Being called the devil is rarely a good thing. But did John Boehner, former House Speaker, just serve Senator Ted Cruz a steaming sizzling serving of hope?
At an event at Stanford University, Mr. Boehner called Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh,” then explained his remark: “I have Democratic and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”
Former Speaker Boehner vowed he would never vote for Mr Cruz, even against Hillary Clinton, adding: “Over my dead body, he’ll be president.”
But consider the source. Boehner, the orange-skinned former Republican leader, was spectacularly ineffective at stopping anything during the Obama years, and even looks like Hades.
“Mr. Boehner has struggled almost since he became speaker in 2011 to meet the challenges of divided government while holding together his squabbling and increasingly conservative Republican Party members,” he reported. New York Times in response to his resignation as Speaker and complete resigning from the House of Representatives after 24 years in Congress.
In the U.S. Senate, Cruz repeatedly tested the leaders of both the House and Senate in some of Washington’s most adversarial political games — when they “worked together” — and Boehner clearly didn’t like that atmosphere.
Cruz, for his part, says the two men have barely met, much less worked together. But the Texas senator was pretty clear about similarly underestimating where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Boehner — for lack of a better term — were leading.
At the top, Boehner embodied the art of compromise in Washington, becoming the face of the Establishment… and, increasingly, a demon in the eyes of the Tea Party.
In fact, the “Old Grey Lady’s” account of Boehner’s departure last year suggested that it was largely due to the fact that “several [Republican presidential] candidates openly ridiculed Republican congressional leaders like Mr. Boehner.”
Now, as the race enters its crucial phase, with the top two candidates seen as strongly anti-establishment, the former speaker is actually testifying for Senator Cruz. Passionately opposing him. Boehner’s criticism of the Texas senator proves that he is the No. 1 thorn in the side of the Washington establishment, underscoring the enormous excess of hatred that official Washington has for Ted Cruz.
Senator Cruz can rightly claim that most prestigious title: MOST HATED MAN IN WASHINGTON. That doesn’t take away any points from him among rank-and-file Republicans in Indiana and elsewhere — the anti-insiders who constitute a clear consensus in the GOP.
Campaigning in Indiana, Cruz responded to Boehner’s attacks succinctly: “What infuriates John Boehner is that I’ve led a movement to hold Washington accountable.”
“If you like John Boehner as Speaker of the House and you want a president like John Boehner, Donald Trump is your man,” Cruz added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Boehner also expressed his feelings of friendship with Ohio Governor John Kasich and businessman Donald Trump, telling the college audience that he had played golf with Mr. Trump for “years” and that the two were “texting buddies.”
How nice. And how terrible for Donald.
“Tell me again, who will stand up to Washington?” Senator Cruz later asked on Twitter, “Trump, who is Boehner’s ‘texting and golfing buddy,’ or Carly and me?”
In January, Bob Dole, a three-decade senator from Kansas and a Washington fixture, attacked Cruz, saying his nomination would be a “disaster” for Republicans and sarcastically stating that “nobody likes him.”
Dole meant: Nobody in Washington.
