Why is John Boehner so afraid of the Tea Party freshmen?

With Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel blasting Boehner today, telling him to just get the 2-month tax cut extension passed, then appoint conferees to work out a deal on the year extension. That makes it clear that McConnel had a “promise” from Boehner that if he pushed the 2-month extension through the Senate, Boehner would get enough Republicans in the House to pass it with essentially unanimous Democratic support. Now Boehner is refusing to even allow a vote because he knows the bill would pass, and the Tea Party freshmen don’t want it to.

When House Tea Partiers didn’t want to do the deal, even though they number about 100 members, mostly freshmen and not powerful committee chairs, Boehner reneged on his promise and caved to less than ¼ of the House, letting them overrule democracy in favor of their extreme anti-government vision, and their desire to never do anything that might put Americans back to work, as that might help Obama win reelection. Now it’s becoming obvious that what the Tea Party has done is likely helping the president win a second term.

Why is Boehner so terrified of the Tea Party minority in his own caucus? Since when was the Speaker of the House the weakest man in the Legislative Branch? Do you think Boehner fears a Tea Party primary challenge unseating a serving Speaker of the House? Do they have some dirt on him they are using to blackmail him into just doing their bidding? It’s been said that watching the Congress make laws is like watching sausage making. But this has gone beyond that. It’s now more like watching sewerage processing. It stinks. How long till the Boehner that caved to the Tea Party caves further to political reality and brings the Senate bill to the House floor for an up or down vote?