The GOP's 'New Normal' is Getting REAL Old

by Sunnyjane

New Speaker of the House, Canadian Senator Rafael Edward Cruz, was not available for this announcement.

Any little calendar square that ends in y is the perfect time for Tea Party Republicans to prove to the world that America is totally lacking in exceptionalism.  In the leaderless House, serial liver-abuser John Boehner has suddenly realized that this is an election year and is bumbling and stumbling around trying to find something -- anything -- that will prove he's in control of the situation. Perhaps it's that stunningly undeserved $49,500 extra he receives annually just for having the title;  I dunno.  But in another brilliant post for Esquire, Charles Pierce begins by wondering what Eric Cantor did with Boehner's balls when he quit his job in a huff, and concludes by deciding that Cantor passed said balls on to Ted Cruz.  Sounds very plausible.

Boehner has been Speaker for thirty-two months, during which numerous post offices have been named or renamed and repeal of the Affordable Care Act has been voted on about sixty times.  In GOP House parlance, that's called Doing the Work of the American People.  Well OK, there was that time in January 2013 when Louie Gohmert nominated -- and was actively seeking votes for -- Allen West to become Speaker of the House, even though West had lost his election the previous November and was no longer a member of congress.  But hey, that's Louie, just acting normal.

To take up some time during the paltry number of days they're actually in session -- 113 -- the House has held numerous hearings on supposed scandals, bringing Macbeth's soliloquy to mind:  ...full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.  (Just for edification, the Senate will be in session 193 days this year.)  Adding insult to injury for Republicans, a report very quietly published on August 1 -- the day after the House split for their vacation district work period -- shows that there was no wrongdoing by the Obama administration on the Benghazi issue.  Poor Darrell Issa and Trey Gowdy; how unfortunate for them.  

There may only be one Speaker of the House, but there are so many Speakers for the House that it's hardly any wonder their messaging -- as well as their policy making -- totally sucks.  So let's just delve right in and take a peak peek, shall we?

To Sue or Not to Sue, That is the Question

Another idler who partakes of strong drink and does not tend to his responsibilities.

So, coming up goose eggs on scandals, devoid of any desire to put forth bills that would truly benefit Americans, and adamantly against any proposal by the White House or the Democratic-controlled Senate, Boehner decided that suing the President for issuing an Executive Order delaying the employer mandate portion of the ACA until 2015 was a swell idea.  Perhaps it was just a lil' ole memory lapse that Boehner failed to mention that George W. Bush messed about with extending -- through Executive Order -- the Part D enrollment period back in the day.  IOKIYAR.

Only the politically ignorant, the intellectually incurious, and Fox News adherents (OK, that's all redundant, I realize) don't know that the House voted about fifteen days later to do the exact same thing.  

This isn't really about the employer mandate delay, of course.  It's those pesky Executive Orders that, according to Republicans, are unconstitutional.  Well, no; they're not.  Now truthfully, it was probably a Democrat, Rep. Xavier Becerra of California, who gave Boehner the SoSueMe idea, when he said in defense of the President's actions on Fox News in February of this year that if the President's actions were unconstitutional, somebody would have sued him by now.  This was the same show on which Mike Lee, an ass-kissing acolyte of Ted Cruz's, whined that while President Obama's use of Executive Orders went against the Constitution, there was nothing anybody could do about it.  Nevertheless, on Wednesday, July 30, the House voted to sue the President of the United States for what they termed executive order overreach.  Whatever.  There's now a pretty little ticky mark by Boehner's name to show that he actually took an action.  That oughta get him re-elected as Speaker, right?

The President actually had great fun with the lunacy of the whole idea: They’re not doing anything and then they’re mad that I’m doing something. I’m not sure which of the things I’ve done they find most offensive, but they’ve decided they’re going to sue me for doing my job!

Ted Cruz, who seems to be acting as Speaker, Leader, and Whip in the House lately, met with a dozen or so GOP representatives on Wednesday evening and encouraged them not to support Boehner's Border Bill vote on Thursday.  They didn't.  So in what can only be categorized as messaging whiplash, on the very next day, Boehner sent out a statement that said, in part,  There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries.  Excuse me while I Snort! at such blatant hypocrisy.

The Squawking Impeach Him! Chorus

Arf!  Ruff!  Growl!  Yap, yap, yap...

John Boehner would have Americans believe that the GOP's latest impeachment talk is nothing but a White House scam to raise money and get Democrats to the polls in November.  No, John, it was your party who started that meme, oh, about six years ago.  It went something like this: We'll make Obama a one-term president or impeach him, whichever works.  And you can't blame that one-term-president thing on the Tea Party; it was Mitch McConnell who said loud and clear, several times, The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.   Some may argue that every party would like for the opposition president to be a one-termer; however, to say it is the single most important thing to be achieved is admitting that you don't give a damn about the problems of the citizens of this country, and that's been proven over and over by the GOP since January 20, 2009.

Blame Sarah Palin, for starters.  She called in her usual strident manner for the President's impeachment last October over the debt ceiling issue.  Now she's screeching no mas -- one of the few Spanish phrases other than cajones that she's familiar with -- about the southern border crisis.  Yep, in effect, Palin has lobbed her special brand of verbal flatulence into the face of the GOP while tossing sweet-scented rose petals to the Democrats.  Between Boehner's announcement that he would sue and Palin and her ilk threatening impeachment, the Democrats have raked in $7.6 Million in donations, including one million  contributed in one day alone.  Well, few have ever called Sarah the sharpest writing implement in the pencil box.

There are far too many instances of the right and far-right calling for the President's impeachment that I'm not going to bother wasting your time or mine listing them.  However, it's very curious that John Boehner has never ruled that such an action is off the table.  Fox News tried to float the fairy tale that the Democrats had called for George W. Bush's impeachment.  It took Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York to set Chris Wallace straight, saying that then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi clearly said impeachment is off the table back in 2006.  Jeffries then went on to say that John Boehner had never made an unequivocal statement that took impeachment out of the equation, and pointed out that Boehner has little credibility because he had also said there would be no government shutdown last year.  Well, we know how that turned out.

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