Salon - John Boehner, sensitive Republican hero.."crying, then crying again when asked about crying"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Monday, Dec 13, 2010 10:45 ET
War Room
John Boehner, sensitive Republican hero
By Alex Pareene

http://www.salon.com/news/john_boehner/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/12/13/boehner_60minutes



Last night, after football except on the West Coast, "60 Minutes" profiled John Boehner, the next speaker of the House and the most sensitive man in America.

We watched a clip of Boehner crying, then Boehner cried again when Leslie Stahl asked him about crying. Stahl took him to the bar he used to work at as a child. She didn't mention the apartment Boehner rented (still rents?) from a lobbyist who represented the restaurant industry and lobbied Republicans to oppose minimum wage increases.

And oddly, the name "Jack Abramoff" never came up once! (I know, that was like a billion years ago, we can't expect our journalists to still care.)

The man who heroically hand-delivered money from tobacco lobbyists to Republican members on the floor of the house is presented as a sensitive family man. Stahl presses him on golf and tanning and "compromising" on the Bush tax cuts, but doesn't mention anything about the interest he actually represents. (Like Sallie Mae, for example.) Not every interview has to have a contentious gotcha moment, but viewers have absolutely no idea what sort of politician Bohener is without any mention of the fact that Boehner's been part of the House Republican leadership for years -- not just since the last election -- and the House Republican leadership has been captured not by the Tea Parties but by lobbyist dollars.

And, honestly, this is just weird:

Boehner: I was talking, trying to talk about the fact that I've been chasing the American Dream my whole career. There's some things that are very difficult to talk about. Family. Kids. I can't go to a school anymore. I used to go to a lot of schools. And you see all these little kids running around. Can't talk about it.

Stahl: Why?

Boehner: Making sure that these kids have a shot at the American Dream, like I did. It's important.

[midnight]

1. These Rep. aught to move outside of their own shadows and

then they would have something to really cry about....

[TygrBright]

2. The American Dream: Making sure that children of color have opportunity.

As long as the color is.... (wait for it!)

orange.

Yeah, makes me get all weepy, too.

Probably not for the same reasons, though.

disgustedly,
Bright

[Peregrine Took]

3. The oddest thing to me was the way he just bawled in public. Most normal

people would try to hold it back or turn away, or cover your face and say "excuse me while I compose myself."

[jdadd]

4. He's calling up his inner Glen Beck.......

Time to buy stock in Vapo Rub