Brian Beutler makes a good point when he argues that Speaker Boehner can’t violate the so-called Hastert Rule to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act without annoying Latinos who want him to vote on the Senate’s immigration bill. As long as he sticks with the Hastert Rule, which says that legislation will not be brought to the floor unless the majority of the Republican caucus supports it, the only way we can end discrimination in the workplace or get immigration reform or pass a farm bill or pass a transportation bill or fix the sequester or reach a budget deal or raise the debt ceiling is if a minority of Republicans join with the Democrats and force the legislation onto the floor though discharge petitions.
Boehner has been willing to violate the Hastert Rule only to avoid the fiscal cliff, to appropriate disaster relief after Superstorm Sandy, to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, and to end the idiotic government shutdown. That’s because the majority of his caucus (amazingly) refused to do any of those four things. But those were pretty much must-do things. If he’s not convinced that immigration reform and employment non-discrimination are as important as reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, then what can we do?
The bigger issue is that the majority of his caucus is willing to do exactly nothing. And Boehner is hiding behind that fact. If he stops hiding on one issue, he loses his excuse for hiding on others.
Though I cannot understand why, Boehner was able to placate the crazies by pretending to be one of them for a couple of weeks. They came back on board with his speakership and he remains unwilling to cross them. So much for a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans (though perhaps it will happen at some point going forward).
I’m continually surprised (though clearly I’m hopelessly naive to be anything less than thoroughly jaded) that a man would sell out so many people and causes just to retain a gavel and a few trappings that go with it. A man has to look himself in the mirror at least once a day when he shaves. That’s the one time of day when Boehner ought to be crying.
Rationalization – a specialty of the addicted.
Waiting for the BooMan Bipartisan House Coup. If it happens, it will be as legendary as the Colbert Bounce.
And Billy Graham, celebrating his 95th, says that Jeeez-us is coming to judge this nation. Coinkydink?
And Billy Graham, celebrating his 95th, says that Jeeez-us is coming to judge this nation. Coinkydink?
Isn’t Billy as out of it as Ray-gun was the last few years of his life? So that statement was likely released by Franklin Graham, who’s even nuttier than dad.
Okay, so Boehner won’t violate the Hastert Rule except to avoid a PR disaster (counting real disasters as a subset of PR disasters). But I don’t get why the Violence Against Women Act is one of the few. Would it have been a PR disaster for a bunch already known to be assholes?
The bigger issue is that the majority of his caucus is willing to do exactly nothing.
Nothing is precisely what their Fox-addled voters want them to do.
I suppose at the end of the process, it doesn’t really matter, but as I recall during the last manufactured budget crisis (Who says we don’t make anything anymore?), a majority of House Republicans were ready, willing and able to vote through a clean continuing resolution. Boehner kept whining that “the votes weren’t there,” which whines the popular media have completely forgotten all about. But when the bill was finally allowed to come to a vote, it passed 286-144, one flipped vote short of veto-proof passage.
The so-called Hastert Rule is a convenient place for Boehner to hide, but I don’t recall any announcements out of the Republican Caucus of any votes they’ve taken on whether to bring anything to the floor. Is there a majority of the Republican House Caucus opposed to ENDA? How do we know? Take Boehner’s word for it?
Oh, okay; seems legit.
Since a major tenet of the “conservative” movement is that most actions by the federal gub’mint over the past 80 (120?) years are illegitimate and extra-constitutional, of course Boner’s Boneheads want to do nothing. That’s what they were elected to “do”—nothing. This has been the main theme of the Do-Nothing Repub Congress.
Just as the nation sunk into paralysis in the 1850s over the federal gub’mint’s role with regard to slavery, today we have sunk into paralysis over the final evolution in “conservative” doctrine—that the federal gub’mint has no legitimacy in attempting to address the nation’s problems. Nor (according to Neo-Confederates) does it have the right to enforce laws that an individual state (usually Neo-Confederate) objects to.
A related “conservative” doctrine is that there are actually no national problems that need to be solved, other than a debt problem, and the answer there is to keep cutting taxes (and hence spending) in an ever downward spiral. This isn’t anything to be worried about, because everything cut was either addressing a phony problem (such as all the regulatory agencies) or was illegitimate in the first instance (such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid).
To “conservatives”, the immigration problem was caused by the federal gub’mint, and is nothing more than a police-the-borders issue, which the affected states should be allowed to do. In short, cut off the supply line and always make sure illegals are treated as third class non-citizens. Voila, “problem” solved!
Thus the great “debate” of our time—the role of the federal gub’mint in governing the nation. “Conservatives” think the federal gub’mint was intended to be extremely limited, weak and toothless and that the 50 states were to be the main source of “national” gub’mint. They assert that’s what the 18th century Founders “intended”, and that’s all we can have as a nation. (With a military bloated beyond imagining, of course. There the beloved Founders and their tricornes aren’t too much consulted, haha).
Anyway, Conservatarian plutocrats have spent the past 30 years funding and pushing this anti-gub’mint shit and now, surprise, surprise, a huge block of the populace, likely a majority, and most of the Neo-Confederacy, have now adopted this crap as gospel.
As a result, there’s gonna be a whole lotta doin’ nuthin’ in our future…a pity that the nation’s many problems don’t care much if they’re being addressed or not.
Actually, the most extreme elements want to treat them as verminous animals, to be shot on sight. I’ve heard them.
Boehner needs to violate the Hastert rule or the 2106 Republican Presidential nominee is loser as we we speak.
2016
So by this reasoning, the GOP hate list (in decreasing order) is prioritized as follows:
Women made it through, gays would make it through if not for the resultant pressure to let the Latinos through.
Of course, all they passed was violence against women, not equal pay, so the whole thing is just ridiculously inconsistent and stupid.
OT: This tells you why there’s the Democratic Party organization in Texas got knocked on its kiester when Bush became governor.
When you shake hand with a Texas politician, count your fingers.
Truth or Consequences
Fascinating history.
Now i’m continually amazed (though evidently Now i’m hopelessly trusting being anything under carefully jaded) that the guy would likely market available a lot of people and will cause simply to retain some sort of gavel and a few trappings that go with that. A guy has to look himself inside hand mirror at least once daily any time he / she shaves. This is the just one time of day any time Boehner needs to be weeping.
sba loans