I almost feel sorry for the Orange Man.
If you listened to his rhetoric since becoming Speaker, it was clear that he wanted to get something done. That he wanted to legislate. It was even clear that he understood compromise had to be part of the solution. At one point in the process, I even think he approached negotiation in good faith, but that is all in the past. Today, John Boehner is a lost and frightened man.
He came to Washington as an old school big bidnizz grifter. Back in the 1990s he was passing out checks from lobbyists on the House Floor. He smokes, drinks and likes to play the game the way it was played back in the day when things were decided in smoked filled rooms. He likes to pretend he’s in charge, but he knows it isn’t true. When the wingnuts swept into Washington he became the Speaker because he was next in line, but from day one he was viewed as a squish (a wingnut term of art coined by Grover Norquist and jack Abramoff back when they ran the College Republicans in the early eighties). He was never trusted by the Teabaggers. They let hold the Speaker’s Gavel, but they kept him on a short leash.
When Boehner moved to make a grand bargain compromise with the Democrats–and especially President Obama–his leash was yanked and yanked hard. Holding that leash in one hand is Eric Cantor and in the other, Eric holds a knife waiting for a clean shot at the Orange Man’s back.
Over the weekend I went to a dinner in Washington. There were quite a few folks there from both Parties. And it was not a big surprise to find out that some of them were involved in negotiations about the debt ceilings and other matters. It was an topic of conversation. When I asked what was happening and what might happen, several folks mentioned that the key to understanding debt fight and John Boehner was to understand that he is fighting with Cantor for his political life.
The Orange Speaker on the teevee tonight sounded like a broken man trying to puff himself up with tough sounding word strings. He sounded like a man desperate to appease the folks who view him as a squish and convince them that he can bring the crazy and the irrational hatred of Obama as well as any nutter. It was a plea to the radicals who have captured his Party to let him keep his job, but it is too late for that.
If a last minute compromise is made and the debt level is raised, they will blame Boehner and stick in the knife. They may even decide to not give Boehnor’s latest effort enough votes to pass just to hasten his exit from the stage. And if their antics lead to a default, downgrade, damage to the economy and more harm to the wingnut brand, they will blame Orange John for that and stick in the knife. And if Obama invokes the 14th Amendment at the eleventh hour or finds another way to free the hostage and save the Nation–that will be another reason to stab Boehner in the back and be done with him.
If Boehner survives this manufactured crisis, a new one will begin the moment it is resolved and fresh knives will be sharpened. Orange John walks with an expiration date and a target stamped on his back. Whatever happens, I expect that Boehner will resign to spend more time with his family in the near future.
And then we will have Speaker Cantor and the fun can really begin.
I almost feel sorry for Boehner, but not really. He has put his ambition and Party ahead of the Nation and when Cantor sticks in the knife with a twist to the right, Orange John will be getting just what he deserves.
Too bad this intra-Party power struggle has to take out the global economy as collateral damage, but so it goes.
And with that, how about an Open Thread.
Cheers
Karen
From your lips to G-d’s ears Dengre!
Mike G
A Pastafarian soldier succeeds in having FSM recognized by the military as a religious belief —
http://rockbeyondbelief.com/2011/07/22/my-atheist-flying-spaghetti-monster-military-dog-tags/
Corner Stone
I’ve been saying a variant of this in the previous threads. Boehner is done no matter what. The only way to provide for himself in the future is to wield a small cadre of R’s to vote for a no default deal.
He’s done in any event, but if he can bring that result he will at least get Big Biz’s sinecure.
If he doesn’t then he’s got nothing and is still done. So my calc is he will get a deal done.
4jkb4ia
Another journey into extra innings in Boston.
celticdragonchick
Just wait for the primary challenges to McConnell and his ilk.
TX Expat
All work and no play make jack a dull boy.
All work and no play make jack a dull boy.
All work and no play make jack a dull boy.
All work and no play make jack a dull boy.
All work and no play…
I’m not usually this pessimistic, but how long before we’re trying to shave ourselves through a window that’s just a little too small?
