http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/04/08/20060408-A3-01.htmlANALYSIS
Infighting foils Boehner’s call for consensus
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Jonathan Riskind and Jack Torry
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
WASHINGTON — The Republican lawmakers met in private late last month in a Capitol Hill basement room with harsh fluorescent lighting and plastic folding chairs.
As they sipped coffee from foam cups, they heard House Majority Leader John Boehner, of suburban Cincinnati, deliver a grim warning.
Boehner said they faced a stark choice, according to a lawmaker who attended. A few party members on the right and left were paralyzing House Republicans because they refused to support any bill they did not completely agree with. The time had come, Boehner said, to compromise and back bills they regarded as imperfect and show the country the GOP could govern. Otherwise, they risked losing their slender control of the House in November.
When Boehner finished his speech, most of the lawmakers gave him a rousing ovation. But just a couple of weeks later, the cheers and applause evaporated when Republican turned on Republican and failed to forge a consensus on one of the basic responsibilities of a majority party: producing an annual budget for the government...