Minority Leader

House GOP Leader John Boehner’s statement on the Housing Bill this week, which deserved the no vote he was urging, was utterly tone deaf.  Never, never write a sentence like:

“We must take responsible steps to ensure our financial and housing markets are sound, but the Democrats’ bill represents a multi-billion dollar bailout for scam artists and speculative lenders at the expense of American taxpayers.” 

Boehner later rephrased that same sentence at his press conference which predictably dominated the GOP's message on housing.  Republicans should always craft every message and statement assuming that any individual sentence will be picked out of context.  Period.

Voters who read a sentence like Boehner’s hear: "If you’re having trouble making your mortgage payments, Republicans think you’re scum." 

So how could Boehner and his staff have done this differently?  He should have emphasized the distinction between the thousands of people who were sold a bill of goods by shady mortgage brokers, and the shady mortgage brokers themselves.  For example, he could have said: “Our plan would help the people who have truly been victimized without bailing out the scam artists who earned billions by preying on honest folks’ dreams of homeownership.”

Incidentally, Heritage has some good principles that an effective homeowner relief bill should follow.