House Speaker John Boehner may or may not be smart enough to understand the consequences of a government default, but he can count.
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) said Tuesday that more than 59 members of his caucus would not vote for any debt ceiling deal.
"We have a number of members who won't vote to raise the debt ceiling under any circumstances," he told Fox News' Bret Baier, citing ideological disagreements.
That number might actually be a little high, and he might be throwing that out there as a signal to the GOP's corporate and Wall Street overlords to start putting the screws on the tea party element in the caucus. But, for his part, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) has a similar assessment. Here he is with Bloomberg Television's Mike McKee.
"Yes. I take the freshmen republicans and people like Michelle Bachmann at their word. I don't think they're kidding. I think they fundamentally misread this situation as Bernanke, a Bush appointee after all, made clear today. I think there are people that frankly have an unreal view of the world. They believe that this is somehow a fake and that you can push a button and make a lot of these debts go away. I believe there are a substantial number of Republicans who are opposed to a huge debt and a further group of Republicans who understand why it's important to raise the debt limit, but are afraid of losing a primary to someone."
Here's that really convoluted word from Bachmann.
"President Obama is holding the full faith and credit of the United States hostage so he can continue his spending spree!"
As Greg Sargent responds, she's arguing that "Obama is jeopardizing the full faith and credit of the United States by trying to avoid default." But, hell, it'll work for her audience. At any rate, even if Boehner has tripled the number of House Republicans who will be voting "no" on the debt ceiling, he's going to need Dems. It only takes 23 Republicans to vote "no" to put him in very serious trouble with Wall Street.
And that gives the 40 House Democrats who have committed to a pledge to oppose benefits cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid even more leverage. Add on top of that the warning from Rep. Steny Hoyer that there will be no Dem votes unless there's revenue of some kind in the bill, and it's looking more and more like Boehner's choices are shrinking by the minute.