Real Tears

Steven Loeb's headline is "Weeper of the House".  I wish I had thought of that.   Rachel Maddow's article on John Boehner's propensity to burst into tears was interesting and welcome.  Yes, there is nothing wrong with crying.  Yes, we do have to listen to the words as well.  In some cases, though, we need to also pay attention to the tears.

Boehner continues to speak emotionally of his rough childhood, his hard work climbing up the ladder to success.  The getting choked up business, though, means that he has lots of issues surrounding this fact of his life.

Many of us have to fight our way up.  Many of us fight hard and don't make it.  Many of us make it and lose it, often through no fault of our own.

John Boehner has never gotten past the narcissistic narrative of his having fought and won.  In fact, he treats each battle as another that he has to win in order to succeed.  The battles are not about the middle class, or those who have suffered through a bad economy through no fault of their own.  The battles are about fighting for those who have fought and won.  In other words, the battles are for John Boehner.

This is why Boehner is passionate about the government not taxing the wealthy.  It is HIS money, and he worked hard for it.

John Boehner is incapable of empathy, although he does tend to use the word without shedding a single tear, as he did in July when he stated that three of his eleven brothers were unemployed, although he did not know for sure whether they had found jobs yet.

Okay, folks, read that last part again.  Millionaire John Boehner throws out the word "empathy" as in, "See, I empathize with you unemployed because I  have three brothers who are unemployed."  Period.  End of concept of what John Boehner thinks is empathy.  Because he follows that bit about three unemployed brothers with the totally unironic statement that he has no idea if they are currently employed.

What is at the bottom of all those tears, then?  Could it be rage, that there are others out there who have not worked as hard, or succeeded as well, yet want the government to help them out?  I'm totally imagining a family in which you either made it, or you had hell to pay.  No handouts in the Boehner household.

And now the House is the Boehner household.  So don't expect any handouts.  Or sympathy.  Or especially empathy.

And for pete's sake, stop crying.