tea Party defiance in defeating House legislation to extend the Patriot Act…#p2

tea Party defiance in defeating House legislation to extend the Patriot Act… But was the failure really surprising, and what does it mean for the debt-ceiling vote?... The House GOP's shaky first month… Phasing out Fannie and Freddie… Michelle Obama on "TODAY"… Hatch hugs the Tea Party… Focusing on Obama's faith… And focusing on the Iowa GOP's very conservative electorate.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Tea Party defiance: In a defeat last night for House Republican leaders, legislation to extend certain Patriot Act programs was unable to get the two-thirds vote needed for passage as 26 Republicans voted no, including seven freshmen who are associated with the Tea Party. Per NBC's Luke Russert, the vote -- 277 to 148 -- represented the first insurrection against the House GOP leadership by its freshman members since it was expected to pass easily. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) blamed Democrats for the defeat. "I am surprised that so many Democrats who supported an extension of these very same provisions last Congress suddenly changed their votes," he said in a statement. "It's unfortunate that partisan politics seems to have prevented so many Democrats from doing what's best for America's national security." But when your party controls the House, and when 26 of your members voted against, it's hard to pass the blame (and it was the House GOP leaders, after all, who made the decision to bring the bill to the floor under these rules). As Russert notes, had those seven Tea Party freshmen voted yes, the legislation would have passed. 

*** Was the failure really surprising? Still, House Republicans can vote again on the legislation under regular procedures that would require only a simple majority. While the legislation last night was expected to pass, we probably shouldn't be surprised that an issue like the Patriot Act was able to unite libertarian-leaning Tea Party folks and liberals. The question for House GOP leaders -- as well as the Obama White House -- is what the vote means on future matters, such as the upcoming push to raise the debt ceiling. This was the first test of the vote-counting abilities of the House GOP leadership. And either they knew this was going to go down and wanted to make a point, or they were surprised, which means their job in keeping their caucus in line is going to be as tough as the so-called "Conventional Wisdom" crowd has been predicting. Today, at 12:30 pm ET, President Obama and Vice President Biden will have lunch with the three House GOP leaders who are responsible for rounding up their party's votes, Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy.

rest at http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/09/6017144-first-thoughts-tea-party-defiance