Dems vow to protect Boehner from conservative coup

[brooklynite]

Source: The Hill

Tea Party Republicans contemplating a bid to oust Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) shouldn't count on Democrats to help them unseat the Speaker.

And without their support, there is no chance to topple Boehner in this Congress.

A number of right-wing Republicans, long-wary of Boehner's commitment to GOP efforts attacking President Obama's policy priorities, have openly considered a coup in an attempt to transfer the gavel into more conservative hands.

But Democrats from across an ideological spectrum say they'd rather see Boehner remain atop the House than replace him with a more conservative Speaker who would almost certainly be less willing to reach across the aisle in search of compromise. Replacing him with a Tea Party Speaker, they say, would only bring the legislative process — already limping along — to a screeching halt.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/234766-dems-would-back-boehner-in-coup-attempt

---

You know, I guessed this might have been the quid pro quo for allowing a vote on the clean DHS Bill.

[mac56]

1. Actually, this is pretty smart.

Nothing is going to piss off the Teabaggers like knowing that the House Dems are protecting Boner.

[Cryptoad]

5. Plus the Fact ,,,,,

Bohner has provided more national Democratic votes than the DNC ever dreamed about!

[treestar]

2. The lesser of two evils

That's for sure.

[1StrongBlackMan]

4. True ...

and it extends the gop civil war!

[blackspade]

3. It actually makes political sense.

Boehner's continuing leadership exacerbates and weakens the rethug party just when they need to pull together.
The more divided they are the less damage they can cause.

[Neon Gods]

6. I'm not sure that supporting Boehner is a smart move

Very little is going to get done in this Congress even with Boehner as Speaker, so why not let the GOP oust him and replace him with someone even crazier?

The Republicans wouldn't help the Democrats if we tried replacing Pelosi with someone crazy who could make us look bad. They'd just snicker to themselves and say, "Go ahead!" knowing they would benefit.

When do we start playing hardball? Boehner made his bed, let him lay in it.

[Orsino]

12. I would be very tempted to plant a couple of BBs in that particular hornet's nest.

Possibly even worse for the country and world in the short run, but watching the chaos would be fun, and an emergent new Speaker further beholden to Tea Party dumbasses would rather guarantee a more Democratic 2016.

[A Simple Game]

25. That matches my thinking. If nothing worthwhile is going to get done,

at least we should have some entertainment.

And if nothing worthwhile is getting done then probably nothing harmful, other than neglect, will either. I believe their masters would rein them in before they did too much damage.

I couldn't agree more, all the better for liberals in 2016. We should not help them look sane.

But we need to stop calling them Tea party, we need to call them the reactionary branch of the Republican party. Always the Republican party, there is no Tea party on the election ballots. The Tea party isn't screwing up the government, the Republican party is.

[RKP5637]

7. I've often thought if Boehner did not have to deal with the assholes in his party he

would be quite different.

[wordpix]

8. He'd still be a drunk chain smoker, tho

[RKP5637]

9. Yep! That would stay the same. He looks so conflicted all the time. n/t

[wordpix]

35. "conflicted" isn't the word I'd use - it would be "drunk" and "phony"

[RKP5637]

37. He reminds me of a guy sitting at the end of the bar in a lounge getting shit faced

in the middle of the day because his last sales deal fell through that morning.

[Geronimoe]

10. Throw the incumbents and career polticans out

There are only a handful of politicians that work for the people. So I fully support getting rid of the vast majority of incumbents in any manner possible. Anyone of good conscious cannot support Boehner given his support of Bush/Cheney war crimes and torture.

Supporting the lesser of two evils, perpetuates the broken system.

