Boehner Wins GOP Hypocrite Award for Pretending He Never Called Obama a Socialist, Something He Did in Public Twice

John Boehner

It may seem like a small thing, but often what looks like a minor untruth is symptomatic of a larger conservative hypocrisy. Such is the case with the House minority leader's recent fear-mongering.

In an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) wanted to freak out Americans without actually appearing to be a scary freak. In other words, he tried to have it both ways. Thankfully, we know better.

In response to a question (or three) about GOP Chairman Michael Steele calling President Obama a socialist, Boehner initially tried to avoid answering. But eventually he had to admit that, no, is Obama not a socialist. Also, he -- as the noble representative of Ohio's 8th Congressional District -- would never call the president of the United States that silly, ugly name (You can see the video and a transcript of the relevant portion of the program at Think Progress).

Well, one out of two ain't bad, we suppose. But it turns out Boehner's assertion of innocence is just about as fake as his tan.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) earlier this year, Boehner summed up all of Obama's major initiatives as "one big down payment on a new American socialist experiment."

Now, it's important to remember that CPAC is where Republicans go to work their fundie muscles. So the fact that Boehner used his stage time to appeal to the base, no matter how base his remarks were, is not all that shocking. Furthermore, it's not like he's the only guy using the s-word against the Obama Administration.

However, Boehner was smearing Obama with pinko paint before the 44th president was even elected. As the keynote speaker for a GOP dinner in Georgia last October, Boehner said he was worried about what might happen if Obama were to be elected president, saying, "You want to talk about socialism. You put these people in office, it’s batten down the hatches and watch out."

Boehner's lie on Sunday has been pretty thoroughly exposed around the Internet, but we felt it necessary to point out the true hypocrisy in his two-faced statements, and note how they're indicative of a pattern in the alarmist debate over "government takeovers" that seems to be absorbing all of Congress' spare time.

The fact is, the Republican Party is happy enough allowing their already-discredited chairman to make all of these embarrassingly partisan statements while lawmakers sit back and wink at the tea partying fringes scrawling Hitler mustaches on Obama's picture. Like Boehner, these "leaders" play nice on Meet the Press, but when they're surrounded by their own kind, Republican lawmakers feel comfortable lashing out with irrational, false and disrespectful language.

Boehner, as minority leader, should be making an example of himself. On the other hand, maybe he is. And that's why he's BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

Remember our motto: So many Republican hypocrites, so little time.

Catch up with you soon.

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This is John Boehner's fourth GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award. He also won on Aug. 14, 2009, May 22, 2009 and Sept. 22, 2006. You can see a list of all previous nominees here.

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