Posted by: McQ on Thursday, February 02, 2006 Well the good news is, Dale doesn't have to lick fireants off a stick. And I'd guess we've been summarily deleted from the still majority whip's email list. The bad news is our guy, John Shadegg, didn't win. But you know what, after listening to the John Boehner interview twice (and I'm going to listen to it again just to make a few notes) I'm not at all as disappointed as I might have been had Blunt won the race. John Boehner is the new Majority Leader in the House. Boehner may have been the compromise candidate. There was certainly enough noise genereated out in the hinterlands for the message to get through to Republican House members that the choice of Blunt wouldn't be acceptable. But they just couldn't quite pull the trigger on the more radical Shadegg. So much for those 117 commits Blunt had in the bag (it's that secret ballot thing, I'm tellin' ya). And, thankfully, my cynicism this morning wasn't rewarded. NZ Bear has already put up his post. I think his thoughts pretty much parallel mine: The Majority Leader race is done, and Republicans have chosen John Boehner as their new leader. Congratulations to Representative Boehner and his team.I'd like to add my congratulations to NZ Bear's. I highlighted two points in Bear's post that we're going to expect Rep. Boehner to live up too. They're important. One attacks the culture of spending and the other brings some much needed sunshine to a very dimly lit process. They also go hand-in-glove with the attempt by Senators Coburn and McCain we discussed here. The third highlighted point is just as important. McCain-Feingold has to go. So to Rep. Boehner, congratulations and good luck. We'll be watching and writing. We hope you'll do as you've said and seize the opportunity you've been presented to root out the endemic corruption (and change the structure which supports it) and return the House, and the party, to ethical and fiscal conservatism. Others commenting: Mike Krempaski at RedState James Joyner at Outside The Beltway Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom John Hawkins of RightWing News Radley Balko at The Agitator Kos at The Daily Kos Hugh Hewitt UPDATE [Jon Henke] I got the news in a phone call this afternoon, and I've been away from the computer ever since. This is undeniable good news. While everybody knows Shadegg was our first choice, Rep. Boehner was a strong second. The important thing is that the GOP dodged a bullet and elected what I assume from the contents of our phone call will be a proponent of limited government. The Republican Party is very fortunate to have Rep. John Boehner as Majority Leader. I look forward to the changes that need to happen and happen soon under his leadership. MORE: Let me point you to what I thought was the most telling part of Boehner's conference call: Jon Henke: Mr. Congressman, on the NSA warrantless surveillance issue, do you believe the President has the inherent authority to do what he has been doing? Or do you think we need to codify the process somehow?That's a remarkably courageous stand to take — to support an investigation of a President of his own party — in the midst of a intra-party leadership race. Republicans and Democrats ought to feel good about this. |
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