16 Republicans

This is something we should be aware of, although chances are it wouldn’t happen that way.

A post by Ned Ryun in RedState points out that just sixteen Republicans could be the difference between having milquetoast John Boehner as Speaker of the House or enacting a changing of the guard. For my part, I believe we need someone who will tell Barack Obama to pound sand until he comes up with realistic and reasonable bipartisan solutions on addressing the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and automatic spending cuts installed the last time we all kicked the can down the road. That someone is not John Boehner.

And before loyal Republicans freak out at the possibility of giving the Speaker’s gavel back to Nancy Pelosi, Ryun points out that House rules require a majority of members select a Speaker, not a plurality. The only way we would see Pelosi back in the chair is if sixteen of the most moderate Republicans crossed the aisle and guaranteed themselves a primary challenge in 2014.

Many conservatives are fed up with Boehner anyway, but the straw which broke the camel’s back may have been stripping some of the more strident House members of their former committee assignments.

Obviously we don’t have a say in what goes on in the House, but those of us in the First Congressional District elected someone who does. Since Andy Harris has said that he doesn’t believe in new taxes, why should he vote for a Speaker who’s willing to negotiate away the one key piece of leverage we have in these budget talks? I hope he doesn’t.

There are other interesting possibilities at work here, though. Let’s say the conservative Republicans succeed in getting enough votes committed to withholding support from Boehner that he couldn’t be re-elected Speaker with just GOP votes. Would Democrats cross over, knowing how he seems to loathe the most conservative in the Republican caucus as much as they do, and provide the votes to re-elect him Speaker? Stranger things have happened, but we would at least know where we stood.

Just because Barack Obama barely won re-election doesn’t mean all of America embraced his economic policies – more than likely it was a reaction to the demagoguery of his opponent and the lack of excitement he brought to the race from the same conservative quarters now questioning whether Boehner deserves another term.

Arguably that same group on a state level lost its confidence in party leadership as well, given that roughly 2/5 of the bodies voting last Saturday – 104 of 247 – voted in favor of the no-confidence resolution against Reince Priebus. Counties on the Eastern Shore, though, split almost evenly, with 34 for and 36 against. And if you add the clear majority from among the Central Committee voters in Baltimore, Carroll, and Harford counties calling for Reince’s head – remember, those are part of Andy’s district now – you can understand that the Harris constituency might be a little perturbed at party leadership.

Hopefully Harris bears that in mind when leadership roles are picked early next year.