re: #141 Dark_Falcon

The Tea Party has no one to blame for their defeat but themselves. They mounted a surprise opposition to the compromise, but did so in such a way as to leave much of the Republican party hostile and without a plan of action once Obama started laying the blame on them. They basically acted without thinking and were humiliated as a result.

Bingo.

There is no world in which a paid for tax cut for two months is not an easy vote when the vast majority of your senate colleagues has already voted for it.

Boehner went out on a limb and everybody apart from Allan West and the kind started sawing away at the branch.

It was clear he may not be able to carry his caucus but there were enough GOP + Dems still in town until late in the day to pass it on a free vote. My hunch is he was protecting the GOPs who’d have voted against so as to save them come election time.