I was thinking along the same lines as Best. If your boss is a nightmare is there a Human Resources manager you can talk to about your situation? HR might know about another position you can transfer into with less stress and no exah.
Your post touched me because I have a job dilemma myself and I've wanted to walk out the door so many times, but I get along good with my manager. It's the leadership of one person under the manager that makes life a daily living nightmare for me. My manager is aware of the problem and setting me up with lots of training so I can move up into a better position being more protected from the politics and power trips. It seems like when some people get a little position/power they abuse it, yet their cunning enough not cross the lines far enough to get themselves caught or fired. If it wasn't for my manager having somewhat of a clue of what's going on I too would quit and look elsewhere.