As news broke of House Speaker John Boehner planning to resign from Congress, MSNBC’s hosts and correspondents used the opportunity to bash conservatives in the House of Representatives. Late in the 10 a.m. ET hour, Andrea Mitchell worried: “...he's stepping down under the threat of the caucus...and it remains to be seen whether the more radical conservative members who wanted to shut down the government can actually gain control of the caucus...”
Minutes later, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd chimed in: “...there's not enough of these conservatives to take over the leadership of the House of Representatives, but there is enough to essentially neuter the leadership of the House of Representatives. And that's what John Boehner found out.”
Todd continued:
I think John Boehner today threw himself on a grenade....he figured he was being pressured to do a government shutdown. He was being pressured to make October ugly. And he figured, you know what, the best way to avoid it, he takes himself out of the equation and I think he's right. It will delay this fight for at least another three months. They’ll fund the government. There won't be a shutdown.
A few minutes later, left-wing primetime host Rachel Maddow even used Pope Francis to malign Republicans:
Plus, we’ve had Pope Francis here with this incredible address to this joint meeting of Congress. Everybody talking, I think, with very full hearts about whether or not there could be some more togetherness, maybe that's the wrong word. There could be less combativeness for the sake of combativeness. There could be something constructive that could come out of that sort of a visit and now today this absolute collapse of expectations.
Anchor Brian Williams lamented: “The civility message of Pope Francis, you're right, was such a – you know, the dichotomy between that and this discussion we’ve devolved into.”
Finally, moments after that, fellow left-wing host Chris Matthews declared: “The Republican Party is fragmenting....seems to be perhaps in schismatic mode right now, maybe schism between the two sides. Because I don't think they have a common interest.”
He predicted: “And so I think we're going to see a break here perhaps leading to a brokered convention next summer in Cleveland. I think it's very possible.”
Matthews then lobbied hard for Boehner to force through an immigration bill before stepping down as speaker:
But I'll tell you, immigration, I just wish John Boehner – now this is just my opinion hat being put on here – if he's going to get a CR through before he leaves the speakership, why not pass or at least bring to a vote the immigration bill, passed in a bipartisan fashion by the Senate? And everyone who covers the Hill knows this – left, right, and center – if that came to a vote, we would have the immigration fight behind us going into this presidential election. Leaving only the racists to talk about it. Everyone else would say, “You know, that was a pretty darn good compromise.”
Here are excerpts of the September 25 breaking news coverage:
10:47 AM ET
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BRIAN WILLIAMS: John Boehner, for some time, has been complaining that his job was vastly unsatisfying and vastly frustrating for him. Andrea Mitchell has been watching and listening to the Pope and watching and listening for developments on the Boehner front in Washington and is with us this morning. Andrea, good morning.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Good morning to you, talk about a split screen of major news. Just continuing on the subject of the Boehner resignation, the imminent resignation, one of the apparently false conclusions, conventional wisdom being what it is, is that there was no agreement on anyone to succeed John Boehner among the more moderate members. And since the more conservative Tea Party part of the caucus did not have a logical number of votes and did not have a logical leader, that Boehner would hang on. But now obviously, he's stepping down under the threat of the caucus and this will be, of course, a closed vote and it remains to be seen whether the more radical conservative members who wanted to shut down the government can actually gain control of the caucus, which was being led by Boehner and others who felt that they could keep the government going.
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10:57 AM ET
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Chuck Todd, moderator of Meet the Press, our political director, standing by at the White House. Chuck, your reaction to all of this?
CHUCK TODD: Well, I was – this has been building for a couple months, this insurrection in the House. And there was – you had to wonder at what point did John Boehner say, “You know what, I'm tired of fighting so hard to just save my job rather than get a lot more bigger things done.” This has been a fight over tactics. It's not been a fight over ideology.
And I think this time the conservative groups, when you look at the presidential race and that the outsiders are pounding right now the insiders, well, it's essentially the same fight that’s going on inside the House of Representatives except it's a smaller group of outsiders. Rachel’s absolutely right, there's not enough of these conservatives to take over the leadership of the House of Representatives, but there is enough to essentially neuter the leadership of the House of Representatives. And that's what John Boehner found out.
The only way to avoid a shutdown, Brian, and to save the party, I think John Boehner today threw himself on a grenade. You know, basically he was getting ready to leave the job – probably at best maybe it would have been at the end of next year – so he figured he was being pressured to do a government shutdown. He was being pressured to make October ugly. And he figured, you know what, the best way to avoid it, he takes himself out of the equation and I think he's right. It will delay this fight for at least another three months. They’ll fund the government. There won't be a shutdown.
