In any other Speaker election, the newly elected Speaker would take note of the members within their party who opposed and there would be some level of retribution or ostracization. There would be consequences to their actions.
The reason these 20 keep doing this over and over again is because they know there would be zero consequences for their actions.
Which makes me wonder-- Although it'll never happen, I wonder if he could get some number of Dems to vote for him on the sheer value of punishing these 20 to embarrassing levels. Stripping them all from Committees. Not recognizing them to speak on the floor. Taking the whole party apparatus and benefits from them. Censuring them in all but name. The more embarrassing and the more schadenfraude leveled on them, the more we begin to look like a normal functioning democracy again; that alone would be worth it.
What I am keeping an eye on is the Fox News prime time lineup. Given the January 4th New York Post cover it is just a mater of time until Fox Prime time drops Thor's hammer on the crazy 20. When the hammer drops the votes of the crazy 20 will begin to shift towards McCarthy. When that happens, and McCarthy becomes speaker, it will be, for me, the clearest indication yet where the real power lies in the 118th congress.
So, #6 failed. Big surprise. McCarthy, from what I've been hearing, is giving away the store, and the "gang" still might not vote for him. What a godawful joke. IF he gets them to vote for him, he'll be the weakest Speaker in history with the threat of losing the job any time he doesn't do what they want. Pray tell me why in Heaven's name does he even want the job any more? They won't let him do anything!
I keep waiting for the Democrats to nominate a moderate Republican for Speaker. That person need not be a member of the house so it could be anyone who draws their respect. If the Dems stick together they only need six Republicans to vote with them to make it happen. Then that person gets to pick committee leadership and prevent the Magas from taking control and wasting our tax dollars on performative investigations. Congress might even get some real work done.
"Useful idiots" can make democracy and rule by elected representatives look too chaotic and disorganized -- and make pro-democracy activists in their own dictatorship look stupid for supporting election. And if they end up choosing Scales who has praised David Duke, KKK guy, as Speaker, even better.
What if McCarthy gives up and nominates Trump for Speaker... Would the extremists refuse to vote for their golden calf? Trump would be pissed because he'd have to at least pretend to show up for work but would he turn down a chance to win? And Trump as Speaker would mean that the Trumpies making selfish or anti-democratic demands would have to find ways to deal with Trump - specially whenever Trump gets himself into trouble had has to throw one of his minions under the closest bus.
Hakeem Jeffries has had a plurality in 6 straight votes for Speaker and now has more votes for Speaker in 2 days than Pelosi did in the 4 terms she actually was Speaker.
McCarthy on the other hand has struck out 6 straight times...only in politics does that mean you're not out yet.
Just found out that Jeffries is an alum of my old alma mater - SUNY Binghamton. :-) So the "House" has adjourned until 8 EST. Any bets on nothing changing?
Yeah, it's pretty funny to see people like Dan Crenshaw whine about the crazies, as if he himself hasn't been courting and encouraging them for the last several years. Enjoy getting your face eaten by the leopard, genius.
Oh, and Kevin loses for the 6th time now. I was wrong about how long the crazies would hold out.
This is what we get from gerrymandering, voter suppression, and lies. It takes the complicity of the other 202 members who. quietly allowed the crazies to rave on for six years.
I know you keep saying that this is not about governing and there is no endgame and it’s just about owning the libs, but is that really true. Isn’t what they want is an end to government as we know it, which necessarily means deficit spending, admitting new immigrants (disproportionately black and brown) providing cash and housing subsidies to poor persons (disproportionately black), collecting taxes, and paying the debt which means raising the debt ceiling. The holdouts are members who have told their constituents they will not support those things, ever, under any circumstances. And what better way to achieve that than simply to block the House from ever starting it’s session. Sure it’s dumb and dangerous policy but isn’t it the policy that Fox Newsnpundits and their ilk have been advocating for years?
It's not good to be prideful but I'm gladly looking back at how I could see this was going to happen more than a decade ago. My Republican Party is long gone, all that's left is a shambling corpse.
And #5 is also a loser for Kevin. The record is 133 ballots over 2 months. Is Kevin shooting for a new record? The really sad part is if Kevin folds, who else is there to pick from?
If Republicans doesn’t get organized soon, they’re going to run out of time for all their investigations!
In any other Speaker election, the newly elected Speaker would take note of the members within their party who opposed and there would be some level of retribution or ostracization. There would be consequences to their actions.
The reason these 20 keep doing this over and over again is because they know there would be zero consequences for their actions.