Brandon
Too bad? That’s a bit flip, innit? Considering the consequences and all. I guess you figure that this whole fiasco won’t hurt you or your family. But as always, we know what’ll happen here, its the plebes that’ll get hurt. Guess you figure yourself for a maker now, screw the takers. Sorry if I am being a bit harsh, but I think your snark just missed the mark right now.
BruinKid
@1. Karen:
Ahh… you know what a Eric Cantor speakership would be like? I mean, it might just be OK if we didn’t start out with about 27% of this country being absolute total morons who cannot understand basic facts or logic.
Davis X. Machina
Every Robespierre his Danton…
BethanyAnne
You know, this whole mess has me irritated enough that I’m not sure what to think. I don’t know how much is just anger, and how much is rational. I’m just so frustrated with the idjits who think that default is worth it if Obama is destroyed. That old “pigeon under a bridge” quote comes to mind. And I’m really irritated with Obama. I know he’s not a fighter by temperment. But responding to an asskicking with calm reason really isn’t appropriate. The Repug’s seem to me a group of dumber than average sociopaths. Don’t talk to them! Slap them! It’s the only language they will understand. /sigh I’m almost never this down on our process, but it just seems to suck so. Makes me wanna hide and play Warcraft, and that’s not a fucking productive response.
darkmatter
Excellent summation Dengre.
Boehner wanted to be Boss Tweed so badly & run the Repub Caucus like Tammany Hall, revelling in the perks and telling assholes like Cantor and Bachmann where to go. Instead, Boehner is Dead Man Walking and the long knives are primed to end his suffering. The tell will be what happens to him in the next seven days. Hopefully he takes Cantor with him when it all goes down. Obama will get his clean bill passed and will obliterate the physic spine of the Teapublican Party.
The sane portion of the public is aware and watching…
General Stuck
What gets me, and it is hard to get outraged by anything the wingnuts do, after 8 years of Bush, my outrage motor just wore out — is this thoroughly insane fetish the tea tards have as a requirement to raise the debt to pass a constitutional balanced budget amendment, or else it’s no deal.
Something that takes a 2/3 majority vote in both chambers of congress before being sent to the states to ratify with 3/4 of them needed.
And not just any balance budget amendment, but one that mandates a 2/3 vote to raise any and all taxes. Like California, and that trainwreck of a state.
And it would necessitate a sizable number of dem votes to pass, and effectively require a 2/3 vote to raise the debt ceiling.
That is some world class hubris, in and likely beyond the standard Cheney set for anything he wanted to do.
4jkb4ia
Also too, Boehner must know that he doesn’t have the American people. In his role of one-person focus group my husband, who I’m not sure heard all of Boehner’s speech due to being in the kitchen, said that he agreed with the President and that taxes on the rich needed to go up. Obama did exactly the right thing telling people to contact their Congresscritters. Many of them need to know that they work for more than just the people to whom their silly pledges are important.
Karen
@BruinKid
Boner has the appearance of sanity.
Cantor has no facade, the nation sees how stupid he is.
I hate Cantor with a passion. But he can’t hand behind pretend sanity.
eric
The Constitution doesn’t call for a balanced budget; it does command that the debt of the US should not be questioned, yet there he was holding what the constitution demands hostage to get what he wants.
wetcasements
This is painful to watch, and Obama continues to disappoint with his genetic fecklessness, and it’s truly embarassing to know that the rest of the world understands that the Teabaggers control America.
But in the long-term the GOP is dead. Demographics are against them.
These are the final, crazy death-throes of a doomed party.
The big money boys are realizing that they let the genie out of the bottle and allowed the GOP to go full retard. And as we all know when you fuck with their bottom line you will get shafted.
Throwin Stones
Love your posts dengre.
This one is spot on. Boehner is the next district over. He’s run opposed in most elections. Hope another Justin Coussoule might take him, but I can’t count on SW OH.
I do hate the thought of Cantor rising in the ranks. What a smarmy ass.
Anne
I’d feel sorry for him if he wasn’t such a douchebox (definition: more than just a douchebag – a whole shipping container of said hygiene implements). He and a decent chunk of the rest of his party apparently thought it was a good idea to enable the Teahadists, and not surprisingly, it bit him in the ass. How did any of the Republicans hear the rhetoric those morons were spewing and think, “They seem like decent enough folks – they’ll play ball.”?
