A Texas Solution to the Government Shutdown | GOPlifer | a Chron.com blog

Christopher Ladd gets briefly optimistic about how to control the Tea Party, but when he starts counting votes realizes that there aren't enough rational Republicans in Congress to allow Boehner to govern from the center and keep his job. - GWC
A Texas Solution to the Government Shutdown | GOPlifer | a Chron.com blog:
by Christopher Ladd

Would Boehner risk his career and his legacy in an effort to build a bi-partisan coalition that would save the country from default and restore a functioning legislative branch? Are there 18-40 Republican Congressmen who care more about the country than about their jobs (in other words, how many are ready to retire)?Would the Democrats cooperate, or would they demand so much in return for a coalition that they would sink the idea? Would Pelosi insist on a bigger office and her own plane?Nothing in Boehner’s history suggests that he cares about anything enough to put his job at risk. And the few Republican pragmatists left in Congress after 15 years under siege are mostly hiding. It is unclear whether there is one reality-based Republican left in Congress willing to break ranks at the risk of their job, much less 40 of them. And if Democrats smelled vulnerability it is tough to imagine that they could be persuaded to collaborate with a Republican Speaker.

The Texas Solution is simple and it seems like it would work, but the situation recalls Reagan’s cryptic quote, “there are no easy answers, but there are simple answers.“ No one is likely to pursue the simple answer offered by the Texas Solution until all other possibilities have been exhausted.

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