(...)
11:02 AM ET
RACHEL MADDOW: We’ve got this incredible drama on Capitol Hill. The presidential election and all of the combativeness that entails. Plus, we’ve had Pope Francis here with this incredible address to this joint meeting of Congress. Everybody talking, I think, with very full hearts about whether or not there could be some more togetherness, maybe that's the wrong word. There could be less combativeness for the sake of combativeness. There could be something constructive that could come out of that sort of a visit and now today this absolute collapse of expectations.
WILLIAMS: The civility message of Pope Francis, you're right, was such a – you know, the dichotomy between that and this discussion we’ve devolved into.
(...)
11:05 AM ET
CHRIS MATTHEWS: The Republican Party is fragmenting. Just like it came together before the Civil War, actually, a combination of the abolitionists, who were the very extreme people, and the established Whig Party, that seems to be perhaps in schismatic mode right now, maybe schism between the two sides. Because I don't think they have a common interest. I think Ted Cruz, and to some extent [Marco] Rubio, and the new breed which are very mutinous right now, I don't think they have a common interest in the institution. They don't really like the institution. They think it's subservient to their ideology.
And so I think we're going to see a break here perhaps leading to a brokered convention next summer in Cleveland. I think it's very possible. Democrats, a little less so. They seem to be still somewhat happy with their center-left positioning.
But I'll tell you, immigration, I just wish John Boehner – now this is just my opinion hat being put on here – if he's going to get a CR through before he leaves the speakership, why not pass or at least bring to a vote the immigration bill, passed in a bipartisan fashion by the Senate? And everyone who covers the Hill knows this – left, right, and center – if that came to a vote, we would have the immigration fight behind us going into this presidential election. Leaving only the racists to talk about it. Everyone else would say, “You know, that was a pretty darn good compromise.”
We're going to have requirements on people no longer illegal being hired illegally. There’s gonna be some kind of a way to become a citizen overtime with a lot of obstacles, but you can get there. It's a really good bill passed with at least a dozen Republican senators of good will, like Lindsey Graham. And I would think it’d be great if he just said, “Okay, we're going to have a democracy here for a couple hours. We're going to vote on the immigration bill before I leave.” That would be so great.
MADDOW: I'm sorry to interrupt, but on that point, that's a really, really good point and it may become really important in what happens next. And I'm just wondering, you know, when that first happened when it passed the Senate, there was a lot of talk that if John Boehner put it on the floor, there were enough Republican votes to pass it in the House. Is that still true? I mean, if he waved a magic wand and put that bill on the floor today, would it pass?
MATTHEWS: Well, Rach, the Democrats would be all for it. I mean Hispanic groups, the Black Caucus, the libs. Everybody would be for it because it basically opens the door to becoming part of us for the people who have been here and have committed their lives to America and their children and grandchildren to America. The good people who’ve said, “We are Americans. We may not have come in here legally and we may not have the documents, but we are Americans, darn it. And we want to become part of this country and we want our families to be a part.”
But we also want to stop the incentives of people coming into the country to get jobs illegally. Somebody in a Mexican restaurant in Chicago shouldn't decide who comes in the country. The American people should decide on a regular progressive immigration policy. And I think that's in the bill. And I think it was a very balanced bill and it could be passed in a minute in the House. It would be great if Boehner brought it up and passed it.
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11:08 AM ET
WILLIAMS: And as Rachel and I have been talking, if it's [Kevin] McCarthy, you will have both McCarthy and Pelosi from the same state.
MATTHEWS: Yeah, McCarthy’s not a Roman Catholic, by the way. I keep tabs on these things. Maybe I shouldn’t, I’m still a bit clanish. But he's Baptist, actually, even with that wonderful name Kevin McCarthy. So there's always an oddness there in those kind of situations.
But I think he's a very good guy. I mean, he’s likable, people like him, he has very good communication skills. But I don't think he's angry. And I think we all know, anyone who follows politics, that the new measure of almost popularity in the conservative movement is how angry you are. Ted Cruz meets that standard 100%, [Marco] Rubio a little less so. Huckabee definitely, about 90% angry all the time. It seems to me you have to show your antagonism to the way things are, generally speaking, to be a leader these days on the hard right.
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