The Crying Shame of John Boehner

The Creeping Fascism of American Politics

FOCUS: States Unite Against Citizens United

Dimon's Deja Vu Debacle

Cut It Out: An Open Letter to Black Bloc Anarchists

This Is What Tyranny Looks Like

The ever-understated Matt Taibbi begins: "The new speaker is a lazy, double-talking shill for corporate interests. So how's he going to fare with the Tea Party?"

House Minority Leader John Boehner holds a copy of the Republican's new 'Pledge to America,' 09/23/10. (photo: Getty Images)

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-21 # Millie Barnet 2011-01-05 21:38

this is SO SAD. It's too late tonight for me to read this, but I looked a the photo of this guy, and he looks so handsome and like he's about to cry. I can't bear to read what follows, not this time of night.I need good dreams. I'll deal with it tomorrow, with my coffee.

+14 # DaveW. 2011-01-06 19:00

Millie, Tomorrow is already here. Deal with it. Boehner is the 19th hole of American politics. Links, drinks and hi-jinks. As far as the majority of the Baggers being cajoled by this dude, well, as P.T Barnum famously said, "there's a sucker born every minute."

+28 # Peter McKimin 2011-01-05 22:09

Go Matt!! Another devastating, well researched and indisputable picture of a man whose time is up but - the resources of a shit-house rat notwithstanding - may well not live to say that "tomorrow is another day on the course!".
Griftopia lives! KO..! And keep on delivering as many punches as you can until - in the words of Carmen Jones - "until the punching tells, stand up and fight like HELL!!!!!!!!

Warm Regards - and long live the Republic of the USA,
Peter McKimmin

+48 # Lariokie 2011-01-05 23:09

Matt Taibbi represents the best in modern investigative journalism. How many journalists in the MSM have bothered to talk to anyone other than the perpetrators of America's messes? Too bad the American people are virtually ignorant of his work.

+42 # ME Browning 2011-01-05 23:17

A brilliant piece of writing! Matt Taibbi is one of the very, very few journalists who tell it like it really is. And oh, how he tells it.

+16 # lara 2011-01-05 23:34

This will make a great movie, I already started on the script, Boehner reminds me of Pete Sellers Inspector Clousea without the tears....

+23 # Daniel Fletcher 2011-01-06 01:42

Maybe I have been bagging on teabaggers a bit much. Perhaps I've been mistaken in lumping them all into one pile. The Ohio teabaggers sound like they're going to give Boner the hard times he deserves. My how interesting.

+25 # Sandy G 2011-01-06 03:21

Jeeeezussss Christ! With friends like Boehner, who the hell needs enemies??

+19 # peterjkraus 2011-01-06 04:40

Well, it seems the American voter, conned like the described Littleton, has finally gotten the politicians he deserves.

+9 # Hector Garcia 2011-01-06 06:39

Bet that Mr. Littleton will be bought off- with a nice juicy federal job or contract- or he will run for office. Like all Republicans, he is a greedy, arrogant, self-serving conservative. Please follow-up in a year and let us know what his political status is.

+19 # Lakshmi 2011-01-06 08:17

Based on this article, I have a hard time seeing how that's a warranted conclusion, Mr. Garcia. While I'm the first to admit that a lot of the Tea Partiers I've read about or seen parading around in ridiculous hats or sporting often misspelled placards seem to be misinformed, perhaps even idiotic, shills, Littleton strikes me as intelligent and clear-eyed. I, for one, hope he fights like hell to make Congress accountable and won't be "bought off."

Who among us support the bloated inflation of our national debt in support of the wars of empire-building and defense-budget gluttony (or NCLB, Medicare Part D, etc., etc.)?

+27 # alcasha 2011-01-06 06:48

As interesting as all of this is and as satisfying as it is to hear someone else marvel at Boehner's vapidness, I am left with a confirmed sense that all is lost. It is just damned hard to imagine that we, Americans, have allowed such an oily sycophant to rise to the Speaker position. And, make no mistake! He has only just begun. This level of reckless disregard will permeate whatever might be left of our democratic process, the working needy will be separated from whatever crumbs are left, and "the Corporation" will reign supreme....(As if they havent for decades)Hey, Matt..thanks for writing it anyway. Future civilizations may read it with an eye towards understanding why the United States of America went the way of the dinosaur.

