Boehner - Between A Rock And A Hard Place

The last few days shows us just how weak a Speaker of the House John Boehner really is. The fact is he can't control his own caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives, and that's not good for a Speaker who wants to remain in that position. A continuing resolution needs to be passed in the next few days to keep the government from shutting down. But when Boehner brought the bill to the House floor, it was defeated -- not by Democrats (who voted as he expected them to since the bill wasn't to their liking), but by members of his own party.

The teabagger Republicans don't really seem to care what the Republican leadership wants -- they vote their failed ideology regardless of how much it may hurt their party or the country. Rumor has it that Boehner blew up and called them "know-it-alls". "Know nothings" would have been more accurate.

Now Boehner has a choice to make. He can bring up a better, more rational bill that could pass with Democratic help (and even pass the Senate), or he can give in to the teabaggers and pass a bill the Senate won't accept. That would shut down the government. Sources say he is trying to revive the bill that failed and talk the teabaggers into changing their votes. That's not going to work. Even if he could get the teabaggers to change their vote, Democrats in the Senate have promised to vote it down because it doesn't adequately fund FEMA.

I think he's finally going to have to take the compromise reasonable bill approach and pass it with Democratic help. It's that or shut the government down (because the Democrats are talking like they've finally discovered they have a backbone). And appeasing the teabaggers won't help him -- not now or in the upcoming Republican primary. He's already got a teabagger opponent running against him next year, so he might as well cast his lot with the sane people in his district (and in Congress).

Boehner has problems, and shutting down the government is not going to help him. The Republicans tried that on the debt ceiling debate and the bottom fell out on congressional approval by the public. It affected both parties, but it hurt the Republicans more. Can they afford another hit like that?

It will be an interesting next few days. Will Boehner get a continuing resolution passed that Democrats can approve in the Senate, or will he shut down the government? We can only wait and see.