Kerry Bentivolio explanation on the Speaker Boehner Vote

[sailingaway]

This makes it look like he hadn't paid attention to anything over the past couple weeks.

Massie had his committee assignments, but Kerry just in didn't, did he? And it was his first day, and where have you ever started work and wanted to get into a fight before you figured out where people stood on stuff?

I think Kerry should have voted with Amash/Massie et al. However, I also would have liked them to have voted for Ron, after all, some voted for West. C'est la vie.

I do think Kerry would have made himself clearly ours, as Massie did, by aligning w Amash here. He didn't do that. I'm waiting to see what happens beyond that.

I didn't say I was HAPPY with his vote, just that if he finds his feet and moves on, I'd view it like Amash's voting procedurally to advance the Patriot Act when THAT was where we had leverage, it needing a higher number of votes than the extension itself. I do have it in the negative column of Amash's votes, but it was very early on when he was finding his feet, and I do weight it accordingly.

 

[erowe1]

Massie had his committee assignments, but Kerry just in didn't, did he? And it was his first day, and where have you ever started work and wanted to get into a fight before you figured out where people stood on stuff?

I'm not saying he should have wanted to fight. Other parts of his explanation make sense to me. But that line about not knowing an absolute majority was needed to win and that he could vote for someone who wasn't nominated, makes it seem like he was totally out of the loop or easily manipulated by someone. If he knew anything about the attempt to oust Boehner that was going on, he should have known both of those things.

 

[LibertyEagle]

how cool would it be if it turned out they smoke joints together in their offices

I fail to see how that would be "cool". Rather, I think it would be dumber than dirt.

 

[sailingaway]

I fail to see how that would be "cool". Rather, I think it would be dumber than dirt.

Felony in DC. Well, anywhere the federal govt can get away with pretending it has jurisdiction, actually.

 

[sailingaway]

I'm not saying he should have wanted to fight. Other parts of his explanation make sense to me. But that line about not knowing an absolute majority was needed to win and that he could vote for someone who wasn't nominated, makes it seem like he was totally out of the loop or easily manipulated by someone. If he knew anything about the attempt to oust Boehner that was going on, he should have known both of those things.

Yeah, I kinda agree. I don't know his personal situation clearing out of his state and the holidays and getting into DC and not knowing who to trust yet, but still I think diligence could have turned that up, had he been interested to find out. But for the other reasons I give, not a pass, but a 'ok, there's that, now let's get some more record to look at'.

 

[Spoa]

Yeah, I kinda agree. I don't know his personal situation clearing out of his state and the holidays and getting into DC and not knowing who to trust yet, but still I think diligence could have turned that up, had he been interested to find out. But for the other reasons I give, not a pass, but a 'ok, there's that, now let's get some more record to look at'.

I think he's getting smarter today: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll007.xml . If he continues voting like this, we should just consider he had a "star-struck" first day.

 

[brandon]

2.) He'd discussed his plans with Justin Amash previously (as they are "smoking buddies" as he put it), and Amash agreed with his decision to vote for Boehner. Bentivolio mentioned that the party nomination had taken place back in November or so and no one had raised a ruckus then about putting up Boehner. He said that if someone wanted a change, that was the proper time to have done it--within the Republican caucus nominating process.

This makes absolutely no sense. He is saying that the 113th congress should have selected their speaker before the 113th congress was seated and had any power?

3.) Being his first day he was a bit unclear on the fact that he could vote for someone that hadn't been nominated (wraps back into the previous point), he expressed that he thought the only options were between Pelosi and Boehner and he certainly wasn't going for Pelosi. When I tried to explain he could vote for anyone and that Pelosi needed a majority and not just a plurality so he would have been safe he said that he hadn't been clear on that.

Wow. What a line of bullshit. So a sitting congressman doesn't understand very simple basic rules about how a vote works, when I understand it from just spending 10 minutes reading about it online? Great. And none of his aids, or Amash, took 30 seconds to explain to him how this actually works?

This guy is a goofball.

 

[Spoa]

This makes absolutely no sense. He is saying that the 113th congress should have selected their speaker before the 113th congress was seated and had any power?

No. To explain, the House GOP Conference meets in November (after the election) with all the incoming members for the 113th Congress. There, they choose who they want their nominee for Speaker to be on behalf of the GOP conference. Rep. Bentivolio's argument is that he didn't see anyone object in the caucus, so he thought that since Boehner was the choice in there, he didn't understand why Boehner shouldn't still be the same choice in the official vote.

 

[Romulus]

so he had 2 excuses.. 'catch flies' and 'he didn't know'..

I call BS.

Watch how he votes from here on out... he want's to 'fit in'.

 

[compromise]

I don't know who you mean by "everyone". I certainly like Senator Flake a lot. For some purists, they attack him for not voting with us on everything. But Senator Flake has fought hard for spending cuts and balanced budgets, and maybe with some rubbing off from Senators Paul and Lee, he'll be closer on our side on civil liberties. He already voiced anger over the Patriot Act (but in the end, gave in to leadership pressure) and has said that it may be time to think about ending the wars. He's very good on fiscal responsibility, but gives in sometimes on civil liberties.

