Anaylsis: Merry Cliff-Mas
By Special Contributor Larry Kane
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Another week, another logjam in Washington punctuated by a humiliating setback.
A composite view of seven Republican house lawmakers is that 38 ultraconservatives torpedoed John Boehner's plan to a vote on a bill that was already rejected by Senate leadership but one that he tried to use as a bargaining chip.
What's next? The President is seeking a scaled down compromise to get the country through January first. Right now the White House has no one to negotiate with in the house so the President will try to get both sides in the Senate to come up with a plan that the house might entertain.
Of course, there's always the possibility that the President and Speaker Boehner will negotiate quietly. But there are still those 38 house members who won't budge or will they?
The humiliation of Boehner by his own party is one of the most striking acts of defiance in many years.
