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Fili-Boehnered

By W. James Antle, III on 6.26.09 @ 6:06PM

House Minority Leader John Boehner is using his time to read the entire 300-page amendment added to the Waxman-Markey energy bill this morning at 3 am. He's pretty animated. Of course, members are more likely to let themselves be influenced by pork considerations like this:

Comments

johnnysquares| 6.26.09 @ 6:32PM

He needs to read for about 20 more hours.

johnnysquares| 6.26.09 @ 6:32PM

He needs to read for about 20 more hours.

MattSwartz| 6.27.09 @ 12:32PM

Did Boehner cost the GOP the win with his stupid grandstanding?

Maybe.

I watched it all afternoon. His reading the bill was a publicity stunt to make the same point that Dan Barton (R-TX and debate leader) had made earlier in the debate: that the Dems were playing fast and loose with the amendment process and being un-transparent.

So Barton makes that point, makes it well, nearly drives the Parliamentarian to distraction, and finishes up. Wouldn't that be a good time for Boehner to make a stirring speech about his philosophical objections to the bill?

Well, maybe it would have, but instead he just read random sections from the amendment, inserted snarky comments that never rose to the standard of a cogent critique, and wasted the time of members who were trying to get home.

If Mike Pence were the Minority leader, this wouldn't have happened. What irritates me most is that Boehner didn't seem to have a real problem with the bill. A better legislator would have talked about corporate interests in the bill and unintended consequences for the group. Boehner said nothing new about either.