Just heard an analysis of what it would take for Jeffries to be elected with all the Democrats. That would require approximately 10 Republicans to abstain or vote present instead of voting for McCarthy or another Republican they would put up. Can't see them being that self destructive but with this group of bat crap crazies, who knows.
What I do know is this vote has laid bare for any citizen to see is the fact a way too large segment of the GOP Congress is made up of bomb throwers who would rather lather from the mouth on one crazier cause or another rather than govern. They have become so because they have been rewarded for adopting that personna back home in their gerrymandered red districts and the never ending appeal of appearing on Fox and Friends for some face time rather than in the hard tedious work of legislating. A far too large percentage of the GOP now believes getting elected is performance art.
However this turns out we are in for two years of investigations, hearings and show trials. And, come 2024 the party which made that possible will go back and ask for not just another two years but for we the people to put someone like them in the White House.
I live in Prescott. Gosar was our Rep. The Arizona GOP gerrymandered, so Gosar moved into a new territory, one which is even crazier than his old one. Which is hard to believe. He ran UNOPPOSED; this dangerous moron won, so his right-wing looniness will be with us, probably until he dies. BTW, he always looks sick and shaky, a reflection of his tiny mind.
Sorry that I cannot give this comment a "like" even though I agree with it. Who could like having that crazed whack-job Gosar running loose in the House?
robert bell—Only a stupid accident of (NY state) history gave these morons control of the House. Their exercise of power so far gives me great hope voters won't give them another chance in '24.
My district. We supported the Democrat front-runner, and attended functions for a most worthy guy who's name is Robert Zimmerman. He was attacked by his opponent for sharing the name with Bob Dylan, a tactic which made no sense at the time.
Now it appears that there was much the winner had to hide about his own name and other personal matters which he has misrepresented.
It seems like only yesterday that we were told (not by you, Lucian) what a cohesive group the GOP were compared with the Democratic cats who refused to be herded. So pleased to see the shoe on the other foot now. And even better if it comes with an ankle bracelet for those who gave comfort to the criminals of Jan. 6.
Something I've learned from many organizations over the years: With agreed-upon objectives, diverse members can overcome their differences in style, priorities, etc., and get things done. Without such objectives, groups bicker endlessly and often eventually fall apart. The current GOP thinks that "no" is an objective. It isn't. There is nothing holding the GOP together. The Dems, however, disparate as they are, came together to get things done despite having the slimmest of majorities.
Wouldn't that be a kick in the teeth for the Republicans if they can't hold together long enough to elect a speaker and the Democrats do...I'd love that-karma coming in on the noon time train.
I hope it does, too. The Democrats have some idea of what they're doing. The Republicans don't any any idea of anything besides being loons from another moon.
It is 3:40 PM. A Times notification said the Speaker might turn out to be GYM JORDAN!! He who dropped out of law school and never took the bar exam (and is now head of the Judiciary Committee!); doesn't ever wear a suit jacket because he sweats; witnessed sexual assaults in the wrestling program (and said nothing). Pardon my elitism, but he wasn't even the wrestling coach. He was the *assistant." Should he become Speaker, Sam Rayburn will turn over in his grave and I will book a one-way ticket to Portugal.
Anyone remember the U.S. presidential election of 1800? The Electoral College deadlocked, and it took the House of Representatives *36 ballots* to elect Thomas Jefferson our 3rd present. Who came in second? Aaron Burr. We lucked out on that one. (I'm finishing up copyediting a book about the early national period. Timing could not be better.)
Send an advance copy of your book to the American historian Heather Cox Richardson. It would be great to have her write a blurb - she's got a considerable following on Substack.! Heather has already alluded to past fiascos in American politics including the election of Trump and the history of the Republican party.
I'm copyediting this book, not writing it, and the author, though a historian, couldn't hold a candle to HCR. I'm a fan both of Letters from an American and of Now & Then, the podcast she does with Joanne Freeman (whose specialty is the revolution and early national period).
“If we’re so hateful towards each other that other Republicans won’t vote for us, then we’re doing exactly what the Democrats want,” Ronna Romney McDaniel.
They should’ve thought of that before they took the snake in. He told them who he was with that story enough times.
Great initial column, Lucien! Can't wait to hear you expound further on this Republican clusterfuck in Congress. These idiots just keep getting stupider and stupider, and stupider...
Forgive me, but I’m so confused. I mean, I get that McCarthy doesn’t have enough votes. But what do these far-right holdouts think is possible? They can’t believe that their candidate (i.e. Gosar) can win, right?
