He will blow his power as a leader if he tries to strong arm Republicans into an amnesty scheme for the sake of lame duck Bush. He's not going win that one. Bush is not up for re-election but the rest of the party has to survive him. They have given Bush too much as it is.
Allen-Tancredo 2008
I am nervous about Boehner too but the fact is, he is elected by the House Republicans, right?
I don't see where he would have an incentive to help Bush twist arms in favor of amnesty.
I also wonder about Hastert. Now I believe the speaker is elected by the full House, including Democrats, if I am not mistaken.
Fortunately, although Hastert I'm sure would go with the flow as far as supporting amnesty, he seems like too easygoing a guy to do much armtwisting.
And Sensenbrenner should wield a lot of clout on this, and he has been strong.