The majority party (caucus) chooses the speaker, not the entire House.

coldwarrior on December 27, 2012 at 5:02 PM

You are wrong.

Probably should brush up on that one.

1.

One of the big GOP worries in all this is that they’ll take the blame if we head off the cliff; if the House isn’t even in session when it happens,

Good God, the GOP is going to get the blame no matter what, until Obama is out of office. They might as well get resigned to that fact. “the dog ate my homework” is the standard response from this administration, and the GOP is the dog.

2.

“One of the beauties of that bill is it wouldn’t require a vote to raise anybody’s taxes, and I think that is a major advantage,” Cornyn said of a bill that would prevent middle class tax hikes.

Right. Do nothing, no one has to vote on anything, and taxes go up.
But everyone has cover because “NO ONE” voted for a tax increase.

That right there is the basis for what the He** is wrong with Washington.

Cornyn needs the boot, along with a lot more. Term limits.

“The House has acted on two bills that collectively would avert the entire fiscal cliff. We passed HR 8 at the beginning of August to stop all of the tax rate increases that are set to occur on Jan. 1 under current law. And we’ve passed legislation to replace the entire sequester with responsible spending cuts,” Boehner said according to a source on the call. “These bills await action by the Senate. And as I, Eric, Kevin and Cathy said yesterday in a joint statement: If the Senate will not approve these bills and send them to the president to be signed into law in their current form, they must be amended and returned to the House. Once this has occurred, the House will then consider whether to accept the bills as amended, or to send them back to the Senate with additional amendments. The House will take this action on whatever the Senate can pass — but the Senate must act.”

Conservatives got elected in 2010 and 2012. They have since shown exactly zero ability to govern. Gingrich, when speaker, made some horrendous misjudgements. But he knew how to govern.

Name me one legislative victory, other than blocking the occasional bit of legislation, that the GOP can take credit for since the BIG WIN in 2010.

Your “truly conservative” presidential candidates did not have the chance to run in the general because they got their collective asses handed to them in the primary.

Don’t hand me that crap about how the media, or the beltway RHINO’s, or the party bosses, or the left chooses the candidates. Get a “true conservative” into the general, and then start talking.

The true conservative wins every time, except when it doesn’t.

Because message isn’t enough. You think Obama got elected this time around because of his message?

The Democrat message this time around was “We are not the GOP.”

Romney, no matter what anyone thinks of him, had a far stronger message than Obama.

Not good enough. Not good enough at all.

Mr. Arkadin on December 27, 2012 at 8:35 PM

I would accept a firebrand over a true conservative, if said firebrand was in agreement with me more often than not. The Newt Gingrich of 1994 fit that bill.

The problem rests in that the GOP, from top down, has no one with that passion. Either it has been beaten out of them or it was never possessed in the first place. (I cannot count Michele Bachmann, who in spite of her passion has zero ability to lead.)

Yes, a lot of blame does rest on the old guard, Boehner included. But no one wants to speak up. It’s as if this alleged majority just wants to take a beating from their abusive husbands in Reid and Obama.

TheRightMan on December 27, 2012 at 7:13 PM

TheRightMan on December 27, 2012 at 7:15 PM

Conservatives got elected in 2010 and 2012. They have since shown exactly zero ability to govern. Gingrich, when speaker, made some horrendous misjudgements. But he knew how to govern.

Name me one legislative victory, other than blocking the occasional bit of legislation, that the GOP can take credit for since the BIG WIN in 2010.

Your “truly conservative” presidential candidates did not have the chance to run in the general because they got their collective asses handed to them in the primary.

Don’t hand me that crap about how the media, or the beltway RHINO’s, or the party bosses, or the left chooses the candidates. Get a “true conservative” into the general, and then start talking.

The true conservative wins every time, except when it doesn’t.

Because message isn’t enough. You think Obama got elected this time around because of his message?

The Democrat message this time around was “We are not the GOP.”

Romney, no matter what anyone thinks of him, had a far stronger message than Obama.

Not good enough. Not good enough at all.

verbaluce on December 27, 2012 at 5:23 PM

I’ll ask again you worthless parasite. Why do you hate the Constitution and America?

Happy Nomad on December 27, 2012 at 7:29 PM

What we have here is a failure unwillingness to communicate.
G’night, Happy N.

verbaluce on December 27, 2012 at 5:23 PM

I’ll ask again you worthless parasite. Why do you hate the Constitution and America?

bored with lego?

sesquipedalian on December 27, 2012 at 3:11 PM

Nope. Bored with your mom.

El Salsero on December 27, 2012 at 6:44 PM

Boom.

(lol)

I haven’t heard a lick of sense from the GOP or conservatives since our loss in the Presidential election. Time to start learning politics.

Mr. Arkadin on December 27, 2012 at 6:25 PM

Maybe next time… you guys could allow us to choose a truly conservative presidential candidate not a “moderate” loser.

Why do you assume I am a GOP moderate? I’m not. Not a liberal, either. Like Hannibal Lector, they don’t have a word for what I am (note: that was a joke).

Why do you assume I hate conservatives? I don’t. Even when I disagree with conservatives, I am known for giving them a fair hearing and a fair shake.

Mr. Arkadin on December 27, 2012 at 6:25 PM

Okay, let’s see… You are not a conservative, a liberal, nor a “moderate”. So what are you? A political chameleon? LOL…

Truth be told, I am thinking you might be one of those overpriced “GOP strategists” that manufactured and advised Boehner to bring up the crappy “Plan B”.

