Outgoing Speaker of House John Boehner appeared on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday to tear into his conservative critics, calling them "false prophets." He also described these unnamed prophets as whipping "people into a frenzy" to make demands that "are never going to happen."
“The Bible says, beware of false prophets. And there are people out there spreading, you know, noise about how much can get done,” Boehner said.
“We got groups here in town, members of the House and Senate here in town, who whip people into a frenzy believing they can accomplish things they know — they know! — are never going to happen,” he added.
When he was asked if his critics were unrealistic, Boehner responded, “Absolutely they’re unrealistic!”
“But, you know, the Bible says beware of false prophets. There are people out there, you know, spreading noise about how much can get done. I mean this whole idea that we’re going to shut down the government to get rid of Obamacare in 2013 — this plan never had chance. But over the course of the August recess in 2013, and the course of September, a lot of my Republican colleagues, who knew it was a fool’s errand, they were getting all this pressure from home to to do this.
“And so we’ve got groups here in town, members of the House and Senate here in town, who whip people into a frenzy believing they can accomplish things they know — they know — are never going to happen,” the Speaker said. “But, listen, I’ve had 25 great years here in Washington, I’ve had great staff, I’ve had great colleagues, and I’m very thankful to my family and my constituents for giving me the honor to do this."
Boehner also refused to say whether he was referring to Senator Ted Cruz as a "false prophet."
Host John Dickerson asked Boehner "Is Ted Cruz one of those "false prophets?"
Responded Boehner, “Listen, you can pick a lot of names out, I’ll let you choose them,”
Dickerson replied, “You don’t debate that assertion?” and Boehner responded, “I’ll refer you to my remark at a fundraiser made in August in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.”
According to reports, "Boehner joked that he liked that Cruz’s presidential campaign kept 'that jackass' out of Washington, and from telling him how to do his job."
