Golly it seems someone ate the sweet off latourette’s candy didn’t they? All bent out of shape that there might be some r’s who aren’t all that thrilled with boehner has him all a twitter!
L
letget on January 5, 2013 at 12:27 PM
Because a divided GOP is so much stronger in negotitating with Obama?
/s
Wethal on January 5, 2013 at 12:29 PM
With RINOs like LaTourette, who needs Dems?
ShainS on January 5, 2013 at 12:29 PM
Extremists. Lunatics. Aka the only people who find continually extending debt to our kids to be contemptible
blatantblue on January 5, 2013 at 12:32 PM
Legislative process haaaaaahahaha
The democrats and pansy republicans want the people with spine to be sacrificial lambs to grease the wheels of the “legislative process.”
What a morally grotesque time we live in.
blatantblue on January 5, 2013 at 12:37 PM
Does it make a difference? In theory it could, but in practice, what do you see as the real differences in results? Failure of results is what has led to the division to begin with!
besser tot als rot on January 5, 2013 at 12:37 PM
Hey, it’s Tourette Guy!
BigGator5 on January 5, 2013 at 12:37 PM
Hate to say it, but this time around, LaTourette is right. A few tried to unseat the Speaker. Lol. Very intelligent planning indeed. If you don’t have the nos., STFU.
tommy71 on January 5, 2013 at 12:37 PM
Remember, the gop couldn’t even defund NPR after a landslide election. The whole party is useless.
Panther on January 5, 2013 at 12:39 PM
LOL, the Tourette Clown again?
Let’s face it, the House GOP is a complete joke. As long as Boehner remains Speaker, they will only be a doormat for the Obama administration with Boehner as a their favorite useful idiot.
Norwegian on January 5, 2013 at 12:42 PM
Nobody will get more publicity and fawning from the media than a Republican willing to crap all over conservatives.
tbrosz on January 5, 2013 at 12:52 PM
I think the most serious division is between House GOP and Senate GOP. McConnell is such a compromising “dealmaker” that when he caves, Boehner has to deal with a larger “opposition.”
Wethal on January 5, 2013 at 12:55 PM
Literally every single thing LaTourette said in this excerpt is correct. Why don’t you, or anyone else here, take issue with the substance of his statements instead of doing your best Tim Huelskamp imitation and sitting in the back row snarking & b*tching?
Esoteric on January 5, 2013 at 12:57 PM
If you read the whole article every question starts from the point that Republicans suck and LaTourette plays right along. He agrees that the dissenters are extremists rebels and insurgents.
Screw that guy.
NeoKong on January 5, 2013 at 1:00 PM
And the RINOs continue their rein.
MoreLiberty on January 5, 2013 at 1:01 PM
Extremists. This is the socialist definition of those who are actually conservative.
LaTourette should be kicked out, not the other way around. Look, we don’t need or want people in the GOP that are helping the socialists destroy conservatism.
WE NEED THE RINOS OUT!!
dogsoldier on January 5, 2013 at 1:04 PM
And the CINOs continue their amateurish revolt.
tommy71 on January 5, 2013 at 1:04 PM
Yeah, if you “don’t have the nos.”, just lay down, shut up and screw the constituents in your district who elected you to stand up and fight against this big government nonsense. Just bend over while Boehner, who only became Speaker because you and your fellow principled conservatives got elected in 2010, agrees to raise taxes AND spending because he’s gutless in the face of Democrats and a bully to those he owes his job to. Seriously, you party over principle types are so intellectually lazy. Impotent when it comes to negotiating with leftists, you then proceed to browbeat (in hopes of “shaming”) conservatives into conceding, just to can get the difficult stuff off the desk and move on to the cocktail parties.
fitzfong on January 5, 2013 at 1:05 PM
He’s a fake Republican from Ohio…he (and his ilk) i the problem, not the solution..
Tim Zank on January 5, 2013 at 1:06 PM
What LaTourette doesn’t understand is that if the establishment runs off from the Tea Partiers, him and his ilk become the unacceptable right-wing extremists. The left wants one party rule, but will “compromise” for two parties that are both socialist.
Transpo on January 5, 2013 at 1:06 PM
I always find it amusing that the people who accuse others of being irrational or unreasonable, often come across as severely unhinged.
