An angry House Speaker John Boehner strode to the floor of the House Monday night, the night of the shutdown, to insist that all he was fighting for was fairness for the American people. He focused particularly on the bogus "exemption" from ObamaCare that is supposedly being given to members of Congress and their staff.

"Why don't we make sure that every American is treated just like we are? But no, under the law, in some decision, there's this idea that we're going to get an exemption," he said. "No! We're not going to get an exemption!"

But then of course there's this, as Politico reports:

"Yet behind-the-scenes, Boehner and his aides worked for months with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and others, to save these very same, long-standing subsidies, according to documents and e-mails provided to POLITICO. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was also aware of these discussions, the documents show.

During a five-month period stretching from February to July, Boehner and his aides sought along with Reid’s office to solve what had become a big headache for both of them. They drafted and reviewed a possible legislative fix, as well as continued to push for an administrative one from the Office of Personnel Management."

Among other revelations in the leaked emails, Boehner's chief of staff is seen trying to set up a secret meeting in the White House among President Obama, Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, so that Boehner and Reid could lobby the president in support of an administrative fix to the problem.

"We can’t let it get out there that this is for [Boehner] and [Reid] to ask the President to carve us out of the requirement of Obamacare,” Boehner's top aide wrote to his counterpart on Reid's staff.

Maybe we can say it's about immigration? Reid's aide responded.

“I really don’t care what is is about[,] it just can’t be about what we know it is about!” the Boehner aide responded.

In the end, Boehner and Reid got the administrative ruling they sought, the same administrative ruling that Boehner is now condemning with such passion and fervor -- you know, in the name of fairness. (Again, a more detailed explanation of the issue is available here.)

Ordinarily, the leaking of internal emails among political staffs would be considered highly unethical, and anonymous GOP aides have complained bitterly about it to National Review. But David Krone, Reid's chief of staff and the person who arranged the leak, doesn't sound the slightest bit apologetic about exposing Boehner's crass hypocrisy:

“Every time one of these anonymous Republican aides takes a look at their paycheck, I hope they remember it was Harry Reid who protected their employer contribution. They and their bosses are welcome to return it if they’re so outraged. I took the action I did because I refuse to stand by and watch those who pressed for this ruling turn around and attack the very thing they asked for, simply because they don’t have the courage to stand up to a few whiners in their caucus. Integrity means owning in public what you advocate for in private.”

Do I hear an "amen"?