Outgoing House Speaker John Boehner had an exit interview of sorts on Sunday's Face the Nation. All of Boehner's soul-searching since his visit with Pope Francis last week, supposedly the impetus behind his surprise resignation, hasn't turned him into a total truth-teller.

On Planned Parenthood:



The Senate is expected to pass a continuing resolution next week. The House will take up the Senate bill. We will also take up a select committee to investigate these horrific videos that we have seen from abortion clinics in several states that really raise questions about the use of federal funds and raise questions about aborted fetuses that are born alive.

DICKERSON: Well, are [House hardliners] unrealistic about what can be done government? That's the dysfunction. BOEHNER: Absolutely they're unrealistic. But the Bible says, beware of false prophets. And there are people out there spreading noise about how much can get done. I mean, this whole idea that we were going to shut down the government to get rid of Obamacare in 2013, this plan never had chance. But over the course of the August recess in 2013, and the course of September, lot of my Republican colleagues who knew it was a fool's errand really they were getting all this pressure from home to do this. And so we have got groups here in town, members of the House and Senate here in town who whip people into a frenzy believing they can accomplish things that they know, they know are never going to happen.

Not true, of course, and not challenged by host John Dickerson, who maybe isn't aware that the videos have been thoroughly debunked. He just skips over that to allow Boehner downplay the fact that he's going to have the rely on Democrats if he wants to avoid an immediate government shutdown. "I'm sure it will" require Democratic votes, Boehner said. "But I expect my Democrat colleagues want to keep the government open as much as I do." The last vestige of sanity in the House dispensed with, Boehner moved onto to claim how much he has accomplished as speaker, including "protecting 99 percent of the American people from […] the first major entitlement reforms in 20 years." Yeah, right. But here's where it gets really absurd, where Boehner would have us believe that he wasn't somehow in charge of the House for the past stupid four years.Are you talking about Cruz? asks Dickerson. Boehner refers him to his previous comments on the Texas senator, when he called him a "jackass." The jackass that apparently forced Boehner into 50-plus votes to repeal Obamacare and to refuse to work with Democrats in the House to avoid a shutdown in 2013 and to spend the lion's share of the past nearly five years passing poison pill legislation.

Clearly, the Pope couldn't deliver the miracle of John Boehner accepting responsibility for his shitty leadership.