+12 # Ken Rogers 2011-01-06 08:46

Well, yeah, all that's true about Bottomfeeder Boehner, but on the positive side, he's got that jaundiced, tan-in-a-bottle thing going for him that makes him easy to spot in a crowd of his corporate handlers.

+12 # Foxtrottango 2011-01-06 14:55

Boehner should try Hollywood. It's a great place if you're an orange, much less look like one.

As George Bernard Shaw said: "He know nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career."

+32 # genierae 2011-01-06 08:58

Ohio has indeed begotten a rotten-to-the-core, corporate-owned rat, to lead the House of Representatives . It is a mostly conservative, narrow-minded state, where the majority of voters vote time after time, against their own interests. And when those who are more awake, tell them the truth, they are shunned and threatened. Big whoppers are told in every conservative newspaper across the state, elevating rogues such as Boehner, and demonizing progressives. Our wonderful new governor, Republican John Kasich, is attacking unions and has already killed the Strickland high-speed rail jobs plan. He is a Wall St. millionaire who cares nothing about the woes of most Ohioans, and yet he was elected, and Democrat Ted Strickland, who does care about the people, was thrown out on his ear. This insanity is just further proof that this society is in its death throes, it will not survive, and we need to keep an open mind as to what comes after the fall.

It is ironic that Republicans caused this economic disaster, and yet they are being put in charge of fixing it. Its also hard to accept that progressives could have prevented this fiasco if they had not stayed home on election day.

+9 # democrat lover 2011-01-06 13:15

You are so right on! The Rethuglicans will come out riding on their white horses thinking they are going to save America, when in reality, they are only saving themselves

+7 # Cliff 2011-01-06 14:19

I am not so sure that they really think that they are going to save America. I think that they are using that as a scare tactic. The irony is that they are pushing us to the brink of disaster where we really will need saving, but who will? Oh yeah, China.

+7 # DaveW. 2011-01-06 15:40

genierae, I feel for you and you're "backwards looking" Governor. While its true that Republicans caused much of our current economic malaise, they had the "solid support" of a number of Democrats. They are identified by the "blue stripe" down the backs of their overpriced suits and their penchant for jacking up their legs and "pissing" on the average Americans who look to them for help. Progressives would NOT have stayed home in droves on election day had the Democrats enacted the reforms Obama promised in '08. Instead we got half-baked attempts to "slightly" curtail widespread malfeasance, economic supervision orchestrated by dudes like Summers and Geithner and a President who signed an extension of tax cuts to some of the most obscenely wealthy assholes in the world whilst using unemployed Americans as human bargaining chips. There's still some good Democrats out there. Your Strickland sounds like one. Grayson (who got voted out) Anthony Weiner,a few others still not completely debauched by the way "the system" operates. Taibbi seems enamored of this Littleton character but anyone who wants to slash Social Security without talking Defense cuts sounds like "Ice Tea" to me.

+19 # Lariokie 2011-01-06 09:13

Personally, I lay a great deal of the responsibility of the Boner rise to power at the feet of the Democrats, including Obama. We gave them the keys to the kingdom in 2008, with the largest congressional majority in memory (more than Bush), and they instantly squandered it. Obama went into office with the largest mandate I can remember in my 43 years of voting, and he turned his back on his support. The midterms were more an expression of loss of hope than of support for the likes of Boner.

+24 # Terry 2011-01-06 10:32

I lay the blame at the feet of those members of Congress and the Senate who rode Obama's coattails in 2008 and then turned their backs on him when he needed them. The Senate was the real problem. Obama never did have a solid 60 votes for his agenda. Lieberman and some newly elected Senators voted on what was best to ensure their own re-election not what was in the best interests of the voters. In a lesser way, the same can be said about a lot of Congressmen who have to face election every two years. As far as I am concerned I hope that when Boehner falls he takes all of them with him.

+20 # dickerman 2011-01-06 10:03

I used to worry "what are we gonna do without Molly Ivins?" Got my answer, IN SPADES! BRAVO, Matt!

+28 # G. Chou 2011-01-06 10:54

If everything in this article can pass FACT CHECK,a copy should be placed on the seat of each member of Congress.

