Boehner Then:

“[T]here is a clear distinction between saying you support the troops and backing up those claims with genuine action. [Obama] once said ‘we shouldn’t play chicken with our troops’ when it comes to funding our troops in harm’s way, and [Hillary Clinton] urged General Petraeus at the start of the surge to request ‘every possible piece of equipment and resource necessary’ to keep our troops safe. These words turned into little more than empty rhetoric when both proceeded to vote against funding our troops last year [over policy disagreements subsidiary to the actual troop funding part of the bill].”

Boehner Now:

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) are voting against the House/Senate fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill – because it contains hate crimes provisions designed to protect gays and lesbians. Boehner, speaking at his weekly press conference Thursday, said the inclusion of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the defense bill was “an abuse of power” by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that sought to punish offenders for what they thought – and not what they did. He accused the speaker of pursuing her social agenda “on the backs” of the troops.

Boehner’s spokesman said “The record on supporting our troops is clear,”

Indeed it is. Indeed it is. John Boehner does not support the troops. He’s found cause to vote against the previous Afghanistan/Iraq appropriation (first link) and now the Defense authorization. He’s two for two. Whose rhetoric is empty now?