From the Archives: House GOP Leadership Then and Now

Found another old videotape, this one from the summer of 1989, when I still had ALL of my hair, and used to moonlight on a local PBS public affairs program during my final years in graduate school.  This nearly five-minute clip is useful for one current purpose: putting into comparative context the complaints many people (including many of our loyal readers) have today about House GOP leadership.  I have from time to time dissented from the view that Speaker Boehner and other House GOP leaders are insufficiently aggressive in their opposition to Obama.  Just take in these five minutes of my conversation with Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, the Republican who was the Number 3 person in the House GOP hierarchy back then (though I was always given to think he did a Number 2 job of it), and I think you’ll agree times have changed—for the better.  Besides, you won’t want to miss how truly awful I was at broadcast television back then.  I really do have a face made for radio.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses