Enter
of the House John] Boehner can
only lose 17 Republicans to sink
the plan.” And so, the battle was
joined, and as night fell across the
District of Columbia, everyone who
wanted the insanity to end turned
their hopeful eyes to the vote
count in the House. Would King
bring 25 votes against dirtying up
the continuing resolution?
As it turns out, King overestimated the number in his band of brothers by... you know, about 23 people:
The size of a bloc of GOP moderates ready to bring down a vote
on the House floor over the government-funding bill shriveled
from 25 lawmakers on Saturday to just two when the House
voted just now to pass the rule.
New York representative Peter
King and Pennsylvania representative Charlie Dent, two key
moderates, voted no, while four
hardline conservatives, including Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, voted no because the bill didn’t draw a hard
enough line against Obamacare.
Well done, lads. Ha, ha, remember that whole “fellow New Yorker
Michael Grimm is close behind
LOOKING FORWARD
IN ANGST
HUFFINGTON
10.06.13
him” part? That was really neat.
There’s not a whole lot to say
about a plan that nobody should
have believed was going to come
to fruition anyway. But it’s worth
pointing out that when the political media holds forth on the ideological landscape of Congress, and
games out what they believe is
possible in terms of bargains and
There aren’t a lot of
“moderate Republicans”
in Congress. And those
who exist are very timid
and nearly useless when
the chips are down.
compromises, just about everything in their conceptual framework is premised on the notion
that a lot of moderate Republicans
exist, and that the resting state of
Capitol Hill is “center-right.”
As it turns out, all of those premises are wrong. There aren’t a lot
of “moderate Republicans” in Congress. And those who exist are very
timid and nearly useless when the
chips are down. The government is
shut down right now, but the notion
that “moderate Republicans” were
capable of steering a debate somewhere sensible went by the
boards a long time ago.