Republicans certainly aren’t acting like a party that just lost another 20 seats in the House.
Minority Leader John A. Boehner looks to be a survivor, despite an eleventh-hour campaign to unseat him by California Rep. Dan Lungren. The slate of leadership candidates Boehner backed should cruise unopposed to victory next week. And public criticism of the leader has been muted.
But those signs of unity belie an obvious truth about Boehner and the party he leads: Few grass-roots activists view the House leader — or his Senate counterpart, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell — as the standard-bearer for a Republican resurgence. Even Boehner’s close friends were furious with the bar owner’s son for backing the $700 billion rescue of Wall Street.
Yet, he still holds on.
