Boehner Fakes Right, Likely To Go Left
The revised debt ceiling increase/deficit reduction bill that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) now is pushing toward a vote in the House tonight apparently includes not just a requirement that the House and Senate vote on a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but that the House and Senate must pass the amendment. If the amendment isn't actually adopted by both houses, Congress would be prohibited from considering the second increase in the federal debt ceiling that will be needed later in the year under the Boehner plan.
In other words, the new Boehner bill requires not just that the Senate consider the constitutional amendment but actually dictates what the outcome must be.
This unambiguously is an attempt by Boehner to appeal to the tea party wing of the GOP to get the votes he needs to get something...or anything...out of the House today.
I've been told by several sources, however, that Boehner has been appealing to his tea partiers to vote for this with the promise that they'll be able to vote against what ultimately comes back from the Senate -- if, that is, something actually does come back from the Senate.
Boehner's thinking is that with debate and vote on final passage of a debt ceiling increase coming as close to August 2 as possible, House and Senate Democrats will provide the votes needed to get the bill adopted no matter what it includes. So Boehner is appealing to the political right now but will be relying on the left later.
Boehner's losing control
Methinks the Senate will be none too happy being told by the House what they must pass.
Boehner is losing control of his House majority. With his incompetent leadership, he's coming off as a less bombastic Newt Gingrich (who, lest we forget, was a complete disaster as Speaker). Gingrich also came in as part of a "new wave" and was quickly outfoxed by Bill Clinton, who basically ran against Gingrich in '96, even though Bob Dole was the GOP nominee.
If the GOP wants to extend Obama's presidency into 2017, they're definitely going about it in a time-tested manner.
Should just declare
the Treasury consider it have an additional trillion or two. No increase in ceiling necessary. I assume that would fulfill everyone's demands.
I'm sorry but if the bill
I'm sorry but if the bill dictates that the CCP is passed or the economy is wrecked then Boehner no matter what cynical politcal reasoning is issuing orders that run anathema to the spirit of representative democracy.
Sounds about right, it may
Sounds about right, it may already have been at least discussed among the various factions. Clearly the so called Tea Party element of the Republican party is now the face and ideology leader of the Republican Party how that will work for them in the short and long run is TBD.
Clowns as leaders
So we have Ezra Klein -- and John McCain essentially -- probably not typically of the same mind -- both commenting negatively on the bill Boehner got the House to pass. Whe Obama was elected, the country had already moved on and was concerned about the economy - guess what, Americans still are - and for even better reason now. But no, Obama spent the first year on so-called health reform, and frankly let Congress mostly drive that. Once again, Washington is focused on what should be a non-issue, given all the real issues we have, and Obama is essentially MIA.
And after this major charade and given the real problems we as a country have, I don't think I'd give even money on America's credit rating being downgraded.
So we have good PIMCO [El-Erian saying this could be the setting for action in Washington] and today bad PIMCO [saying Lehman Bros. was potentially a parking ticket compared to the head-on wreck we could be looking at]. What was that book called.... "Fear and Loathing" [in DC].
"Boehner's thinking is that
"Boehner's thinking is that with debate and vote on final passage of a debt ceiling increase coming as close to August 2 as possible, House and Senate Democrats will provide the votes needed to get the bill adopted no matter what it includes."
The assumption seems to be that whatever compromise emerges from the Senate will be (or least will appear) conservative cover to get the politically required majority of the House GOP caucus to vote for it, AND will pick up enough votes from House Democrats who just can't stomach telling a Democratic president to go you-know-what himself.
But this, in turn, assumes two things:
That enough mainstream conservatives in the House GOP caucus will be willing to risk the wrath of the teabagger zealots -- even if it means setting of something close to an intra-party civil war.
That Pelosi, Hoyer and company will be willing, if necessary,(and it may well be) to whip for a bill that they and the vast majority of House Democrats detest -- all to salvage the re-election prospects of a president who's already demonstrated he doesn't give two you-know-what's about THEIR electoral needs.
Those are a couple of big ifs.
March of the Idiots
I feel like we've just finished watching Act I: The Modern President Buchanan Negotiates with Extremists, and are now on to Phase II: Extremists Destroy the Country to Reach 19th Century Nirvana. I have a libertarian friend, and I just don't get the fascination with 1880-1900 he and other Tea Party folks share. It's not like the country had everything figured out just grandly in 1892 after all.
So, as a result of the crazies fanatical nostalgia for some sort of mythical lost age, the House has finally passed a terrible debt ceiling raising bill. One that could hamstring our nation if signed by President Buch--I mean Obama--for, well, ever. Is this really a good thing? Is their vision for America what we want? Are people that deluded? I ask myself that everyday and keep wondering if the answer I fear, or the answer I hope to hear, is right.
I really really hope the President wakes up to what he's dealing with. This is not the Reagan crew in control anymore, but a bunch of radicals that make 1970s new leftists look like rational people.