Somebody has been spreading rumors that Minority Leader John Boehner is having an affair with a lobbyist named Lisbeth Lyons, who serves as vice-president for government affairs at the American Printers Association. Progressive activist Mike Stark asked both of them about it and didn’t get any denials. Of course, this looks like a bit of a fishing expedition on Stark’s part, and maybe it is. But it seems like the real question should be who is spreading the rumor in the first place. Boehner isn’t really a true movement conservative, and it could be that people around Mike Pence are trying to engineer a coup in anticipation that the Speakership may be available after the midterms. After all, it’s infinitely more likely that a Republican would know about such an affair than a Democrat.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Now why would a good upstanding Republican like Mike Pence stab another good upstanding Republican in the back?
Oh.
Never mind.
Of course, this looks like a bit of a fishing expedition on Stark’s part, and maybe it is.
Why is it? Obviously, Stark is pretty plugged in, whether you approve of his methods or not. Second, it seems, Stark, like you heard the same thing. So, given what we know about Stark(that he doesn’t take shit from no one and is fearless), why wouldn’t he ask Orange Julius about it? It has the added benefit of helping Justin Coussoule, as well. Even though he’s getting a cold shoulder from the DCCC, Coussoule’s causing a pretty big storm in the Cincy area. And if anyone asks Coussoule about it, he has a ready made excuse. After all, didn’t Pence finish first in that Fundie straw poll last weekend? And given that both Orange Julius and his alleged mistress didn’t deny it, what does that tell you?
Since when does fornication do any political harm to congressional republicans?
Since 1998, I believe. That’s when it toppled Gingrich and Livingston.
Sorry, I’m thinking of Senators.
ahhh, but morality doesn’t apply to Senators…..only Money. Judged by that standard, the House is counter-intuitive.
The way that part of OH swings, I’d be a little surprised if Boehner had any difficulty retaining hos seat short of filed and taped evidence of him flying his ‘mistress’ to Dubai with him for a weekend of sun, sex, and 18-holes. If Mark Sanford could get away with it, no reason ‘Boner’ can’t, too….
LMAO
The stain on the dress — now that’s classic.
Interesting take, BooMan. So now Mike Stark goes to Pence and asks him whether he or his staff have been spreading the rumor.
Glad Mike Stark has this to work on. It keeps him from being pushed through a hotel glass window.
Please.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
This man’s lack of a certain kind of backbone is plainly written on his face. He’s ripe for the picking, and no matter who does that picking it’s a good thing.
Personally, I hope a Boehner media hit does happen and that it has roots in…or at least approval from…the White House. It would be a good sign that the Dems are finally waking up to the fact that you do not win knife fights by making speeches.
As I wrote back in late July:
If he does not, he will be a one-term president and the Dem majority of 2008 will be seen as a small blip on the graph of steady US decline.
We shall see, soon enough.
Moral depravity sells. Put the spotlight on these people . Lift the rocks under which they have been hiding, let their supporters see the real deal and watch their support wither.
It’s a plan…
I mean…reason doesn’t seem to be working.
It’s a plan…
AG
As BooMan points out, Republicans jockeying for Boehner’s position should they fail to win the House might be the source of the rumors. So, for example, Mike Pence might have pre-empted anything the White House could have done. Even if the White House went the low road. Which based on two-years’ experience is very unlikely.
And Justin Coussole is not likely to touch this rumor with a ten-foot pole.
So you’re going to have to wait for National Enquirer to pick it up. Wait. And wait. And wait. And wait.
And if Coussole is ever asked about it, your first two sentences are exactly what he should say. Lay it at the feet of Orange Julius’ fellow Republicans. Because, given their outsized expectations, anything less than Speaker Boner will cause serious Puke infighting.
“low road” meme in many cases, Tarheel.
If someone is attacking you with lethal intentions, a swift kick in the balls is not “the low road”, it is simply the road to survival.
Sure, the initial attacker is traveling a low road, but after that? Time to get down.
Get DOWN!!!
Obama has proven himself to be quite high-minded on many levels. He has proven himself sufficiently in that regard to not need to prove it anymore. He has spent much of his life “proving” to the white world that he is not some primitive savage just because he has African ancestry.
Enough already!!!
The ones who haven’t figured that fact out yet and/or the ones who are using his own refinement as a weapon against him are not going to be impressed by his elegant, take-high-road stance. They do not give a flying fuck how he acts, as long as he does not take effective action against their attacks.
And that is the crux of the matter.
His choice.
High-minded tragic hero or tough-minded survivor who is willing to get down when the occasion demands it.
He’ll only have to do it once.
Take one of these fools down at the (socio-political) knees and watch them back off in fear.
He is the fucking President of the United States, fer chrissake!!!
He must have some people who can do good work at that level and also be trusted not to turn on him.
It’s time.
Now or never time.
Turn loose the wacko Christian evidence on Palin. hell, I’ve got some. Y’mean to tell me that he doesn’t even know about it?
Show people the real Boehner.
Now!!!
Or…just fuggedaboudit and go on back to being a community organizer on a higher, post-presidential level.
I’m no Rahm fan but I would bet dollars to doughnuts the the reasons why he is leaving the administration turn on tactical disagreements on this level. And from a purely win-or-lose political perspective, he is quite right.
Bet on it.
.
AG
Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson was once quoted as saying “In order to win at this game, sometimes you just have to do the wrong thing at the right time.”
Yup.
Like dat.
What he said.
AG
We could do worse…
AG
Rahm has stated on the record more than once that his dream-job is to be mayor of Chicago. Of course he’s leaving.
Someplace familiar where he can play politics his way. I wonder what would have happened if President Obama had said to him “Go git ’em, Tighe!!! when this whole birther/Tea Party/Palin thing first got some real legs under it.
We’ll never know, will we?
More’s the pity…
AG