In my previous post on the Boehner failure to get his caucus to fall in line and hike taxes — which would have been the first time they’d done so in decades of their having held a House majority — I half-jokingly attributed to the GOP ruling class establishment the headline, “Stupid unnuanced purists stab only adult in the room in his adroit and savvy back; prove they ain’t worth the salt in his (orange-tinged) tears.”
Turns out I wasn’t too terribly far off, though (h/t geoff B): “Boehner team calls tea party members ‘insane asylum,’ ‘extremists'”:
Roll Call reports,
Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, R-Ohio, said Boehner told him that he would call Obama to see about the way forward. But it is clear that his negotiating leverage is tarnished and Republicans may inevitably have to swallow a fiscal cliff deal that heavily skews toward the president’s demands.
“It weakens the entire Republican Party, the Republican majority. It’s the continuing dumbing-down of the Republican Party and we are going to be seen more and more as a bunch of extremists that can’t even get a majority of our own people to support policies that we’re putting forward,” LaTourette said.
But he predicted that, ultimately, the ordeal will not cost Boehner his job, blaming instead the intractable wing of the conference who refused to vote for the plan B.
“It’s like saying that the superintendent of an insane asylum should be discharged because he couldn’t control the crazy people. That’s nuts,” he said.
The Hill adds:
Moments before announcing defeat to his GOP colleagues, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) recited the Serenity Prayer often heard at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
“Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference,” the downtrodden House Speaker said at a hastily called closed-door meeting Thursday night to tell fellow House Republicans that he didn’t have to votes to pass his “Plan B” effort to avoid the “fiscal cliff.”
In hindsight, such a prayer at such a moment sounds a bit self-serving.
Perhaps one of the things Congress should have the courage and wisdom to change is the GOP leadership.
Precisely so. The only reason Boehner is Speaker is because the TEA Party stormed in and took the House, along with many state legislatures and governorships. But rather than show gratitude, Boehner and his old boy network of deal makers and inside the Beltway pragmatic appeasers have devoted more energy on purging conservatives than on dealing competently, confidently, and coherently with Democrats.
And while the GOP leadership fumes and curses and demeans those they’ve been installed to represent, those who stand their ground — those who will be removed from committees, receive no funding for their re-election campaigns, or will in some cases see GOP members actively support their Democrat challengers — have done the only real service to the people, essentially thwarting yet another pussified GOP attempt to kick the can down the road that the “conservative DC press” has been prepared to push as a “savvy” or “adroit” victory.
As if watching the GOP actively join in as willing participants to a Marxist class narrative is a victory in what is supposed to be a free market capitalist country built on principles of individual liberty and limited federal government, not on feeding the Leviathan until it is good and sated.
The time has come for a full-scale revolt in the House. Beyond that, it’s a no go. The GOP will just have to become a meaningless national Party, while the rest of us work at the state level at nullification and electing Governors willing to stand up to unions and lobbyists and pull us back toward our Constitutional principles.
Memes of the funny money class, circa 2012, as found at the WSJ:
This is your money class, people, the corrupt, kleptocratic tribalism that the left over at clownshows like Mother Jones and The Rolling Stone naturally look to when it’s time to just hang someone from the nearest rhetorical tree.
So nice of you to play along, WSJ.
Boehner is a total misfit but he’s got no play here and he’s never had a play here save quitting. Socialist Lite wins no votes from either side. He’s living that 24/7 and I hope he wakes in cold sweats over it nightly, discomfited by the magnitude of his own cowardly fecklessness.
Someone should ask LaTourette why conservatives should back Democrat initiatives put forth by the GOP.
Because shut up, Blake. /s
“Boehner team calls tea party members ‘insane asylum,’ ‘extremists’”
Tea Party insane Asylum extremists call Speaker Boehner big useless pussy, mistake, disaster, huge disappointment, fatuous idiot, enemy of liberty, and call for him to lose speakership since he is unworthy of it.
