Boehner criticizes GOP hawks as ‘false prophets’

WASHINGTON — Outgoing House Speaker John Boehner, in his first one-on-one interview since announcing his resignation last week, compared conservative hard-liners in his party to biblical “false prophets” who promise more than they can deliver.

Boehner announced Friday he will step down Oct. 30 after almost five years as speaker amid pressure from his party’s right flank. Asked Sunday by host John Dickerson on CBS’ “Face the Nation” whether those hard-liners are “unrealistic about what can be done in government,” he fumed.

“Absolutely, they’re unrealistic!” he said. “But, you know, the Bible says beware of false prophets, and there are people out there spreading noise about how much can get done.”

Boehner referred to the ill-fated 2013 government shutdown over funding for President Obama’s health overhaul. “This plan never had a chance,” he said, but he blamed outside forces for leading Republicans down an ill-advised path: “We got groups here in town, members of the House and Senate here in town, who whip people into a frenzy believing they can accomplish things that they know — they know! — are never going to happen.”

Dickerson asked whether Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the leading proponent of the shutdown and a presidential hopeful, was a “false prophet.”

“Listen, you can pick a lot of names out; I’ll let you choose ’em,” Boehner said. “I refer you to my remark at a fundraiser I made in August in Steamboat Springs, Colorado” — a reference to a report, published in the Daily Caller, that he had called Cruz a “jackass” behind closed doors.

Earlier Sunday, the leader of one of those outside groups that have pushed for greater confrontation cheered Boehner’s departure. Michael Needham, chief executive of Heritage Action for America, said on Fox News Sunday that Boehner and his allies treated conservatives as “crazies” to be marginalized, not as central players in developing the party agenda.

Boehner addressed the remaining five weeks of his speakership, in which he pledged to “get as much finished as possible.” Pressing matters include striking a deal with Obama to keep the government open through the coming fiscal year, raising the federal borrowing limit, passing a transportation bill and extending popular tax breaks.