When future historians look back on the death of the GOP, they will certainly devote multiple chapters to the current Defund-Obamacare-or-We-Shoot-The-Hostage moment now playing out in the GOP Congressional Caucus.
Historians will comb primary sources and (depending on their preconceptions) paint Speaker of the House John Boehner as either:
A. Kindly Hospice Nurse: He did his best to minimize the pain as the patient/party slipped into the great here-after, joining the Federalists and the Whigs in the great party convention in the sky (heaven looks a lot like Chicago); or
B. Midwife of Death: Boehner assisted in the birth of Tea Party Republicanism but then, through gross malpractice, killed the young (unbaptized?) party that might have saved "Real America".
Either way, this does not look like the behavior of a political party long for this world:
Absolutely nothing about the House GOP’s behavior suggests they have a plausible resolution in mind. One smart, or at least plausible, plan to lift the debt ceiling would be to shut down the government first. Then Republicans could show they’re fighting, and then sell the need to lift the debt ceiling to their irreconcilables as a necessary tonic to calm the markets during the shutdown. Instead, they’re desperately avoiding a shutdown and actively courting a debt ceiling crisis.
