Without Tea Party Votes, Boehner Speakership Hits Rough Waters

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Just as the Washington narrative had started to shift a bit from "House Speaker John Boehner doesn't have the juice to get his conference to support him" to "Boehner is getting his fellow Republicans to rally around him" it shifts back to the former.

That's because he was unable to get enough members of the Republican conference to commit to voting for his debt-ceiling increase.

It should go without saying, this is a signal setback for the speaker, who in recent days had pleaded, cajoled and demanded that his conference get behind him if, for no other reason, to show solidarity as he confronts the Democrats who control the Senate and the White House.

Aides in the speaker's office are telling reporters that they still expect a vote Thursday night. But that doesn't minimize the fact that after raising expectations for a vote that was seen as a test of his persuasive powers as speaker, Boehner was forced to order a strategic retreat."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/07/28/138799703/boehner-speakership-hits-rough-tea-party-waters

[gateley]

1. Rough waters! Hell, he's going down for the third time! nt

[AlinPA]

2. Cantor said they had the votes and this is a delay. I'm guessing to keep the senate up late,

who will be rejecting tonight it as Reid promised.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. He might be an ex speaker soon

[Scurrilous]

4. A new pinnacle in House Republican craziness

A huge disaster for the GOP in the making: Boehner does not have the votes yet to pass his debt ceiling bill

<snip>

"As I write these words, the U.S. House of Representatives is debating the appropriate name for a post office in Pasadena, Calif. Meanwhile, C-SPAN is running a crawl at the bottom of the screen that reads "Final Vote on Speaker Boehner's Plan to Raise Debt Ceiling Postponed."

And so, ludicrously, is history made. The Republican Party is on the cusp of one of the greatest self-inflicted disasters since a crack cadre of two-bit bumblers broke into the Watergate Hotel. Right now, John Boehner cannot count on enough Republican votes to pass his own debt ceiling bill. Tweets from news reporters at the Capitol report that the speaker is summoning recalcitrant representatives to his office and presumably using every means at his disposal to switch their votes from no to yes, but so far, he appears to be failing.

He may ultimately end up getting his votes, and avert the disaster. Majority Leader Eric Cantor is vowing that a vote will still happen "tonight." It is still, at this point, nearly inconceivable that Boehner's bill could go down in flames. Because if it does, intransigent House conservatives will have handed President Obama one of the biggest victories of his term.

Here's why: The Boehner bill is already a conservative bill that won't pass the Senate. But if House Republicans can't pass it on their own, they will have conclusively demonstrated that it will be impossible for them to come to agreement on any kind of compromise deal acceptable to both parties. They will have effectively declared themselves incapable of governing."

http://www.salon.com/news/budget_showdown/?story=/tech/htww/2011/07/28/john_boehner_crazy_republicans

[Scurrilous]

5. Staff trash talk on Twitter: 'Bill dies tonight' vs. 'Save the planet caucus'

<snip>

"The debt-and-deficit-standoff that has paralyzed Washington for weeks has also turned up the volume on political sniping.

That crossed from cable television to Twitter on Thursday as bickering ramped up between Democratic and Republican staffers while the House waited for a vote on Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) deficit proposal.

Adam Jentleson, communications director for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), attracted some attention with an ominous warning early in the day.

“Boehner’s bill dies tonight,” he tweeted. “Forever.”

<snip>

"The trash talk only intensified as the evening dragged on and the Republicans announced they would delay the vote on Boehner’s deficit proposal.

Following the announcement of the delayed vote, Reid, who said earlier in the day he would move to take up the bill immediately in the Senate if it passed the House, announced that the Senate would wait and see what happened.

“The Senate stands ready to defeat the Boehner plan whenever House Republicans can get their act together,” Jentleson noted.

Nadeam Elshami, communications director to Pelosi, tweeted: “If GOP is having that much trouble imagine how they'll feel when bill dies in senate.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/twitter-room/other-news/174269-staff-trash-talk-on-twitter-bill-dies-tonight-vs-save-the-planet-caucus