John Boehner’s “Plan B” is now history.
Speaker Boehner was unable to take his “Plan B” proposal to the floor when it became clear that he didn’t have the votes within his own caucus to pass the measure. An embarrassed and severely weakened speaker sent his caucus home for the Christmas holiday with no indication as to when they might meet again.
The speaker will hold a press conference today during which he is expected to wash his hands of the “fiscal cliff” negotiations. He will say that it is now the responsibility of the president and the Democrats in the Senate to put together a package that will avoid the cliff.
“Plan B” was a bad plan that was poorly executed by the speaker. You never call for a vote on a bill unless you have first counted noses to make sure that it will pass. Speaker Boehner misinterpreted the willingness of 30-40 Tea Party members to put their partisan ideology ahead of the will of the country. He thought that by publically announcing that the House would pass his “Plan B” he and other party moderates could persuade the Tea Party coalition to come along for the good of the party. He was wrong. He is without question one of the most ineffective speakers in our history exceeded only by the impotence of the do nothing House chamber over which he presides.
Now it will be up to Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell and the president to put together a plan that can pass the Senate. That WILL happen. Then it will be up to Boehner and House Republicans to decide whether or not the country will move forward or go over the fiscal cliff.
The Republican Party is in disarray, held hostage by Grover Norquist, the NRA and a small minority of Tea Party crazies that would rather see the country crash and burn than give up in their ideological dogma. They are tone deaf to the will of the country. Instead of talking about taxes and jobs and small government conservative values that have stood the test of time they talk about birth certificates, contraception, gay marriage, fair pay and self deportation.
A year ago Boehner and the president had worked out a deal that was far better for Republicans than the one currently on the table. But when Boehner took it to his caucus the Tea Party crew shot it down. We now know that last Monday the speaker and the president had worked out the frame work of another compromise. Once again the radical right forced the speaker to walk away. And last night they embarrassed Boehner once again. This is not a political party with a distinctive brand and a set of core values. It is a little more than a gaggle of warring factions fueled by blind ideology and the desire to preserve their jobs come Election Day.
Consider that one week ago Adam Lanza took the lives of 26 people…20 of them 6-7 year olds. One week later…in the wake of one of the most horrible tragedies in American history…we have heard nothing from the leadership of the Republican Party.
The NRA has scheduled a news conference this morning where they promise to put forth a strategy that will stop instances like the Sandy Hook shooting from ever happening again. This morning Joe Scarborough, former four term conservative Republican congressman and current host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” revealed that he had reached out to several of his Republican friends including members of party leadership and asked them to appear on his show to discuss gun control. He was told: “we can’t talk to you until the NRA holds its news conference.”
From our prospective…that says it all.
The Republican Party is on the verge of irrelevance held hostage by a radical few.
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