He’s *always *had that power, but has chosen not to use it. The Speaker is elected by the full House, not the majority caucus. If he had put party aside, like Pelosi during her tenure, and had cultivated support among the sane majority instead of shutting out anyone outside his own party, he might have actually been able to pass a budget or something.
Judging by results, he’s been one of the worst.
If Democrats, “in order to keep government running”, voted for the Republican bill that included defunding PP, would you consider that a failure?
It might be beneficial to recall the first rule of holes.
Defunding PP is patently silly because everyone who pays attention to the news knows that it is a made-up issue based on a fraudulent video. I understand that the idea of shutting down government to respond to a completely made-up fiction is a popular idea among elected Republicans, but that doesn’t make it a rational thing to do.
Ha! How do you not realize that with this upcoming vote, Boehner will have put party aside more times than Pelosi did? I specifically told you in the other thread that both Boehner and Pelosi have held seven votes during their speakerships in which they relied on the other party to pass something that they thought was important. This upcoming vote would be Boehner’s eighth time to Pelosi’s seven.
You’re entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.
It might indeed.
Uh… because he wouldn’t have been turned out right afterwards? Or do you think that the Democrats would vote for him over Pelosi for House Speaker?
You didn’t answer the question. After all, “keeping the government running” is the ultimate goal, all the other stuff is irrelevant, right?
If you had bothered to comprehend my post, you would have seen that I AM judging him by results.
Indeed. I am a big Democrat, but I’ve always respected Boehner. I think part of the proof of his immense political skill is how right wing Republicans loath him and say he capitulated over and over to Obama. While left wing Democrats think he’s just as bad as the rest of them. He’s negotiated that ground exceedingly well.
If the shoe were on the other foot, where Democrats were seeking a change to the status quo – like maybe raising taxes on the wealthy and threatening a government shutdown to achieve that – I think relenting on the raising taxes part in order to keep the government open wouldn’t be capitulation. It would be a reasonable compromise.
Still no answer to my question.
The ultimate goal is to make sure the GOP doesn’t run this country into the gutter and I think Boehner’s done a decent job of it. He’s tricked people like you for a long time into thinking he’s one of you, giving you just enough rope to hang yourself, then he pulls back and acts reasonable. The GOP should capitulate to Democrats because only the Democrats are doing the right thing. LOL, the very fact that you think he’s a bad guy just proves he’s not so bad after all! 
While I think Boehner could have been tougher and more forceful on his own party, especially when they became insane, he’s not the worst we could have gotten and a lot better than the alternatives. I think the next guy will try to boost his hardline creds early on and fight with the Dems a lot more. Only time will tell if actually holding the position mellows him
Well, if we’re gonna play that game, still no answer to mine.
One of the few liberals on this board who honestly states his opinion, without weaseling.
I did. The answer is, if any party is seeking to change the status quo in a bill that is quite literally drafted to maintain the status quo, backing off of the effort to revise the status quo is not a capitulation. It doesn’t matter what party we’re talking about, it doesn’t matter what issue we’re talking about.
Since it is Septmber/nearly October it would be the November General Election for that state.
What, they have those in odd-numbered years?
Word in this neck of the woods was that Boehner was putting his long-time house up for sale. So I guess the announcement comes as less of a surprise to me than to others.
My guess is that he’s moving to a place with a lot more sun and golf courses.
But, who will stand up and fight against the Tea Party brigade now? The Republican party is eating its own. Running candidates against moderate Republicans. The Tea Party made it almost impossible for Boehner to negotiate with the Democrats on anything.
Now I guess the Tea Party will elect the next Speaker. 
One hell of a major clusterfuck. Letting those whack jobs do whatever they want.