Man, this Republican Civil War stuff is getting really tasty. Here's former Speaker Dennis Hastert on Brian Kilmeade's Fox radio show, unloading on John Boehner for breaking his "majority of the majority" rule:
Maybe you can do it once, maybe you can do it twice, but when start making deals when you have to get Democrats to pass the legislation, you are not in power anymore…When you start passing stuff that your members are not in line with, all of a sudden your ability to lead is in jeopardy because somebody else is making decisions. The President is making decisions, Pelosi is making decisions, or they are making the decisions in the Senate. All tax bills and all spending bills under the Constitution start in the House. When you give up that responsibility you really give up your responsibility to govern, and that is the problem.
Shorter Hastert: I got your bipartisanship right here.
Remember this the next time some right-winger laments that the Democrats or Obama "won't compromise" or "refuses to work with Republicans." And no, Pelosi didn't run the House this way when she was Speaker.
It's worth remembering that Hastert presided over the catastrophic Republican losses in the House in 2006 -- so I'm not sure why any Republican would listen to him about anything. But I hope this wingnut-on-wingnut sniping keeps up, because it's really making for an enjoyable New Year.
