This is the sort of crap that put Republicans into the minority in Congress in the first place.

Front and center in Roll Call today is a story (subscription required) headlined, “Boehner: New Ideas Wanted.” New ideas are great, but how about taking some action on a good old idea like, say, fiscal discipline. Actually, Boehner already has made a couple moves on that front, and so far he seems to be have opted for rejection.

Last week Boehner removed Jeff Flake from the Judiciary Committee, claiming he needed to downsize Republican membership on committees to reflect the GOP’s minority status and Flake just didn’t luck out. Flake believes he was tossed because of his stance on immigration, but in an editorial (subscription required) last week, the Wall Street Journal argued that porkbusting is what got Flake booted. Indeed, the Journal pointed out that Flake had more seniority than 6 other Republicans on the committee who nevertheless retained their seats on the committee, which certainly calls into question Boehner’s rationale. Most likely, Flake’s outspokenness on the need for earmark reform was at least part of the reason for his “bad luck.”

Keep it up, Rep Boehner, and you’ll be leading a minority party in the House for quite a bit longer.