On Thursday’s PBS NewsHour, host Judy Woodruff pushed the sort of identity politics often employed by liberals as she fretted that it is “sexist” to be sharply critical of a liberal politician if she is a woman, as if men never receive similar scrutiny.
The PBS host brought up the issue as she interviewed former Republican House Speaker John Boehner as part of his book promotion tour. Boehner had been criticizing some of his more conservative GOP colleagues in the House who were antagonistic toward him when he was Speaker.
While lauding most members of Congress in both parties as well-intentioned. he took another shot at conservatives as he added: “But, you know, there’s about 10 percent of Congress that are on the far left and on the far right that have different ideas, you know. They’re about creating chaos, conflict, draw attention to themselves, raising cash, and going their own separate ways.”
After Boehner bashed conservatives twice in his answers to two different questions, instead of making any pushback from the right, Woodruff tried to prod more conservative-bashing as she followed up:
Speaking of raising cash, I want to ask you about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. You actually have some good things to say about her. You compliment her toughness — you say she may turn out to be the most powerful Speaker in history. But my question is: Republicans have raised a lot of money demonizing her. Is that sexist?
Boehner — who has been getting a positive reaction from the liberal media for bashing his own party — pushed back in this case and defended Republicans:
Oh, that’s not sexist at all. It’s just a lot of Republican voters and independent voters don’t really care for her style of San Francisco liberal policies. And so, over the years, you know, became the face of the opposition. Listen, was the face of the opposition for a while — I know what it’s like. Paul Ryan went through this as well. You know, it’s politics. It has nothing to do with identify politics in any way, shape or form.
As Woodruff followed up, she invited more critiques of Republicans on issues like the Q’Anon conspiracy theory and President Donald Trump’s refusal to admit defeat in the election, with no critiques of Democrats.
At one point earlier in the interview, after Boehner referred to some of his conservative colleagues as “knuckleheads” for pushing back on his leadership, Woodruff accepted his trashing of conservatives as she followed up: “And you spent a lot of time talking about the knuckleheads, but you’re also complimentary. You say most members of Congress are not charlatans. So does it bother you that the public approval of Congress is so low? We just looked at it — it’s in the 30’s right now.”
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Transcript follows:
PBS NewsHour
April 15, 2021
JUDY WOODRUFF: Which party gave you a harder time when you were Speaker?
JOHN BOEHNER, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Oh, hell, it was the Republicans. You know, the Democrats, they were the minority party in the House when I was Speaker. The Republicans — we were the majority party. And on any given day, I would have 210, 215 solid Republican votes. But in all, I’d probably have two or three dozen knuckleheads that I had to deal with who were part of the “Always Say No Caucus.”
WOODRUFF: And you spent a lot of time talking about the knuckleheads, but you’re also complimentary. You say most members of Congress are not charlatans. So does it bother you that the public approval of Congress is so low? We just looked at it — it’s in the 30’s right now.
BOEHNER: Well, yes, it does bother me, but those numbers really haven’t changed a whole lot over the decades that I’ve been around. Listen, 90 percent of the colleagues that I’ve worked with — Democrat and Republican — good, honest, decent people trying to do their best for their constituents and for the country. But, you know, there’s about 10 percent of Congress that are on the far left and on the far right that have different ideas, you know. They’re about creating chaos, conflict, draw attention to themselves, raising cash, and going their own separate ways.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Speaking of raising cash, I want to ask you about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. You actually have some good things to say about her. You compliment her toughness — you say she may turn out to be the most powerful Speaker in history. But my question is: Republicans have raised a lot of money demonizing her. Is that sexist?
BOEHNER: Oh, that’s not sexist at all. It’s just a lot of Republican voters and independent voters don’t really care for her style of San Francisco liberal policies. And so, over the years, you know, became the face of the opposition. Listen, was the face of the opposition for a while — I know what it’s like. Paul Ryan went through this as well. You know, it’s politics. It has nothing to do with identify politics in any way, shape or form.