MoJo: How Pelosi Saved Boehner's You-Know-What

[Ruby the Liberal]

When the voting began on the controversial—and ugly—debt ceiling bill in the House of Representatives on Monday, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the Democratic leader, did not know how many votes House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had for the measure that had been crafted by President Barack Obama and the Republicans. Boehner had not reached out to her to make certain that the crucial legislation designed to prevent a potentially disastrous US default would be approved. When Boehner "went to the table"—brought the bill to a vote—he "had no idea" how many votes he had, Pelosi says.

The speaker, as it turned out, did not have enough Republican votes to pass the bill—only 174—and he had made no arrangement to guarantee its success. When there were minutes left for the vote, and it became apparent that Boehner would fall far short of the 216 votes necessary for passage, Pelosi's Democrats began voting in favor of the measure. "We were not going to let it go down," she told a small group of journalists on Wednesday morning.

In past years, a House speaker and the leader of the opposition, would probably confer before such a crucial vote and figure out how to move the legislation through the chamber. (Boehner and Pelosi both were supporting this bill, albeit Pelosi quite reluctantly.) And many outside observers assumed that Boehner and Pelosi had indeed convened prior to this vote, that a conversation such as this had occurred: Nancy, I can get up to 170 or so votes, but not all those tea party guys. John, I can tell you that at least 50 Democrats are going to hold their noses and vote for this stinker. Yet when the final dramatic vote arrived, Pelosi was surprised that Boehner was so short of the magic 216. "When they didn't come to us for votes," Pelosi recalls, "we thought they had the votes on their own."

-snip-

In a routine situation, if the House speaker were to bring a bill to the floor and only obtain 174 votes of his or her own party, he or she would pull the legislation and then talk to the other side, which would expect concessions or sweeteners in return for the votes necessary to assemble a majority. In this case, Pelosi maintains, there was no time for further bargaining. The measure had to be approved and kicked over to the Senate, for the possibility of default loomed. "I don't know nobody who wanted to vote for it," Pelosi notes. But Democrats were committed to forestalling default. In the end, half of her caucus supported the measure, far more than necessary to put it over the top.

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/pelosi-boehner-debt-ceiling-deal

Yet Nancy couldn't find the votes for a straight debt ceiling lift and put the onus on Boehner to find 50 of his own. (100 Dems voted against it)

[SpiralHawk]

1. On your knees, Boehner, and give thanks to an American lady

who rescued your chickenhawk Republicon ass & party from yet another monumentail FAIL -- even though your deranged party has been engaged not only in an ugly War Against America, but also a soul-scuzzbucket War Against Women.

Time to sober up, express gratitude to the women and the Dems, and then renounce the TotaliTeaBagliCon Cesspool of Political FAIL.

[Vinnie From Indy]

5. Boehner might be thankful, but I am disgisted and outraged.

Pelosi and Reid have been dismal failures and they are part of our problem. Why so many continue to believe Pelosi's words and not her actions is an awesome thing to behold.

The way I read this story is that Boehner failed to get the insane members of his party to go along so Pelosi jumped in and helped him pass this piece of shit legislation. make no mistake! This deal WILL ultimately dismantle SS and Medicare. She is simply doing her masters bidding under the guise of acting in an "emergency situation". Pelosi didn't even get a single concession or sweetener from the GOP for getting this passed. She laughably claims there was not time to engage in negotiation. If that is actually true, she should be voted down as the leader in the House. I want a leader in the house that knows how to engage in negotiation. Pelosi should, and most previous Dem leaders would have, let the bill be defeated on the first vote forcing that dumbass Boehner to have to come to her begging for help to get it passed. Not only would the GOP's insanity be displayed to the American public after Boehner could not get a deal passed because of the insane self-professed tea baggers, he would have been forced to engage the Democrats and Pelosi. In addition, the claim that Pelosi had no time to negotiate is nonsense. Surely she had a grasp of the issues and could have easily offered a number of concessions off the top of her head in any brief discussion with Boehner. The fact is that she DID NOT WANT TO NEGOTIATE AWAY things like the "super-committee". This mechanism will allow her and the rest of corporately owned Democrats to give the wealthy what they want - a way to kill SS and Medicare. She obviously believes that this "super-committee" will give her and other Democrats cover for the destruction of the New Deal on thier watch.

It is time for all progressives to question Pelosi and Reid and demand new leaders willing to fight.

[villager]

2. So she gave up Democratic votes without concessions?

n/t

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. More from the article

So to prevent default, Pelosi held her nose and halfheartedly encouraged fellow Democrats to vote for legislation that she insists will "deter economic growth." This fight, she adds, was not propelled by Republican concern for deficit reduction; it was "about destroying the public space"—that is, the tea party's desire to weaken government. And this battle, she concedes, has reinforced the Republicans' economic message: "debt is everything." It has demonstrated that the tea party has succeeded, as she puts it, in changing the "arena."

She admits it will "deter economic growth" and has "reinforced the message that debt is everything" but still 'half-heartedly' encouraged people to salvage the vote.

[Kalidurga]

4. I am probably nuts...

but I would have let the orange man fail.