So tell me… you seriously think it was strategies like Boehner’s “Plan B” that won the House for the GOP in 2010 and 2012? If it were left to your ilk (DC insiders and Beltway wisdom crowd), Pelosi would still be holding the gavel.

Your way gave us Bob Dole and his loss to Clinton.

Your way gave us John McCain and his loss to Obama.

And…

Your way gave us Mitt Romney and his loss to Obama.

Now why don’t you political strategists step aside for a moment and allow us “hobbits” and “chuckleheads” to perform the same magic that won Reagan election and re-election, as well as the House in 1994 and 2010.

Thanks in advance.

The tedium-to-suspense ratio of this clusterfark is now approaching that of a “Scooby Doo” episode. And not a good episode, either. One with Scrappy.

Gold!

bored with lego?

sesquipedalian on December 27, 2012 at 3:11 PM

Nope. Bored with your mom.

Why do you assume I am a GOP moderate? I’m not. Not a liberal, either.

Mr. Arkadin on December 27, 2012 at 6:25 PM

LMAO.

oh…we know what you are.

If the GOP had any sense they could have neutralized this Obama Middle Tax Cut narrative if they had proposed a middle class tax that was lower than the Bush middle class tax cut and thus Obama’s middle tax cut. The trouble is the moderates and elite part of the GOP is too stupid and paralyzed with fear to propose anything and the hardcore fiscal conservatives hate it because of course it would make the debt worse, although probably the fiscal conservative republicans would support it if coupled with major spending cuts (which is what I would support). Obviously the tax raise on people making more that 250-500 thousand is probably going to happen no matter what at this point.

It would have at least forced Obama into a fight in which he would be put on weaker political ground, arguing for a higher tax rate for the middle class than the GOP. The GOP leadership should then enter the MSM lion’s den, like the NRA leaders did, get bashed because it would also have major spending cuts, but because the plan would be viewed favorably by the middle class (because of the larger middle class tax cut) only the MSM would make fools of themselves.

Once again use the NRA blueprint…change the game, change the argument.

TheRightMan on December 27, 2012 at 4:30 PM

You should call yourself TheWrongMan, because you are another example of why a segment of the conservative base is almost always wrong when it comes to politics.

Notice I said politics, not issues. Politics, of which you know next to nothing.

Which is why you keep getting beat, even when you are on the right side of the issues, which is most of the time.

Why do you assume I am a GOP moderate? I’m not. Not a liberal, either. Like Hannibal Lector, they don’t have a word for what I am (note: that was a joke).

Why do you assume I hate conservatives? I don’t. Even when I disagree with conservatives, I am known for giving them a fair hearing and a fair shake.

I offered no proposal for Boehner to keep his speakership; I merely outlined how it could happen. Anyone who understands politics understands that such a deal could happen, and has been considered.

The failure of Plan B has nothing to do with that at all. Plan B was an attempt by Boehner to show that he could hold his caucus together, and to retain some leverage in negotiations with Obama, so that the GOP could salvage something out of the deal, a deal that they are playing with a very weak hand.

House Republicans who do not understand politics tanked the deal, and put Boehner and the GOP in a weaker negotiating position.

All the fantasies of replacing Boehner with Ryan, or Palin, or going over the cliff and making the left “own it” won’t obviate that fact.

This is just like Gingrich effing up the tax deal during the Clinton years to score a few political points, and then getting a worse deal in the process. Remember how well the gov’t shut down worked for him and the GOP firebreathers? So do I.

Devastating mid terms and Gingrich lost his speakership.

I haven’t heard a lick of sense from the GOP or conservatives since our loss in the Presidential election. Time to start learning politics.

Unless the Democrats want to go two years with a balanced budget, they’re going to have to negotiate w/ the Republicans, as long as the Republicans are more afraid of their Primary voters than they are of the press

.

good point Desla, the house controls the checkbook, use that power Boehner or step aside

Or they can pick it up and take it to the recycling center and then pay the piper and go over the cliff with eyes open. Time to get use to the “new TM” normal with high tax rates that are locked in and not artificially reduced to score political points.

bored with lego?

sesquipedalian on December 27, 2012 at 3:11 PM

A single lego is pretty dull. ~gosh~

Jeddite on December 27, 2012 at 3:15 PM

Unless you step on it in your bare feet. Then it’s as sharp as broken glass.

Happy New Year///

JPeterman on December 27, 2012 at 3:48 PM

Ssshhhh…. there is a separation of Church and State, we can’t say that anymore.
Now we say Happy kwanzaa
:D

Seriously, who cares?

It’s two years until they have to got in front of the voters again, but it’s less than that before they have to face Republican voters in a Primary.

Greg Q on December 27, 2012 at 5:27 PM

This. An awful lot can change in 2 years. All of ObamaCare will be active before the 2014 election. Between seniors getting their Medicare slashed and the vast majority of already-insured America getting rate hikes, there’s going to be alot of unhappy people between now and then. That’s 100% on Democrat hands.

Plus if Democrats are stupid enough to try to ban guns again, let alone handguns, 2014 will be a wipeout.

Why do you hate the Constitution and America you parasite?

Happy Nomad on December 27, 2012 at 5:03 PM

you’re doing it wrong.