The Shrine

In sticking with our recent political conversations here.

Boehner has had enough, basically "Screw you guys, I'm goin home, somebody else clean up this mess."

Did the Pope's talk inspire him?

From The New Yorker:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—House Speaker John Boehner announced that he would resign as Speaker and leave Congress in October, but said that he would continue repealing Obamacare from his home in Ohio.

As stubborn as he was, it's hard to believe his successor will be any better.

Paul Ryan?

Julius Seeker wrote:Paul Ryan?

Doesn't want to be speaker.

It looks like Kevin McCarthy who I'm kind of ashamed to say I know nothing about.

There's a real tension in the American political system that's due to the way it's set up. Unlike the parliamentary system of many nations, the head of state (The President) is also the Executive and is elected independently of the Legislature. In a Parliamentary system, the Executive comes from the legislature while the head of state is usually a ceremonial or administrative role. In a Presidential System, The Executive and the Legislature have competing claims to democratic legitimacy. Both have an electoral mandate and are held accountable but can't govern on their own.

US Conservatives control the legislature but since the President is elected independently and is currently of the other party, they're unable to govern without his consent. He's able to veto any law they pass and thus has the final say. Establishment Republicans (Boehner) recognize this and know that in order for the GOP to have full control of the government, they must win the 2016 presidential election but until then they must compromise with Obama. Far-right Republicans however, think that control of the legislature should be enough and that they should never compromise with Obama. They'd prefer a more parliamentary system where control of the legislature = control of the whole government.

They want leadership willing to push the nation to the brink of (financial) ruin in order to win this control over Obama. They were furious with Boehner because he wasn't really willing to do so. He'd do some theatrics but his real concern was the stability of the US federal government and economy. Many far right Republicans seriously dislike the federal government. They think that it's become a vehicle for liberals, minorities, and women to artificially usurp the natural order of a white, Christian, straight, male-dominated society. They'd be fine with trashing it and starting anew.

Good article from The Atlantic on Boehner's parting shots

Congress must confront a number of hot-button issues over the next several months, including raising the dreaded debt limit, refilling the Highway Trust Fund, and deciding whether to revive the Export-Import Bank, which lawmakers allowed to shutter earlier this year. Addressing all three of those problems will require bipartisan support, and Boehner’s lame-duck status gives him more room to negotiate with Democrats. On Tuesday, the speaker wouldn’t rule out passing a debt-limit bill in the next month, which he’d have to do over the opposition of a vast majority of House Republicans. And he has been trying for years, without much success, to get a longterm transportation infrastructure package through the House.

God damn would an infrastructure package be amazing. Both parties want it and it makes zero sense why they don't push it through other than Republicans get off on making Obama look worse.

It looks like Boehner's hand-picked successor, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is dropping out of the House Speaker race.

Recently he made headlines when he admitted the Benghazi hearings in Congress were really about smearing Hillary Clinton. When asked if this slip-up was the reason he's withdrawing:

“Well, that wasn’t helpful. I could have said it much better.” McCarthy admitted, adding he “should not be a distraction” from the panel finding the “truth.” “That’s part of the decision as well.”

Wunderkind Paul Ryan says he still doesn't want the job:

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) is the top choice of many GOPers to fill the speaker’s shoes. But he reiterated that he is not interested after McCarthy (R-Calif.) dropped out.

Some Republicans worry that the Tea Party wing in Congress will make it impossible for Republicans to elect anyone and that they might have to cross party lines to get the votes:

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), interviewed live on CNN, said McCarthy withdrew because although he could have won a majority of the Republican Conference, he would not have had 218 votes on the House floor.

Dent said it might be necessary to form a “bipartisan coalition” with Democrats to elect the next speaker and avoid having to appease the “rejectionist wing” of his own party, which he said has made the House ungovernable by insisting on “unreasonable demands.”

I remember reading one of the guy trying to kill the Ex-Im bank was like, "We can kill this bank by doing nothing which happens to be what we're best at doing".

They are playing hot potato with that position and I love it. "I don't want it, do you want it?"

All hell is going to break loose if they reach across the isle to the Democrats to elect a speaker.

Looks like Paul Ryan is now saying he's willing to be speaker as long as he gets commitment from all Republican groups in the House that they a) won't block him in his election to speaker and b) that they'll commit to working with him instead of blocking everything he does (like the "Freedom Caucus" does with Boehner).

The American media is total shit when it comes to reporting on this. They say he has a list of demands, and they write about it, but don't actually provide the list anywhere.

But anyway, called it! =D

Lol the Republican party/"Freedom caucus" isn't going to agree to shit. The position at this point is a career killer. All the blame, god knows how much work, and for what?

It looks like Boehner has been negotiating a budget deal with Obama that will raise the debt ceiling for two years. It looks to be based on the budget deal that Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Patty Murray (D-WA) negotiated two years ago but that failed to make it through congress. Boehner will push a vote (with or without Tea Party support) before Ryan's House Speakership coronation/election.

I guess this is the 'barn cleaning' that Boehner was talking about.