[calimary]

21. Welcome to DU, Geronimoe!

Glad you're here! Point taken. However, I find myself leaning toward the "this is pretty smart strategy by the Dems" camp. In a political world like this one, sometimes one has to hold one's nose to vote for something - explicitly for the sake of keeping the worse of the two OUT of power. And I have yet to see the perfect candidate. Even on our side. Sometimes you have to maneuver and play games. That's something our side traditionally hasn't been that good at doing lately. But they seem to be learning. And it's making the GOP look like somebody the baboons out of the zoo and they're running amok all over town now. At this point, I'll take ANYTHING that manages to paint them into a corner or otherwise hobble their agenda - and especially - ANYTHING that makes them look glaringly idiotic and incompetent to the maximum number of potential voters.

We heard a boatload during the reagan era about the so-called "11th Commandment" - which is "thou shalt not speak ill of another republi-CON." Perhaps it's time the Dems adopted an 11th Commandment of their own: "Thou Shalt Do NOTHING that Helps the Opposition Look Good."

Besides, it toys wickedly with this supposedly sacrosanct "hastert rule" that the GOP seems to cling to - that you-the-GOP-leader can only advance bills in the House if you have a majority of GOP votes behind you. And the "hastert rule" isn't really a cast-in-bronze rule or law or any such thing. It's merely a vanity statement. But the extremists want that, and every time their guy has to violate it to get anything done, it further traumatizes and confounds the whole camp, and anything that throws them into disarray and hissy fits is a good thing for the rest of us. It helps our side prove to America that the other side is spectacularly unfit to govern. And frequent reminders of this do help.

[titaniumsalute]

11. Good for the DEMS

Fuck the right wing. Let's keep this teary eyed Oompa-Loompa in his position and keep them as divided as possible.

[Submariner]

13. Obama & Biden would be assassinated

If the teabaggers got one of their nutjobs in as Speaker. I feel some Domestic Terrorist Teabagger would take one for the team to make that happen.

The succeeding teabagger would move into the White House and immediately bomb Iran while a while killing the ACA.

Keep in mind we are dealing with racist mental midgets in the GOP.

[Chipper Chat]

16. Can you imagine Louie Gohmert being sworn in as president?

I'd be outta here on the first plane to Cuba.

[2naSalit]

17. There wouldn't be any place on the planet that would be safe

from the war-monger elite at that point. And Cuba would be one of the first places they'd go after.

[Xolodno]

28. Heh....thats what I thought too!

But maybe if they invaded Iran first and got locked up in a quagmire...Cuba could breathe a sigh of relief. I was thinking of going to the place they don't want to blow up and just want to build fence godzilla to keep everyone from coming in. Mexico!

[Chipper Chat]

33. Oh crap - you're right.

How about Siberia?

[2naSalit]

34. I once thought that would be an idea to consider

but once the permafrost melts you have other survival issues like sinking into the peat-like stuff, those gas bubble explosions that have been making those craters, and what about food? But a nuclear event -well actually would need to be several but one will undoubtedly spark other retaliatory events - would end it all too soon anyway.

And then drones with thermal imaging...

it never ends which is why things need to change for the better and soon.

[Reter]

30. Many Teabaggers like Mike Lee don't want to bomb Iran

Neo-cons like McCain and Bush do. The far, far-right is anti-war and isolationist. Pat Buchanan showcased this many times.

[AlinPA]

39. This is a rational thought. I'm surprised the GOP has not done it already. The hatred level plus the

political advantage they would gain with Boehner as President, the GOP controlled Senate, House and Supreme Court would be devastating.

[packman]

14. Best laugh of the day

a political party sitting on the opposite aisle supporting a speaker so bad in what he does they would support their should-be opponents. We have fallen down the hole, stepped into the looking glass, and passed all boundaries of common sense.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

15. It keeps the Republicans dysfunctional and snipping at one another's throats.

With a leader perceived to be weak and ineffectual by his own ranks.

In terms of political strategy, it's pretty smart from the Democrats' perspective.