This guy is taking everything personally and it’s getting weird.
Daemonocracy on January 5, 2013 at 1:09 PM
I love how you think their constituents elected them to do this sort of bullsh*t. They did no such thing. YOU approve. YOU are one random guy. YOU are not even a constituent of any of those guys, I’m guessing.
No, this had NOTHING WHATSOEVER with “zomg I must represent the desires of my voters” and everything to do with “I’m big, dumb, stupid, and full of beans.” This is our problem in the conservative caucus.
Esoteric on January 5, 2013 at 1:10 PM
What “substance”? All self-important gas about how he “knows better” than thou about “the legislative process”. He erects straw men and creates false choices in order to marginalize those opposed to his brand of “negotiation”. He acts like 12 outlaws are holding the others hostage, when in reality, it’s leadership whose holding the party hostage with some holdouts surrendering to arm twisting and this a-hole whines because the others won’t be taken so quickly.
fitzfong on January 5, 2013 at 1:14 PM
God, these guys always sound like Robert the Bruce’s leper father in the attic.
Dongemaharu on January 5, 2013 at 1:15 PM
One of the major selling points of the Tea party fueled red wave of 2010 was to put an end to the wheeling and dealing business as usual politics of the past. These people are standing on principle, they campaigned on doing so, and some nutter with a sticky caps lock key on the internetz can’t change that reality.
Daemonocracy on January 5, 2013 at 1:20 PM
@fitzfong Firstly, you assume that they’re Conservatives. To me, they behave like reactionary anarchists. Secondly, many of them voted against the fiscal cliff deal. Thats fine. But if you call yourself a Conservative, and have a grouse against your own Speaker, get the nos., and then unseat him/her. This was an amateurish attempt, was a total failure, and made them look like rank i**ots. And the whining is the worst part. Lol. So please don’t try to categorize them poor Conservatives as victims. Thats laughable. If these are who you call Conservatives, they’re pathetic. There was a time when the Conservatives were the intellectuals and realists. That time has passed. Now every reactionary anarchist can easily pass for a Conservative, as long as they spout the rhetoric. The meaning behind the rhetoric is lost on them. Oh, sorry for going on and on. Lol.
tommy71 on January 5, 2013 at 1:23 PM
That cuts both ways. You presume to know why their constituents elected them? Here’s a tip, if they aren’t representing the wishes of their constituents, they’ll get voted out next time around. Happened to that douchebag Inglis in 2010.
But full props for going the Joe Biden/LaTourette route. Facing opposing viewpoints, you don’t address them, you just blindly reduce them as “malarkey” (as if the assertion stands alone as substance). Way to build consensus…or whatever it is you seek.
fitzfong on January 5, 2013 at 1:28 PM
Another useful idiot for the left.
Joey24007 on January 5, 2013 at 1:31 PM
Oh, I see. The way to approach Boehner would not have been to raise objections out in the open in hopes that all issues are heard and addressed before a rotten deal is made…it would have been to lead him down the primrose path thinking he had no opposition while proceeding to plot against him in the dark and sandbagging him publicly in the end. Super.
fitzfong on January 5, 2013 at 1:36 PM
@fitzfong In your first post, you used your intellect. Thats why I engaged. Not in the present one. Get this, they voted AGAINST the fiscal cliff deal. Get it? And its obvious that they conveyed the same to the Speaker. It passed. Lol. Then they tried to unseat the Speaker. Get that? How many pubs voted against the fiscal cliff deal, and how many of the same no. voted FOR Boehner as Speaker. The point is, the so-called Conservatives didn’t have the courage to vote against the Speaker, and throw him out. Poor planning, incredibly s**pid execution. Lol. I know real Conservatives. They’re very, very smart.
tommy71 on January 5, 2013 at 1:49 PM
It’s simply amazing the ease by which journOlists are able to locate loose cannon, loudmouth RINOs.
onlineanalyst on January 5, 2013 at 1:50 PM
Frankly that’s about as difficult anymore as walking through an orchard and finding apples. Even a liberal could do it.
