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You Can’t Herd Cats
Who has the worst job. Barrack Obama is expected to fix an economy that can’t be fixed – a bad job. But then we have John Boehner – he has the job of herding cats – a group of teabillies who’s hate of Obama makes economic catastrophe preferable to giving Obama what he needs to avoid catastrophe. The orange man is discovering you can’t herd cats.
Speaker John Boehner postponed the planned House vote on a debt-limit increase late Thursday night, casting new doubt on Congress’ ability to avert a default and further exposing a deep philosophical divide in the Republican Conference.
Four-and-a-half hours after the vote was supposed to begin on the House floor, Republicans announced they would start again in the morning, but the end game remains unclear on this trillion-dollar package. The House Rules Committee was expected to meet later Thursday night to issue a rule that would allow the GOP to bring a new bill to the floor quickly on Friday if the final votes can be secured.
Yes, Boehner has the worst job but probably not for long. In reality he’s not trying to herd cats but lemmings. I would guess that Mr Boehner is looking forward to not being Speaker – there’s a lot to be said for cocktail hour and golf.
12 Responses to “You Can’t Herd Cats”
Don’t you think they’re just stalling for time to boost their position?
I’ll be honest that would be a logical explanation but logic has been absent from the tea party right as well as the extreme left. I’m not sure logic applies to DC politics anymore.
It’s hard for me to get past, “teabillies”, but I have a suggestion.
Maybe we could help the House of Representatives out a bit. If they will agree to earmark caps of say, $12.50 per district per budget cycle, we would allow budget votes to be anonymous.
Well, despite the confidence I have in doing a plain debt limit increase at the last minute (“One page,” as Lawrence O’Donnell said — a dedicated bill is one page that would change one number on one line of the U.S. Code), there are others who actually believe that the GOP activists in the House will actually vote No on raising the limit and introduce unpredictable risks if they were to do that.
This isn’t stalling. This is a massive blow to Boehner’s authority as speaker. I full expect the next Republican Speaker to be Yosemite Sam.
also
This is a bad sign for the GOP. While I agree that a last minute deal is probably what will happen, the fact that their leader can’t get a vote on his own plan is a very bad thing. Gone are the days when the party did what the leadership asked. Their solid front is crumbling and without it they are in trouble.
What extreme left? I am mot even sure there is a left in DC. anymore, not that there ever was much of a left.
Can we end the false equivalencies, and just call a spade a spade.
So let me correct that sentence for you:
I’ll be honest that would be a logical explanation but logic has been absent from the tea party.
I confess to being mystified by this “extreme left” as well. Who are they? Re: John Boehner, I agree, he must be looking forward to leaving the asylum.
It’s funny how many of the same people who point to Republican spending as a note of hypocrisy, also point to “tea party” Republicans as crazy for not wanting more spending.
Presumably some would consider Bernie Sanders or Dennis Kucinich or Barbara Lee, for example, to be “moderates” if not “conservative.”
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Well, the cats are still active: the latest House legislation has two debt increases, which is sensible (not the gimmicky past-2012), but includes a necessity for passing a balanced budget amendment (no doubt like the one some House Republicans have pushed already) before the second vote is taken.
How do you achieve no more spending? Shut down the government completely? That is what you said the Tea Party wants, isn’t it, Prof? The current crop of people who say they represent the Tea Party are pushing for no debt ceiling raise without a BBA that would inevitably result in the elimination (or at least draconian cuts in) of Medicare and Medicaid, if not Social Security. They call for a 2/3rd vote to raise taxes which is impossible if Republicans maintain 1/3rd of the House. Since their spending caps would inevitably result in these programs being unable to keep up with real inflation the programs would inevitably become something this side of useless. Then it’s easy to propose their elimination.
Jim, are trying to equate reducing the budget to 0 with stopping increased spending? It sure sounds like it.
No Jim, the social security umbrella is unsustainable, at least according to those diamond right tin-foil hat wearing extremists at ssa.gov. It has something to do with the fact that our economy and population are growing slowly and haltingly, while the programs are growing faster. I know that, for people who believe in the unlimited money (or at least unlimited tax) fairy, that’s not a problem, but the rest of us aren’t yet convinced.
Of course, congress could do something sensible like bid out all Medicaid and Medicare services, but for some reason (that I think we both know), they prefer to argue amounts only.