Which makes me wonder-- Although it'll never happen, I wonder if he could get some number of Dems to vote for him on the sheer value of punishing these 20 to embarrassing levels. Stripping them all from Committees. Not recognizing them to speak on the floor. Taking the whole party apparatus and benefits from them. Censuring them in all but name. The more embarrassing and the more schadenfraude leveled on them, the more we begin to look like a normal functioning democracy again; that alone would be worth it.
What I am keeping an eye on is the Fox News prime time lineup. Given the January 4th New York Post cover it is just a mater of time until Fox Prime time drops Thor's hammer on the crazy 20. When the hammer drops the votes of the crazy 20 will begin to shift towards McCarthy. When that happens, and McCarthy becomes speaker, it will be, for me, the clearest indication yet where the real power lies in the 118th congress.
So, #6 failed. Big surprise. McCarthy, from what I've been hearing, is giving away the store, and the "gang" still might not vote for him. What a godawful joke. IF he gets them to vote for him, he'll be the weakest Speaker in history with the threat of losing the job any time he doesn't do what they want. Pray tell me why in Heaven's name does he even want the job any more? They won't let him do anything!
I keep waiting for the Democrats to nominate a moderate Republican for Speaker. That person need not be a member of the house so it could be anyone who draws their respect. If the Dems stick together they only need six Republicans to vote with them to make it happen. Then that person gets to pick committee leadership and prevent the Magas from taking control and wasting our tax dollars on performative investigations. Congress might even get some real work done.
They have the power to fire Pelosi's staff? What's that aboout?
I guessing here but it might be referring to the clerks who are running the voting right now.
I wonder how many of the extremist GOP Reps were also funded by Russians?
https://www.thedailybeast.com/republican-george-devolder-santos-got-cash-from-andrew-intrater-cousin-of-russian-oligarch-viktor-vekselberg
"Useful idiots" can make democracy and rule by elected representatives look too chaotic and disorganized -- and make pro-democracy activists in their own dictatorship look stupid for supporting election. And if they end up choosing Scales who has praised David Duke, KKK guy, as Speaker, even better.
What if McCarthy gives up and nominates Trump for Speaker... Would the extremists refuse to vote for their golden calf? Trump would be pissed because he'd have to at least pretend to show up for work but would he turn down a chance to win? And Trump as Speaker would mean that the Trumpies making selfish or anti-democratic demands would have to find ways to deal with Trump - specially whenever Trump gets himself into trouble had has to throw one of his minions under the closest bus.
This is the caucus McCarthy helped create. He deserves to enjoy the fruits of his labors.
Nominate George Santos, see how many votes he gets.
Wanna bet he's already included Speaker of the US House of Representatives in his resume?
Hakeem Jeffries has had a plurality in 6 straight votes for Speaker and now has more votes for Speaker in 2 days than Pelosi did in the 4 terms she actually was Speaker.
McCarthy on the other hand has struck out 6 straight times...only in politics does that mean you're not out yet.
Just found out that Jeffries is an alum of my old alma mater - SUNY Binghamton. :-) So the "House" has adjourned until 8 EST. Any bets on nothing changing?
Yeah, it's pretty funny to see people like Dan Crenshaw whine about the crazies, as if he himself hasn't been courting and encouraging them for the last several years. Enjoy getting your face eaten by the leopard, genius.
Oh, and Kevin loses for the 6th time now. I was wrong about how long the crazies would hold out.
What's the incentive for them to give up? McCarthy has already promised them whatever he can give. And they just LOVE the attention.
This is what we get from gerrymandering, voter suppression, and lies. It takes the complicity of the other 202 members who. quietly allowed the crazies to rave on for six years.
I know you keep saying that this is not about governing and there is no endgame and it’s just about owning the libs, but is that really true. Isn’t what they want is an end to government as we know it, which necessarily means deficit spending, admitting new immigrants (disproportionately black and brown) providing cash and housing subsidies to poor persons (disproportionately black), collecting taxes, and paying the debt which means raising the debt ceiling. The holdouts are members who have told their constituents they will not support those things, ever, under any circumstances. And what better way to achieve that than simply to block the House from ever starting it’s session. Sure it’s dumb and dangerous policy but isn’t it the policy that Fox Newsnpundits and their ilk have been advocating for years?
Except they won't achieve that. At some point they'll get McCarthy, someone like him (Scalise), or some kind of compromise with Democrats.
This is a black eye for them, and one that more and more people are going to start noticing.
It's not good to be prideful but I'm gladly looking back at how I could see this was going to happen more than a decade ago. My Republican Party is long gone, all that's left is a shambling corpse.
And #5 is also a loser for Kevin. The record is 133 ballots over 2 months. Is Kevin shooting for a new record? The really sad part is if Kevin folds, who else is there to pick from?
I thought we had until December, but it appears it's earlier. September or thereabouts when funding does matter.