Will wonders never cease? Boehner (and others) actually succeed in killing illegal alien amnesty... for now.

Boehner has been as much a disappointment as Marc Boldt, here locally, so imagine my surprise when I discovered he'd actually done the right thing.

Who knew?

Face it: the GOP has been a major flop at the national and local level.

The GOP Establishment is enamored by nothing more than the letter after the name, a system rife with political opportunism.  Be anything you want to get elected or re-elected: forget all about your party affiliation once your election is certified....you know, a Leavitt-riff, where you lie you ass off to get elected... and then militantly oppose the position you took to get elected in the first place..

The GOP at all levels is inept to incompetent at messaging, communications, technical and strategic planning and infrastructure.

The GOP has completely lost any superior GOTV ability.

So, when I stumble over his maneuvering to keep amnesty dead... I'm naturally taken aback.

How immigration died — Part 1 (Video)

By Russell Berman - 11/12/13 06:00 AM EST

This article is the first of a two-part series on immigration.

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez’s phone was ringing. It was President Obama’s chief of staff.

Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) was part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the middle of May that was on the cusp of a breakthrough agreement on immigration reform.

Denis McDonough told Gutiérrez that Obama opposed a key concession that Democratic negotiators had made to House Republicans.

Sen. Charles Schumer later called. The New York Democrat, the architect of more liberal legislation from the Gang of Eight that was advancing in the Senate, delivered an even blunter message.

“Stop the progress on the House bill,” Gutiérrez described Schumer as saying. “I want you to stop. You are damaging the Senate proposal moving forward.”

The White House and Senate Democrats did not want a more conservative House plan — designed to pass muster with a Republican majority — to emerge before the Gang of Eight’s proposal had passed on the Senate floor.

Lacking support from party leaders, Democrats in the House group suffered from internal divisions over how far to bend in their bid to reach a deal that could set up a compromise with the more favorable Senate bill.

Tempers flared frequently between Gutiérrez, the colorful Chicago lawmaker revered by immigration advocates, and Rep. Xavier Becerra (Calif.), a Los Angeles liberal who had risen up the ranks of the Democratic leadership.

Immigration reform is widely seen as dead in this Congress, and the finger-pointing has already started.

Both parties are responsible for the effort’s demise.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), for example, refused pleas from GOP negotiators for a commitment to move the House bill. Republicans could never give Democrats a clear sense of how many GOP lawmakers might support the proposal if it ever reached the floor.

Inside the House Group of Eight, momentum toward a deal slowed as negotiations became bogged down in a dispute over healthcare. By the end of May, the group had lost its self-described conservative hardliner, Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho), who quit despite pleas from top Republicans, including Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), that he stay at the table.

The remaining seven met through the summer, but their moment had passed.

More: