John Boehner's resignation sparks GOP brawling

With John Boehner stepping down as Speaker of the House, Congressional Republicans are now doing what most politicians do best: turn on each other with swift ferocity.

Boehner resigned his post rather than risk a possible mutiny from members of his own party, who want him to push through a bill defunding Planned Parenthood even if that leads to a government shutdown. Boehner also ran the risk of having to rely on votes from House Democrats to prop up his speakership if Republicans tried to topple him, which they’ve been threatening to do.

Now that he’s gone, Republicans are busily tearing into each other.

On one side were the Boehner defenders, who lashed out at their fellow Republicans.

“You just can’t continue to have a super ultra-minority continue to try and dictate what happens in the House of Representatives,” California Rep. Devin Nunes told reporters.

Rep. Charlie Dent was equally pugnacious.

“Any jackass can kick down a barn door. It takes a carpenter to hang one. We need a few more carpenters around here. Everybody knows it,” he said.

But Boehner antagonists were steadfast too. From Politico:

Boehner’s surprising decision on Friday to resign sparked widespread celebration within the conservative movement. When Marco Rubio announced the speaker’s retirement from the stage at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, activists whooped and hollered in approval. “What a great day for America,” David Bossie, president of Citizens United, gushed.