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| Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) |
John Boehner (R-OH) was a great minority leader. He stood strong and tall against the Democratic majority in 2009, exposing the cronyism and duplicity of Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA) Cap and Trade boondoggle. The California progressive even shoved a three-hundred page rider onto the bill at the last minute.
Boehner was a fantastic fighter then.
When he became Speaker, he began accommodating rather than fighting.
Even when he went along with the House moves to gut key portions of Obamacare, he admitted on Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show" that the shut-down was the Republicans' faults. Leaders are supposed to take the blame for their failures of their organization. Share the glory, take the blame.
Boehner refused to do that, and still he refuses to lead.
Where is the outreach? Where is the coordination with media efforts? Where is the rank-and-file phalanx to inform his caucus of long-term plans to grow the economy, limit government overreach, reform health care?
Political Cartoonist Michael Ramirez criticized the overtly nice, gentleman-like approach of House Republicans. With little recourse to House rules, and an unwilling to put up a fight and stake out a clear agenda, they have not accomplished much.
In the wake of this tide of Boehner disappointments, Congressman Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) has announced his bid to challenge and unseat Boehner.
I support Speaker Gohmert.
He recognizes the crucial importance of the New Media to hold Establishment politicians and federal overreach in check. Unlike other conservatives, and many Democrats who despise the democratization of the media, Gohmert praised and relied on the influence of the conservative countermentum against mainstream media bias: "This nation has lost a great proponent under Brietbart" and "Thank you, dear God, for sharing this extraordinary gift that was Andrew Breitbart with us. We did not get to keep our gift nearly as long as we wanted, but we are so grateful for such a marvelous gift."
He is more media savvy, outlining in stunning repartee the myriad failures of now resigned Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius.
Like Congressman Darrell Issa and Trey Gowdy, Gohmert has relentlessly criticized and cross-examined Obama Administration officials, including Attorney General Eric Holder. He has no compunction against criticizing members of his own party when they make poor choices about investigative matters, including those relating to the Benghazi massacre on September 11, 2012.
He is willing to work with the President on one key issue: declaring war on radical Islam, and has demanded a declaration of war from the President. A pragmatist on Middle Eastern politics, Gohmert supports protecting Christians and Jews, and other persecuted minorities. He is not an anti-government apologist, but a serious conservative.
Gohmert has been a vocal critic of amnesty, not just in word but in deed. He had the audacity (and courage) to call former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano a liar regarding border security lapses. Following frequent visits to the Southern border of the United States, Gohmert indicted the President and his reckless policies for creating the humanitarian crisis. Where was Speaker John Boehner and the rest of the Republican leadership to see the result of government laxity in the fact of immigration lawlessness? One of the GOP leaders, Eric Cantor, did not make it, since he lost his seat in a primary challenge later last year.
More recently, he voiced the frustration of Middle America and the conservative base, regarding the CRomnibus legislation:
“Let’s do it together with conservatives. That’s the bulk of our conference, don’t make them take a wrong vote. Let’s fund everything for two months. Let us have a vote on defunding Obama’s amnesty, and we’ll even agree that the Senate can take it out if they take the hard vote to do that and let it go from there to the president.”
“We were willing to work with them to compromise, and not one word,” he added. “As you know, the calls went to the White House when in a time that the speaker needed votes he turned to somebody that he really identifies with, the president and liberal Democrats and got them to help him pass this vote.”
Boehner spoke with the losing President Barack Obama and the diminished Democratic caucus in the House instead of his own party members, when his party received a strong mandate to push against and reverse Obama's regressive agenda. Gohmert slammed the political maneuvering that prevented him and his colleagues from reading the legislation, let alone add riders and amendments.
Gohmert articulates the voters' frustrations, and voices the views and concerns of his Republican conference. He regards Congress as an institution of governance based on the Constitution, the rule of law as opposed to the will of men. He also exposes the business-as-usual failures of a ruling class pushing legislation which no one reads, keeping ordinary folks uninformed. He attacks fellow politicians' choices, without being vulgar or mean-spirited. Most importantly, he is not afraid to take his case to the American public, the media, and on the House floor with colleagues.
Speaker Louie Gohmert would be a welcome transition for the House of Representatives, a final blow to the diminishing Establishment of the Republican and Democratic parties, whose policies have failed or stunted growth, and which the American voters have rejected time and again. Two other House Republicans have announced their intention to vote against John Boehner (Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma and Tom Massie of Kentucky. Gohmert's intentions make three opposed to Boehner.
With 218 votes as Boehner's must-need threshold to retain his post, twenty-nine conservatives voting for the Texas challenger would force a run-off, and the cascading effect to follow could ensure that Speaker Louie Gohmert leads the 114th Congress.
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