[2naSalit]

18. Hmmm, I see a different logical argument on this...

If the Dems are "saving" the boner from his own party it could also mean that the Dems could have leverage in what Bills actually come to the floor for votes as well as other demands they could make which he would be somewhat obliged to honor. This could be a benefit that won't be readily recognize through all the smoke and dust. I;m thinking that the Dems could benefit from this whole thing and possibly cause the teabag society to implode in fits of apoplexy.

[Romeo.lima333]

19. good idea - we'll save your ass boner but it isnt gonna be for free

you orange a%%hole

[geek tragedy]

20. Kind of like it would have been better to keep Saddam in charge of Iraq nt

[whereisjustice]

22. Evidence the two parties are closer than they appear

[Cha]

42. It's nothing of the damn sort.

[whereisjustice]

44. dupe

[libodem]

23. Barf

WTF?

[DCBob]

24. I like it. It marginalizes the wackos.

[Arthur_Frain]

26. Don't expect any appreciation for it

These people have no sense of loyalty or decency. Real life example: Lisa Murkowski lost the 2012 primary to Tea Bagger Joe Miller. In the ensuing general election, Mark Begich (our other Senate seat and a democrat) stumped for Lisa to help her win as a write in candidate.

I can only imagine that the reasons he did this were, thinking she would be less destructive to Alaska than Joe, and expecting maybe they could get rid of some of the partisian B.S. that keeps politicians from different parties from compromising these days. Things weren't all that cozy for the next two years, and in the 2016 election, Lisa repaid Mark by throwing him under the bus and endorsing Dan Sullivan, who ended up winning in the usual conservative fashion.

Since day one, Obama has tried for the grand bargain, tried to be inclusive and reach across the aisle. What has that achieved? We learned that the republicans are the party of no. We learned that they are interested only in obstruction.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. At least Bush only got the quote wrong (pathetically, publicly) and then gave it up. Why do non conservatives not learn that it will not be different this time? Why help them at all anymore, at all, after so many sucker punches?

[Cha]

43. I don't think the Dems are doing it for "appreciation".. they know better. It's a strategic move to

keep some psychotic, big mouthed idiot like cruz away from the gavel

[samsingh]

27. so pathetic for boehner - bonehead

strategic yet weird for us.

[Thinkingabout]

29. No matter if you like or do not like Boehner to have him replaced b the likes of TP members is not a

smart move on the part of Democrats or moderate republicans. The speaker is second in line for replacing the president, we damn sure do not need a TP RW nut job as president. It may happen in a few years but let them get elected by regular election process than backdooring from the speaker position.

[geretogo]

31. These tea party gangsters are more dangerous to this country than the Taliban .

If the patriots that make up the majority of this country don't politically exterminate these
fascist street thugs we are finished as a democratic country .

[Agnosticsherbet]

32. Better to have an inept idiot in charge than racist teaparty crusader.

[LibertyLover]

36. I hope they don't except any gratitude

from Old Orange Face.

[blkmusclmachine]

38. So, the Tea Party wants a fire breathing God-botherer like Pastor Ted Cruz for Speaker, right??

[BillZBubb]

40. The Democrats shouldn't be protecting Boehner.

Doing so will allow the right wing to continue to claim their policies don't work because the "true" conservative policies never get into law. Let them pick the right wing fanatic they want to be in charge. Let the public see them in action.

When you opponent has dug himself into a hole, let him keep digging.

[realFedUp]

41. Give us their craziest

As long as they are pretending to run Congress, let's see their craziest in that role

[whereisjustice]

45. Bohner just bent the USA over a chair so Netanyahu could have his way with us and once again

Democrats gleefully rescue the Republican brand. The old good cop/bad cop routine.

By 2008 the Republican Party was literally wrecked. Obama went straight to work fixing it up.

Let the Republicans put the kookiest mother fucker front and center so America and the world can see what patent nut jobs they are.

It is disgusting to think any Democrat worth a damn thinks saving Boehner's sorry ass is a "good idea".

It is a disgusting pseudo-strategic pile of shit of an idea.

This is exactly how elections and progress are lost.