[Sideshow Bob]

But I will repeat that only about 40 more conservative/Tea Party members would give us control of the House- leadership positions.

Sorry that infuriates -or frightens- you so much you can’t see straight.

***

I see damn straight. And I see that your math is way off. There's roughly just 65 reliable conservative Republicans in the House (those who have repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to vote against GOP leadership on matters of principle).

That leaves about 175 GOP House members who reliably vote with the current leadership. Sure, 15-20 conservatives who presently vote with Boehner could switch allegiance if the number of conservatives increases, but that means conservatives will likely need to gain at least 60 seats in November to be in a position to defeat the current leadership team.

Any honest electoral analysis of November 2012 view a potential GOP gain of 30 House seats, and most of those will come in swing districts unfriendly to Tea Partiers. And there are simply not enough House GOP retirements or potential GOP primary defeats to come close to your "magic" number of 40 new conservatives, much less the 60 that are actually needed.

But - for argument's sake - let's say that enough conservatives get elected to flip the House GOP conference and oust Boehner and Cantor. Then what?

Let's say Rep. West of Florida becomes House Speaker. Is Speaker West going to break out in opposition to President Romney? is President Romney really going to change his agenda rightward to get in line with a conservative House?

Why would he? Not when he can use Majority Leader McConnell and the crutch of cloture rules to subtly thwart the House and the Conservative base in flyover country.

By all means, do everything you can to gain a more conservative House delegation. But please know that the House cannot control the party agenda unless they are in the opposite party as the President.

For all practical purposes, advancing a conservative agenda is dead until Romney no longer sets the party policy. That's not the kind of compromise I would ever want to endure.

[hocndoc]

Boehner was in San Antonio yesterday, to support Quico Conseco in his House race. I don’t put Boehner up there with the RINO’s. He’s just not as aggressive as I’d like.

And yes, I see West or Goehmert as Speaker - and you bet I believe they’d be tough on any President.

[mrsmith]

Imaginary numbers do wonderful things for your position...

The height of Boehners’ power:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll943.xml

Yes, a terrible loss for us. But it took weeks of some of the greatest political pressures I’ve seen to accomplish it.

Typical of his power:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll941.xml
And:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll857.xml
Where were his 175 ‘reliable votes’?
In all these votes- each an occasion when the Senate had shown it was ready to shut down part of the government-
he could never reach that high LOL!

No, the actual vote history show that a mere 40 members would give us a conservative Leadership in the House.

***
“the House cannot control the party agenda unless they are in the opposite party as the President.”

A bully pulpit is nice, but the purse is better.
Were Tip O’neil and Jimmy Carter before your time?
Even if so you must have noticed Pelosi and Reid trading Obama back and forth for cartons of cigarettes...

[BlackElk]

I wrote you lengthy and laudatory reply and then lost it in the forest of technological ignorance that is my understanding of internet methods. I will try to reconstruct later when time is more available.

You are not Sideshow Bob. You are Main Event Bob. Specifics to follow.