It is wrong to say that "Boehner is having trouble with the tea party members". He has spent

[AlinPA]

a lot of time advocating for the teabaggers, and is really just doing what they want. Refusing to negotiate. There is no "daylight" between teabaggers' stance and politics and his.

[theoldman]

1. Here is the way I Look at his dilemma.

There are 240 Republicans in the House of which 60 are Tea Party nuts. He needs 217 votes to pass any bill. Since the nuts are in lock step he cannot do anything even if he were a moderate. Don't forget that he does not want to lose his position.

[AlinPA]

2. I could be wrong, but everything seems to pass the House on party lines and I never saw a bill

defeated since he has been speaker. They seem to fly through with almost no debate or argument.

[theoldman]

6. Since he never tries to pass a bill with out Tea Party support, he never loses.

This is the way that Bush Jr got the support of Congress. Never asked for something that was not a sure thing when it came time to vote.

[JAnthony]

5. I'm convinced Boehner boy is not too swift when it comes to addition and

subtraction. Very skilled at lying to the American people, maybe he's good at Golf, too, don't know, but he's taking Mulligan after Mulligan in his management of the House.

[Kennah]

3. The person who lies down with dogs might have trouble with fleas, but it's their owned danged fault.

[wiggs]

4. I think that's right. The baggers, the face of Americans for Prosperity and the

Koch brothers and more, are providing cover for the current gop to pursue their 75 year efforts to roll back social safety nets.

[TheCowsCameHome]

7. He's scared to death of his own spawn.

He raised and nurtured them, now they're screaming "I hate you, daddy"

[tishaLA]

8. shouldn't Boehner's whip have figured this out before he tried to sell his phony bill?

Seems every day like Rachel is more and more right: Boehner just isn't good at his job.

[louis-t]

9. He is being pulled in 2 directions.

Tea crazies want the US to default because they have 0 understanding of how economies and governments work. All they have is ideology. On the other side is the ALEC bunch who want 0 taxes for them, but don't want a default because they would lose billions. Meanwhile, Norquist blinked. Fearing he would be blamed for ruining the world economy, he gave Boner an out by saying "well, maybe letting tax cuts expire and closing loopholes isn't really raising taxes after all." Boner didn't seize the opportunity (yet) and Norquist got bomb threats. Repugs have really painted themselves into a corner.