Tea Party mutiny imperils the speakership of the TanMan, and the nation

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On Thursday the TanMan, the Weeper of the House John Boehner, was full of false bravado, predicting that the House would approve his deficit reduction plan. He told reporters 'It's A Zippity-Do-Da Day!'

Speaker Boehner is the political equivalent of Charlie Sheen confidently prediciting that he is "Winning!" when everyone around him can see that he is a loser. Weeper of the House John Boehner is not good at his job. He is the weakest Speaker in modern times. Sadly, he is the last one to come to realize it.

After having already delayed a vote on his deficit reduction plan originally scheduled for Wednesday, the Speaker and his lieutenants spent all day on Thursday trying to quell a mutiny by Tea Party mutineers to vote for his deficit reduction plan, which everyone understands is dead on arrival in the Senate and has no chance of ever becoming law.

And still Boehner could not get the Tea party mutineers to give him the votes needed to pass his symbolic bill and send it on to the Senate for a quick and merciful death. Boehner had to give up any vote on Thursday night. This was a humiliation of the Speaker by his Tea Party mutineers.

The vote is "on call of the Speaker" today if and when Boehner can ever convince enough Tea Party mutineers to rejoin his crew.

This is unprecedented in modern times. Last night's vote — or, more to the point, non-vote — was a referendum on John Boehner. The Speaker's inability to produce a vote in the Tea-Publican House to raise the federal debt ceiling and to prevent the nation from slipping into default imperils his speakership.

More importantly, this epic failure of GOP leadership imperils the nation. The GOP is unable to effectively govern. There is mob rule in the House where the GOP leadership is held hostage by its Tea Party mutineers. It is not just the federal debt ceiling that is at risk, but all legislation including necessary spending bills. One branch of government is paralyzed by hostage takers, and is ungovernable. It is an epic failure of GOP leadership. See Dana Mibank, John Boehner’s no-confidence vote – The Washington Post.

As Ezra Klein observes today, the Boehner deficit reduction plan "which never had a chance in Harry Reid's Senate, was meant to send a message: Republicans are united. They are willing to sacrifice and compromise to raise the debt ceiling. Turns out they're not." Wonkbook: Boehner failed. Now what? – Ezra Klein. Whatever "unity" spin GOP leadership was hoping for has already been lost, even if a bill emerges from the House today on the slimmest vote margin. Whatever emerges will be tabled or defeated in the Senate hours later.

Speaker Boehner does have a couple of ways out of his self-inflicted mess, both of which require him to put the interests of his country ahead of his own political ambitions and the interests of his radicalized Tea-Publican Party, and it will cost him his speakership. Boehner does not strike me as a "profiles in courage" kind of guy, so don't hold your breath.

The first option is to abandon any linkage between raising the federal debt ceiling and the deficit reduction plan. One has nothing to do with the other. The federal debt ceiling is about honoring the debts of the United States already incurred; the deficit reduction plan is about future spending over the next decade.

Release the hostage and pass a "clean" one page bill raising the federal debt ceiling as Congress has done numerous times in the past. It means giving up any leverage for the deficit reduction plan, but this is not a big deal since President Obama has signaled that he is willing to give away the store to appear "reasonable" to independent voters. This is what Democrats were calling for as of last night – Boehner should accept their offer.

The bold option would be to throw the Tea Party mutineers under the bus. Boehner would make the walk to Nancy Pelosi's office and promise to deliver just enough GOP votes to pass a deficit reduction plan crafted by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and President Obama that can pass with Democratic votes.

[UPDATE: Kevin Drum writes Gut Check Time for John Boehner | Mother Jones. "[A]ll it takes to get there is for Boehner to be willing to admit the obvious: the tea partiers just aren't willing to deal, period. They want to burn the house down so they can build something better from the ashes. They're insane.

So walk away from the tea partiers. Instead, strike a deal that a hundred non-insane House Republicans and 20 or 30 non-insane Senate Republicans can support. Add that to a majority of the Democratic caucus and you're done. You've saved the country.]

This "profiles in courage" patriotism to do what is in the best interests of his country will mean that Boehner will have to resign his speakership immediately after the vote. He will be savaged by the right-wing noise machine media as a "traitor" – to whom? Grover Norquist? Rush Limbaugh? F**k them!

I don't believe that Boehner has the courage or strength of character to do this. He would rather go down with the wreckage of his ship, scuttled by Tea Party mutineers, and take the nation down with it.

History will not be kind to John Boehner and the Tea Party.