John Boehner gets a standing ovation

Um, sort of.

Boehner was facing the distinct possibility of being driven from the speaker’s chair, anyway. As a colleague of mine put it, rather than face execution, he hanged himself in his cell.

I imagine the guy can still do some damage, though, since his resignation from the House isn’t effective until the end of October. Who knows? Now that he no longer has to worry about his future legislative career, he may simply openly throw in with the Democrats. I believe that to be unlikely, however, or at least, unsuccessful if attempted. As the chief of the House Republicans, his warriors were already deserting him in droves. As a lame duck (to quote Archie Bunker), he could rub liver on his behind and cats wouldn’t follow him; leaguing himself with Democrats might reduce his remaining GOP support to practically nothing.

In any event, things just got a whole lot more interesting.

Update - Boehner ally Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) on his boss’s departure: “He’s going to a better place.” 

So are we, Tom, so are we.