Posted on 07/29/2011 6:44:37 AM PDT by RummyChick
House Speaker John Boehner has a new excuse for the dissent within the ranks of the House Republican Caucus he is supposed to lead.
The caucus, Boehner says, has been infiltrated by a cabal that hopes to take the US economy hostage in order to force political concessions from President Obama and Congressional Democrats.
Appearing Wednesday on conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham’s,, Boehner acknowledged what every serious economic analyst has already said: that a failure to raise the debt ceiling before the August 2 deadline would be devastating to an already struggling US economy.
So “why,” Ingraham asked, were House Republicans resisting the deal that President Obama has offered—a deal that is ridiculously deferent to Republican demands for cuts to needed domestic programs and for tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.
“Well,” Boehner said of the most belligerent members of his caucus, “first they want more. And my goodness, I want more too. And secondly, a lot of them believe that if we get passed August the second and we have enough chaos, we could force the Senate and the White House to accept a balanced budget amendment.”
Let’s be clear about what Boehner is saying: he has members of his caucus—perhaps sufficient in number to block resolution of the debt ceiling fight—who would be willing to force the United States to default on its debts. Why? Because they want to create so much economic chaos that the president and Congressional Democrats will sign on for a bad policy that could not otherwise advance.
That’s blackmail. But Boehner’s not concerned about the fact that his lawless colleagues would threaten the good faith and credit of the United States—not to mention the economic stability of their homeland—in order to score political points.
The Speaker’s only concern is that a wrong move might make it harder for him to maneuver politically.
“I don’t think that that strategy works,” Boehner explained to the radio host. “Because I think the closer we get to August the second, frankly, the less leverage we have vis à vis our colleagues in the Senate and the White House.”
That is sort of reassuring.
Boehner is not a responsible player. But at least he is enough of a hack to fear that his colleagues who have lost touch with economic reality might—if allowed to have their way—create chaos not just for the economy but force a crisis that Ingraham suggested could “be disastrous for the Republican Party.” John Nichols
‘Caveman’ Boehner!! Living up to his moniker!
We have been clear about what we want all along - they are the ones dividing the party.
As oppposed to doing what the Tea Partiers want?! LOL.
I’m not fooled by these machinations. It’s all part of the game. Fake outrage even though the government is expanding.
Did you hear Rush the last couple of days? If we froze spending as it is right now, that would be considered a $9 Trillion cut over ten years.
I’m not playing the game anymore and won’t pay attentioin to anyone who does. We need a trillion dollars in real cuts THIS YEAR. And the cuts don’t need to be from “Social Security and Medicare.” The department of Agriculture has two buildings in Washington. Two! One has corn growing outside of it. How quaint. Fire everybody in one of them and rent it out for income. Fold what’s worthwhile into the dept. of the interior and slash that budget. The EPA should be under Interior too. That eliminates another building. Veterans Affairs should be folded back into Defense. Want revenues? Sell off or rent out government land, put tariffs on wire payments to Mexico.
There’s any number of items that can cut the budget down this year.
Unfortunately, it's FREDO (Corleone) who seems to be running the House:
"It ain't the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says... like dumb... I'm smart and I want respect!"
“I am happy for the state of Indiana that they will have Mike Pence as governor,...”
Huh? What happened to Mitch Danials?
Ingraham went to the other side years ago. Remember she was smitten with Mitt.
She and Coulter are just pimping their books. They know the only was to sell them is to throw read meat to conservatives. But if you listen to them both, they are just inside the beltway Washington opportunists that wrap themselves around conservative principals just to shill themselves.
The only two I listen to and respect are Rush and Levin.
I think House leadership should announce that it has become obvious that the House does not want to backtrack on what they have already sent to the Senate previously - CCB. The American people also support CCB. The House did its work & the ball is in the Senate’s court ..... although HR tabled CCB, that does not mean it is dead. I don’t see how this is any worse than passing a 2nd crappy bill that HR has already pronounced ‘DOA”.
Sadly, she has. I talked to her on her radio show yesterday. I asked her point blank to be honest with me and my fellow Tea Partiers. I wanted to know if it was true that Boehner's ten year budget plan was not really a ten year budget because this year's Congress could not tie the hands of next year's Congress while President Urkel gets his trillion dollars the minute the bill is signed.
To her credit, she at least admitted that I was right but then she made the weird assertion that "that's always been the case. That's just the way it's done in Washington".
I can't tell you how disappointing it was to hear that coming from her. Maybe crestfallen would be a better description.
I’m not going to bother listening to her anymore.
I'll continue to listen but not as loyally. There are other shows out there.
Yep, they pushed thru Obamacare without a single Rep vote and despite the fact that the majority of the public was against it. They did the same thing with the stimulus bill. No talk of compromise and balance then. The Dems were willing to suffer the political consequences in pursuit of an objective. The Reps lack the same kind of political courage. When push comes to shove, the Reps will not support their rhetoric with action. Sad for this country.
We're not there and we don't have access to all the facts and besides we don't have to deal with these Dumbocrats.
The fact is RATS control the Senate and the presidency. Our people are not miracle workers.
here is the info as of last night
MNJohn, we've been at odds on many threads in the past, but you are spot-on correct here.
They wanted CCB passed. DONE. They wanted someone to push back on Obama's kill-granny stunt. DONE.
The whole subtext of this liberal article is that the GOP is doing too much of what the TEA Party demands. Hell-freaking-o?
People can't see the forest for their own colon walls.
Well stated. The bottom line is that Boehner is not a friend of the Tea Patry and will do whatever he has to to harm the TP.
Did you know that Pence is onboard with this bill?
And Saurobama's eye watches from Mordor (formerly known as the White House)...
Yep
Yesterday and today she has become pathetic. Her repetitive "talking points" that she is repeating over and over caused me to shut her off yesterday and I am close to doing it again today. This has been a real surprise.
She continually says that Cut, Cap and Balance was defeated in the Senate when it was not even voted on. It was tabled and can still be brought up for a vote.
She continually says that the Tea Party members in the House are stabbing Boehner in the back. She has no problem ignoring the wishes of the voters who placed them in Congress nor understands their commitment to those voters.
She just finished interviewing Bill Kristol. Bowl me over with that tower of jello.
The past two days she has been nothing short of pathetic. Did I say that already?
Uh. What's the friggin sense of that sentence?
I have enjoyed Laura for her political commentary and her humor, but I also have been put off by how much time she has dedicated to trashing the TEA Party the last two days with the “This is the best we can do with only 1/2 of 1/3 of government” talking point. What happened to her?
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