I just don't see a way out of this budget impasse that is good for the Speaker. The poor guy has conservatives who are new to governing, who have no or little leverage, trying to buck another body of congress and the Executive branch? It's crazy.
If they shut down the government over not wanting to meet the other side halfway, Indie voters will abandon the right wing. They will seem, rightly, unreasonable and not having sound judgment as any prolonged shutdown will cost more than what they are trying get out of Democrats.
However, if they do the right thing and meet the Democrats and the White House halfway then the far right wing base of their party will call for the Speakers head, it's just insane.
My thoughts is he has to make a deal and it will be a relatively clean bill with a couple of riders and about $35-$40 billion in cuts, not all coming from the discretionary part of the budget as Republicans have so far insisted. The speaker will say he got 60-70% of what Republicans wanted and they win.
However, if he chooses to jump the cliff and shutdown the government then as Howard Dean pointed out, it will be very, very good for Democrats, Stay Tuned!
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