Pelosi, Democrats Face Tricky Decision on Keeping Boehner as Speaker

[question everything]

WASHINGTON—The fate of House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), battling a campaign by conservatives to oust him, could be in the hands of the Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

Democrats so far have been tight-lipped as to how they might vote on a measure aimed at cutting short Mr. Boehner’s third term as speaker, which conservatives say they could bring to the House floor at any time.

Though the timing of the effort is unclear, Mr. Boehner’s opponents appear to be taking advantage of the fact that he is currently under pressure from the right wing of his party. A group of conservatives wants to block government funding—risking a shutdown—unless money for Planned Parenthood is eliminated. Mr. Boehner needs to figure out how to keep the government open when current funding expires on Sept. 30 while still showing social conservatives he will fight for their cause.

Mrs. Pelosi and her caucus also face a tricky decision on how to approach the Boehner question. On the one hand, they worry that if they vote against a resolution to oust him, they could look like they helped the leader of the opposing party.. On the other hand, Democrats know that voting with the conservatives to topple Mr. Boehner could mean paving the way for a more conservative replacement.

(snip)

One option is that Democrats could simply vote “present” or not vote at all, and thus avoid explicitly backing Mr. Boehner. That would leave his fate to be determined by Republican votes alone. Mr. Boehner, who is seen as having majority support among the 247 Republicans in his caucus, would be likely to win a vote in which Democrats didn’t participate.

More..

http://www.wsj.com/articles/pelosi-democrats-face-tricky-decision-on-keeping-boehner-as-speaker-1442602653

[yeoman6987]

1. Yes Boehner can be bad but I shutter to think what his

replacement could be. It would certainly be worse. I know that's hard to believe but really Boehner is not tea party. The worst thing that ever happened in the Republican Party is tea party. I think since Boehner has the votes to stay, nancy should vote present.

[still_one]

2. That is exactly right, it can get worse

[Faux pas]

3. Six

of one, half dozen of the other. We've been screwn since we let them take over.

[murielm99]

4. Keep him,

but keep him toothless.

[Massacure]

5. Is this really that hard?

If 188 democrats for for Pelosi, 124 Republics for for Boehner and 123 Republics for say Paul Ryan, doesn't Pelosi become speaker?

[Chan790]

7. Yes, but...

the GOP would then immediately bring another vote to end her term before going into the backroom to hash out their own Speaker fight in order to bring only one consensus candidate forward for the Speakership.

[Chan790]

6. Why not make him horsetrade to hold his post?

It has two upsides...Democrats get something they want out of Boehner; it'll really piss off the extreme right even more against Boehner who they then know they cannot possibly get rid of.

What do we want? It has to be good...

[AlinPA]

8. Those GOP pigs are all the same to me. Boehner is as bad as any of those morons. He is their leader.

.Just listen to his rhetoric- no different tan any of the others.

[lindysalsagal]

9. Whatever. They'll eat their own....let them.

I think we should abstain so that we don't get blamed for their insane dysfunction.