re: #153 erik_t

He’s going to have to. Even the Kochs ultimately care about the stock market, and if you think Boehner really cares about his caucus or his constituents I have a bridge to sell you.

I’m not sure he can, mentally. What John Boehner doesn’t want is to be turfed out of the speakership and then become some lame-duck pariah. The problem is he hasn’t really been willing to risk enough to have a real chance of avoiding that outcome. He really needed to have made the case for actions other than shutdown early this year and then say he either needed his caucus to give him the freedom to speak for them or else accept his resignation.

He also should have pushed for more days in DC, to get members of Congress to be more of their committee and oversight functions. 2013 is not an election year for Congress, so the time was right for that action.