Boehner: Some Conservative Media Have Gone to 'Dark Side'

Former House Speaker John Boehner said conservative media personalities like Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin have divided the nation, accusing them of being on the "dark side."

Boehner spoke with Politico Magazine at length this year about several topics, including the political divide across America.

After saying the "modern-day media and social media" have driven people to the left and right sides of the political spectrum, Boehner had some choice words for a few well-known commentators.

"I always liked Rush [Limbaugh]. When I went to Palm Beach, I would always meet with Rush and we'd go play golf," Boehner said. "But you know, who was that right-wing guy, [Mark] Levin? He went really crazy right and got a big audience, and he dragged [Sean] Hannity to the dark side. He dragged Rush to the dark side.

"And these guys — I used to talk to them all the time. And suddenly they're beating the living [expletive] out of me."

Boehner than recalled speaking with Hannity in 2015 about how the Fox News host was treating the speaker.

"I had a conversation with Hannity, probably about the beginning of 2015: I called him and said, 'Listen, you're nuts,'" Boehner said. "We had this really blunt conversation. Things were better for a few months, and then it got back to being the same-old, same-old. Because I wasn't going to be a right-wing idiot."

Boehner, an Ohio Republican, served in Congress from 1991 until his retirement at the end of October 2015. A devout Catholic, he said his decision to retire came from the Holy Spirit.

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