But on civil liberties, he (Senator Flake) has made some good votes:
Voted NO on constitutional amendment prohibiting flag desecration. (Jun 2003)
Voted NO on more funding for Mexico to fight drugs. (Jun 2008)
Voted NO on military border patrols to battle drugs & terrorism. (Sep 2001)
War on Drugs has abused Bill of Rights . (Dec 2000)
International Criminal Court decisions not valid for US. (Mar 2003)
Voted YES on reforming the UN by restricting US funding. (Jun 2005)
Voted NO on requiring FISA warrants for wiretaps in US, but not abroad. (Mar 2008)
Voted NO on Veto override: Congressional oversight of CIA interrogations. (Mar 2008)
Voted NO on emergency $78B for war in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Apr 2003)
End draft registration; all-volunteer forces . (Dec 2000)

On the Issues States:

http://www.ontheissues.org/house/jeff_flake.htm

I didn't know he was good on the drug war, thanks for the info.

I donated to his Senate campaign after I found out he voted against the creation of the DHS and voted consistently against military spending and foreign aid appropriations.
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...l-speech-on-House-floor&p=4799215#post4799215

 

[SpreadOfLiberty]

This makes absolutely no sense. He is saying that the 113th congress should have selected their speaker before the 113th congress was seated and had any power?


Wow. What a line of bullshit. So a sitting congressman doesn't understand very simple basic rules about how a vote works, when I understand it from just spending 10 minutes reading about it online? Great. And none of his aids, or Amash, took 30 seconds to explain to him how this actually works?

This guy is a goofball.

He might not be the brightest bulb in the world but I think his convictions are right. He needs to stick with Amash as they are from the same state delegation.

 

[brandon]

 

[jkob]

Whatever. He should of voted against Boehner but what is done is done. It wouldn't of made a difference and I don't buy he didn't know what he was doing. He better start voting right or his time Washington will be quite short.

 

[Spoa]

Whatever. He should of voted against Boehner but what is done is done. It wouldn't of made a difference and I don't buy he didn't know what he was doing. He better start voting right or his time Washington will be quite short.

He already has started voting right: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll007.xml and could really use some help (this is what one guy posted on Rep. Bentivolio's facebook):

Roger A Sczerenet And your first action is to deny the people ravaged by Sandy any help. I am not going to listen to this "money" nonsense this fear mongering.

Rep. Bentivolio wants it offset like Amash, Massie, and others. Go to his Facebook and encourage him to continue voting against wasteful spending: https://www.facebook.com/repkerryb

 

[tsai3904]

More details on the loose plan to vote against Boehner:

For the past few weeks, Jones tells me, he had been thinking about voting against Boehner, but he wasn’t sure about how to proceed. It was only after Amash visited his office on Wednesday that Jones, an 18-year House veteran, decided to join the youthful Boehner antagonists. “Justin Amash, he was the quarterback on this one,” Jones says. During the meeting, Jones and Amash agreed that they didn’t really care about winning the gavel, but they wanted to bloody Boehner’s nose, and stick up for the libertarian wing of the House Republican caucus. Their votes weren’t even coordinated — Amash voted for Labrador, and Jones voted for David Walker, a former comptroller general.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/336920/boehner-survivor-robert-costa?pg=2

 

[torchbearer]

I set up the call centers that the people in the path of "SUPER STORM" sandy used to get adjusters to their homes.
I got to listen to a lot of the conversations. I can say most of those people were grade A dicks and douches to the people trying to help them.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

boner need 220, he got 220.
amirite?

No. We needed 5-6 more defections even with Kerry. The lesson here is that we need another half dozen liberty candidates in Congress. It's easy to be negative and tear down our own people; Let's try the more positive road and actually build up more liberty candidates for Congress. Our guys are behind enemy lines and need reinforcements.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

I don't buy the whole, "I didn't know if I could do this or that" statement. How can you be a 'liberty congressman' and not know what the game plan is going into such an important vote?

In Kerry's defense, his campaign team has kept him very secluded and insular. I think him being in Washington around some more vocal, like-minded people like Amash, Massie, Yoho, etc, will do him a great deal of good.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

Even great prospects need seasoning in the minors to get their bearings. You can't just put them up against major league pitching. Remember that before you hang the guy from his fingernails.

 

[erowe1]

No. We needed 5-6 more defections even with Kerry. The lesson here is that we need another half dozen liberty candidates in Congress. It's easy to be negative and tear down our own people; Let's try the more positive road and actually build up more liberty candidates for Congress. Our guys are behind enemy lines and need reinforcements.

No. Boehner needed 218. He got 220. The way it's sounding, I don't think Amash even asked Bentivolio to vote against Boehner. Maybe he didn't want the new guy to feel like he was manipulating him. I bet he could have gotten Bentivolio and two others to go along though.