Well, this is disappointing. Not a single Wisconsin Republican member of the house voted against Boehner for speaker. We’ve come to expect this of Paul Ryan, who talks a good game at home and consistently votes for whatever the leadership wants. Jim Sensenbrenner is occasionally willing to stand by his conservative values despite what the establishment wants, but not this time. Perhaps most disappointing is newly elected Glenn Grothman. He built a reputation in Wisconsin as a staunch conservative who was always willing to buck the leadership when they went wobbly. He also railed against Boehner during the campaign. But in his first chance to demonstrate the reasons he was elected, he cast the same vote that his RINO predecessor would have. Congratulations, Republicans of the 6th Wisconsin Congressional District. You apparently reelected Tom Petri after all.
Vary disappointed, Boehner should go.
Yeah, I’m not sure what planet these GOP reps are living on that tells them John Boehner is the fresh new face the party needs. Boehner and Mitch McConnell are exactly the wrong faces to put on the new Congress.
Unless Glenn thinks he’s going to get some swag in the form of committee appointments, this was a no brainer for Glenn to cast a “no” vote on or abstain.
I’m no fan of Boehner….but was there a serious candidate opposing him?
If not, if Boehner is the only serious choice, what good will it do to oppose him? That will only get you marginal committee appointments, if any.
This is more a function of lack of serious speaker candidates.
The candidate opposing Boehner was Louie Gohmert, who would’ve been SO much better in that position.
Joel,
I agree, but was he serious opposition? Judging by vote result, no.
I say the same exact thing about the Republican presidential nominee. There could have been so much better…
Well, Kevin, that was Grothmann’s excuse, too.
Now, then. You and GG are also asserting by implication that no “suitable candidate” would have emerged had Boehner failed to get the votes.
That assertion is questionable, at best. Gohmert might have yielded to another, far better, individual, who could have gotten the votes. There is NO reason to believe that re-electing Boehner was a mandate.
Gohmert is a fine choice, he just didn’t have the ground game to get elected.
All Grothman would have done (and other WI Rep.) was alienate themselves from committee assignments, now Grothman has more power before he sets foot to first piece of legislation than Gohmert.
Its the debate between idealism and realism. There is so much to fix in the cesspool D.C. I’m willing to do the reality first and try for the idealism later, when we have President Walker!
A congress under Boehner is still better than anything Obama does.
Because Obama will veto everything, either leader will face the same issue….an obstructionist President.