Boehner Has Hit The Panic Button

Posted by | October 16, 2013 09:08 | Filed under: Politics Top Stories


Late last night, Salon reported that House Speaker John Boehner had informed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that he is making a procedural move known as a “message” that will speed up the process of approving bills to raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government:

The aide said that the news was delivered after House Republican leadership failed to move their own bill to resolve the dual matters.

A message is a legislative vehicle that if sent from Boehner to the Senate would allow Reid to skip one cloture vote. This would ensure that if one Senator wanted to gum up the works, he or she could only force 30 hours of consideration.

A request for comment to Boehner’s office was not immediately returned, though if the news is true, it is a signal that the Speaker knows the time for staring down the Senate is up.

The reason for the move is that Boehner has been backed into a corner: he and the GOP will take the blame if there is a debt default, and he cannot control his own caucus. And he can’t be happy with the morning papers:

John Boehner and his House Republicans woke to a round of epically horrible press about their role in the ongoing shutdown and debt ceiling crisis.

Boehner’s failure to corral his members reached a peak on Tuesday when he could not persuade them to go along with a plan to end the shutdown and avert default. The resulting reaction from the media would be enough to make any Republican weep, let alone the already tear-prone speaker.

Politico called Boehner’s efforts a “disaster.”

The Washington Post described it as a “humiliating failure,” and said Boehner and his leadership colleagues had ” lost all control of their majority.”

An editorial from the arch-conservative Wall Street Journal board fumed about the GOP strategy, saying that the House caucus “might as well hand the Speaker’s gavel to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid” and urging Republicans to give up their fight.

Things were not much better on the morning shows.

“After a shutdown that lasted 16 days, a shutdown led by House Republicans…by the end of today, those Republicans may leave with little to nothing to show for it,” NBC’s Peter Alexander said.

“House Republicans are the clear losers,” was how ABC’s Jon Karl put it.

And it’s worth noting that one of the worst-kept media secrets is that Karl is an arch-conservative.

Will Boehner remain the Speaker? Grab the popcorn and stay tuned….

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Copyright 2013 Liberaland
By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.