While it might have seemed that things calmed down for the Speaker after the attempted coup against his leadership position in January, conservative tea party members — many of them hubristically blind freshman — are talking about imposing an internal rule that would forbid Boehner from pushing legislation that doesn’t have majority Republican support. This would keep Boehner from getting anything done, as the majority of the legislation he’s managed to move forward this year has only passed due to Democratic support.
This snippet from the Post exemplifies just how far the Republican Party has jumped the legislative shark:
Some conservatives are talking about circulating a petition to impose an internal rule forbidding Boehner from advancing legislation that does not have majority support in the Republican Conference, a restriction that would have torpedoed the fiscal cliff bill.
Boehner is frustrated as well, having been outed as essentially impotent as a dealmaker after wheeling and dealing with the President only to have his own caucus shoot down his deal in an epically humiliating moment. As an example of the position the Speaker finds himself in, he knows he has to advance immigration legislation or the Republican Party will be further branded as the party of whites, thereby ensuring they can’t win another national election.
But the extremists who’ve taken control of Republican leaders in the House only care about their own political future, and that future is protected by catering to the tea party hatred of immigrants.
Boehner told WaPo that Republicans have to “educate” their members about the issues involved, because the rank and file don’t understand the issue, “We’ve got to educate our members and we’ve got to help educate them about the hundreds of issues that are involved.”
In other words, Boehner is trying to lead a bunch of neophytes who don’t understand their jobs and don’t seem to care to learn about their jobs. Instead, they are in DC to grandstand for personal political gain. The right freaks out when Boehner even suggests putting basic legislation up for a vote.
This paragraph from the Post stands out:
This central problem — a leadership team still learning how to work together and a rank and file so green that even the leaders’ allies tune them out at times — has many wondering whether Boehner could win a third term as speaker and whether other changes are in store next year.
This summer and fall will reveal if Boehner will be able to hang onto his Speakership. While liberals and far right conservatives will cheer this news, the truth of the matter is that as incompetent as Boehner has been, the House Republicans would replace him with someone who doesn’t even value attempting to legislate. Boehner is the only thing keeping that House from revealing itself to the nation as the force of fringe “parasites” it is.
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