What did Boehner do (or do poorly) in the 1990s that caused him to get bounced out of leadership?
I tried to find a suitable article from the time detailing the reasons, but I can’t find one that is free (and free from the usual anti-GOP bias). I’ll try to paraphrase from Barone’s 2000 Almanac... How he got the job was by beating Duncan Hunter, that much was certain, and initially he seemed to do alright. Where he faltered was during the ‘97-’98 Congress. For some time he was bogged down in dealing with the taped phone conversation (involving Jim McDermott), for which was, of course, not his fault. But he was beginning to neglect his duties in “holding the troops together” and participated with the anti-Gingrich coup plotters (at the time, he denied he was siding with them, but it was a valid criticism that he failed to alert the leadership what was up), our criticisms of Newt today aside (and I’m certainly no longer a fan). Boehner was openly charged with (here’s a surprise), “Failing to deliver the party’s message.” We, of course, were expecting to make the usual 6th year (anti-Dem) gains in ‘98. Instead, for the first time in the modern era, and defying all expectations, the Presidential party gained (we lost seats, and managed to knock off only one single solitary House Democrat, Jay Johnson of WI). Had the gains occurred, it’s possible he might’ve survived, but with that loss and his relationship with Gingrich poisoned, he got sacked 121-93 in favor of J.C. Watts.