Boehner: I didn't want "mano-a-mano" with Obama

Speaker of the House John Boehner finishes his response to President Obama's remarks about averting default and dealing with the federal deficit, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, July 25, 2011.

/ AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

As House Speaker John Boehner left his ceremonial office building and was walking through the Speaker's Lobby surrounded by his security detail, he expressed his frustration with the ongoing debt debate gridlock. CBS News' Jill Jackson overhead the Speaker say: "I didn't sign up for going mano-a-mano with the President of the United States."

His remark was dry in tone, and it was followed by silence as walked down the marble stairs and left the Capitol.

Boehner is caught in the middle of a battle within his own party and with the opposition party, and he apparently didn't expect being Speaker would lead to verbal combat with the president in prime time.

As reported earlier on Political Hotsheet, some within the GOP have come out against Boehner's latest plan on the debt crisis.

In a statement Monday afternoon, Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said he opposed the Boehner plan, adding that the "Cut, Cap, and Balance" plan passed recently by the House but rejected by Democrats "is the only plan on the table that meets (his conservative) standard."

Jordan is one of 38 conservative lawmakers who earlier this year signed a pledge to vote against any debt increase that was not attached to an amendment to the Constitution requiring a balanced budget.

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While Boehner has said that he believes that there is still enough Republican votes to pass his own plan through the House despite objections from their more conservative members, that plan is still far away from what Mr. Obama and the Democrats are likely to get passed through the Senate.

"I want you to know I made a sincere effort to work with the president to identify a path forward that would implement the principles of Cut, Cap, & Balance in a manner that could secure bipartisan support and be signed into law," Boehner said in his speech Monday night.

Then Boehner went on to try and pin the blame for the gridlock on the debt talks on Mr. Obama, saying: "I gave it my all. Unfortunately, the president would not take yes for an answer. The president has often said we need a 'balanced' approach -- which in Washington means: we spend more... you pay more. The sad truth is that the president wanted a blank check six months ago, and he wants a blank check today. That is just not going to happen."

[hsinco-2009]

Liar!

Boner wanted to go mano-a-mano ever since Obama was elected, even before he was Speaker, the worst Speaker at that!

[bobpomeroy]

He's as gone as his orange skin

[RobAla]

Just because President Obama calls taxing Americans more "balanced", it does not make it so. It is destructive to the private sector businesses, the real source of jobs. There is nothing "balanced" about maintaining a bloated federal government at the expense of even fewer jobs in the private sector. This is about as loop sided as it gets.

[documemts]

Boehner can't hang with the Big O.

[stevex47]

Thank goodness the President say's NO to returning to the boosh style of destroying America.

[imnho]

Boehner needs to stop drinking. Its giving him and his Tea Party people friends serious delusions of grandur. The guy thinks he can distroy the country in the vain hope that he can get rid of Social Security and Medicare. These programs are such a huge part of the fabric of society that ending them is not practical. A termination of such programs would send the country over the brink and cause another great depression.

As for going Mano to Mano with the President, there is little danger of that happening. The Tea party has already nutered the Speaker of the House, The unforunate things about this is that he knows that he is nutered and is unable too tell the Tea Party what they need to hear out of fear of being relpaced by Eric Cantor.

What good is it to be the Speaker if you don't have the equipment to do whats right for the country. It would be better for him to lose his job as speaker then the country to go off into the abyss. If the counrty does g off the edge he could wind up Speaker of a house that he distroyed by not having the stones to tell the tea party that trashing a great nations economy to save a few dollars is not an viable option

[Wizstars]

WHERE ARE THE JOBS, MR. BOEHNER??!?!?

[pr_boxer]

Yeah, Boehner ran a business, a small bar that he inherited from his father. Now he thinks he'll ruin the country. Heck Gingrich appears to be a more realistic leader than Bonehead!

[qyeteye]

Great Depression - Savings & Loan Debacle - Great Recession
Outcomes of Republican positions and policies

See a pattern people?

Now - with long-view predictability,
The Debt Ceiling

[pr_boxer]

Well after Boehner's barely coherent address last night his evil twin, Eric Cantor out does him for non-sensical remarks. These two guys were elected to govern, not pose and protest. Even Gingrich made better sense than Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum!