# Why is John Boehner orange? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 27, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210 "2010-09-27T13:20:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/1 "2010-09-27T13:20:30Z")
He told the WSJ he has never used a tanning salon or tanning product in his life. Since we know politicians never lie, that leaves open the question: Wherefore the amber hue? My guess: when we find the answer, Chester Cheetah will be implicated somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/2 "2010-09-27T13:38:06Z")
> [@palindromemordnilap](#): > > He told the WSJ he has never used a tanning salon or tanning product in his life. Since we know politicians never lie, that leaves open the question: Wherefore the amber hue? > > My guess: when we find the answer, Chester Cheetah will be implicated somehow. \*Oompa Loompa, do-ba-dee-doo, I’ve got another puzzle for you. Oompa Loompa, do-ba-dee-dee, If you are wise you’ll listen to me. What do you get from all those Corporate treats? Eating as much as the elephant eats? What are you at? Getting terribly Fat? What do you think will come of that? (I don’t like the look of that…)\* ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/3 "2010-09-27T13:48:22Z")
A shameful carrot addiction? ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/4 "2010-09-27T15:33:53Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > A shameful carrot addiction? Doubtful, unless “shameful” is a type of carrot. Like all GOP leadership and Fox News commentators, Boehner has had a consciencectomy and is utterly incapable of experiencing shame. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/5 "2010-09-27T16:44:51Z")
It’s an artifact of his previous job as a mascot for Syracuse University. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/6 "2010-09-27T17:28:41Z")
He’s from a \*\*RED \*\*state and he’s a \*\*YELLOW \*\*bastard … together you get **ORANGE**. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/7 "2010-09-27T17:30:33Z")
> [@palindromemordnilap](#): > > Doubtful, unless “shameful” is a type of carrot. Like all GOP leadership and Fox News commentators, Boehner has had a consciencectomy and is utterly incapable of experiencing shame. The way I figured, carrots are vegetables and thus associated with hippies and “health nuts,” as compared to something macho and “all-American” like beef. So having a carrot addiction might bring on whispers of unsavory liberal leanings. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/8 "2010-09-27T17:31:32Z")
He’s Hulk Hogan’s brother. ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/9 "2010-09-27T17:44:12Z")
Let’s see, we know that grass-fed beef contains twice the amount of beta-carotene as other beef and he is often accused of being full of bullshit… ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/10 "2010-09-27T20:02:12Z")
[Link for those of us who have never heard of the dude.](http://schema-root.org/region/americas/north_america/usa/government/politicians/representatives/john_boehner/john_boehner.jpg) He could be naturally olive-skinned, but he definitely has the grey, unhealthy-looking long-term smoker’s skin going on. ETA: Yeah, that’s really not a colour often found in nature. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/11 "2010-09-27T21:04:15Z")
Jaundice? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/12 "2010-09-27T21:13:19Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > He’s from a \*\*RED \*\*state and he’s a \*\*YELLOW \*\*bastard … together you get **ORANGE**. He may be from a **red** district, but Ohio is not a **red** state: it’s some shade of **purple** as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/13 "2010-09-27T21:30:48Z")
There’s also the fact that the Republican mascot is the elephant, and elephants can be found in the circus eating peanuts, which leads us to: [GOP manna](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CoeJI_0wPg8/S_vwuZ0f4zI/AAAAAAAAAFE/qoHyYcGp_m4/s1600/marshpeanuts-lge.jpg) Now, where have I read about this before? Oh, right – here: [a link to Fight Ignorance](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1159/does-anybody-actually-like-circus-peanuts) Which includes this typically prescient statement: So apparently what we’ve got here is a product that survives not because anybody is genuinely fond of it, but because less than 100 percent of the populace is totally repelled. Strange, but people have used the same principle to become president of the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/14 "2010-09-27T21:53:13Z")
Addison’s disease? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/15 "2010-09-27T21:59:41Z")
Dunno, but who’s up for a Constitutional amendment requiring the addition of “Boehner’s a dick” to all oaths that public officials must swear when entering office? And maybe to our paper currency, too? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/16 "2010-09-27T22:13:20Z")
[Cirrhosis?](http://schema-root.org/region/americas/north_america/usa/government/politicians/representatives/john_boehner/) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/17 "2010-09-27T22:27:09Z")
Every year at Halloween the Great Pumpkin rises from the pumpkin patch … You wanted to know where the Great Pumpkin was the rest of the year? Now you do. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/18 "2010-09-27T22:28:40Z")
Uh, bad photography? He’s not orange in [this article](http://www.aolnews.com/politics/article/president-barack-obama-slow-economic-growth-beats-return-to-republican-recession/19625631?icid=sphere_aolnews) from a bit over two weeks ago (though the photo itself isn’t dated, one presumes it’s fairly recent.) ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/19 "2010-09-27T22:39:16Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Uh, bad photography? He’s not orange in [this article](http://www.aolnews.com/politics/article/president-barack-obama-slow-economic-growth-beats-return-to-republican-recession/19625631?icid=sphere_aolnews) from a bit over two weeks ago (though the photo itself isn’t dated, one presumes it’s fairly recent.) Actually, I suspect that photograph has been retouched to remove the orangeyness. Do a Google Image search on “John Boehner” and just scroll down through. Dude is orange. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210/20 "2010-09-27T23:49:19Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > > [@elfkin477](#): > > > > Uh, bad photography? He’s not orange in [this article](http://www.aolnews.com/politics/article/president-barack-obama-slow-economic-growth-beats-return-to-republican-recession/19625631?icid=sphere_aolnews) from a bit over two weeks ago (though the photo itself isn’t dated, one presumes it’s fairly recent.) > > Actually, I suspect that photograph has been retouched to remove the orangeyness. Do a Google Image search on “John Boehner” and just scroll down through. Dude is orange. Hmm. Perhaps he’s a big fan of [SunnyD](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunnyD). That turned at least one person orange. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-john-boehner-orange/555210.md?page=2)