Farewell to John Boehner, the most emotional member of the U.S. House of Representatives
LatestSpeaker John Boehner, who recently compared his job leading the House’s Republican majority to collecting garbage and being in prison, announced on Friday that he will be resigning his speakership and his seat in Congress at the end of October. As the New York Times first reported, Boehner’s departure comes after months of intensifying turmoil, with the House’s right-flank threatening a government shutdown over Planned Parenthood and plotting a possible coup to unseat him. Boehner, who reportedly lacked the votes to hold on to his speakership, seems to have taken the “you can’t fire me, I quit!” approach to resolving the situation.
In a statement released Friday morning, Boehner’s office said the Ohio Republican would be resigning “for the good of the Republican Conference and the institution.”
Boehner’s tenure was defined by a growing divide between the party’s establishment Republicans who wanted to do things like ban abortion pre-viability and cut funding for food assistance programs and an insurgent group of Republicans who wanted to do things like ban abortion pre-viability and cut funding for food assistance programs. They just couldn’t agree on anything!
The Speaker will be remembered for many things: his tan, his excellent one-liners, his musicality.
But perhaps more than anything, Boehner will be remembered as the most emotional member of the House of Representatives. While the vise grip of heteromasculinity has left millions of men divorced from their feelings and unwilling to show emotion, Boehner made a regular habit of crying in public.
As we say goodbye, a collection of his greatest weeps.
That time he saw the pope.
That time he was on 60 Minutes. That time he heard Irish music.That time he sat next to Arnold Palmer.
That time Australia’s prime minister addressed the House.
That time he met Neil Armstrong.
That time he watched election results come in.
That time he talked about why he cries a lot.
Weep not for the memories, Speaker Boehner.