'Lunatic': John Boehner slams Michele Bachmann in new book
Judging by the early reactions to his upcoming book, "On the House: A Washington Memoir," John Boehner may well be headed for bestseller stardom.
The reason? Newly released excerpts feature the Republican former House Speaker doing the once-unthinkable: mercilessly unloading on members of his own party.
A sample of his book appeared on Politico Friday, and its scorching candor towards the GOP's Tea Party movement — whose members gained national fame for sparring with then-President Barrack Obama — soon went viral.
Receiving the brunt of Boehner's scorn are Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Rep. Michele Bachmann, who represented Minnesota's sixth congressional district.
He had the following to say about the latter:
Besides the homegrown “talent” at Fox, with their choice of guests they were making people who used to be fringe characters into powerful media stars. One of the first prototypes out of their laboratory was a woman named Michele Bachmann.
Saying she had "made a name for herself as a lunatic" since entering Congress, Boehner describes a tense 2010 encounter in which she lobbied him for a seat on the Ways and Means Committee — a powerful position normally reserved for far more seasoned members.
"There were many members in line ahead of her for a post like this," Boehner writes. "People who had waited patiently for their turn and who also, by the way, weren’t wild-eyed crazies."
He turned her down for the role, and as he tells it, what came next was a revelation for him:
Her response to me was calm and matter-of-fact. “Well, then I’ll just have to go talk to Sean Hannity and everybody at Fox,” she said, “and Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and everybody else on the radio, and tell them that this is how John Boehner is treating the people who made it possible for the Republicans to take back the House.”
"I wasn’t the one with the power, she was saying. I just thought I was. She had the power now. She was right, of course."
In the excerpt, Boehner also takes aim at the aforementioned right-wing media figures and others — including late Fox News head Roger Ailes — and the "conspiracies and the paranoia" that soon swept up many in the conservative movement.
"On the House" releases on April 13. You can read more about it right here.
Bachmann made a run for president in 2012, but dropped out of the race in January of that year. She declined to run for another congressional term in the 2014 election, and despite some talk of a potential senate campaign or even another presidential bid, she has not sought office since.
Last year, she was named dean of the Robertson School of Government of Regent University, a private Christian college in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Born in Waterloo, Iowa, Bachman grew up in the Brooklyn Park and Anoka areas.
