A couple days into the
Purge government shutdown of 2013, we now see that not only are Republicans as
unpopular as ever, but that they are
being blamed for the government shutdown.
As Speaker of the House and Majority Leader of the House Republicans, what's John Boehner to do? I mean, if he just breaks the Hastert Rule and allows a vote for a clean funding bill, he could lose his Speakership! Right?
Well, not exactly.
John has broken the Hastert Rule before so if he were to do that again, he wouldn't be setting much of a precedent. However if some idiots in his party decided they want to vote for a new Speaker, that's where the Democrats could both save the day and ensure that they get their way in the house more often.
The Dems only control 200 seats in the House, which unfortunately is not enough to re-elect Nancy Pelosi. However, Nancy or even President Obama could make him an offer he couldn't might not refuse: Speaker Boehner passes a clean CR and if he were to be challenged for his Speakership, all of the House Democrats would vote for him.
If this happen and were 17 more sane Republicans to vote for Boehner as well, not only would he remain Speaker of the House, but he could essentially give the middle finger to the Tea Party Republicans in the process. He does have a primary challenger for next year's election, but his challenger stands little chance of beating him in this safe Republican district.
Democrats should put pressure on Boehner to decide if he wants to be House Majority Leader Lord of the Flies or Speaker of the House of Representatives. Because at this point he is effectively neither and from the looks of it, he can only be one or the other.