It's not the least bit surprising that Republican toady Kevin McCarthy cannot get the votes to elect him to the speakership of the House of Representatives. McCarthy has been sniveling and spineless as long as he's been in Congress; and the one time he demonstrated any sort of manhood was when he denounced Donald Trump for his complicity in the January 6 uprising. Immediately afterward though, it became clear that Kevin recognized his apostasy the moment he finished his diatribe against Trump, and undoubtedly he also lost bladder control, because the next thing we know is that he hastened down to Florida to kiss Trump's hand. Now he's locked in a fight to the death with the ultra MAGAhats who can smell McCarthy's weakness from the opposite side of the House of Representatives' chamber at the Capitol. Things are not going to get any better for Kevin in any subsequent balloting. Whatever Kevin thinks he might gain by sucking up to the MAGAhat hardliners, he's liable to lose that and more votes by ordinary Republicans who are put off by Kevin's disgusting performance.
Now would be the time for a united Democratic Party to make a counter offer to the Republican colleagues who are watching their party spiral down the sewer pipe. Hey, Willie Brown did that in California to great effect; but then again, California politics, even in the state capitol building, are mostly sane and content-focused. Our national House of Representatives could learn a thing or two about building coalitions that, even by fits and starts, eventually come up with a workable solution that rewards none of them to any great extent, but one that all sides can live with. And that's the point of the whole thing. Finding something that everybody can claim as their own, and that makes meaningful progress in taking care of the people's business. For the better part of three years, I had a front row seat and watching that happen within the state capitol in Sacramento. Politics is not a zero-sum game, nor can it be, because all members of the Legislature are never on the same side all the time. Coalitions come together and disperse, simply because the interests involved are so variable, and individual members practice the art of leaving their egos in the cloakroom when they come to work on the morning. Sometimes it takes a while to come to agreement, but that is expected. At at the end of the day, former adversaries gathered together to share drinks across the street at one of the bars or local restaurants nearby. It's not a perfect arrangement, but it works an awful lot better than what we are seeing in Congress today, with a reasonable and effective Democratic Party trying to deal with a dysfunctional and faction-ridden Republican contingent.
The Republican party can reconstitute itself and get back on the rails if its members are willing to do the job that their voters sent them to Washington to do. The culture warriors are simply a loud and obnoxious contingent within their party; and it's time for those who are mature enough to handle the job to seek out allies from the other side on matters in which they can all agree. But Kevin McCarthy is not the guy to run that kind of operation, because he is too scared of offending the crazies, and the craziest one of all, former president Donald Trump. Republican Members of Congress have themselves witnessed what an effective legislative body the Democratic Party has been over the preceding two years. They stand no chance of emulating the Democrats' obvious success in enacting President Biden's progressive programs into law. Whether from prudence or conscience, those Republicans who want to accomplish something meaningful for their constituents can look to the Democrats to see how it's done. But it takes conviction and maturity, and a willingness to be straight with their constituents to make it happen. Let's hope that some of them do have those essential qualities of leadership to tell the people at home that continually bashing the other side is not the way to take care of the people's business.
I'd purely LOVE to think that your eminently reasonable proposal and comment would meet with favor--and, tbh, I'm sure there are maybe a dozen sane Repubs who would be more than willing to try...but the performative whackdoodles are running the board right now, alas.
All it takes is one vote beyond one-half the membership. McCarthy is such a weak leader that he doesn't even deserve the title of Leader. He's as much of a loser as Trump.
Just heard an analysis of what it would take for Jeffries to be elected with all the Democrats. That would require approximately 10 Republicans to abstain or vote present instead of voting for McCarthy or another Republican they would put up. Can't see them being that self destructive but with this group of bat crap crazies, who knows.
What I do know is this vote has laid bare for any citizen to see is the fact a way too large segment of the GOP Congress is made up of bomb throwers who would rather lather from the mouth on one crazier cause or another rather than govern. They have become so because they have been rewarded for adopting that personna back home in their gerrymandered red districts and the never ending appeal of appearing on Fox and Friends for some face time rather than in the hard tedious work of legislating. A far too large percentage of the GOP now believes getting elected is performance art.
However this turns out we are in for two years of investigations, hearings and show trials. And, come 2024 the party which made that possible will go back and ask for not just another two years but for we the people to put someone like them in the White House.
I live in Prescott. Gosar was our Rep. The Arizona GOP gerrymandered, so Gosar moved into a new territory, one which is even crazier than his old one. Which is hard to believe. He ran UNOPPOSED; this dangerous moron won, so his right-wing looniness will be with us, probably until he dies. BTW, he always looks sick and shaky, a reflection of his tiny mind.
His own family hates him!
