Talk of a presidential run came up during Speaker of the House John Boehner’s visit Monday to Butler County.

Boehner was asked by a Vinylmax LLC employee during a stop at the Hamilton company if he would make a bid for president in 2016.

His response was emphatic.

“No. I’m not running for president,” he said, and then literally shuddered at the thought. “No.”

That questioner then said, “You’ll change your mind.”

Boehner, again, emphatically, said, “No. Now listen to me. I’m the most open, transparent, straight-forward guy in Washington. When I say no, I mean no.”

The conversation became more serious when the next questions asked were about offshore energy production and the Affordable Care Act.

Boehner said he supports a reduction in offshore energy production restrictions.

“I think America’s on the verge of a renaissance in American manufacturing, primarily because we’re finding more oil and gas in developing technologies that go back to old oil and gas fields and bringing more of that product out,” he said.

And by using more of the country’s natural resources, “we could be energy independent within 10 years,” Boehner said.

“As a result, we would have our own energy — and we do have it and we’ve got an awful lot of it — it would hold the price of energy down giving American manufacturers a competitive edge in a worldwide economy,” he said.

While he would like to have the Affordable Care Act repealed, he said it’s not going to happen.

The health care act will “drive up the cost of health care,” he said, but acknowledged it’s “the law of the land.”

“It doesn’t mean that I like it, doesn’t mean that I’m not going to work to repeal it, but we’ve got to find some way to make this thing work or get rid of it,” Boehner said.