MelonCollie on January 5, 2013 at 1:59 PM
So, basically, the conservatives who voted against the deal and voted against Boehner are to blame because those who voted against the deal but voted to retain Boehner lacked the courage to vote to unseat him? And to blame for what, exactly?
fitzfong on January 5, 2013 at 2:02 PM
It is literally correct that they should be thrown out of the conference? It is literally true that it is asinine to show a whip count for a vote that you support? It is literally correct that people don’t have a clue how to participate in the legislative process when that “process” involves voting on top-down deals negotiated by leaders and go through ZERO legislative process other than voting on it? I think you have serious problems with the English language.
besser tot als rot on January 5, 2013 at 2:02 PM
@fitzfong Get this, Boehner is the Speaker of the House. The plotters against him are to be blamed cos they weakened the Speaker further. They had pathetic nos., and they couldn’t unseat him. As I mentioned earlier, if you don’t have the nos., STFU. Thats where LaTourette’s logic was correct. What were the f**ls thinking? A big zero was the result, with the further effect that the MSM shows the pubs to be divided. We have a real enemy, the progs. This whiny attitude of poor Conservatives, they are victims of the RINOs, is unbelievably dumb and childish.
tommy71 on January 5, 2013 at 2:15 PM
It’s so cute the way the TruCons think they have the numbers to not only influence the Republican Party, but also the country at large.
Just because the rightwingers–those who constantly bash Romney, Boehner and the “RINOS,” and STILL believe that yesterday’s-news girl Sarah Palin is going to save the world–dominate the comments at HA doesn’t mean they have the clout to accomplish anything when it comes to governance.
The Democrats know how to pull together when the going gets tough. The Republican base just wants to blow everything up. They haven’t a clue about how politics works, about how to bring people around to their way of thinking.
Most of the country realizes the folly of stalemate, yet the TruCons are as rock-headed as Obama. My way or the highway. And since most of the country also thinks the TruCons are extremists–which in many cases they are–and Obama is reasonable, it’s now Obama’s highway. Right to destruction.
Meredith on January 5, 2013 at 2:24 PM
@fitzfong And now I’ll disengage. If you get it by now, fine. If you don’t, thats fine too.
tommy71 on January 5, 2013 at 2:26 PM
Those darn extremists and their desire to not sell future generations into government slavery.
ButterflyDragon on January 5, 2013 at 2:29 PM
Well, I say “to he11 with your ‘legislative process’.” Mayhap that’s where the whole thing is broken down – all concerned with process and not with principle.
GWB on January 5, 2013 at 2:30 PM
Boehner is the Speaker of the House. The plotters against him are to be blamed cos they weakened the Speaker further. They had pathetic nos., and they couldn’t unseat him. As I mentioned earlier, if you don’t have the nos., STFU.
That isn’t why those men and women were elected. The voters didn’t elect Boehner.
You are correct that they should probably leave the Republican party because conservatives don’t belong there.
And some of those progressives are Republicans.
sharrukin on January 5, 2013 at 2:30 PM
And we have a lot of Republicans who have sold out to that enemy in order to maintain their position of power. And, in the process have sold my child’s generation into oblivion. No more.
GWB on January 5, 2013 at 2:32 PM
@Meredith Hmm…..haven’t seen you here for a while, I think. Am I wrong?
tommy71 on January 5, 2013 at 2:36 PM
Translation: tommy71 lacks intellectual capacity to argue his point, concludes for expediency that it’s the fault of the person who challenges him, then runs away in hopes that his mere claim of superiority will stand alone…marginalize, recruit media and Dems (but I repeat myself) to support him as some sort of “conscience” and marinate in his smugness. Typical RINO, just like that blowhard coward LaTourette.
fitzfong on January 5, 2013 at 2:56 PM
Actually, it’s cute that you “reasonable cons” or whatever you self-importantly call yourselves who are cute to think conservatives are interested in influencing the GOP or the nation at large. The interest is to have politicians and bureaucrats STOP over-influencing themselves in our lives. That you’re OK with the continuing creep of Washington into every aspect of the daily lives of individuals and business says all that needs to be said about you. You’re not to be reasoned with, you’re to be fought because you are the problem. All of you RINOs…governed by perception rather than fact. If you wish to continue lubricating yourselves for the left, that’s your business…quit demanding that the rest of us do.
fitzfong on January 5, 2013 at 3:09 PM