Under Boehner the GOP motto is “non ledo me in faciem”.
god this is hilarious. I’m actually shocked that we’ve got any representatives left in congress who give a rip what the people want. It’s a Christmas miracle everyone!
LaTourette, by the way, has retired from Congress and will not be back in the next Congress. Will he take a job on K street? It’s probably a good guess, but I don’t know it for a fact.
I’m disappointed to not see Jason Chaffetz’s name among the rebels. Ima tell him what for.
Boehner must have accidentally mentioned Johnny Ola, cuz the Tea Party just took him out in Fredo’s row boat and put two in the back of his head.
I know it was you Boehner.
(kiss of death)
You broke my heart.
Get bent, Stevie.
Lamont, good to see you.
I have the same sense. Given that both the left and right establishments are demanding NEGOTIATIONS! like this one of those things where halfway between death and dying constitutes victorious reprieve and fifteen days on the Riviera, you have to wonder what’s possessed the little faction of DC that’s actually jamming sticks in their spokes.
And it’s delicious.
Hey Blake. Merry Christmas buddy.
Watch your footing on this cliff thing. Looks like the first step off is gonna be a doosy.
I can’t understand why the sonofabitch doesn’t just adjourn the House. They’ve already passed a tax bill and a budget. Which is more that Harry Reid can say. All the action is on the Senate side. If we go over the cliff, it will be because Harry Reid and/or Barak Obama hate the rich more than they love the middle class.
(that’s you’re talking point memo for the rest of the year, btw)
Frankly, the only way this makes any sense is if Boehner and Obama are running some kind of good cop/bad cop kabuki –and the House conservatives/tea partiers are in the hot seat.
But what the hell do I know? I’m just a hobbity little tea-blossom chewer.
Even the lotus-eaters think I’m whack.
Shut it down. No federal paychecks, no federal payouts of ANY kind.
Oh, your dog is hungry?
Tough shit.
almost paradise we’re knockin on heaven’s door
Boehner failed because his primary motivation was not being blamed for failure, as though Obama and Democratic leadership ever had any intention of not going over the fiscal cliff to get all the mileage they could out of blaming the evil Republicans. Unless and until that tactic fails, there was never any incentive for them to do otherwise. Boehner’s inability to either see this or act upon it and lead with principles is his great undoing.
Now, now mojo…do you want to upset this fine American?
Shame on you.
That poor woman only got to vote three times because of conservative libertarian meanies like you. She was supposed to vote ten times. But noooo. You and yours have to represent all that is evil with your “voter intimidation” and “let it burn” ideology.
I bet you have a “military style” super assaulty type gun thingy too.
With bullets & stuff.
NRA terrorist.
Can’t think of a better reason to support the Tea Party than that they stopped this “compromise.” Boehner seems to have a lot of problems recognizing who his opponents are.
Boehner failed because his primary motivation was not being blamed for failure
Which falls under the “it’s amazing what you can get accomplished if you don’t worry who gets the credit” clause.
where halfway between death and dying constitutes victorious reprieve
And if one side wants to build a bridge across a river and the other side doesn’t, building a bridge halfway across is worse than useless and now you’ve spent all that money for nothing.
Ummm. How’s he supposed to lead with principles if he doesn’t have any?
Other than careerism über alles, that is.
The best possible Christmast present would be for that orange fucker to lose his job.
Lamont, I’m a big believer in ripping the damn band-aid off quickly. Get it over with and deal with the pain.
If jumping off the cliff is inevitable, same thing. Get on with it so we can deal with the pain.
He fucks oranges? What a weirdo.
“Look, Daddy. Teacher says every time Orange Man cries, an angel gets his wings.”
“That’s right, that’s right. Attaboy, Boehner”
Mmmmm. Delicious orange tears.
This politician knew what to do with oranges.
I’m personally a big proponent of us going full speed over the fiscal cliff, if for no other reason than to smack the idiot majority of the people in this country (looking at you Obama voters) right in the face with the harsh reality that you can’t have all your free crap and untouched entitlements with only the evil, hated, selfish rich paying for it. No matter how much lying liar Obama said we could.
