Boehner calls Voinovich a wimp?

According to a story in The Hill newspaper, House Minority Leader John Boehner of West Chester told fellow Republicans behind closed doors that senators who have begun to call for a change of course in Iraq are "wimps."

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, is one such senator. In a letter he sent to President Bush last month, the Cleveland Republican called for U.S. troops to be brought home.

The Hill story quotes Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., on the "wimp" refrence, which Boehner allegedly made during a closed-door meeting during which Boehner and Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., were urging solidarity among House Republicans on the Iraq issue.

A spokesman for Boehner told The Hill that Boehner's comments were not meant to trivialize the war or the senators’ decisions. Rather, they were meant to emphasize the importance of allowing the troop surge to work and to urge GOP lawmakers to reserve their judgment until September, when Gen. David Petraeus is expected to brief Congress on the progress in Iraq.

Said Boehner spokesman Brian Kennedy: "The leader’s comments were intended to illustrate the fact that we just recently voted to give the troops our full support — including ample time for the Petraeus plan to work — and that too much is at stake for Congress to renege on its commitment now by approving what can only be described as another partisan stunt by Democrats."

Democrats, ever ready with a comment:

"John Boehner has either spent too much time in the tanning bed or in the hot sun on the golf course,” said Brad Woodhouse of Americans United for Change. "The real 'wimps' in this debate are not those who have the courage to challenge the President and his failed policy in Iraq – it’s those like John Boehner who are afraid to speak out, afraid to take on the President, afraid to admit what the facts on the ground make clear and afraid to admit that when it comes to Iraq they have been wrong all along. "