House Speaker John Boehner: I Was The Tea Party Long Before The Tea Party Was Born
Although Speaker of the House, John Boehner, R-Ohio, has been criticized by many staunch conservatives for his willingness to compromise with President Barack Obama, the speaker claimed Wednesday that he "was the Tea Party" before the Tea Party even existed.
In an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier, the 65-year-old was asked whether or not he thinks he can unite a divided Republican Party and get the GOP-majority to work together to repeal some of Obama's policies.
"I do," Boehner responded. "Listen, I was the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party."
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With Republicans having control of both houses and having their largest majority in the House in over 70 years, social conservatives and Tea Party Republicans have high hopes for the Republican Congress to fix most of the "failed" policies of the Obama administration. However, Boehner holds a more realistic view of what can be done in the next two years.
"I understand their concerns. I understand their frustrations. But we have a Constitution that we abide by and we are going to live by," Boehner explained. "That means we have separate but equal branches of the government. Whether people like it or not, Barack Obama is going to be the president for the next two years. We must find a way to hold him accountable and try to find common ground to get things done on behalf of the American people."
Boehner's willingness to compromise with the president, has drawn the ire of many of the far-right Congress members and activists groups. Although Boehner was elected for a third term as House Speaker earlier this month, there were 25 Republicans in the House who voted against him.
Although many far-right conservatives have cast Boehner off as an "establishment Republican," his reminder that "[he] was the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party," is true to some extent.
Although Boehner, now days, is more willing to compromise with the left side of the aisle or prevent conservative legislation from getting to the floor, he wasn't always as willing to do so. Ralph Reed, president of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, recalled what Boehner was like as a newly elected Congress member in an interview with The Christian Post last year.
"When John Boehner was elected in 1990, [I] remember that class of 1990, the so-called 'gang of seven'... those guys were the bomb throwers and the sort of back benchers back then." Reed said. "Boehner, whatever criticism outside groups would level against him otherwise, has always been pro-life and has always gotten a perfect rating from pro-life and pro-family organizations… That doesn't mean we don't want to prod or push leadership to do more. You always want to do that. There's always going to be tension in that relationship."
In an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday, Boehner claimed that much of the far-right's resentment toward him is driven by national conservative organizations who have promoted the "establishment" narrative of him.
"The issue with Tea Party isn't one of strategy," Boehner claimed. "It's a disagreement over tactics from time to time. Frankly, a lot is being driven by national groups here in Washington who have raised money and [are] just beating the dickens out of me."
"It does pain me to be described as spineless or squish," Boehner said last Thursday
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