You want all this stuff? Start paying the real costs for it and see how much you still want it.
I hope you choke.
I think we should go over the cliff waving out hands in the air as if we’re on a roller coaster.
Whee!
Perhaps not going over the fiscal cliff would be the worst of all possible worlds. There would be lots of back-slapping, photo ops, congratulations for Republicans being reasonable as they are patted on the head and have the chains on their collars shortened a couple more links — and we will still be in fiscal free fall as the spending remains cranked up to 11.
Benefit #2 of fiscal cliff divin’ now is that we still get to have the debt ceiling fight in February or March, rather than giving Obama another full year to SPEND SPEND SPEND like feckless Boehner was fully prepared to do.
So we got that going for us.
cranky, are you already hitting the Christmas cheer?
Agreed Blake. Most of us (certainly the ones on this particular end of the internet commenting on Jeff’s blog) have worked our asses off day in/day out to have parachutes for Obama’s & the New Left’s cliff. Not “golden parachutes” mind you, but well planned, stable ones that will allow us to go over the “cliff” under canopy and land in the bottom of the ever deepening gorge in something along the lines of a 25mph controlled car wreck.
In short, we’ll all get up, dust ourselves off, patch our wounds, and walk away.
Go back to rebuilding a nation.
The media/independents/undecideds/Hollywood/Obama 2012! zombies?
They’ll all fall off the cliff, reach terminal velocity, and go splat.
There ain’t no free lunch dummies.
Time to pay the bill.
Lamont, I’m waiting for the wails of “We didn’t know” from the left. At which point I’ll look them in the eye and tell them “You were told, you decided not to listen.”
They can have their Clinton-era tax rates if we can also have Clinton-era spending, regulation, and healthcare.
“Listening” is not the New Left’s strong suit Blake.
If it comes to it, the proggies will pet and nuzzle the big pale grey horse, and invite it’s rider, Death, to guest lecture at Berkeley.
I’ve never been one for prejudiced sweeping generalizations, but how does EVERY DAMN THING these people want not involve a suicide pact?
Is there a list of the insane conservatives that stood up to the warden?
I’m kinda liking the cliff diving trend. All this tax talk is distracting.
We keep saying our children are getting a stiff check in the future for what we’re spending now, and it’s true. 42 cents of the federal dollar is borrowed money…borrowed from the next generation that is.
Well, we had a vote and it was decided the spending wasn’t going to be cut, so the only responsible, even moral thing to do is tax the shit out of everybody until the budget is balanced. Do away with deductions and credits, and make everything over $500 per person taxable at 20%, period. If the budget still doesn’t balance, raise it to 25%, if it does, lower it to 15%. Adjust as necessary.
Unless and until we bill all the spending to the 99%, it won’t stop.
Who knew that publicly punishing the purists in your party could back fire?
Let’s go over. People still aren’t as pissed off as I am to see Obama partying naked with the Pop celeb of the week, and until at least that changes, nothing else will. Because having all of us suffer while the people in Washington swallow those glitter pills so they s**** gold is not a good way to run America.
I’m fully prepared to pay the extra taxes next year. I’ve been prepping for this since Feb. Bring it on.
Actually, Blake, I’m working right now (though since I’m a contract programmer, I’m working from my dad’s house in San Diego). I won’t be going to the bar for another 3 hours or so.
Over the cliff, post haste!
Harrumph, harrumph, harrumph!
“If it comes to it, the proggies will pet and nuzzle the big pale grey horse, and invite it’s rider, Death, to guest lecture at Berkeley.”
I am told that Binky quite enjoys being petted and nuzzled. Sadly the Grim Reaper tends to deal in reality and uncomfortable truths so I doubt he’d be invited back to Berkely. Not that he would refrain from returning should he have business there.
I plan on doing a great swan dive off the fiscal cliff.
Cannonball!!!
Hey, paleo, I’m not saying Death’s Berkeley lecture would end in delicious lemon strawberry cream cheese crepes.
