Was Speaker John Boehner lying then or is he lying now?

Was Speaker John Boehner lying then or is he lying now?

Using the ‘L’ word is a pretty hefty thing to wield around without some supporting evidence. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the number of contradictory statements surrounding Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) desire to pass some form of an immigration reform package.

Clearly, based on the Speaker’s statements and actions, he is a proponent of passing legislation which includes a pathway to citizenship for the currently 12-plus million undocumented aliens in this country. However, he has also continued to assure conservatives — and those who care about the rule of law, national security, and national sovereignty — that he does not support a push for amnesty.

Furthermore, to complicate matters, the Speaker has continually thumbed his nose at members of his own congressional delegation who do not support an unfettered path to citizenship and do not trust the President to enforce the law as it is. Nothing made that more clear than a recent appearance in which Speaker Boehner openly mocked those on his own side who do not share his view on this issue:

Boehner, speaking in a falsetto voice, theatrically portrayed his version of a House representative opposed to passing one of his GOP-approved immigration bills: “Here’s the attitude. ‘Ohhhh. Don’t make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard.’ ”

During his address to the Rotary Club, Boehner berated his Republican House colleagues for avoiding, in his view, the job to which they were elected.

“We get elected to make choices,” said Boehner. “We get elected to solve problems and it’s remarkable to me how many of my colleagues just don’t want to…. They’ll take the path of least resistance.”

Boehner told the group he has been working for more than a year to try to push immigration legislation through the House.

Don’t you wish the Speaker would reserve some of his righteous indignation for opposition across the aisle as opposed to those within his own party? Statements like that only help to fuel the flames of quiet speculation that the Speaker has been working behind-the-scenes to create a workable piece of legislation he will attempt to push through the House with little debate and little input from conservatives.

Of course, following this rant, the Speaker is now walking the statement back as a “joke” and, once again, assuring conservatives he has no intention of pushing amnesty through the House:

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday told a private Republican Party meeting that there is no “secret conspiracy” to jam through an immigration overhaul, according to one member in the room.

Boehner used the meeting to walk back his comments last week, which were seen as mocking his own members for lacking the courage to tackle immigration reform that he has advocated but that many conservative in the House Republican conference continue to resist.

Boehner instead put the blame for inaction back on President Obama, saying public and congressional distrust of the president was why the issue had not advanced in the House.[Emphasis added]

This week it is the fault of President Obama that the House hasn’t passed an immigration bill. Last week, it was the fault of Republicans in the House who think the issue is “too hard” to deal with. Who does the Speaker truly believe is responsible for lack of movement on the topic of immigration?

You’ll have to decide where the Speaker’s loyalties lie since it seems to change week to week depending on the audience he’s speaking to. The unfortunate underlying truth here is that we have Republican leadership in the House that is determined to pass immigration reform, likely containing some form of amnesty. We also have a Republican Speaker who is openly mocking his own caucus over a disagreement on policy and, to top it all off, we have a media all too eager to exploit this growing rift within the party.

Please. explain to me again how and why liberty-minded individuals should trust either party on this issue?

Nate

Nate

Nate is founder of the blog YouDecidePolitics.com. He is a software developer by day.

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