Former Republican House Speaker John Boehner struggled – unsuccessfully – to fight back his famous, frequently-appearing tears as he offered a glowing tribute to Nancy Pelosi at the unveiling of her official portrait at the Capitol.
And never has there been a more appropriate metaphor for the old-guard GOP’s relationship with their Democrat colleagues.
“My girls told me, ‘Tell the speaker how much we admire her,’” Boehner whimpered, his face contorting in an unsuccessful attempt to close the floodgates.
He then joked, “As if you couldn’t tell, my girls are Democrats.”
Former Republican Speaker John Boehner gets emotional while speaking at the reveal of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s portrait in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.
“My girls told me, ‘Tell the speaker how much we admire her.’” https://t.co/p9GWW02ufe pic.twitter.com/73VWTLnWhO
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 14, 2022
But the praise didn’t just come from his daughters, it came from Boehner himself.
“The younger generation today has a saying: ‘Game recognizes game,’” he praised. “The fact of the matter is no other speaker of the House in the modern era — Republican or Democrat — has wielded the gavel with such authority or with such consistent results.”
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The clearly emotional and flustered Boehner’s comments were littered with mispronunciations and pauses as he tried to stop the urge to continue weeping.
“Game recognizes game”: Former House Speaker John Boehner tears up at Pelosi portrait unveiling. https://t.co/EFxvbTbq6g pic.twitter.com/2wNinXS6YR
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) December 15, 2022
RELATED: Cruz Fires Back At Boehner After His ‘Anatomically Impossible’ Insult
Boehner Crying as He Celebrates Pelosi
Pelosi’s tenure has been one of the most divisive and destructive efforts in the “modern era” and Boehner can only think to call her “incredibly effective” and “one tough cookie”?
That tough cookie has been crying and lying about an ‘insurrection’ on January 6th. She tore the nation apart and helped take focus off the incoming pandemic by pursuing an impeachment she once described as the “most divisive” path.
She has consistently caved to the fringe element of her party ever since the Squad was ushered in during the 2018 midterms. Pelosi forced the passage of Obamacare despite its unpopularity, famously saying, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”
Democrats lost 63 House seats later that year. It was the worst shellacking since 1938. Very, very effective, John.
John Boehner crying as he paid tribute to Nancy Pelosi is the perfect symbol of uniparty pathology
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) December 14, 2022
Boehner wasn’t the only Republican in attendance at the unveiling of Pelosi’s comically over-sized Capitol portrait.
The New York Times reports that Kevin McCarthy, widely presumed to replace Pelosi as Speaker of the House, “sat silently” during the proceedings.
A generation of congressional leaders fought back tears on Wednesday as they unveiled the official portrait of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at a ceremony with a tribute from former president Barack Obama. https://t.co/K7c9YmBulF pic.twitter.com/uBtHO52vZK
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 15, 2022
RELATED: John Boehner Calls Sean Hannity a ‘Right-Wing Idiot,’ Hannity Fires Back
Frequent Critic of Trump, Ted Cruz
John Boehner crying isn’t exactly new, but it’s an important reminder of the feckless leadership that allowed people like Pelosi and Barack Obama to run roughshod over the Constitution during their tenure.
Pelosi joked about the former Speaker being famously teary-eyed on a perpetual basis.
“I would have been a little disappointed if he didn’t get emotional,” she quipped.
Seriously, try to imagine Nancy Pelosi crying over a John Boehner portrait while announcing to chuckles that her kids are Republicans. You can’t. That’s because many of those elected to represent conservatism can’t even do so in house.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) December 15, 2022
And while he’s heaping praise on Nancy Pelosi, Boehner hasn’t always had the kindest words for staunch conservatives like Fox News host Sean Hannity, Senator Ted Cruz, or former President Donald Trump.
In a 2017 profile at Politico Boehner called Hannity “nuts” and said Americans were “ill-informed.”
He’s had a long-standing feud with Cruz (R-TX), going off-script in recording his memoir saying, “Oh, and Ted Cruz, go f*** yourself.”
Cruz reacting to Boehner telling him to “go fuck himself” in his audiobook…
“John Boehner suggested I do something anatomically impossible, to which my response was: Who’s John Boehner?”
This round goes to Cruz. #CPAC2021
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) February 26, 2021
That feud stemmed from accusations by Cruz in 2015 that blamed Boehner for helping Democrats fund the government, Planned Parenthood, and the Iran nuclear deal.
And, like Pelosi, Boehner naturally blamed Trump saying he “incited that bloody insurrection” at the Capitol.
Maybe, John, kick back with another red wine and shed some tears for what Pelosi and the Democrats have done to this country that led to anger over election integrity in the first place.
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