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rise to, you might remember this, the john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis, which we have talked about on the air several times -- well, we've talked about it a lot. in the big picture, though, to be totally fair, john boehner may have been bad at the job of being speaker of the house but it is unclear whether anybody could have been good at it, whether anybody could have done better. because of what republican politics is now. i mean, yeah, he had big republican majorities, but they were fractious as all get out, aggressively combative. republicans right now enjoy fighting with their own leadership maybe even more than they enjoy fighting with democrats. and because john boehner could not corral, could never corral any of his numbers to doing any one thing, he very frequently to resort to asking the democrats if they could lend him some votes to help him pass even the very basic stuff. i mean-h that was how he passed hurricane sandy relief. that's how he finally got the
couldn't figure out basic stuff, like how to stop their own side from fighting in public or how to just keep the lights on, keep the government running, when they weren't trying to shut it down. and we called that the john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis. the republican presidential campaign has now, unexpectedly, but i think, unavoidably, given birth to the jeb bush is bad at his job hypothesis. and nobody would have expected this, from a guy who's the third presidential candidate from the same nuclear family that includes two other presidents. but jeb bush really is, unexpectedly, bad at running for president. and i say that with no malice. i say that as an observer of his political skills. and i think it's becoming increasingly important, for an increasingly wide circle of people. today, his latest bowl of confusion happened on the issue of immigration. republicans following donald trump's lead this year, they have decided that people born in the united states should not be citizens anymore. which is really quite a radical position.
that was just another unforced political error. at "the weekly standard," a conservative writer named john mccormack responded to that mistake by saying, quote, isn't one benefit of an establishment candidate supposed to be that he's not going to make gaffes like this? jeb bush, after he made that gaffe, did put out a written statement, trying to take it back. taking back what he said about women's health. he said he misspoke about that. in response to that, craig robinson, a longtime republican operative in iowa, told politico.com, quote, every time jeb bush has stuck his foot in his mouth, it's been a cleanup on aisle 3 moment. i think it shows a real lack of message discipline with bush. we've seen more errors out of jeb bush this campaign than most of the other candidates. which is true. we used to do something on this show called the john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis. it was when the republicans took over control of congress in
political error. at "the weekly standard," a conservative writer named john mccormack responded to that mistake by saying, quote, isn't one benefit of an establishment candidate supposed to be that he's not going to make gaffes like this? jeb bush, after he made that gaffe, did put out a written statement, trying to take it back. taking back what he said about women's health. he said he misspoke about that. in response to that, craig robinson, a longtime republican operative in iowa, told politico.com, quote, every time jeb bush has stuck his foot in his mouth, it's been a cleanup on aisle 3 moment. i think it shows a real lack of message discipline with bush. we've seen more errors out of jeb bush this campaign than most of the other candidates. which is true. we used to do something on this show called the john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis. it was when the republicans took over control of congress in 2010, but it felt like they just couldn't even get the basic stuff done to run congress, because their leadership
stuff done to run congress, because their leadership couldn't figure out basic stuff, like how to stop their own side from fighting in public or how to just keep the lights on, keep the government running, when they weren't trying to shut it down. and we called that the john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis. the republican presidential campaign has now, unexpectedly, but i think, unavoidably, given birth to the jeb bush is bad at his job hypothesis. and nobody would have expected this, from a guy who's the third presidential candidate from the same nuclear family that includes two other presidents. but jeb bush really is, unexpectedly, bad at running for president. and i say that with no malice. i say that as an observer of his political skills. and i think it's becoming increasingly important, for an increasingly wide circle of people. today, his latest bowl of confusion happened on the issue of immigration. republicans following donald trump's lead this year, they have decided that people born in the united states should not be citizens anymore. which is really quite a radical
that. that was just another unforced political error. at "the weekly standard," a conservative writer named john mccormack responded to that mistake by saying, quote, isn't one benefit of an establishment candidate supposed to be that he's not going to make gaffes like this? jeb bush, after he made that gaffe, did put out a written statement, trying to take it back. taking back what he said about women's health. he said he misspoke about that. in response to that, craig robinson, a longtime republican operative in iowa, told politico.com, quote, every time jeb bush has stuck his foot in his mouth, it's been a cleanup on aisle 3 moment. i think it shows a real lack of message discipline with bush. we've seen more errors out of jeb bush this campaign than most of the other candidates. which is true. we used to do something on this show called the john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis. it was when the republicans took over control of congress in 2010, but it felt like they just couldn't even get the basic
barack obama has been very clear that we're going after the bad guys. he's very clear that he's an ass kicker and if he's, he's going after someone who puts our families in danger. you know we have the john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis? that hypothesis is about to get a part two, coming up. ? when her sister dumped me. grandpa was my dad a good athlete? no. oh dad, you remember my friend alex? yeah. the one that had the work done... good to see you. where do we go when we die? the ground. who's your girlfriend? his name is chad. and that's where babies come from. [ male announcer ] sometimes being too transparent can be a bad thing. this looks good! [ male announcer ] but not with the oscar mayer deli fresh clear pack. it's what you see is what you get food.
that we're going after the bad guys. he's very clear that he's a kicker and if he's, he's going after someone who puts our families in danger. you know we have the john boehner is bad at his job hypothesis? that hypothesis is about to get a part two, coming you.
going to disagree with you, and i've been tracking the john boehner bad at his job hypothesis which i think is right in some ways. but is it structural or some personal incompetence. i think it is structural. and last night -- last night was a combination of personal incompetence and the structural problem. the personal incompetence is the plan b compromise never made any sense, because as one aide told one reporter, what happens after you vote is you have the entire republican caucus half pregnant, right? they've all voted now to raise taxes and gone against the pledge they've signed without gaining anything concrete. so the plan they cooked up made no sense. >> which was a john boehner problem. >> exactly. that's what i'm saying. that's a john boehner incompetence problem. the deeper problem about john boehner unable to whip his own caucus has to do with the fact that he has no credibility amongst the people that now occupy the center of the republican caucus. he is to the left of the center of the republican caucus. and he is to left of the center
and if john boehner's leadership is your national economy's parachute, how do you feel about taking this leap? joining us now is chris hayes. he is author of "twilight of the elites" and host of "up with chris hayes" weekends here on msnbc. >> how are you? >> i'm weirded out by the uncertainty of the future over a very short time period in washington. uncertainty of the future over a long period, i'm wired for that. uncertainty about what is going to happen for the next 12 days for something this big of a deal, i feel rattled. >> votes like last night, that is very rare. and it's funny. i came in here thinking i was going to disagree with you, and i've been tracking the john boehner bad at his job hypothesis which i think is right in some ways. but is it structural or some personal incompetence. i think it is structural. and last night -- last night was