Karen
@wetcasements
“genetic fecklessness?”
Oh do tell me what that means Braniac?
4jkb4ia
Not letting me edit, but my husband may very well have no one to vote for for President next year. What happens in September at the UN re a Palestinian state might turn out to be really important. I am not kidding. I only lived with him for 9 years.
Lysana
This remark from the Orange One seems fitting to link to here.
J. Michael Neal
Davis X. Machina: But, but, Boehner thought he was Lenin.
darkmatter
I’m getting tired of people saying that Obama needs to slap the Republicans around. The American people know that the Repubs are full of shit and complete sociopaths that would gleefully enjoy the economy tank. As has been stated before, Obama is hitting all the right notes and stated that everyone call their reps & congresscritters. If you want to go emo, there are plenty of places on the internet to do so.
Nylund
I’m just reading about the FAA partial shutdown. Has Balloon-Juice covered this?
I think its a good example of the types of things to come. Basically, the FAA has to get its “operation authority” reinstated every now and then. The GOP in the house added a rider to it this time that said that when airline and railroad employees vote to unionize any non-present votes should count as “no” votes. This would make it much harder for workers to unionize. Dems in the Senate said, “no way are we passing that.”
So now tons of projects to expand airports, fix up traffic control, ease congestion, delays, etc are all on hold. Probably about 8,000 people (public and private) will lose their jobs, and the FAA will lose out on $30 million A DAY in revenues from a tax on airline tickets it no longer has an authority to charge. No, that doesn’t mean cheaper fares for you and me. The airlines are just keeping that money themselves instead of handing it over to the FAA.
So…lost jobs, lost revenue, lost opportunity to make the things we use more efficient and better for Americans.
I imagine that the years to come (if not days to come) will just be this on a much larger scale.
James E. Powell
I am a democratic soshulist who has voted a straight Democratic ticket since 1974 because I was convinced then that the Republican Party was not just filled with bad ideas, but bad people. Nothing that has happened since has given me any reason to change my mind. On nearly every issue of significance, I have moved slowly but consistently to the left.
This is going a long way to explain that I have no idea how speeches like those from Obama and Boehner sound to the average American voter.
To me, Obama sounded like reasonable adult Republican. Boehner sounded like his speech was written by FOX or Frank Luntz. But, based on what I’ve heard other people, ranging from family and friends to total strangers overheard in public, Boehner’s speech sounded much more like the average American sounds, and seemed to be based on commonly accepted beliefs (not, that is, facts) that no one, not Obama, not Democrats, not news-creatures, ever call into question.
So I am asking all of you to help me to understand how tonight’s speeches resonate and communicate with average Americans.
Rick Taylor
Yep. This strikes me as just right. Boehnher is currently desperately trying to save House Republicans from themselves, getting them to pass something they can point at to say, it wasn’t our fault, we tried to offer a deal, when the country defaults. He doesn’t have a chance.
Quiddity
Mike Murphy tweets:
(both sides being R & D, not Boehner vs Cantor/TeaParty)
grape_crush
@20: I heard that too. Boehner should be purple instead of orange, ’cause he’s getting squished like a grape.
Oh and I’d like to say that Glenn Beck is still a fucking douchebag, but that would be an insult to fucking douchebags.
(Oh – the show logo in the lower right looks like one of those Nazi armbands, doesn’t it? Coincidence?)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I never thought I’d be grateful for twitter
4jkb4ia
Bottom of the 11th, Big Papi has been intentionally walked to get to Crawford, 2 out.
(Crawford : K. Outstanding clutch hitting 2 ABs in a row now.)
FlipYrWhig
Same here, but for a different reason. If the whole thing was between Obama and Republicans, then, yes, I’d also be craving some ass-kicking. But it’s actually a number of different transactions: between Obama and Republicans, between Republicans and the public, and between Obama and the public. Obama laying into Republicans more doesn’t necessarily help him with the public. It helps with our little corner of the public, but that’s not the whole world.
Nutella
@darkmatter:
Well, there’s a happy thought! We need something, anything cheerful to cling to.
I did my tiny bit just now by sending a fax to Boehner saying ‘do your damn job’ (slightly more politely phrased). Also faxed my senators, congressman, Pelosi, Reid, and Obama saying ‘make congress do its job and hands off SS, Medicare, and Medicaid’.
