Visual source: Newseum
NY Times:
When Congress reconvenes next month at the start of what inevitably will be a highly contentious election year, Mr. Boehner will find out whether his less-experienced members have finally been schooled in the way of divided government or if they will dig in against him, posing a potential threat to his leadership.
And you don't have to believe this
Fox report to enjoy it:
After Boehner unveiled the last-minute deal with Republican rank-and-file late Thursday in a curt conference call, members were incensed.
"He may have a hard time keeping his speakership after this," one GOP lawmaker said. "He's got a big problem when he comes back."
NY Times editorial:
For a full year, House Republicans have replaced governing with confrontations that they allow to reach the brink of crisis, only then making extreme demands in exchange for a resolution. On Thursday, that strategy crumbled. Battered by public opinion and undermined by more reasonable Senate Republicans, the House’s leaders backed down and signed off on a deal to continue the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance for two months.
WaPo:
And amid the House GOP’s humiliating defeat, he tried to play up the small change as a big victory. “House GOP Payroll Tax Fix Averts Small Business ‘Nightmare,’ Protects Jobs,” read the subject line of Boehner’s announcement. It’s hard to object to the accounting fix. But given the huge programs that the House GOP had risked with its obstructionism — the payroll tax, unemployment benefits, and Medicare payments for doctors — it’s pretty small potatoes.
There's just no getting around it: Boehner and the Republicans caved and got their clocks cleaned.
Politico:
Boehner knew the year-end fight to renew the payroll tax would be bad — but he couldn’t possibly have anticipated how bad it would get. Obama always knew the fight would be good for him — but not this good. It got the president not only the tax cut he wanted but provided a jolt for Democrats anxious about 2012 who felt Obama had been played by House Republicans in earlier negotiations.
Politico/Mike Allen:
MINDMELD from senior Democratic aide: “There is no point in rubbing it in. No aide can say anything that the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove, or Senate Republicans haven't already said about what an unmitigated disaster House Republicans' strategy has proven to be. I don't think there is a sober Republican who doubts that this week set them back significantly for 2012.”
--Another senior Hill Dem.: “From Rove to Krauthammer to the Journal editorial board, the Republican establishment hasn't been this freaked about a House speaker hurting their chances in 2012 since Newt Gingrich was leading the polls in Iowa.
Anyone still doubt that this has been a GOP disaster?
Gail Collins:
The House Republicans, who had tried to hold up the bill out of principle, only to be pummeled by everyone from John McCain to The Wall Street Journal editorial page, hunkered down for a seriously sulky Christmas.
“In the end, House Republicans felt like they were re-enacting the Alamo, with no reinforcements and our friends shooting at us,” said Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, one of the leaders of the anti-two-month-tax-cut rebellion.
WaPo:
Congressional Democrats on Friday reveled in their success in forcing Republicans to yield on tax cuts, one of that party’s signature issues.
“I hope this Congress has had a very good learning experience, especially those who are newer to this body,” Reid said after the Senate voted Friday to approve the deal. “Everything we do around here does not have to wind up in a fight.”
Instead, a number of newer members said Friday the message they had gotten was that they must fight even harder in 2012 — and encourage their leaders to stand beside them.
Just remember that humiliating the GOP isn't an end point; moving the country forward is. But it is an effective means to an end.