Because he’s the Republican laughing the hardest now that DeLay will resign.

Quietly, of course.
In 1997, then Conference Chairman Boehner was one of the fall-guys in an attempted coup including then-Majority Leader Dick Armey; then-Majority Whip, Delay, then-NRCC chair (that’s National Republican Congressional Committee), Gingrich lieutenant and rethug golden boy Bill Paxon and other assorted backbenchers to topple then-speaker Newt Gingrich that went so very wrong:

Rumors had been circulating for weeks that the so-called rebels–a fluctuating group of House Republicans, mostly from the revolutionary class of ’94–were devising a way to force Gingrich out. But to do it, they needed cooperation from the top echelon.

On July 9 Armey, DeLay, Boehner and Paxon gathered for the first of several secret meetings to discuss the brewing rebellion. The next night, DeLay met with 20 rebels in the offices of Oklahoma’s Steve Largent. At first, DeLay was coy. Then he warned that if the rebels were going to act, they had better do so quickly, because their plot was about to leak. “Is everybody prepared to go ahead with this?” he asked. At that point, Indiana’s Mark Souder turned the question around. “Are you with us?” According to several participants, DeLay was clearly speaking for the others when he answered yes. The leaders seemed on board.

The plan was to have Armey, DeLay, Boehner and Paxon present Gingrich with a fait accompli: step aside or be voted out by parliamentary maneuver. What happened next is murky. By some accounts, when DeLay reported back to his fellow leaders later that Thursday night, he brought news that the rebels wanted Gingrich to be succeeded by Paxon, not Armey, who was next in line. Early Friday, Armey told his colleagues that he spent the night “praying with my wife” and decided he could not support the coup. “When Armey realized he wasn’t going to be Speaker, he backed out,” insists a knowledgeable source.

Of course, everyone knows that if you plot against the king, you had better kill him–and since that didn’t happen, an appropriate measure of retribution had to be meted out. Paxon would resign his leadership position (he was appointed by Gingrich) and would soon leave Congress altogether. DeLay (who already had a rocky relationship with Gingrich) and Armey would hold on to their positions (in Armey’s case, after a fair amount of groveling; Armey, knowing he’d never become Speaker, especially after being challenged by then-Rep. Steve Largent, would leave Congress in 2002; DeLay moved up as Majority Leader).

But Boehner, who would be voted out of his Conference Chairman position in 1998 and to be replaced by then-Rep. J.C. Watts, was the only one who, when returned to rank-and-file status, decided to stay there and stage a comeback, working his way up to chair the Education and Workforce Committee. (My little tangent: After the “Republican Revolution,” rethugs just couldn’t stomach the word “labor” in the Education and Labor Committee and changed it to “workforce.”) Knowing how to raise a little cash while claiming you’re a “reformer” didn’t hurt either.  

So now look at him–almost 10 years later, and he’s the only one still standing in the leadership circle. In fact, he’s the only one among them that will still be in Congress after DeLay departs, packing his bags and bug spray: Gingrich? Gone. Dick Armey? Gone. Bill Paxon? Long gone. J.C. Watts (not involved in the coup attempt, but succeeded him as Conference chair)? Ditto.

Yep. Nobody in town is smirking harder than John Boehner.

And if I was Denny Hastert, I’d watch my back.

[Note: This was originally a comment for the news bucket, but I decided to expand it a bit. Enjoy!]

Cross-posted at Liberal Street Fighter

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