Don’t know how much it will help but it’s something.
I won’t cry for Boehner when he goes. I’m saving my tears for the victims of this trainwreck, not the perpetrators.
MojoQuestor
This just kills me:
“Did he mean Mango-A-Mano? His orange color reminds me of one.”
J. Michael Neal
I am disgusted by the bigots on this blog. The vile hatred you are spewing about the patriotic Oompa-Americans in our midst has to stop. They are citizens just like the rest of us.
The Dangerman
@Nylund:
The sweet thing there is the Airlines are still collecting taxes from flyers and have no authority to hand it over to the Feds.
Jennifer
Eric Cantor is the Jim Hoft of House Republicans.
Davis X. Machina
@J. Michael Neal: Lenin was a far more disciplined and ascetic character than Boehner ever was, or will be. We may be seeing the soi-disant revolutionaries giving way to the the real article.
Jean
Cantor is my rep, and is in the safest district in the country. It would take redistricting (which won’t happen) or an act of God to remove him. His is an utter moron and proud of his smarmy behavior. He’s worse than smarmy. It doesn’t matter where I’ve lived in this state; he’s the rep.
Montysano
Mrs. Monty and I went to see The Civil Wars tonight. “Chemistry” doesn’t even come close to describing what happens when they sing. A marvelous show.
MojoQuestor
J. Michael Neal @32
You are right, JM, and I feel bad about the (not original with me) mango crack. Like Dennis G., I *almost* feel sorry for Boehner. He’s not helping, but he’s stuck between Barack and a hard place. Cantor and his ilk are the real problem now.
The Spy Who Loved Me
Dennis certainly is the man about town, attending fancy pants dinner parties with the movers and shakers of Washington. I’m impressed.
mcd410x
I wish we could ask congresscritters and the President what they think will happen in unemployment with a $2-3 trillion cut. Yay Grand Bargain! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Comrade Kevin
@J. Michael Neal: Go have a beer at Brit’s, and toast the Oompa Loompa for me.
JGabriel
Dennis G. @ Top:
And we’ll be getting Eric Cantor. Whom none of us deserve.
Shame about his name. Whenever I see it I think of the great mathematician Georg Cantor — discover/inventor (depending on whether you think we find or create math) of the transfinite numbers — and it is a terrible association for poor Georg to get stuck with.
.
mcd410x
Via Nate Silver, ABC/WaPo poll: 57% disapprove how Obama is handling econ., 60% on deficit, 47% on taxes, 52% on jobs. The one and only thing Democrats can hang their collective hat on is the GOP is worse.
Want to know what fills the tax coffers? Putting people back to work. Why is this a difficult concept?
JGabriel
MojoQuestor:
I can’t quite manage even that marginal level of sympathy after tonight’s bullshit performance, especially after spending 10 minutes giving John the finger — which, by the way, gets really really boring after about 10 seconds, and actively starts to ache after a few minutes, I guess from holding it in the same position, which you wouldn’t think it would ‘cuz using it rather more actively doesn’t, ache that is, but I persisted because I knew I was doing it for my country
.
Yutsano
@JGabriel: Your sacrifice is duly noted. You still don’t get a tax break for it though. :)
goblue72
You don’t negotiate with sociopaths – you kill them. That’s what’s so infuriating about the
Naderitesfirebaggers – they think they are doing some patriotic leftist duty by pissing and moaning about how the President is not left enough, or failed some progressive purity poll. Or about how Harry Reid doesn’t have enough balls. Or that Geithner and Summers are plotting to hand over Social Security to underpants gnomes. When the reality is that the other side is clearly composed of corporate fascists, theocon nuts, and bigots – and have been for quite some time.The job of everyone who isn’t a Republican nut – from Border-y centrists to firebaggin’ Hamsheristas – is to support Democrats – enthusiastically, unequivocally – until the demon-spawn of the current Republican party is completely and utterly destroyed.
After that, you can go back to pissing matches. But until then, the leftier-than-thou crap is just dissension in the ranks.
JGabriel
@TX Expat:
Out of curiousity, is this referencing Kubrick’s The Shining or Husker Du’s All Work And No Play?
