The Great Tea Party Purge by House Speaker John Boehner has provoked more than mere complaints. Now a conservative group wants literally to fire Boehner as Speaker. They will do it even if it means leaving the House without a Speaker.

The Fire Boehner campaign

American Majority Action (AMA) announced the Fire Boehner campaign yesterday afternoon. It includes a new Twitter hashtag, “#FireBoehner.” Spokesman Ned Ryun gave details on RedState.com. Several AMA officials also spoke to The Daily Caller about the Fire Boehner campaign.

The Fire Boehner campaign has this in mind: find sixteen Members of the House and have them abstain from voting in the Speaker’s race next year. By the Rules of the House, the House cannot choose a Speaker except by a clear majority of all Members. If no candidate can get a majority (now 218 votes), the House will run without a Speaker.

Next year the House will have 233 Republicans in it. If 16 Republicans vote “Present” only, Boehner will get only 217 votes. That would not be enough.

Once we [fire Boehner] and cause a firestorm, the Republican caucus will get the memo: Pick someone else! These 16 Republicans only need to hold out until the caucus chooses a new leader.

AMA Press Secretary Ron Myer admitted conservatives did not yet have the votes to run another man for Speaker in the House Republican Caucus. But they can make sure that John Boehner could not so serve. The House has run without a Speaker before, for different periods during the War Between the States.

Why fire Boehner?

John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Official portrait.

Ryun does not want to fire Boehner only for the Great Tea Party Purge. That was simply his “last straw.” Ryun also said John Boehner cannot negotiate well.

Speaker Boehner has been an abysmal failure as speaker, and his latest purge is the nail in the coffin for conservatives. Boehner has never won a [negotiation] battle with the White House or Senate—and he’s been nothing short of an embarrassing spokesman for the Conservative Movement. It’s time for him to go.

RoseAnn Salanitri, head of the New Jersey Tea Party Caucus, agreed.

He’s such a crybaby. Let’s give him something to cry about!

But she wished AMA would pick someone to run for Speaker instead of Boehner. She suggested one of the four targets of the Tea Party Purge. (She wasn’t ready to pick one of the four.)

“The Eagle” greeted the fire Boehner campaign rather colorfully:

He should be removed! The [work-product of a whore], stripping our committees of their best conservative members!

He also seconded Ned Ryun’s comments about Boehner’s poor negotiating skills. CNAV then asked him to judge two prospects to replace Boehner as Speaker. About Michele Bachmann (R-MN), he said:

She’s a good, solid conservative. She also was a tax attorney, so she’s well-versed in economics. She probably wouldn’t be acceptable to them, but certainly acceptable to me.

And about Paul Ryan [R-WI-1], Chairman of the Budget Committee:

He seems like a good conservative man, too. My only quarrel is that he shouldn’t be trying to run for President after just losing on the Republican ticket. But he’s doing a good job in the House.

Ned Ryun actually did suggest a man he wished would become Speaker instead of Boehner: Jim Jordan [R-OH], outgoing leader of the House Republican Study Committee.

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