Posted on 01/02/2013 1:50:21 PM PST by SeekAndFind
There's just one hitch. It's a terrible, thankless job and no one else wants it.
American Majority Action spokesman Ron Meyer told Breitbart News late Tuesday that enough House Republicans have banded together in an effort to unseat House Speaker John Boehner from his position -- they just need a leader to take up the mantle.
“At least 20 House Republican members have gotten together, discussed this and want to unseat Speaker Boehner --- and are willing to do what it takes to do it,” Meyer said. “That’s more than enough to get the job done, but the one problem these guys face is they need a leader to coalesce behind.”
There's no Speaker until someone has a majority of votes from the entire House, so if 17 Republicans flatly refuse to vote for Boehner then he’ll be effectively blocked — unless a few Democrats decide to cross the aisle to get to 218. Could that happen? Dave Weigel says nope but I’m not sure. There’s no conceivable way that a Democrat gets elected tomorrow, so if you’re a tea-party-hating liberal backbencher, why not use your vote to spite conservatives instead? The Dems could sit back and let the drama play out for a few rounds: On the first ballot Boehner gets a heavy plurality of the GOP caucus but is blocked from a majority, on the second ballot a conservative challenger (Cantor or Jordan) pulls even but Boehner loyalists refuse to back down, on the third ballot a compromise candidate (Ryan?) enters the fray and the vote splits three ways. Then Democrats could swoop in and humiliate their enemies by voting en masse for Boehner. Not only would it deepen the fracture in the Republican caucus that Obama’s worked so hard to cause — imagine a GOP majority having to serve under a Speaker whom they knew was elected by the other side — but Democrats could spin it as a show of bipartisanship for the media. Depending upon how badly Boehner wants to keep the job, they might even be able to extract some concessions from him. Imagine this guy having to negotiate with Obama on the debt ceiling and the sequester knowing that he’s in that position chiefly because of Democratic support. Just one problem with this goofy yet fun hypothetical: Would Boehner or any other Republican agree to be Speaker without the backing of a majority of his own caucus? The job would be even more terrible and thankless than it is now. You’d need a truly self-aggrandizing, quasi-independent RINO to accept an arrangement like that. Hmmmmmm.
Ah well. A member of Boehner’s team tells NRO they’re in touch with caucus members and not worried about the vote. Read Joel Pollak’s piece at Breitbart last week to see why. When push comes to shove, there’s no reason to think anyone else would do a better job of uniting moderates and tea partiers or getting Obama to agree to serious deficit reduction except maybe Paul Ryan, and he’s the last person who wants Boehner’s job now.
Update: Don’t wander away from your computer tonight:
GOP caucusing from 5-7 pm tonight. Topic: Future of House GOP leadership. Hear Boehner may resign there.
— Matthew Boyle (@mboyle1) January 2, 2013
Incoming GOP Rep. Steve Stockman said today that he’ll vote against Boehner tomorrow. That’s one. Are 16 more out there?
Update: Or not:
Boehner is not resigning tonight. His office says its made up.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 2, 2013
COL Allen West. He was robbed of his seat, and he understands insider wheeling and dealing, as well as how the left thinks. We need someone with experience and a backbone.
AllahPundit is usually right on target, but he is incorrect in stating that no one can get elected Speaker without 218 votes and thus that 16 Republicans voting “present” can keep Boehner from the Speakership. The rules of the House have stated since at least 1913 (the earliest Speaker election analyzed by the Congressional Research Service in its 2011 study) that the election of Speaker requires a majority not of members, but of votes cast *for a person*. Thus, vacancies, abstentions, *and people voting “Present”* will not be included in the denominator. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL30857.pdf
And this isn’t some arcane theory by the CRS; it was exactly what occurred as recently as 1997. That was the year of the attempted “coup” against Newt Gingrich, which fell apart, but around 8-10 Republicans voted “Present” in the Speaker election (plus 2 Republicans voted for RINO Jim Leach, 2 others voted for Republicans who had retired from Congress, and I assume that Newt abstained, as is customary for Speaker candidates). Due to all of those “Present” votes and abstentions, only 213 votes were required to elect a Speaker, and Newt was elected with 216 votes.
The House of Representatives for the 113th Congress will convene with at most 434 members (Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s seat will be vacant). If 16 Republicans vote “Present,” at most 418 votes will be cast for a person for Speaker, meaning that Boehner would need only 210 votes to be elected Speaker. But if 34 Republicans vote “Present,” then Pelosi or some other Democrat could be elected Speaker with the 201 Democrat votes. So voting “Present” for Speaker won’t keep Boehner from being elected Speaker, unless so many Republicans do it that a Democrat gets elected Speaker.
The only way that 16 Republicans can prevent Boehner or a Democrat from becoming Speaker would be if they voted for actual persons, not vote “Present.” And that is not going to happen. All incoming Republican members had the chance to select the party’s Speaker candidate, and they all voted for Boehner; maybe a handful will cast protest votes for Ron Paul or something (I betcha that Paultard Justin Amash of MI-03 does just that), but I don’t think it will come close to 16.
“I think ther are enough Democrats willing to go for loser Boehner”
Of course there are. He’s just one of them in the long(or short) run.
-— Anything short of that is either a.) incompetency or b.) dishonesty. -—
Or cowardice, or all of the above.
he is useful to them as has been shown
Damn Straight!!!!
If he can’t be President then he can be the speaker and reuse his platform
Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. I will pray for you, too, and thank you from my heart for your prayers. Winters just kill me...lol. I love our hot weather!
Is there a rule that says the Speaker must be a current member?
bachman, newt, issa, mcClintock, etc
I did enjoy and I replied.
:)
It will have to be two votes. The first vote will have Republicans abstaining, to deny Boehner the votes he needs for the job. But this could get interesting if enough Democrats cross the aisle to vote for him.
No Republican will dare to identify himself as challenging Boehner until after that first vote. The second vote will be where the bullet hits the bone. A heck of a lot of horse trading going on.
Importantly, and this is vital, the house does not have to choose a speaker who is a current member of congress!
That is, the Republican caucus could select Sarah Palin or Allen West (who is still in congress, but was not reelected) to be the next Speaker. This would be grand, because even if they were not elected, they would not be vulnerable to revenge by Boehner or whoever else was eventually elected.
Or, come to think of it, they could even elect Ron Paul to be Speaker. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?
Newt is the one we really need. Sadly, the GOP would have to work for their pay & nobody wants that (grrrrr)
Allen West would be good. So would Bachman.
We need Noot just as much as we need rectum cancer.
LtC Allen West for Speaker....Immediately.
Gov. Walker and LtC West, 2016.
I know he has his detractors, but 1. he was the only Speaker to get things done (balanced budget & welfare reform, to name 2- which we desperately need Again) & 2. he would turn the dummies *inside out*.
He would actually be more effective as Speaker than he would have been as president.
Man-o-man Vendome, I have been struggling to think of what they have on this guy and the more I think about it the more I think that you are spot on.
Just damn!!
Sure hope you get to feeling better onyx. Tonya got a bad cold about 3 weeks ago and I talked her into taking 4000 IU/day of D-3. In less than a week she ws completely over it. Thank the Lord! I need my wife. She cooks real good!!!
FReekin awesome damquestion if you ask me Tzimisce!
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