The protest vote was planned and completely staged. The caucus leadership allowed some of the Members to vote against Boehner. The outcome of the vote was never in question.
And in exchange for releasing them Team Boehner will call in those chits later when he needs their votes on something else in the progressive agenda.
Exactly.
The Obamacare vote was an analogous case. Some of the “Blue Dogs”, the politically necessary ones, were allowed to vote Nay. The politically expendable ones, such as Mary Landrieu, were not. The outcome of the vote was not in question.
This is why Founders such as Madison and Washington bitterly opposed the formation of political factions (i.e., parties) in the US.