Despite bad blood, Harry Reid gives John Boehner a heartfelt goodbye
When Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D) offered a farewell to resigning Speaker of the House John Boehner on Friday, one would have guessed the two were old chums. "To say that I will miss John Boehner is a tremendous understatement... I will always consider John Boehner my friend." Reid said. Then he tweeted this:
But rewinding the tape shows that Boehner and Reid's relationship wasn't always so rosy. Back in 2013, The Wire reports that "Boehner pointed his finger at Reid and without any other fanfare said, 'Go f--k yourself'" outside the Oval Office. A day before Boehner said that, Reid had called Boehner a dictator on the Senate floor. That same year, Reid called Boehner a "coward" for his "private push for federal health care contributions for lawmakers and their staff," though he later backed legislation to end those subsidies to curry favor with conservatives, Politico reports.
Perhaps bad blood isn't thicker than Washington's yearning for some bipartisanship compromise.
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