Clinton confidant called Boehner 'lazy,' 'alcoholic' in email

WASHINGTON — As John Boehner was about to win the speaker’s gavel in 2010, Hillary Clinton’s political confidant offered a crude and scathing assessment of the Ohio Republican — calling him “lazy” and “louche.”

“Boehner is despised by the younger, more conservative members of the House Republican Conference,” Sidney Blumenthal wrote in an email to then-secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Nov. 2, 2010.

“They are repelled by his personal behavior. He is louche, alcoholic, lazy, and without any commitment to any principle,” Blumenthal wrote in a note to Clinton on Election Day in 2010, when the Tea Party movement swept House Republicans into power and elevated Boehner to House speaker.

A spokeswoman for Boehner did not respond to Blumenthal’s comments but focused instead on the controversy over Clinton’s use of a private email account while she was serving as secretary of State.

“The fact is the only reason that the mishandling of classified information by Hillary Clinton and her staff has been exposed is because of Speaker Boehner's decision to create the select committee and our members' diligence and hard work,” said Emily Schillinger, Boehner’s spokeswoman.

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Boehner created a House select committee to investigate the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya. In seeking records about Clinton’s handling of that attack, the panel discovered Clinton was using a private email account to conduct official State Department business.

Republicans have criticized Clinton’s move, saying she put national security information at risk and was trying to avoid disclosure laws. Clinton has said she used the account for convenience and did not violate any laws.

The State Department has been releasing Clinton’s emails in batches. Blumenthal’s 2010 email about Boehner was among the 4,368 missives released Monday night.

In addition to the personal attack on Boehner, Blumenthal offered a blistering political take on the Ohio Republican — portraying him as spineless and scared of the Tea Party faction in his ranks.

“He is not (former House speaker Newt) Gingrich, the natural leader of a ‘revolution,’ riding the crest into power,” Blumenthal wrote. “He is careworn and threadbare, banal and hollow, holding nobody's enduring loyalty. Boehner is beholden and somewhat scared of his base. He twitches when they make gestures that might undermine his position.”

He said Boehner tried to use campaign contributions to re-create the power structure of former House majority leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who was known as “The Hammer”’ for his tight grip on the GOP conference.

“His impulse is to hand out money,” Blumenthal said. “But Boehner is neither feared nor loved. He's a would-be DeLay without the whip. He's the one at the end of the lash.”

Blumenthal ended with some political advice for the Obama administration:

“Congressional Republicans are vulnerable to a strategy that takes advantage of their internal divisions,” he wrote. “Policies/tactics should be calculated to locate GOP fissures, find political space by widening schisms, and ultimately break them apart. This is, emphatically, not a strategy of bipartisanship as Obama has pursued it so far. It is a different and more informed approach.”

Clinton’s response?

“Thx, as always, for your insights,” she wrote back. “I'm on a plane on the way to Papua New Guinea for the next 6 hours so pis email me results as you get them. Needless to say, I'm so distressed over all of this.”