"Boner" Probably A Maintenance Alcoholic - Cannot Function Unless Half Drunk.

[TheMastersNemesis]

If you are a maintenance alcoholic you cannot function unless there is alcohol in your system all the time. If you get sober you are likely to the the shakes and withdrawal symptoms until you get a drink.

[Cleita]

1. Even as a functioning alcoholic, he can't seem

to do his job. I don't know why, we the people, tolerate this.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. That is why the term "maintenance drinking "is used.

as opposed to "functioning" alcoholic.
The OP correctly identified maintenance drinking.

"functional" alcoholic means that on the surface they seem to have no problems...job intact family intact, health intact,
but not necessarily doing any of them WELL.
Eventually the problems surface.

Given the unwritten rules of Congress, confronting boozers is not done.

FWIW...Joseph McCarthy died rather quickly of his boozing soon after the infamous Red Scare he was whipping up
ended.

[Cleita]

9. I'd sure hate to look at Boner's liver.

Also all that tan spray is to cover up the broken veins and other signs of alcoholism that is evident on the skin.

[SomethingFishy]

2. Funny how anyone in the public sector would be fired for drinking on the job..

but the less than do nothing congress gets to enjoy libations while they are running the country into the ground..

Maybe drunk is the only way they can deal with their own bullshit..

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

3. "Whaaaaaahaaahaa!!! -sniff--sniff- Why do you have to be so mean??!!!"

[11 Bravo]

5. Catch those tears, Boner! They're 90 proof!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. I wouldn't call what he does "functioning,"

except that he does seem to be able to get dressed, find his way to the tanning booth, stagger into the Capitol and say stupid things, and pour himself another drink.

[Skittles]

6. something is wrong with him

he blubbers more than anyone I know, usually when talking about himself

[CTyankee]

7. I had a very dear family member who was a high functioning alcoholic. She never really

stopped drinking, except when she was in end stage cirrhosis in the ICU. Even tho she had been only given a few months to hold out, we were hoping she would last longer. But the end came very suddenly and very terribly.

If this is what Boehner is facing, God help him. It isn't a pretty way to go...

[Aelyria]

10. Don't be a jerk.

I thought this was a progressive forum?

The Boner might be a dick (lol), but Alcoholism is a disease, and independent of his unfortunate political psychopathy.

It reflects badly upon us to act so hypocritically, capitalizing on a person's affliction to bolster our stance against them.

[TroglodyteScholar]

12. Someone with such a serious disease...

...who has not acknowledged it, much less sought treatment, should not wield the kind of power that Boehner does.

Making decisions for this nation while drunk...THAT'S acting like a jerk.

[TheMastersNemesis]

11. I Have No Sympathy For That Bastard "Speaker Bonehead".

He has his guaranteed healthcare and pension. Yet he sides with those who are determined to let vulnerable American die for lack of health care. Gets no mercy from me. He is an amoral selfish asshole who deserves his fate.