John Boehner is full of it on sequestration, in his own words

House Speaker John Boehner is full of it on the sequester, and you don't have to take my word for it. Just listen to him in his own words:

On the one hand, Boehner told Meet the Press moderator David Gregory over the weekend that he was skeptical about the impact of sequestration. "I don't know whether it's going to hurt the economy or not," Boehner said. "I don't think anyone understands how the sequester is really going to work."

But last November, Boehner said the reason he wanted to replace the sequester was to protect the economy. "The members of our majority understand how important it is to avert the fiscal cliff," he said. "That's why the House took action earlier this year to replace the sequester." Later that month, Boehner said "going off the fiscal cliff will hurt the American economy," which is why "Republicans have taken action to avert the fiscal cliff by passing legislation to stop all the tax hikes and to replace the sequester."

It's easy to forget that the sequester was part of the fiscal cliff deal struck at the end of last year, but it did replace two months' worth of sequester cuts with a combination of revenue increases and other spending cuts. Taxes were the highest profile element of the fiscal cliff, but as Boehner reminds us, the sequester was part of it too.

In February of this year, Boehner kept up his anti-sequester rhetoric. "I don't like the sequester," he said, calling it a "meat ax" that will "weaken our national defense." Later in the month, he decried "the harmful cuts" that will come from the sequester. And then he wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, saying the sequester "threatens U.S. national security, thousands of jobs, and more."

But a few short days after writing that editorial, Boehner told NBC's David Gregory that he had no idea what kind of impact the sequester would have on the economy or anything else. In fact, he said there were serious "questions" about whether President Obama had been exaggerating the sequester threat. Why did Boehner flip-flop? Who knows? Perhaps it had to do with the fact that his right-wing puppet masters told him he needed to change course.

The problem with that theory is that when David Gregory pointed out that Boehner was contradicting himself, Boehner flip-flopped again. "I am concerned about its impact on our economy and its impact on our military," he said.

So what does Boehner really believe? Honestly, I have no idea. But whatever it is, I'm pretty sure it doesn't make any sense.