05.14.07
Will Craddick Fall?
Go to BurkaBlog to see this turn from a rumor to hard evidence.
Whether there’s a will to vacate the chair or not the grassroots of the GOP in Texas is scared and that’s a good sign. But I agree more with Harvey Kronberg:
(As we have written before, pointing the finger at Democrats is a red herring, albeit an effective one for the base. Given the fractured nature of the House, neither Craddick nor any Republican opponent can win or govern without some Democratic support.)
But the problem with the January playbook strategy is that it reinforces every impulse on the floor to rebel. The drumbeat has increased the urgency to replace the speaker because the sixty-eight members that supported Geren’s secret ballot amendment last January know they are fair game in the next election cycle. The eighty-seven that voted against Craddick on the appeal of the ruling the chair know they too are fair game.
But this goes back to a point that Burka made in November ’06, during Craddick’s last crisis. The Speaker’s number one duty is to protect the members and if nobody’s safe then he isn’t doing his number one duty.
It would probably be better for the GOP to take him out now instead of having to worry about their Craddick-problem until January of 2009.
Kuff has more here.