Jeb Hensarling as Bohener replacement?!?

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan."
Proverbs 29:2

Since learning about John Bohener's resignation, we've seen considerable chatter on social media about Jeb Hensarling as the replacement; it makes a lot of sense.

Kevin McCarthy is the consensus pick of the legacy R's.  His record, to put it mildly, underwhelms.  We deserve better.

On the other hand, getting one of the usual suspect conservative rabble-rousers (eg. Louie Gohmert), absent another round of elections, seems a long-shot.

Enter Jeb Hensarling.

Jeb Hensarling isn't exactly our cup of tea (pun intended), but he's been a warrior against corporate welfare.  The Dallas Chamber hates him so much they leaked bogus accusations last month.  The Texas Association of Business despises him.

The Dallas-Morning News wrote this morning:

WASHINGTON—With Speaker John Boehner set to resign his post as leader of the House of Representatives at the end of next month, speculation again will turn to whether Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Dallas, will seek the post or the chamber’s number two spot should that become available.

....

Before running for Congress, Hensarling was on staff for former Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, and has championed many of the same economic and banking ideas the outspoken Gramm championed. He arrived in Congress long before the Tea Party emerged, but he has been a leading figure in the intellectual wing of that movement seeking to rein in the size of government. He’s also been the point person in fights over the Fed, over Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms, and, most importantly in terms of Boehner’s predicament, over the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank.

He has attacked the so-called crony capitalism that he says the Bank, which helps finance exports by American firms, represents. His quiet rebellion has over the past two years grown into a major battle ground between more traditional (and business-friendly) Republicans and those closer to Tea Party populism.

He took over the House Financial Services Committee as chairman in early 2013 and immediately began seeking to overhaul America’s system of home financing, an ambitious effort that put him in conflict with some more traditional Republicans. The bill did not get a vote in the full house.

....

Hensarling has been mentioned before as a possible Speaker or Majority Leader, most recently when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was ousted by a Tea Party rival in the June 2014 Ohio primaries (*). At the time, Hensarling, repeated his position that he was happy as chairman of the influential House Financial Services Committee and did not make a public run for a higher post.

[Author's Note: Emphasis added.]

(*) -- We can't believe the DMN editors missed this, but Cantor was from VIRGINIA, not Ohio.

You can tell a lot about a man by the enemies he makes, and within Texas' political circles, Jeb Hensarling has all the right enemies.

Bottom Line: We'll refrain from making any commitments until we see how the race shapes up, but if Jeb Hensarling throws his hat in the ring, that could make a lot of sense.