It looks like the far right of the Republican Party (as represented by Michele Bachmann and Mike Huckabee) is creating some room for John Boehner to cave and make a deal with the president. Their rationale is identical to the rationale I gave this morning for not making any concessions whatsoever. The size of the dispute is financially inconsequential and the people won’t have any sympathy for shutting down the government over funding for Planned Parenthood or the power of the Environmental Protection Agency. I’d be tempted at this point to start making counter-demands and make Boehner start sweating as he literally begs to make a deal. Let’s face it, Boehner got his ass kicked and now they’re trying to give him a soft-landing so he can fight another day. Let’s make him give up energy subsidies.
Okay, I know that is not going to happen. But we shouldn’t make it easy for Boehner to cave. We should make it as humiliating as possible. I don’t say this out of spite. This battle is not over. And his tactics must be punished.
Update [2011-4-8 23:3:8 by BooMan]: Boehner caved. He apparently got nothing. He agreed to a clean Continuing Resolution which they will pass tonight. The riders are gone. And I think he might have taken home $5 billion more in cuts as his only consolation. The government will not shut down this time. They will probably take it to the very end on the debt limit and then again on the 2012 budget. Now we work on the Boy Who Cried Wolf narrative.