As Boehner Heads To Victory, There's Trouble for Shadegg
By Erick Posted in Republicans — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Conventional wisdom is a hard thing to overcome and the conventional wisdom now is that John Boehner will become House Minority Leader tomorrow. He has the votes, it seems, and at the end of the day, as we at RedState have said in the past, it's not hard to understand. He did, after all, only take over as Captain of the Ship after the ship had already started sinking.
But that now leads to problems for John Shadegg. Conventional wisdom has widely presumed that should Boehner win, Shadegg would win -- the caucus would recognize the need to take at least one scalp and Blunt, having been at the top of the team for longer than Boehner, would be the most likely one. Well, in a bit of irony you can only get on Capitol Hill, that could now hurt Shadegg.
It is no secret that politicians talk out of both sides of their mouthes and have more likely than not pledged themselves to both Blunt and Shadegg. The problem is that some of them will now think that since Shadegg has it in the bag, they'll go on and vote for Blunt to resolve their conscience -- after all, Shadegg has the votes to win without their individual vote.
Well, if enough of them think this, then Shadegg is toast. While you and I might view this as counter-intuitive logic (after all, everyone should want to vote for the winner), there is enough concern on Capitol Hill right now that some of Shadegg's supporters are a bit nervous.
So, just a reminder for those of you on Capitol Hill -- make sure your boss is not wavering. Make sure he knows that he needs to vote for Shadegg. The base wants a scalp in this fight. That may not be fair, but it is a fact.
[UPDATE] Just talked to some close Shadegg supporters. They are not "nervous" that Blunt will win, but they do want to make sure all those who have committed to Shadegg understand that every vote does count. No doubt if Boehner does win, Shadegg will be in pole position for the Whip Race, and everyone knows it. Now those voting just need to vote Shadegg.
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As Boehner Heads To Victory, There's Trouble for Shadegg 5 Comments (0 topical, 5 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
I hope enough of our people don't opt for the "safety dance" and think that they're going to get away easily with not voting for Shadegg. If they want to act like imbeciles, we should remind them that the '80's are OVER. Throw out the leg warmers, folks.
Now I'm going to have that song AND the other annoying 80's song mentioned in Moe's diary in my head for the rest of the day.
Anyone want to link to "Down Under," by Men At Work? May as well make it 3-for-3.
:o)
Lots of conservatives and Republicans love to bash Robert Novak, but he was so right in his column from Monday. He said the Republican party was about to live up to it's reputation as the stupid party. Voting for Boehner and Blunt is simply ridiculous. Boehner received a ten month audition and he did nothing but cruise towards a historic defeat in the era of high tech gerrymandering.
If the Republican party were a sports team, John Boehner would be considered an interim manager who has no shot at the full-time job. Unfortunately, sports teams play to win while the Republican party doesn't. When Boehner took over, no one seriously believed Republicans would lose the House. It was considered possible, but even Charlie Cook and Robert Novak said it was very unlikely.
John Boehner oversaw the loss of 29 seats in the House. Step aside.
I agree. Where was Boehner's vision? How did he enable us to accomplish our goals?
He did not, and that is the sad thing if he get the minority leader position.
Regarding Roy Blunt - I still have not seen anyone tell me how Shadegg will do a better job at the whip position. That is because he cannot.
Dont get me wrong. I thing Shadegg is a wonderfully principled man, but when it comes down to trying to hold our caucus together and work the ears of some of those Blue Dog Democrats to get them to cross the line, I just dont see it happening.
Roy Blunt on the other hand has a history of being a great listener and being able to do what needs to be done with the whip position.
A Boehner win and a Blunt loss will hurt us worse than you could imagine.
While we all walk through this pile of broken glass, let's try to remember we're essentially on the same team. Someone who has a better flair for the dramatic than I do will have to write the story of this leadership battle both as a cautionary tale about losing elections by slim margins in the most crucial of times and also as a testament to the really high theatrics of this decision.
My sincere wish is that we end the infighting before the Donks do. Please, please, let's let them continue their internecine warfare while we decide to end ours.