The Hill has an article that is little more than a polite way of saying that the House Republicans are nuts and John Boehner isn’t very good at his job. More specifically, Boehner has annoyed everyone in Congress, including especially Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. because he can’t keep his word. It’s not that Boehner wants to make promises that he can’t keep. He’s just not very good at his job. He constantly underestimates the insanity of his caucus. The funny part of the articles is where they argue that the nut cases will listen to Boehner in the future.
The silver lining of the December payroll tax meltdown is that conservative Republican freshmen in the House may have learned to trust Boehner’s political judgment. They might be less likely to rebel, even if they believe themselves to be on the correct side of a policy argument, if they trust their leaders’ judgment about the political fallout.
“The problem is the Republican House leadership wasn’t in sync with its caucus,” said one GOP strategist.
A second strategist said: “The next time they do this, they’ll be much more understanding of Boehner when he says what the politics are. They’re freshmen, they haven’t dealt with the politics as much.”
The thing is, they won’t be more understanding next time. If Boehner actually thinks that, he’s going to be breaking promises again in two months.
And Eric Cantor will be standing beside him with that Cheshire Cat grin, just waiting to make his move.
Why would Cantor have to “make his move?”
The only thing more guaranteed than Obama’s reelection is Boehner’s retirement in early 2013.
He’s the most useless fucking Speaker since whoever the Republicans trotted out for those two years during Truman. May we be lucky to see 50 years of uninterrupted Democratic controlled congress again, this time without the dixie wing.
Tragically, given the way the Democratic voting coalition doesn’t seem to show up but once every four years instead of every two, Cantor could damn well be Speaker himself in 2015 if the economy sucks again.
Say what you will about Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay; they could run their caucus.
Are the Teabaggers really any crazier today than the Class of 1994 was in their first term?
In historical context, probably not. Today though, I bet Boner wishes he had a congress half as sane as DeLay’s, notwithstanding how shocking they seemed at the time.
DeLay’s caucus were a bunch of cynics who told the crazy base what they wanted to hear. A large part of Boehner’s caucus are true believers. Which is to say, the crazy base finally ran for office themselves and got elected.
I am so on board if Mr. Carson runs for Congress against crazy Scott Garrett.
What defines crazy people is the inability to understand reality, no matter how many blows they experience. So, no, the Republican freshmen in the House will not have learned anything. They will repeat the same behavior.
Damn, I hit the link and went over to the Hill site. Besides these bizarre, not-dealihg-with-reality quotes from the GOP strategists (shit, just check out the article’s quotes by Rep. Chaffetz wherein he gives the finger to McConnell and his caucus!), I’d forgotten that the Hill’s threads are little different from Free Republic’s. Assholes, each and every commenter.
Why would you think this situation is bad for the GOP?
It’s like “good cop/bad cop”, except that it’s “sane pol/cR@ZY! pol”…the crazies give Boner the ability to promise all kinds of stuff to get concessions, then renege on the promises. Sure, Boner has to put on a sad face for a few day before starting the process all over again, but there’s no sign that he’s persona non grata at the negotiating table.
If Obama gives Boner a wedgie and a kick in the nuts live on TV right before the State of the Union address, only then will it be clear that he’s outlived his usefulness to the GOP and he’ll be vulnerable to challenge.
Not holding my breath.