And Mimosas.
I figure regular class students plus every tenured campus professor & pony tailed undergrad (that could change shifts at Barnes & Noble) “auditing” the class on that particular day.
I think Death would enjoy a few choice words, a bit of back and forth, and then just see many smelly fish right in his barrel.
Or he just might take off & nuke the entire site from orbit.
Only way to be sure, right?
Somehow making Boehner cry isn’t anywhee near the accomplishment it would have been getting Dick Cheney to cry.
At least for Cheney it would have involved cutting him back to eating only three liberals’ hearts for supper.
Dick Cheney cried once. Just once.
The tears were captured by Liz Cheney in a small titanium lined music box.
The tears in the music box rest 1,500ft under the Vatican.
Encased in bedrock.
No body knows what they do.
what’s the proper attire for cliff jumping?
what’s the proper attire for cliff jumping?
Well, newrouter, it seems going to see Lucius Fox in the R&D department of Wayne Enterprises and simply requesting one of these would outfit you nicely for the cliff jump.
Lamont and Palaeomerus, how things go at the lecture probably depends on the mood of Death. If Death is tired and in bad humor, Death will lo0k the crowd in the eye and cry: “Unworthy, the lot of you!” and swing his proverbial scythe.
However, if Death is in good humor, he would probably open the floor to discussion and take a few questions. For instance, I can see an opening question somewhere long the lines of: “Death, what do you think the of the Patriarchal Death Construct?” or, “Death, did you know (cite bullshit study proving death kills far more women than men) and what are you doing to alleviate the impression of phallo-centric bias?”
Of course, taking questions from a Berkely crowd likely puts Death in bad humor.
I think we know what death would say:
Shut up! Shut up, you American. You always talk, you Americans, you talk and you talk and say ‘Let me tell you something’ and ‘I just wanna say this.’ Well, you’re dead now, so shut up.
Shit Blake. Now I honestly wanna hear this class/lecture. Don’t get me wrong, I’d do it like I did back in the old days. Recording device on my desk a friend can pick up after class, and I’m 30 miles away quail hunting or bass fishin’.
Death ain’t gonna get my ass that easy!
But if the Old Angel did have some humor left, I’d wanna hear what was said on both sides.
The dummies & The Reaper.
That’s gold, Jerry! Gold.
Ernst, you got me. I’m belly laughing.
You’re pr’olly not a fan of Family Guy, but Norm McDonald and then Adam Carolla as “Death” is still two of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
I was thinking more of the Discworld death.
“YOU PEOPLE ARE ABSOLUTELY PREPOSTEROUSLY STUPID. YOUARE DELUSIONAL. ARE YOU…ER…PEOPLE… ALL WIZARDS PERHAPS? NO. THE HATS SAY NO. OR RATHER THE LACK OF THEM. SO I SUPPOSE YOU ARE JUST DUNDERHEADS AND BOOBS AS IT WERE. WELL, THIS COULD BE A LONG NIGHT. ASH’KENTE IS NOT BE PERFORMED LIGHTLY. SIGH. COULD SOME ONE PLEASE PASS ME ONE OF THOSE HORS D’OURVES TRAYS ? I MIGHT AS WELL HAVE A SNACK WHILE YOU LOT SIT THERE GAWPING AT ME TRYING TO WORK UP THE NERVE TO CALL ME A FASCIST OR TRY TO TAX ME OR SOMETHING. AH THANKS. THIS ISN’T REAL CHEESE IS IT? SIGH. I’M STARTING TO THINK THAT THE AUDITORS ARE RIGHT ABOUT YOU LOT.”
I BET THE BLACK RABBIT OF INLE’ DOESN’T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THIS SORT OF NONSENSE.
Dick Cheney’s guest lecturing at Berkeley? That’s the class Death will audit. Everyone needs a refresher course on occasion.
Dick Cheney’s guest lecturing at Berkeley?
Oh my God…the s’plodey heads…they’re EVERYWHERE!!
Damn that Dick Cheney!
