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February 03, 2006BELTWAY BLOGROLL
Praise And Prejudice For Majority Leader Boehner
House Republicans elected John Boehner of Ohio as their majority leader yesterday, and his upset victory over Roy Blunt of Missouri was greeted with a round of cautious Republican praise and predictable Democratic prejudice in the blogosphere.
Boehner won the battle by a vote of 122-109. The victory came on a second ballot conducted after the third candidate, John Shadegg of Arizona, dropped out of the race.
Shadegg had been the favorite of a coalition of center-right bloggers, and Augustine, a blogger at RedState, dubbed Shadegg the "kingmaker" in the race. "Shadegg didn't have enough support to win -- one wonders if an earlier entry would've changed that -- but he did have enough support to ensure that the party went in a different direction than they would under the old leadership," Augustine said. "For that, he deserves our gratitude."
Bloggers also patted themselves on the back for their role in the race. One writer at RedState cited Blunt as the latest victim of an active and influential blogosphere, lumping him in with the likes of former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and withrawn Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers.
"Without John Shadegg, Congressman Blunt would be Leader Blunt," he wrote. "Without conservative blogs pointing out the gaping chasm between public and private committments and political sanity, John Shadegg very possibly does not draw 40 votes."
Though many Republican bloggers were less enamored with Boehner than Shadegg, they rallied behind him after the vote -- but cautiously. Instapundit Glenn Reynolds referred to Boehner as "The Diet Coke of reform. One calorie -- not reformist enough!" And Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters called Boehner "The Middle Choice."
Pejman Yousefzadeh of RedState added that Boehner had better remember both Shadegg and the bloggers who helped him win the race. "[H]e will need to understand that those who are his benefactors have done him a favor not just through the delivery of votes but, more importantly, through the generation of ideas," Yousefzadeh said.
GOP Bloggers, Power Line, The QandO Blog and The Truth Laid Bear are among the other center-right blogs who have commented on the election. Pat Cleary of the Manufacturers' Blog also explained why the National Association of Manufacturers is behind Boehner, as it would have been either of the other two candidates.
Democrats, on the other hand, no doubt would have found reasons to criticize anyone Republicans chose as their next leader. They certainly were quick to highlight Boehner's perceived flaws, with two leading liberal bloggers going so far as to publicize "Ten Things Every American Jew Should Know About John Boehner."
To Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos Boehner's election represents the kind of corruption he has come to expect of the Republican Party. "So keep an eye out on stories that pretend Boehner's election means some sort of 'cleaning house,'" Moulitsas warned. "[Republicans] got a corrupt Ohioan, part of the corrupt Ohio Republican Party, to head the corrupt Republican caucus in the House."
Joshua Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo also noted Boehner's ethical scars, including the episode that had Boehner, a smoker, distributing checks from the tobacco industry on the House floor. But then Marshall resurrected the story of a Democratic lawmaker linked to an eavesdropping case involving Boehner's cell phone -- a curious move considering that a fellow liberal blogger, John Aravosis of Americablog, is the catalyst behind a push for cell-phone privacy.
At Talk Left, Jeralyn Merritt focused on Boehner's voting record as reason to worry about his leadership. She highlighted his votes on religious issues, abortion, the war on drugs and immigration, and she found only "one admirable vote": his support for language to require DNA testing before all federal executions.
The Stakeholder, meanwhile, posted a lengthy entry with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's many gripes against Boehner.
Posted by | 06:58 AM
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