+14 # consuelo 2011-01-06 11:06

Go Matt!! Thank you for your investigative reporting. so rare. so sweet.

+18 # Bill McCain 2011-01-06 11:10

Bravo Again Matt Taibbi...after reading "Griftopia" I have been reading your articles with delight. I appreciate your journalistic integrity and admire anyone in today's culture of "political correctness" that can use terms like bullshit when they apply. With "Representative Boehner"?...when it looks like it and smells like it, you bet. Keep up the great work!
Bill McCain

+15 # Foxtrottango 2011-01-06 11:16

Boehner would make you eat a mile of his crap, just to get a whiff of his asshole.

If this is what the GOP has to offer, than America loses as a whole. My question is, what does the GOP have against America and democracy? What sins has America committed to deserve such legalized pillage.

+6 # ApocalypseSuperSale 2011-01-06 12:39

Quoting

Boehner would make you eat a mile of his crap, just to get a whiff of his asshole.

Foxtrot: Well said! That's the best laugh I've had in a week! Thanks for that!

+11 # Mike K 2011-01-06 12:19

What Tea partiers like Littleton don't understand is that the Republicans have been the party of Corporations/Plutocracy since President Grant and stopped Representing the America people almost entirely after Teddy Roosevelt created his Progressive/Bull Moose party.

+15 # granny 2011-01-06 14:07

This sleazebag and his sleazy fellow Repugnicans want to dismantle everything that stands in the way of a prosperous America. HELL NO Boehner can posture and weep all he wants about how he loves this country. But we know that his aim is to take from the neediest and give to the greediest. The Democrats, if they are to take back the mandate they have pissed away in the past two years, must fashion a message to that effect and speak it, in unified voice, over and over and over.

+12 # AML 2011-01-06 15:39

Good going, Matt! Your style and wit make an easy read, and the brutal truth is inspiring rather than a downer.

Wouldn't it be fun to make an ad using the juxtaposed opinions of this man who knows almost nothing about actual governing?

+12 # Bryhen 2011-01-06 16:38

Beautifully written on so many levels of truth. I hang out here on the edge of this cliff in this abyss bare knuckling it with my middle aged semi arhtritic fingers and keep thinking... How much more of this sh!t can we take? And when f will the first shot of the new revolution really be fired?

Thanks, Mr. Taibbi, love you on Maher too. Keep up the great work! We need you out here speaking for us.

-17 # Gus St. Anthony 2011-01-06 16:59

Boehner may be one of the poorest candidates to represent the interests of the average American man in the street, but, Jeez! the name calling, insult hurling writing style in this article makes me feel as though the writer can't state his case effectively without the childish put downs.

+9 # AML 2011-01-07 10:37

One of the ways we deal with the anger we feel at the lies this man Boehner promotes is by laughing, rather than crying. That's why people like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are so valuable.

+8 # Sandy G 2011-01-06 17:31

Hey Mr. Boner: Where's the jobs??
Or have we been lied to - - - again?

-15 # Mandy 2011-01-07 17:05

You guys are all so sad. They could get a chimpanzee in office that would perform better than Nancy Pelosi. Give Boehner a chance, anybody and I do mean anybody would be better than Nancy.

+2 # Daniel Fletcher 2011-01-07 22:03

Quoting

You guys are all so sad. They could get a chimpanzee in office that would perform better than Nancy Pelosi. Give Boehner a chance, anybody and I do mean anybody would be better than Nancy.

A chimpanzee can out perform an anal cyst any day of the week, especially a weeping one.

+3 # George Held 2011-01-08 03:55

The tee times are never over.

+1 # margaret collins 2011-01-08 12:06

How could Matt slander the very excellent dillweed (an herb used with salmon & Salads!) by pairing it with that scrapings from of the bottom of the barrel, G. Beck? Dull and stupid he is; leave the dillweed out of it!

-1 # Joe Alsup 2011-01-08 14:20

I want to have Matt Taibbi's babies.

+5 # elconde7 2011-01-09 12:21

When I hear a congressman say he chose politics so he could help the people, I want to puke. Do a piece on how many congressmen have become millionaires since they went to Washington. That weasel Mitch McConnell is one of them.

+4 # Jon weeber 2011-01-09 14:37

I'm really impressed with "Sniffles" performance, a total lack of dignity.

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