Some Thoughts on the Speaker's Race

Yet another lecture on the differences between campaigning and governing isn't scoring any points for the Establishment.

by Rod D. Martin
October 11, 2015

Some thoughts on the Speaker's race:

1. The American people elected one of the largest Republican House majorities in history, and certainly the largest in almost a century, in successive elections -- 2010, 2012, 2014 -- entirely and only because there was a Tea Party. Plenty of people will disagree. They're lying, either to you or to themselves. No honest observer can say otherwise.

2. John Boehner lost his Speakership because he stood at odds with the majority the American people sent him from the day he was entrusted with it. Whether he's a good guy, whether he's a good conservative, none of that is at issue. His tactical decisions not once but virtually always stood at odds with the will of not just the Republican primary base but the American electorate.

3. John Boehner leaves with the worst approval ratings of any Speaker in 30 years, even Nancy Pelosi. This is not because "an extremist faction" dislikes him, or because he could "get things done." Am…