The Republicans are feverishly rounding up supporters ahead of this afternoon’s dramatic Boehner-bill vote on the House floor. The Speaker is cautiously optimistic his bill will pass. (We’ll know he’s really confident if he schedules a vote before the markets close.) Oh, and there’s a Notre Dame angle:
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), a bulky former Notre Dame football player, gave a rousing football-themed speech and said he would vote for the bill. He told colleagues they needed to do three things: put on your helmet, put in your mouth piece and tighten your chinstrap. He gave out signs with the Notre Dame football saying: Play like a champion today.
“Let’s kick the sh*t out of them,” Kelly said in the meeting, according to several sources.
Heh. Nate Silver thinks it’s all over but the face-saving. I think the bill will pass by a vote or two. (But if it fails, it’ll be by a dozen or more, because of yes-to-no switches once it becomes clear it’s gonna fail.)
Well, given that the vote’s been delayed, I think “Get your a** in line…” has just been shown to be a very poor leadership tactic. Especially with people who can say “Or what?” because they realize _they will lose if they vote with you_. Also note the Speaker’s walkback of an attempt to redistrict the head of the RSC out of Congress.