MSNBC’s and CNN’s satellite collided in orbit, fell out of the sky and hit Mika Brzezinski, Andrea Mitchell, Peirs Morgan, and Soledad O’brien while they were all at some stupid trendy Manhattan joint, all sharing some stupid trendy salad.
It hit hard.
A piece at Breitbart on changing Speakers.
Good luck to ’em, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
I’m afraid this turn of events only makes full capitulation more likely. Now that the conservatives have been peeled off the House Democrats can step forward and go along with the next thing Boehner puts forward.
Either that or we go over the cliff.
At which point Obama gets to be the ‘savior’ of the middle class by restoring (some) of their ‘lower’ taxes. Naturally, he’ll want massive boosts in spending in return for this ‘difficult’ compromise of his deep concerns over the public fisc.
Sure, we can demand real spending cuts before any deal on taxes – good luck selling that one when everyone’s paycheck is already lighter.
If this goes much further Boehner won’t be McClellan to our Lincoln, he’ll be Quintilius Varus to our Augustus. He needs to go now.
I had read the last part of this from the Obama press statement but hadn’t seen the first part which is sadly not stunning anymore coming from him.
What is really unfortunate is that this statement will be the only thing that his treasured and hoarded “low info” voters will ever hear about the whole of the fiscal cliff “negotiations.
I’m still looking for text on the Proposal That Makes sense™ that Carney keeps insisting is out there, written in Obama’s own glorious hand and spat upon by Congress.
Said PTMS seems to have been written on the wind.
Barack Obama is expert at ‘community inflaming’ his far-left base, and spreading that disease to shallow thinkers in the mainstream with his sky-high charisma. Only if he goes too far, disquiets some of the mainstream, will his popularity fall. With all the assistance he’s getting from 95% of the media, there’s really no way to thwart him.
There’s disquiet coming, but far too late to stop this madness.
Wayne LaPierre responded formally yesterday to the Newtown slaughter. No linky, because mobile on a bumpy road (I’m not driving at the moment!).
LaPierre gave a good speech yesterday. Naturally, the MSM only shows highlights of the parts that will piss off their base, but there was a lot more to it than what was on the six o’clock news.
Meanwhile, Chris Christie says ‘No fuckin’ way’ to putting armed guards in schools in Jersey. Quite obviously, Gov. Christie isn’t interested in the safety of our public school children since his kids go to parochial school.
LaPierre showed them how it’s done. The media wanted capitulation and contrition, they got neither and proceeded to throw a hissy fit further revealing themselves as the water boys of the left. They’re all Piers Morgan to the public now.
No lie, ThomasD. LaPierre said everything that needed to be said and said it well, I thought.
Naturally, the gun-grabbers have latched onto the minutiae such as his citing of specific video games that NO ONE plays anymore, man, to debunk his entire thesis.
Fail on their part.
I know the video game comments got ridiculed, but based upon my interactions with the mothers of my children’s friends and classmates, it is playing much better with the public than the media might think.
I didn’t think much of the putting armed guards in every school part.
There should have been more emphasis on ending gun-free zones and support for the right of school district employees to carry on school grounds. LaPierre should have added that the NRA would offer free training for teachers, administrators, janitors etc. who wanted to acquire a CCW.
And not just the basic gun-safety/know your state’s concealed carry/self-defense laws stuff. I want to turn missfixit’s titmouse kindergarten teacher into the Brunhilde of Three-Gun Nation.
If you’re going to push back, push back. Conceding that all schools everywhere are dangerous places in need of armed guards plays into the hands of gun banners. It’s going to be cheaper and easier to disarm everyone than it is to turn schools into little courthouses.
I believe his point was that there are a lot of retired LEOs who could work at the schools. I only watched it once and haven’t read the transcript, so I could be wrong.
It probably reads better than it excerpted on the 6 o’clock news.
leigh, obviously someone didn’t get Christie’s memo….
Heh. Apparently David Gregory, whose kids go to Sidwell Friends, didn’t know that either.