.
Davis X. Machina
@mcd410x: It’s not the concept, it’s the sixty votes in the Senate, and the 218 votes in the House, just like it was in February of ’09.
MojoQuestor
jGabriel, My hat’s off to you :) I didn’t use my finger, I just yelled at the teevee a few times. Don’t get me wrong, Boehner pissed me off (blank check my ass).
I think it’s like DG implied, he’s trying to save his hide by preaching to the choir–only the choir is actually a firing squad, and Cantor is handing out the bullets.
BruinKid
@14. Karen:
Except there’s that much discussed 27% crazification factor who simply cannot or will not see Cantor for being insane. And they’re enough to win many GOP primaries, and even enough Congressional seats.
James E. Powell
Following up on my earlier post in this thread, I just watched Brian Williams on Letterman. Apparently, according to the man recently honored as broadcaster of the year (or some such thing), no one in Washington is acting like an adult, both sides have created this crisis, both are being totally partisan, the whole problem is that we need to cut entitlements, and Obama doesn’t want to do that.
Isn’t this what the average American thinks?
I don’t even want to get into Williams’s discussion of the 14th amendment. He’s either a total liar or a totally ignorant person.
JGabriel
@goblue72:
Can’t we just incarcerate them, or commit them to a mental ward?
Killing them all seems kind of harsh and Breivik-y.
.
Felanius Kootea
@wetcasements: Obama’s “genetic fecklessness?”
Since none of the definitions above fit Obama, to my mind, please do explain. I’m trying not to jump to conclusions since this is the first time I’ve noticed you on Balloon Juice.
FlipYrWhig
@ mcd :
Keep in mind it’s not like it’s being taken out of next year’s budget all at once.
4jkb4ia
Game over. 3-1 KC. Everything that possibly could have gone wrong, did. Analogy to broader national scale obvious.
FlipYrWhig
@ Felanius : Presumably he or she means that Obama is inept (feckless) by nature (genetically).
James E. Powell
@Felanius Kootea:
I don’t know what wetcasements meant by ‘genetic,’ but I have seen ‘feckless’ used to mean futile, worthless, or weak.
I wouldn’t call Obama feckless. I’d say maybe too gentlemanly.
Fax Paladin
So basically, if/when Boehner gets the long knives inserted…
…one well-timed bomb or set of gunshots means we get President Cantor?
We’re utterly fucked.
Spaghetti Lee
FTFRS.
Canadian Shoggoth
The whole “both sides do it” BS needs a simple rebuttal based on Kellog’s mini-wheat ads. “Healthy nutritious side vs Frosted, tasty (to T-Baggers) side” Most voters have seen those ads and it would be easy to work into speeches.
Karen
@FlipYrWhig and the others
I get what you’re saying and I knew what the two words meant. But wetcasements didn’t just say “feckless.” He said “genetically” feckless. He could have clearly made his point by saying that Obama has a feckless personality or whatnot without bringing GENETICS into it.
By using the word GENETICS, that implies that such “weakness” comes from Obama’s GENES. Not just him personally but his GENES.
In other words, wetcasements is using euphemisms to really say that Obama is too weak to be President because he’s black. Period.
As for you wetcasements, take your fucking racist, pathetic, egg sucking scumbag self and go back to Stormfront you ignorant microscopically endowed pathetic carcass of a subhuman being!
D2
I don’t like all of the violent metaphors here. If it’s not knives in someone’s back, it’s a question of whether the president should slap some people around. I realize no one is calling for these things to literally happen, and that they are metaphors. Still, this is how bad habits get started.
Karen
@BruinKid
I understand what you’re saying. But isn’t it better that the GOP have the dissension between what Wall Street says and what the Tea Party says? Having Cantor as speaker will scare the hell out of Wall Street. Won’t it?
FlipYrWhig
@ Karen : I’m not sure about the racial aspect. I think the insult is basically that he was born that way (ETA) and can’t help it.
Jewish Steel
@FlipYrWhig: Congenital is the word he was searching for no doubt. Doesn’t change the fundamental wrongness of the statement.
Nor the courageous posting and running away.
@Karen:
Why are you holding back? You know you’ll give yourself an ulcer that way.
