Read between the lines – Boehner leans moderate

“The rise, fall and rise of John Boehner

John Boehner: The man who would be speaker

If Republicans take the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will have to hand over her gavel and her title to Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).

By Paul Kane

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 27, 2010; 12:57 AM

Just before Thanksgiving 1998, John A. Boehner hit bottom. The Ohio congressman, once a comer in the Republican Party, was unceremoniously removed from his post in the House leadership. Boehner's colleagues had a win-at-all-costs mind-set; he saw no point in antagonizing the Democratic minority just because he had the power to do so.

That night, Boehner commiserated with his closest friends at Sam and Harry's steakhouse in downtown Washington. He kept a brave face over glasses of red wine, until Republican Rep. Tom Latham of Iowa rose to toast his best friend. That's when Boehner, who is prone to tears (it drives him crazy, but he can't help it), lost it.

"Everybody in the whole room cried," he said.”

“Yet he insists he will be a very different kind of politician if the GOP wins Congress and he is elected speaker. He'll help bring the animosity between the two sides under control, he says, by allowing Democrats greater freedom to have their say on the floor of the House and letting them bring their proposals to a vote.

As it is now, the party in power routinely uses rules and procedural tricks to prevent the minority from offering bills and amendments. In retaliation, members of the minority use what few tools they have to obstruct the majority.”