By now, everyone’s probably heard the sound bytes or possibly read about the feigned liberal outrage of what appears to be Speaker Boehner finally growing a spine and getting on board with the tea party! In a speech given to the Economic Club of New York, Boehner suddenly appears to no longer believe in the liberal urgency of raising the debt ceiling, or even that defaulting is a real risk. As Rush stated today, “In other words, he's not buying any of the premises put forth by the Democrats and the liberals in the media. He will not support spending cut "triggers." These are seen as a gimmick to kick the can down the road. He said the cuts must happen now.” Boehner’s even agreed that we need to have a fundamental review of defense spending (a known liberal, and to some extent libertarian, point of contention).
Although I'm approaching this with an adequate level of skepticism, this is the toughness that conservatives have been begging for, as thus far we’ve seen mostly timidity from the leadership. So conservatives are left with one crucial question: are these genuine fighting words, or is this, yet again, political posturing? We will soon find out if the Speaker’s will can withstand the media backlash that’s certain to accompany this fight, but one things is for certain: Conservatives will be there to stand behind the Speaker and any Republican if this is a true and honest attempt to reign in the debt. If they fold on this issue as easily as the last phony budget deal, then an even larger wedge will be driven between the Speaker’s conservative base.
