John Boehner says there is a 50-50 chance of a debt ceiling deal. Don’t expect him to advocate cutting the budget, capping spending, and passing a Balanced Budget Amendment.Boehner thinks a BBA is a “gimmick”, despite his prior support for one in the nineties.The tendency of many conservatives these days, myself included, is to dismiss out of hand whatever leadership comes up with. The tendency of others is to embrace it wholesale and thumb their noses at conservatives skeptical of the leadership’s track record.We should remember the Speaker sold us a bill of goods on the continuing resolution. Ultimately, it wound up driving up the debt, not driving it down. The $100 billion in cuts wound up being a few hundred million dollars in cuts.I’m not hopeful. The one thing I can guarantee is that any deal John Boehner cuts is going to punt the ball. The question we must answer before giving it a thumbs up or thumbs down is just how far a punt.Given Boehner’s lack of leadership in holding the line on cutting, capping, and balancing, I won’t hold my breath. But I am curious to see if it is a deal worth supporting.Personally, my hope is that it so enrages conservatives, they finally find their testicular fortitude and hold the freaking line. It’s pathetic when Olympia Snowe is to the right of them.