Report: House Majority Whip responsible for Boehner's 'purge list'

There appears to be a source for Breitbart who has access to the goings-on inside House Republican leadership circles when it comes to the now infamous 'purge list' John Boehner used to oust four conservatives from the Budget and Financial Services Committees. If this source is correct, Rep. Paul Ryan's role in the purge may also be coming into clearer focus.

Via Breitbart:

A House GOP source has confirmed to Breitbart News that House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy was the one who drafted the secret criteria list House Speaker John Boehner used in his purge of conservatives from House committees.

The source, someone with inside knowledge of how Boehner conducted the purge, told Breitbart News that McCarthy crafted the list, which included a scorecard of where several conservative members stood on certain votes. According to the source, it’s unclear at this time whether McCarthy made the list of his own accord or if he did so at the request of somebody else in GOP leadership – like Boehner or House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

The source alleges that McCarthy brought the criteria list to the House GOP Steering Committee where it was used to purge four conservatives from their House committee spots.

As for Ryan, not only is he being conspicuously silent on this whole thing but he is both on the Steering Committee, which includes 31 members, and chairman of the House Budget Committee, which saw two conservatives jettisoned. Breitbart reported earlier that a GOP leadership aide originally suggested Ryan and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Financial Services Committee chairman, were responsible for the ouster of two conservatives from each committee.

However, Hensarling has been quite critical of the move while Ryan has been in stonewalling mode.

In short, this entire purge thing stinks and Ryan, who has enjoyed conservative - as well as establishment - support, is looking a bit more establishment with every development in this story.

In any case, those responsible for this purge are using the same tactics employed by the Democrats over the last four years, which they decried at every turn. Ryan was one of the most critical opponents of backroom deals when it came to Obamacare.

...and Boehner cries.

Boehner, Cantor not willing to Fight in Fast and Furious Scandal

Imagine how much impact it would have if House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Eric Cantor expressed solidarity with the growing list of Republican congressmen who are calling for the resignation of Eric Holder. Imagining, at this point, is all you can do because the reality is neither man has any interest in doing that.

Via Daily Caller:

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel has ignored emails on the subject for months, but when TheDC caught up with him at the retreat and again asked if his boss thinks Holder should resign for the gunrunning operation that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and at least 300 Mexican civilians, Steel replied, “I don’t think he has said anything on that.”

TheDC followed up with Steel in the lobby of the Waterfront Marriott and asked him if he’d just ask Boehner the question. “Yeah, maybe,” Steel replied.

As of 5 p.m. on Sunday, Steel still hasn’t answered whether Boehner agrees with the 101 members in the House GOP caucus about Holder. Instead, Steel said, “The speaker appreciates the hard work that Chairman Issa and many others have done to expose this scandal. President Obama’s Department of Justice needs to be accountable.”

Cantor’s press secretary, Laena Fallon, deflected questions in a similar way, telling TheDC that Cantor “doesn’t sign onto legislation, as a rule, as majority leader”

Fallon was referencing House Resolution 490, the bill that expresses “no confidence” in Holder because of Fast and Furious. When asked if Cantor agreed “with the concept,” Fallon replied, “I don’t know.”

TheDC: Can you ask him for me?
FALLON: I’ll see, he’s in meetings.
TheDC: I can take an answer whenever. It’s just a “yes” or “no.”
FALLON: I’ll ask and see if I can get you something, but I don’t know what he’ll say.”

By Sunday at 5 p.m., Fallon has still not responded.

Neither man is particularly politically courageous....

Washington Times Writer Implies Obama a Domestic Enemy

Actually, Robert Knight's piece in the Washington Times calls Obama a 'Trojan Horse' president without mentioning the latter's name.

I was thinking about writing a novel about what might happen if a man who hates America and wants to bring it down is somehow elected president. What would he do?

I sketched out a few plot elements, and you can decide whether this will fly.

First, the Trojan Horse president would initiate unprecedented spending, driving the debt up by more than $4 trillion just in the first three years. Much of the money would go into the pockets of political supporters and people who donate heavily to his campaigns.

He would ram through an unreadable law allowing the federal government to seize the health care system, which would transform citizens into beholden subjects.

He would cut out private lenders and federalize student loans.

He would go on a world apology tour, letting America's friends and foes know that he is doing whatever he can to make sure America becomes a third-rate power and is brought to heel under a growing world government headed by the United Nations. While on the tour, he would praise Islam and denigrate America's Christian heritage.

Read it all because there is much more.

Under this 'fictional' scenario Knight lays out, the president to which he is referring warrants impeachment, a Senate trial, and removal from office. The part Knight doesn't get to in his novel idea, involves a hyper-partisan Congress that has essentially neutered itself and hasn't the political will to do the right thing thanks, in large part, to a president who possesses the nefarious ability to exacerbate division.

By referring to a president of the United States, whether real or fictional, as a 'Trojan Horse,' Knight is essentially identifying such a president as a 'Domestic enemy.' Via the Tenth Amendment Center, here is the oath of office every member of Congress must take upon being sworn in:

Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter: So help you God?

The response is two words: 'I do.'

If this hypothetical president were to succeed in destroying America, Congress would be to blame for allowing him to do so; it is the body that is responsible for dealing with any such reality. That leads me to the response then Republican whip, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) gave to a questioner in the audience at the Heritage Foundation on May 4, 2010.

Cantor was asked what it would take for Obama to be defined as a 'domestic enemy.' His answer carries with it a very, very serious indictment of the legislative branch of government to which he belongs, if that answer was wrong.

VIDEO: ERIC CANTOR ASKED IF OBAMA DOMESTIC ENEMY

While speaking at an event sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, House Minority Whip, Eric Cantor (R-VA) was asked by someone in the audience how Obama is NOT a 'domestic enemy' in light of all that he's done. The audience laughed and cheered the question.

Cantor received the opposite reaction after he gave his answer.

Via the Washington Post's Plumline:



h/t to Free Republic