Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert has a timely reminder of what we would be getting with a Rethuglican takeover of Congress, specifically the House of Representatives. Rethug Minority Leader John "Orange Boner" Boehner would be the presumptive Speaker of the House, and the Orange man has a seedy history of taking big money from corporate lobbies, most notoriously from the tobacco industry. In one infamous episode in the mid-1990s, Orange Boner handed out checks from the tobacco industry to his Rethuglican colleagues on the floor of the House. He was later chastised by embarassed Rethuglican colleagues, who are shy about exposing their corporate string-pullers.

Over the intervening years, he hasn't changed his, um, colors. As Herbert notes, Orange Boner can always be counted on to deliver for business interests:

"The hack who once handed out checks on the House floor is now a coddled, gilded flunky of the nation’s big-time corporate elite.
When House Democrats were preparing for the first floor vote on financial regulatory reform, Mr. Boehner and other Republican leaders summoned more than 100 industry lobbyists and conservative activists to a private strategy session. One could be forgiven for thinking that behind those closed doors they may not have had the public’s best interests in mind. According to Mr. Lipton, Mr. Boehner told the gathering, 'We need you to get out there and speak up against this.'"

It's staggering to think that a hack like Orange Boner could wind up as Speaker of the House; the big business influence and insider dealings that his teabaggers allies supposedly abhor would be back in spades. Even more reason to get out and vote so that this doesn't happen.

(photo: No checks this year for the Orange man)