During MSNBC’s live coverage Friday morning of Pope Francis in New York City and the sudden announcement that House Speaker John Boehner will resign October 30, liberal personality Rachel Maddow couldn’t help but speak in admiration for Boehner, describing him as a “refreshing and lovable” politician as he’s dealt with “a fractious and self-righteously combative caucus.”
Maddow first opined that the decision was “a shock, but maybe not surprising” but with the caveat that “he's had one of the nominally most powerful and actually least enviable jobs in all of American politics.”
Lamenting that Boehner has been dealt “such a fractious and self-righteously combative caucus that he's had to work with Democrats to do even the basic stuff of keeping the lights on and that, of course, is seen as an unpardonable sin by the most combative, the loudest and therefore members of his caucus.”
MSNBC breaking news anchor and disgraced NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams compared Boehner to former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole in pointing out that they both vacationed in Florida away from D.C. and their home states:
The purchase or rental of a condo in Florida, as Luke Russert mentioned, which happened last year, got the attention of a lot of people and while, you know, Bob Dole, when he was in power, used to go down to Bell Harbor, Florida every weekend, there was something about John Boehner's decision to get a place down south where he could relax that got the attention of people. I guess it was arriving at the age of 65 was also on his mind and just yesterday, this man about whose emotions so much has been said was so emotional during the Pope's visit.
After Williams added that he’s “[a] complicated guy” and “fairly simple legislator,” Maddow turned to Boehner’s well-known bouts of becoming emotional on a moment’s notice and while “it is something people that make fun of him for,” she professed that was “one of the things that I have always loved about him.”
Maddow’s prolonged vote of confidence for Boehner continued as she declared how moving it’s been “to see somebody with that much power and responsibility and having to do with that many conflicting crosscurrents all the time, to see somebody who is willing to be seen crying even at just Hallmark moments, not just giant moments, he cries at the small stuff too.”
Before Williams turned to Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd, Maddow went out with a bang:
[H]is humanity in the job has been refreshing and lovable and there aren't that many lovable politicians, I don't think, at least on such a big stage. I hope we get somebody else who keeps in mind the human version – the human elements of the job because I think it makes the whole practice of politics more relatable.
Moments earlier on MSNBC, Hardball host Chris Matthews seized on the occasion to slam the current Republican Party as “pro-white,” “Mormon and conservative” and Williams lamented that Boehner had to “put up” with tea party members.
Over on ABC, chief anchor George Stephanopoulos partnered with analysts Matthew Dowd and Cokie Roberts to complain that a House without Boehner will make things “harder” for President Obama to get things done.
The relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Pope in America on September 25 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Pope in America
September 25, 2015
10:53 a.m. Eastern
RACHEL MADDOW: It is – I think Kelly is right to say it's a shock, but maybe not surprising. I think the timing is surprising. The Speaker has put out a statement saying he planned to resign at the end of last year and changed his mind when Eric Cantor lost his position. Eric Cantor losing in a Republican primary that was a shock to conservative primary challenger who nobody had ever heard of. Apparently that is why John Boehner stayed on as long as he did, but honestly, he's had one of the nominally most powerful and actually least enviable jobs in all of American politics. Being Speaker of the House is a glorious thing. You're third in line to the presidency, you control that beautiful balcony from which the Pope spoke yesterday. He controls such a fractious and self-righteously combative caucus that he's had to work with Democrats to do even the basic stuff of keeping the lights on and that, of course, is seen as an unpardonable sin by the most combative, the loudest and therefore members of his caucus. So, he's between a rock and a hard place since day one. I can't imagine it's been fun. I think he's well liked, but I feel like the next person is going to have just as hard a job as he had.
(....)
MADDOW: And you have to love it. You have to live the institution. Luke Russert noted earlier that John Boehner is an institutionalist. There aren't many of those left in Washington, anywhere in Washington anymore. I mean, I think the thing that is important here and that gives truly dramatic uncertainty in terms of what happens next is that John Boehner did take a lot of pressure from the right and when he was reelected speaker it was by one of the lowest margins of any Speaker since the Great Depression. There has been this persistent criticism of him from conservatives and hard liners within his own party, but you know what? Nobody expects that that group is going to produce the next speaker. Congressman Meadows is the one who put forward the resolution to oust John Boehner earlier this summer. He was asked to be speaker. He answered with one word, no. It's a lot more fun to be in the peanut gallery throwing stuff at the people in charge than it is to be in charge. I think Kevin McCarthy is the next most likely speaker, but he will be vilified in the same that Boehner has by a group that wants to be angry at the leadership but themselves does not want it.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: The purchase or rental of a condo in Florida, as Luke Russert mentioned, which happened last year, got the attention of a lot of people and while, you know, Bob Dole, when he was in power, used to go down to Bell Harbor, Florida every weekend, there was something about John Boehner's decision to get a place down south where he could relax that got the attention of people. I guess it was arriving at the age of 65 was also on his mind and just yesterday, this man about whose emotions so much has been said was so emotional during the Pope's visit. We saw it when he was behind the Pope during the address to the joint meeting of Congress and the House chamber. We saw it when he was up on the balcony. A complicated guy, at the same time a fairly simple legislator and as you said, as Luke Russert said, an institutionalist.
MADDOW: Just that, the crying thing about John Boehner has given rise to a million memes and it is something people that make fun of him for. As a crier, it is one of the things that I have always loved about him and to see somebody with that much power and responsibility and having to do with that many conflicting crosscurrents all the time, to see somebody who is willing to be seen crying even at just Hallmark moments, not just giant moments, he cries at the small stuff too and somebody who’s willing to sing to the press corps waiting for an important pronouncement, when he blows kisses as an ostentatious way of not making comment when he wants to deflect the press attention, his humanity in the job has been refreshing and lovable and there aren't that many lovable politicians, I don't think, at least on such a big stage. I hope we get somebody else who keeps in mind the human version – the human elements of the job because I think it makes the whole practice of politics more relatable.
