Long ago, before he was a GOP bigwig, Boehner co-authored a report titled "The College Cost Crisis," which was full of misinterpreted and often made up facts.
As Stanley Fish said in his review of my first book ...
quote:
What Boehner and McKeon offer is the “dysfunctionality narrative,” and every once in a while Archibald and Feldman put up a quotation from their report to use as a piñata.
Piñata indeed!
On the Senate side, some very serious people were working on the issues ... Tom Harkin, Lamar Alexander, Patty Murray. And then there were these clowns in the House grandstanding for effect.
Posts: 12759 | Location: Williamsburg, VA | Registered: 19 July 2005
John Boehner served as speaker of the United States House of Representatives for nearly five years (January 2011-October 2015), and represented the Eighth Congressional District of Ohio from 1991 to 2015. He now serves as senior strategic adviser for Squire Patton Boggs LLP. This essay is adapted from his book ON THE HOUSE, to be published by St. Martin’s Press on April 13, 2021.
My favorite story was on Twitter, verified by the reporter in question. I can't find it, so I will paraphrase.
He came off the floor after losing a vote one day, badly wanting a cigarette. A reporter known for tough questioning made a beeline for him, and asked him a curveball. So he went off on her. After using some colorful language, he realized, to his chagrin, that she was pregnant.
He apologized then, and every time he saw her for a year afterward. He said he wound up treating her more nicely than any other reporter he knew.
His point: he remembers screaming at her, and he remembers how he felt about it. He has no recollection at all of the substance of the bill that was voted on that day and that put him in a bad mood. He said, years later, you remember the people, not the substance.
I finished listening to Boehner's book. Really enjoyed it. He's very open and frank in his assessments of various people on both sides of the aisle.
His stories about what he calls the Crazy Caucus were hysterical, as was his recounting of the time that Mark Meadows noisily opposed him on some issue early on in Meadows' career. After Boehner prevailed/Meadows' side lost, Meadows came to Boehner's office and literally fell to his knees, begging forgiveness for his transgression. Boehner's telling of the story is great and I LOLed as I listened to it.
The audiobook is the way to go....
-------------------------------- When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
Posts: 38222 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010