Karen
@FlipYrWhig
Then wetcasements could have said Obama was born that way. Why bring genetics into it? Why use that wording? He could have even said Obama has a feckless nature. By using the word genetics, it implies more than Obama being born that way. It’s saying it’s in his genes. That’s inherited. He purposely used the word “genetically.” Why?
sukabi
seems to me that if a default happens, none of the Repubs are going to fare too well… Don’t think Boner’s dick will be the only one on the chopping block… Cantor may be after Boner’s gavel, but he’ll have to contend with the other members of his party — and the Wall Streeters that have been working the back doors to try and get a deal done… no one’s going to be looking to him for ‘leadership’… stomping out of a meeting with the President and whining to the press isn’t the stuff of ‘leaders’, it’s the stuff of bratty toddlers.
adding, Boner cries at the drop of a hat, but Eric can’t quit whining… he’s like a male Palin… both their voices are like nails on a chalkboard…
boss bitch
@Karen: just throw it in the pile of nonsensical personal attacks on Obama. Its usually just people who like to think they are smarter/stronger/ballsier than the president. Basically they are arrogant pricks.
CaliCat
Wow. You FDL-Obama-hating dipshits are here in full force tonight so I’m going to have to set you straight. OBAMA IS NOT FECKLESS, NOR IS HE WEAK, NOR IS HE A NON-FIGHTER. He’s doing everything humanly possible to deal with these Republican extremists. I’ve noticed that none of you brainiacs “on the left” are capable of offering any plausible solutions yourselves to the insurmountable problems this president faces. So instead you complain about his mannerisms. Why am I not surprised? No doubt you fuckwads will continue to whine about petty crap like the president’s “calmness” since that’s all you can come up with.
Kathleen
James E Powell@53 In my opinion, Brian Williams, along with 98% of the botcast business, is a media whore tool of the corporati. And I do miss Media Whores.com. Sigh
Kirbster
Boehner seems like such a dinosaur. He reminds me of some of my high-functioning alcoholic relatives from my childhood in the “Mad Men” era. Perhaps he could have been an effective Speaker when country club Republicans ran the party, but he’s just incompatable with the new breed of no-compromise teabirchers in the House.
Unless Boehner voluntarily (or semi-voluntarily) steps down, wouldn’t a fight for the speakership further damage the GOP brand? There’s nothing even remotely likeable about the charmless, wonky Cantor. Replacing Mr. B in the middle of a session because he’s not radical enough doesn’t have the same justification or urgency of replacing a Speaker of the House who is, say, under indictment.
OzoneR
no, especially not with a GOP president
OzoneR
So the bully pulpit doesn’t seen to be exciting “the base”
whoocoodanode?
Steve
It’s common to see “genetically” used as a generic intensifier, also “congenitally.”
D.A.
@wetcasment. What the fuck is genetic fecklessness? Sounds like someone’s been smoking the pages of an ol’ phrenology textbook. Your big giant thinky type brain might actually be encephalitis. You really need to get that checked bruh.
ET
Be careful what you wish for, you may actually get it.
I knew this was going to happen – that fact that he didn’t says his head was so high in the clouds after becoming Speaker that he was blind.
jinxtigr
@60
Uh-oh.
If that happens, what I thought was my life no longer matters. Suddenly I’ll be a Union soldier. …willingly, I might add. It will be open war. Because I’d call that a coup, and I won’t stand for it :P so my life will be over… probably get fucking killed, fighting back.
jinxtigr
Seriously, people, listen to yourselves talking about Cantor. We’ve been looking at fruitcakes like Palin and Bachmann and trying to imagine the ‘charismatic’ leader of the fascist movement being one of them. It’s not going to be a woman. You’re looking at him. Cantor is the one.
It doesn’t matter if YOU think he’s a smarmy asshole that you want to slap. To the teahadis the guy’s going to come off like a God, even more if he manages to crash the economy of the world. WATCH OUT and I hope we can protect our leadership and not allow a ‘legal’ path to the guy taking total power.
Rome Again
@Canadian Shoggoth: The Teabagger side isn’t so sweet.
Rome Again
@mcd410x:
There IS no grand bargain, you dipshit!