Appearing on CBS Face the Nation, John Boehner began opening up regarding the problem with the present GOP. He says too many of the GOP congressional members are making unrealistic promises to their constituents and to the media. “The Bible says beware of false prophets. And there are people out there [in the GOP] spreading noise about how much can get done,” Boehner said.
Boehner specifically referenced promises by his GOP colleagues in 2013 that they would be able to get rid of Obamacare by refusing to fund it, and causing the 16-day government shutdown. Boehner said:
This plan never had a chance. But over the course of the August recess in 2013 and the course of September, a lot of my Republican colleagues who knew it was a fool’s errand, they were getting a lot of pressure at home to do this. And so we got groups here in town, members, the House and Senate here in town who whipped people into a frenzy believing they could accomplish things that they know, they know are never going to happen.
Boehner also took a shot at his colleagues who have criticized him for not being more conservative, as if that were possible. Boehner ticked off some of the things he perceived as accomplishments: major deficit-reduction deal, averting a tax increase on the American people, and making the biggest entitlement reforms in 20 years.
All done over the last four and a half years with a Democrat president and all voted against by my most conservative members because it wasn’t good enough. Really? You know this is the part that I really don’t understand…Our founders didn’t want some parliamentary system where if you won the majority you got to do whatever you wanted to do. They wanted this long, slow press. So change comes slowly, and obviously too slowly for some.
. . .
It’s not about Hail Mary passes. It’s the Woody Hayes school of football. Three yards and a cloud of dust. Three yards and a cloud of dust. It’s a slow and methodical process.
Boehner also acknowledged that Pope Francis had an influence over his decision to quit. “I think it [the Pope’s visit] helped clear the picture,” Boehner said. “I never related one of those instances with the other, but clearly by Friday night it was pretty obvious to me.”
For more on this story, click CBS News John Boehner warns of GOP’s “false prophets” in D.C..
