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House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) says that President Barack Obama is "diminishing the presidency" by fighting for low student loan rates, a fairer tax structure and regulations on oil speculators.

"The president and I have a very good relationship," Boehner told CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday. "And as a result, I try to avoid personal attacks on the president."

"The president is getting some very bad advice from his campaign team because he's diminishing the presidency by picking fights, going after straw men every day. You know, we had the Buffet rule. You know, it went on for months. Even the president admitted it was a gimmick. And then we had the Rose Garden ceremony talking about manipulation in the oil markets without one shred of evidence. And he has an entire administration to go after speculation or manipulation in the oil markets. And then they pick this student loan fight where there is no fight."

He added: "The president is bigger than this. The presidency is important. America has big challenges."

While both Republicans and Democrats agree low student loan rates should be extended, the White House said last week that the president would veto a GOP plan to pay for the measure by cutting a health care fund that benefits women.

"Women, in particular, will benefit from this prevention fund, which would provide for hundreds of thousands of screenings for breast and cervical cancer," a White House statement insisted. "This is a politically motivated proposal and not the serious response that the problem facing America's college students deserves."

But on Sunday, Boehner said it was "nonsense" that cutting the fund would diminish breast and cervical cancer screenings.

"There's no women's health issue here," Boehner remarked. "I'll guarantee you that they've not spent a dime out of this fund dealing with anything to do with women's health. What we're trying to do here is to deal with this problem in a responsible way."

Asked about recent attacks where he said Obama had "checked out," made the presidency "smaller" and "lost his courage," Boehner said he was just trying to be helpful.

"The president is getting some bad advice," the Speaker explained. "Somebody needed to help him out. So, I thought I would."

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I guess John Boehner believes that whoever yells the loudest wins, because he decided to throw another temper tantrum on the floor of the House this Friday -- John Boeher On ‘War On Women’: ‘Give Me A Break’:

House Speaker John Boehner channelled his inner John Stossell Friday on the House floor when he sounded off on Democratic rhetoric pointing to the House GOP’s legislative agenda and finding a “war on women.”

“And now, now we are going to have a fight over women’s health,” Boehner said. “Give me a break. This is the latest plank in the so-called war on women. Entirely created, entirely created by my colleagues across the aisle for political gain.”

Steve Benen has more on what Boehner and the Republicans could do if they're really concerned about their problem with women voters -- Boehner can make this subject go away:

House Republicans this week said they would agree to keep student loan interest rates at their current level, but only if they're allowed to gut spending on preventive health care to finance the costs. The White House balked, but the GOP didn't care -- today, the Republican bill passed, 215 to 195, largely along party lines.

Several Democratic lawmakers noted the impact the GOP health care cuts would have on women's health, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who's apparently grown a little sensitive to talk about the Republican "war on women," threw a bit of a tantrum on the House floor during the legislative debate.

I can appreciate why Boehner doesn't want to talk about the negative impact Republican policies are having on women, but I'd remind the Speaker that the quickest way to change the conversation is for Republicans to stop pursuing policies that have a negative impact on women.

In this case, rather than simply helping students because it would be good for them and the economy, Boehner's caucus decided to play a cheap little game -- they'll keep interest rates low only if they take funding from the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which has nothing to do with student loans. [...]

Boehner can shout, point, and pound the podium to his heart's content, but if he doesn't want to be criticized for Republican measures that undermine women's health, he should change his party's agenda, not whine about Democrats shining a light on that agenda.

And as Steve noted, here's more from the White House on the real impact their demands would mean for women's health:

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