John Boehner Slaps Down Rick Scott!

Republicans really don't have a lot to celebrate despite David Jolly's win in Pinellas County. In a district where the prior Republican candidate always won in double digits, Jolly's smidgen-sized win should be a wake up call for them instead.

But to make things more interesting, check out what John Boehner had to say about Jolly's win:

House GOP leaders were jubilant after a Republican won a competitive special election in Florida last night, crediting a focus on the economy for candidate David Jolly's victory.

“We had a big win last night in Florida," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, proclaimed at the top of a GOP press conference on Wednesday.

"And I would attribute to the win to the fact that our candidate was focused on the issues that were most important to the people in Florida 13th, and that's the economy and jobs," he said of Jolly's win over Democrat Alex Sink. Boehner's assessment was noteworthy because it didn't invoke Obamacare, a factor which figured heavily into the special election campaign.

Boehner did try to tie the Affordable Care Act into the economic narrative.

"The American people really are asking 'Where are the jobs?' And I would argue that the president's policies are making the economy worse. Top of those policies that are making is Obamacare," he said.

Hold on.

Rick Scott has been telling us that the jobs are right here in Florida.

So are they here, or aren't they? 

If they are, then it couldn't have been a reason why people voted for Jolly. Unless, of course, they were very ignorant...which I shouldn't count out!

Yes, it's Romney vs. Scott all over again. And as usual, the Republicans can't keep straight who to credit and who to blame.

Just to be clear, I personally doubt any elected official has much to do with jobs either way. Sure, they can authorize a few projects, which produce a sliver of jobs in the market, but as a whole, they're not the ones who do the recovery work. Jobs will come back slowly after any economic slump as large as this one. The history of the Great Depression shows that. As I see it, you could elect either a cabbage or the Pope as President, and that won't change the economic outlook any more or less. The far more important factor is how the people as a whole rebound from economic crisis, not what some politician does or doesn't do.

Either way, this comment by Boehner shows that the party of the elephant has a serious problem keeping the narrative straight. But we already knew that.