I am not sure that I am sharing the same universe with Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times. She says that Speaker Boehner has never enjoyed stronger or more unified support from his caucus than he has now. How can that be? At some point, John Boehner is going to ask his caucus to vote for something they have almost all pledged not to vote for. Either that, or Boehner can’t get his caucus to cooperate and he has to tell the president that he can’t deliver his strongly supportive and unified caucus for any deal. Or, his caucus splits, with the majority voting against their Speaker and his deal. Or maybe they all vote “present” because they are a bunch of children.
The backbenchers may be keeping their criticisms quiet, but that doesn’t mean that are about to line up to vote for a tax increase on the top 2% of earners that is accompanied by few benefit cuts for Medicare and none for Social Security. Furthermore, the president is insisting that the debt ceiling be removed as a weapon. Perhaps the Republican Establishment wouldn’t mind having that gun put back in a locked case, but I’d like to see John Boehner sell that to his Tea Party caucus.
It is unclear to me why we should expect Boehner to successfully sell a deal for anything remotely similar to what the president is offering. And if he can’t sell it, he doesn’t have the strong support of his caucus. The fact that he just threw four members off key financial committees is also a sign that maybe things are not quite that harmonious inside the House GOP.
If Boehner can pull off an orderly retreat here, I will be shocked. I don’t think he is often sober past mid-afternoon. I don’t think he is good at his job. And I don’t think his caucus is reconciled to breaking their Norquist pledge and giving up on using the debt ceiling as leverage and basically doing the president’s bidding.
But, we’ll see, won’t we?
The song “tears of a clown” comes to mind
I’m always amazed at our press corps willingness to catapult the propaganda for the GOP. Except for MsNBC they don’t do the same favors for the Democrats. Perhaps most of these folks are simply following orders in order to keep their jobs. That’s a more charitable explanation than any other one could conceive.
Exactly right, this sort of evidence free crap is unadulterated propaganda, to be consumed by the braindead, who are willing to be told up is down.
But, but, but, your Lib’rul Media!
Its what happens when the R’s buy the media and then pay the “stars” megabucks. Instant R sympathizers. I am actually amazed that anyone thinks the media is liberal anymore.
John Boehner is now the only leader the Republicans have, and their only hope of being let off the Fiscal Cliff hook. Whether they would actually support any deal he can negotiate is another matter…
President Obama has too choices – he can play tactical hardball and negotiate a deal he knows will divide Republicans and gain him some temporary tactical advantage, or he can play even harder hardball and refuse any deal (Boehner could possibly put to his Caucus) until after his re-inauguration and a new Congress meets.
He can give bridging” “loans to those who would lose unemployment benefits and middle class families to counterbalance hardship and (in part) the deflationary effects of the cliff. He can then wait as higher earners, Republican donors and MIC lobbyists scream at Republicans to save their contracts/profits.
The Churchillian phrase “Masterly Inactivity” comes to mind.
Republican’s unified? Seems to depend on who’s writing the story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/boehner-obama-must-make-the-next-move-on-fiscal-cliff/2012/12
/05/5263a71a-3ee8-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story.html?hpid=z1
That article sure sounds like something that could have been culled from the mind of Dick Morris. It would seem that she is “unskewing” some of the reality of what is happening inside the GOP caucus in order to buoy the spirits of the beltway crowd.
I just don’t see the Tea Party wing of his party giving in. They would be happy with charting a course toward the side of the mountain, switching on the autopilot and excitedly waiting to meet Jesus as the mountainside looms larger and larger in the cockpit window.
Agreed.
I would not be surprised if some of the Teabagger Class of 2010 manage to find some dirt on Boner, and force him out.
They’ve been in DC long enough to hear the whispers, but not so long that they have many bridges to burn.
So Boner will just have to go back to Ohio to spend more time with his liver.
On a slightly-related note, who slipped Jim Demint the hemlock?
Sure looks like disarray to me.
Read the article this morning in the NY Times with astonishment. I realize that there is much going on behind the scenes in Republican circles, but doubt that her reporting reflects any discernible part of what’s going on. Besides, when you take into consideration how little time the House is in session, and then factor in how few hours of the day Boehner is sober(9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.?), there isn’t enough time for him to unify anything other than his tee time or his cocktail supply orders.
Gotta be honest here, I can no longer tell what Booman actually thinks, and what are extra anvils thrown onto the SS GOP-full-of-assholes.