Boehner's Republican Problem

Molly Ball:

Of 234 Republicans, just 20 percent are reliably loyal to the speaker, a Washington Post analysis recently demonstrated. More than half have gone against him on two or more of this year's biggest votes. Boehner has also suffered a series of humiliating failed floor votes, from his "Plan B" on the fiscal cliff to the recent debacle of the farm bill. Of nine bills that have passed the current Congress and been enacted, four of them did not have the support of a majority of House Republicans, and made it through the House with mostly Democratic votes instead.
Those votes violated the "Hastert rule," an informal guideline formulated by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House. Hastert pledged in 2003 not to allow votes on bills that didn't have the support of "the majority of the majority," meaning more than half of the Republican members of Congress. Democrats -- led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi -- decried the move at the time as an overly partisan attempt to marginalize their influence.
Today, Boehner's violations of the Hastert rule have angered conservatives who see themselves as the ones marginalized by his ability to get around their demands. Under pressure, Boehner has repeatedly reassured them that he won't break the rule again when it comes to immigration reform. Something resembling the bill that has passed the Senate would likely pass the House if it came to a floor vote, with a majority of Democrats and a minority of Republicans in support. But Boehner has made clear he won't allow that to happen.

I'm not feeling too badly for my Congressman.  He worked hard over the last twenty years to get all the idiot conservatives elected who now give him fits.  He's been so busy taking corporate cash and throwing out bullshit talking point that he hasn't had time to do anything constructive in DC.  Boehner has brought on all his own headaches.  Note, the issue isn't that bills can't get passed, they only can't get passed if you listen to the morons in the majority.  I think this is appropriate:

 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it.

The article indicates there is a rumor that Boehner may retire.  I say that it is about time for the man who 20 years ago claimed he wouldn't be a career politician and campaigned for term limits.