Some GOP House Members Say Leaders Too Nice

Some Republican House members say speaker John Boehner and their other leaders in the chamber aren’t being forceful enough to push through the party’s agenda. They complain that Boehner shies away from confrontation and doesn’t mete out enough discipline, The Hill reports.

One veteran GOP congressman had harsh words for Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy. “You can’t talk tough to somebody and there be no consequences,” the person said. “So [McCarthy] has to figure out — and people have been talking to him — that people need to be made an example of in some way.”

Critics site former Republican speakers Dennis Hastert and Tom DeLay as examples of effective leaders. DeLay was nicknamed the velvet hammer for his ability to combine the carrot and the stick in leading his GOP troops.