I Am Now Very Confused by John Boehner

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I do not understand this:

With a budget deal still elusive and a deadline approaching on raising the debt ceiling, Speaker John A. Boehner has told colleagues that he is determined to prevent a federal default and is willing to pass a measure through a combination of Republican and Democratic votes, according to one House Republican.

The lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of not being named, said Mr. Boehner indicated he would be willing to violate the so-called Hastert rule if necessary to pass a debt limit increase. The informal rule refers to a policy of not bringing to the floor any measure that does not have a majority of Republican votes.

Other Republicans also said Thursday that they got the sense that Mr. Boehner, who held two meetings Wednesday with groups of House moderates, would do whatever was necessary to ensure that the country did not default on its debt.

That’s good to hear. But it doesn’t make sense. For months now, Boehner has been telling his caucus not to use a government shutdown as leverage to cut spending or defund Obamacare, but instead to use the debt ceiling as leverage. That’s been his consistent strategy since March.

But now he’s telling them that, in fact, the debt ceiling can’t be used as a hostage after all? That’s weird. Of course, at the same time that he’s been begging his caucus to use the debt ceiling as leverage, he’s also been promising that he will never “risk the full faith and credit of the United States.” So this has been confusing all along.

I don’t know what’s going on anymore. In the meantime, however, here’s a video of brave, brave Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) publicly berating some poor park ranger for being stuck doing a terrible job that Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) has forced her to do. Kinda makes you want to puke.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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