And saying to himself, wait a minute ... I think I screwed something up here, I wasn't supposed to be the one being held hostage.

He's a snake.

Dems, keep moving forward with procedural moves to bypass this roadblock to our economy.

We want this resolved. Let's do it!

at that big ol fat elephant digging his own grave. tsk

I read something yesterday here.. from a repub via fb..

"What is the goal of all this? I'm a high income, pro-business, gun owning, truck driving patriotic American and the Republicans have completely lost me. Is the strategy to just go for the kooks now?"

h/t Skraxx http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3785618

...Then hope he knows how to read it.

The former Republican speaker’s ‘rule,’ that you can’t bring legislation to the House floor without a majority of GOP votes, is cited as the reason Boehner can’t end the shutdown. But Hastert tells Eleanor Clift it’s a ‘non-entity’—and ‘if we had to work with Democrats, we did.’

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There’s been a lot said in recent days about the so-called Hastert Rule. It is cited as the main reason why House Speaker John Boehner won’t allow a vote to fund the government with no Obamacare strings attached—under the rule, no legislation can be brought to the floor without a majority of Republican votes. But the rule’s namesake, former House speaker Denny Hastert, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday, “The Hastert Rule never really existed. It’s a non-entity as far as I’m concerned.”
Dennis Hastert

Jim Spellman/WireImage via Getty

He explained that at the 2006 press conference where he is credited with instituting the rule, he was speaking generally and philosophically. A reporter asked if Hastert, who was having trouble getting an immigration reform bill out of committee and building support in the GOP conference, couldn’t get Democrats to work with him. The genial speaker replied that relying on the other party for the bulk of votes is “something I would not generally do,” a fairly benign statement, as he remembers it now, that appears to have morphed into an ironclad rule. “Generally speaking, I needed to have a majority of my majority, at least half of my conference. This wasn’t a rule. I was speaking philosophically at the time…The Hastert Rule is kind of a misnomer.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/03/denny-hastert-disses-the-hastert-rule-it-never-really-existed.html

It's ironic.

Pay no mind to the man in the behind the curtain

hasn't gone away. I almost feel sorry for him (but not quite). Without "democratic support", he wouldn't be able to find his way out with a map and a flashlight.

in other headlines Boehner is said preaching party unity
and seeing no way out of this dead end

The Founding Father's feared parties - factions as they called them -
and that is the problem here

The House should recess for a day and randomly pair small groups of
the opposing parties for a real sit down lunch, maybe 5 from each
party in a group

Maybe they would understand each other

Then the party leaders should find some part of the debt issue that is
less controversial and hold a vote where all members are free to vote their
consciences

That would be nice if the rethugs could be believed.

But the drunken old sot can't be trusted on anything.

There's as much of a chance of him defusing this situation as there is of me discovering how to make chocolate air.

Boehner may be using the government shutdown to appease teaparty so he can raise the dedt ceiling by majority vote.

Still doesn't change the fact he is weakest speaker ever.

that republicans will end the shutdown if Obama permanently ends negotiations on the TPP.

It's a win-win for everyone but the 1%; but of course, this could never happen, because many republicans want this trade agreement just as much as Obama does.

Thanks for a bit of blue sky...the TPP is really horrific, if one wants to learn more: go to
www.exposethetpp.org

If I were the Dems, I'd be thinking…

Wait. He may be crazy and stupid, but he's not suicidal.

Wait. He may be crazy, stupid and suicidal, but he's not about to devalue the dollar and destroy the only thing that gives his miserable life any meaning.