What, for example, would Boehner suggest for education spending in 2011?
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Transcript:
MADDOW: So Nancy Pelosi is still speaker of the House. The House is still in Democratic control as long as this lame duck session is going on, but in January when Congress comes back. The new speaker of the House will be a man who is known for a lot of things. But specifically, he is known for getting very emotional in public.
JOHN BOEHNER: There are some things that are very difficult to talk about. Family, kids. I can't go to a school anymore. I see all these little kids running around making sure that these kids have a shot at the American dream like I do. It's important.
MADDOW: In a " 60 Minutes" interview this weekend, top House Republican and House speaker in waiting John Boehner put his heart back on his sleeve and got per clumped as you heard there. He got for clumps about how he feels when he sees children like at school visits. He also for clumped about the fact that he gets per clumped.
BOEHNER: You've probably found out by now I'm a pretty emotional guy. There are just some things that, you know, trigger real emotions and I was talking, trying to talk about the fact that I've been chasing the American dream my whole career.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that was it?
BOEHNER: That was it.
MADDOW: John Boehner is starting to get more attention for the amount of emotion he's willing to show in public and it's true that him crying so much in public is extraordinary. He should get credit I think for showing an extraordinary range of emotions. He not only cries a lot in public. He also is willing to lose his cool and scream and yell and get red in the face.
BOEHNER: Look at how this bill was written. Can you say it was done openly? With transparency and accountability? Without backroom deals and struck behind closed doors, hidden from the people? Hell no, you can't! Have you read the bill? Have you read the reconciliation bill? Have you read the managers amendment? Hell no, you haven't! I'm trying to catch my breath so I don't refer to this maneuver going on today as chicken crap, all right? But this is nonsense.
MADDOW: If John Boehner were a woman, you'd be hearing about almost nothing other than his emotionality given even the prospect of him becoming speaker of the house. But because he's a guy, I think nobody knows quite what to make of how emotional he's willing to get in public. After all, almost all of the other famous crying in public stories involved in politicians are how the crying in public called them into question as a candidate or maybe hurt them in some way. Most famously there's been Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine, an early favorite in the Democratic presidential primary of 1972. Mr. Muskie called a press conference to speak out against a newspaper publisher who printed negative stories about him including one that turned out to be a hoax and one that went after Senator Muskie's wife.
SENATOR EDMUND MUSKIE: By attacking me, by attacking my wife, has proved himself to be a gutless coward. It's fortunate for him he's not on this platform beside me.
MADDOW: Senator Muskie maintained that he was not tearing up that day in New Hampshire. What reporters saw and described and reporting that press conference were snowflakes melting on his face, not tears. Regardless, that has gone down in history as the beginning of the end of Senator Muskie's presidential ambition. But here's the thing about that, about the politicians can't cry in public myth that in large part was born on that day. Whether or not Muskie actually cried or whether it was snow melting on his angelic face, Senator Muskie was reported to have cried that day ten days before the New Hampshire primary. On the day of the primary, he won. As recently as 2008 also in New Hampshire, there was Hillary Clinton, not so much crying as becoming a little tiny bit emotional. An event which convulsed the Democratic primary process and all the punditry in the world for days on end.
HILLARY CLINTON: You know, I have so many opportunities in this country. I just don't want to see us fall backwards. So you know, this is very personal for me. It's not just political. It's not just public. I see what's happening and we have to reverse it. And some people think elections are a game. They think it's like who's up or who's down. It's about our country. It's about our kids' futures.
MADDOW: For all the massive crisis and conniption that called in 2008, Hillary Clinton won that primary. She won in New Hampshire. That incident had an effect on voting in New Hampshire, it very well may have helped her more than it hurt her. There's nothing wrong with politicians showing emotion. There's nothing wrong with politicians crying in public, a, it demonstrably does not hurt them with voters, but, b, it shows us what they feel passionately about, and what's wrong with that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he walks out of this chamber for the last time, he'll leave an enormous void behind. The true measure of a man is how you handle victory and also defeat. He reached the pinnacle in government, but he defines his life by other roles, a father who gave unconditional love, a grandfather devoted to his grandchildren. So at this moment, I wanted to be home, to come to this place and see all of my friends. When I think of what Kyle has meant to me over the past 15 years, I can't help but think that's exactly what he's been to me.
