Both of these are from Frum Forum:
- Boehner Can't Control his Caucus:
At some point, Speaker John Boehner was going to have to show the
most conservative members of his caucus that he would get work done in
the House without them.
Yesterday revealed that day has not yet come. The ramifications of the failure to pass
the Continuing Resolution (CR) for FY12 in the House will be
far-reaching. It’s true that Democrats took advantage of the Tea Party
defections from the GOP leadership and aided in killing the CR. But this
was the second embarrassment on a critical vote for the House
Republican leadership this year.
Rep. Eric Cantor had predicted that the votes were there to pass the CR. “All is well.” It wasn’t.
. . . A quick survey of very experienced former senior members of House and
Senate staff showed unanimity this morning– none of them could recall
such a public humiliation for any Speaker of the House in the past four
decades.
- Who Controls the GOP?
John Boehner’s continuing inability to manage his right flank in Congress points to the larger frustration
of a generation of Republican leadership. They struggle to grasp what
drives the Tea Party, evangelicals, and the candidacy of Rick Perry. To
begin to understand where these people came from and how they acquired
so much influence relative to their numbers, perhaps we should look more
closely at ‘The Stockman Effect.’
read on . . .