Though some conservative media voices are lending support to lawmakers looking to dump House Speaker John Boehner, talk-show host Rush Limbaugh isn't joining in.
"We've got some people challenging Boehner,"
Limbaugh said on his first show of the new year. "Louie Gohmert, our buddy, wants to run for speaker. He was on Fox today, and they said, 'Why? You don't have a chance. Why are you doing this?' How many people told Obama he didn't have a chance and he went for it anyway? We don't know till they cast the votes whether anybody has a chance."
But Limbaugh didn't offer his own support for a change in House leadership, noting instead that despite "a majority of Republicans outside Washington" wanting a change, "it's not the first time, and every effort that has been made prior to this has failed."
"They say they've got 25 out of 29 votes to at least veto Boehner, if not elect somebody in his place," Limbaugh told listeners. "But they had that before and it fell apart. It caved at the moment of truth."
Texas GOP Rep. Gohmert and Florida Republican Rep. Ted Yoho have both offered themselves as a
replacement for the Ohio Republican.
"But somebody said to me this whole Boehner thing and this Republican leadership thing, I mean, until you weigh in on it, a lot of people aren't gonna know what to think and how to act and maybe even how to vote," Limbaugh added. "And I asked Snerdley, I said, 'Do you think that's really true? I mean, am I an entertainer today or am I the titular head of the party today, which is it?'"
Snerdley is the name Limbaugh gives the man who screens the calls of his listeners, James Golden,
The Daily Caller has reported.
"Well, you've gotta understand, whether you like it or not, there are people waiting to see what you think about this."
Limbaugh's lack of a ringing endorsement of the dump-Boehner push contrasts with recent harsh criticism of the House speaker by Fox News' Sean Hannity and conservative radio host Laura Ingraham,
The Daily Caller notes.
Hannity endorsed Gohmert's run for speaker on Twitter on Sunday, while Ingraham’s Monday radio show featured two of the 10 congressmen who have expressed support for a change in speaker, The Daily Caller reports.