MADDOW: Senator McConnell memorializing a long time staffer in February there at the top of that block there memorializing Senator Judd Gregg. That was just today. Each of those events in which public figures become for clump in public tells you nothing bad about that person. We're about to get probably the most emotional politician in modern American history taking on a very visible role, third in line to the presidency. With John Boehner about to be in the headlines every single day for all of next year and beyond, we're going to have to get past the shock of his visibly strong feelings and the feelings that that invoke in us. We're going to have to figure out how to keep paying attention to what John Boehner is saying even if he is crying while he is saying it.
BOEHNER: Members on both sides of the aisle who feel differently about our mission in Iraq and our chances of success there. After 3,000 of our fellow citizens died at the hands of these terrorists, when are we going to stand up and take them on? When are we going to defeat them? I put myself through school working every rotten job there was and every night shift I could find. And I poured my heart and soul into running a small business. You probably found out by now I'm a pretty emotional guy and there are just some things that, you know, trigger real emotions. I was talking, trying to talk about the fact that I've been chasing the American dream my whole career. So I ask all of you, both sides of the aisle, what's in the best interests of our country? Not what's in the best interests of our party. Not what's in the best interests of our own re- election. What's in the best interests of our country? Vote yes.
MADDOW: Pause that for a second. What he is crying about there, what he's upset there -- now again, there's nothing wrong with crying and it's distracting and novel and interesting that he is crying, I know. But what he's talking about there, what that speech is about is T.A.R.P., the bank bailout. He's saying vote yes for the Wall Street bailout. The fact that he's crying while talking about it can't occlude our vision that he's about to be this powerful. The fact that he's crying while begging for a yes on the bailout is fascinating. What politician does that that's kind of cool, but the fact that he's crying belies the fact that he campaigned against the bailout. He started talking about the bailout as if he not only didn't vote for it and he didn't cry and beg people to vote for it during a speech on the floor of the House.
BOEHNER: So I'm going to ask my colleagues, if you've had enough of bailouts, enough of T.A.R.P., let's do the right thing for the American people. They're already saying enough is enough. Let's end T.A.R.P., let's pay down the deficit. No more bailouts. Let's cut spending back to 2008 levels. Back before the bailouts and the stimulus and all the nonsense.
MADDOW: All the nonsense that I cried about and begged you to vote for. Now, most recently Sunday night on " 60 Minutes" we saw John Boehner crying about kids and their futures. It's fascinating that he will cry while talking about that in public. It's amazing in terms of just who he is as a person, as a politician, but however not more important than what he actually wants to do for the kids who make him cry. He is not an actor. He's a politician. He's a powerful politician who gets to make laws for the country. Despite the crying, part of his pledge to America is a pledge to cut about $100 billion out of the national budget. That is $100 billion in discretionary spending cuts and he wants to not have any of those discretionary spending cuts come from defense or Homeland Security or veterans affairs. So what does that mean? That means taking $100 billion out of, among a few other things, education, pulling it out of there, the cuts to domestic spending including education. John Boehner is proposing would amount to, as Steve Bennett of Washington Monthly pointed out, it would amount to nearly quadruple the largest cuts in discretionary spending faced in the entire last generation nearly four times. So yes, John Boehner may cry while talking about all the awesome things he wants to do for children. I find it amazing that he allows himself to cry in public while he talks about these things. But having a positive feeling is not the same as doing something positive. As humans we react to a politician crying about children's welfare because we instinctively think it implies strength of that politicians' commitment to improve children's welfare. It doesn't always. When the new Congress convenience and John Boehner is speaker of the House, remember this, just because he's crying about something doesn't mean he's going to fix that thing. Crying in public is neat. I'm all in favor. Crying in public, however, is not the same thing as fixing the thing that makes you cry.
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