Sorry that I cannot give this comment a "like" even though I agree with it. Who could like having that crazed whack-job Gosar running loose in the House?
robert bell—Only a stupid accident of (NY state) history gave these morons control of the House. Their exercise of power so far gives me great hope voters won't give them another chance in '24.
My district. We supported the Democrat front-runner, and attended functions for a most worthy guy who's name is Robert Zimmerman. He was attacked by his opponent for sharing the name with Bob Dylan, a tactic which made no sense at the time.
Now it appears that there was much the winner had to hide about his own name and other personal matters which he has misrepresented.
YES!
It seems like only yesterday that we were told (not by you, Lucian) what a cohesive group the GOP were compared with the Democratic cats who refused to be herded. So pleased to see the shoe on the other foot now. And even better if it comes with an ankle bracelet for those who gave comfort to the criminals of Jan. 6.
Something I've learned from many organizations over the years: With agreed-upon objectives, diverse members can overcome their differences in style, priorities, etc., and get things done. Without such objectives, groups bicker endlessly and often eventually fall apart. The current GOP thinks that "no" is an objective. It isn't. There is nothing holding the GOP together. The Dems, however, disparate as they are, came together to get things done despite having the slimmest of majorities.
Never thought about it, but what you write about diverse groups made cohesive by a common goal is surely consistent with my experience.
Wouldn't that be a kick in the teeth for the Republicans if they can't hold together long enough to elect a speaker and the Democrats do...I'd love that-karma coming in on the noon time train.
I hope it does, too. The Democrats have some idea of what they're doing. The Republicans don't any any idea of anything besides being loons from another moon.
It is 3:40 PM. A Times notification said the Speaker might turn out to be GYM JORDAN!! He who dropped out of law school and never took the bar exam (and is now head of the Judiciary Committee!); doesn't ever wear a suit jacket because he sweats; witnessed sexual assaults in the wrestling program (and said nothing). Pardon my elitism, but he wasn't even the wrestling coach. He was the *assistant." Should he become Speaker, Sam Rayburn will turn over in his grave and I will book a one-way ticket to Portugal.
Assistant?! Hilarious. (I remembered the rest. That part got lost.)
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy
. . . or a nicer party
Anyone remember the U.S. presidential election of 1800? The Electoral College deadlocked, and it took the House of Representatives *36 ballots* to elect Thomas Jefferson our 3rd present. Who came in second? Aaron Burr. We lucked out on that one. (I'm finishing up copyediting a book about the early national period. Timing could not be better.)
Send an advance copy of your book to the American historian Heather Cox Richardson. It would be great to have her write a blurb - she's got a considerable following on Substack.! Heather has already alluded to past fiascos in American politics including the election of Trump and the history of the Republican party.
I'm copyediting this book, not writing it, and the author, though a historian, couldn't hold a candle to HCR. I'm a fan both of Letters from an American and of Now & Then, the podcast she does with Joanne Freeman (whose specialty is the revolution and early national period).
Thanks for the clarification.
Anyway, for what it’s worth, a blurb from HCR couldn’t hurt.
“If we’re so hateful towards each other that other Republicans won’t vote for us, then we’re doing exactly what the Democrats want,” Ronna Romney McDaniel.
They should’ve thought of that before they took the snake in. He told them who he was with that story enough times.
As an example of the current Repugnant party purging the old guard, Ronna was asked to drop “Romney” from her name. Now she’s just Ronna McDaniel.
Not to me. I don’t mind sticking the Romney in there. She got a preview of her future today.
They do have sparks of insight from time to time, don't they -- but they never seem to get a good fire going.
The encomia Stephanik showered on McCarthy were notable only because they were designed to flatter him, but had nothing to do with him.
And I was afraid the clownshow wouldn’t live up to its billing. 😳
👏
Great initial column, Lucien! Can't wait to hear you expound further on this Republican clusterfuck in Congress. These idiots just keep getting stupider and stupider, and stupider...
clusterfuck indeed
The day is young. No telling how low McCarthy will go before this is over. If it's ever over. 'Groundhog Day' …
Forgive me, but I’m so confused. I mean, I get that McCarthy doesn’t have enough votes. But what do these far-right holdouts think is possible? They can’t believe that their candidate (i.e. Gosar) can win, right?
Nihilism at work. in the modern Republican Party.
It's not the least bit surprising that Republican toady Kevin McCarthy cannot get the votes to elect him to the speakership of the House of Representatives. McCarthy has been sniveling and spineless as long as he's been in Congress; and the one time he demonstrated any sort of manhood was when he denounced Donald Trump for his complicity in the January 6 uprising. Immediately afterward though, it became clear that Kevin recognized his apostasy the moment he finished his diatribe against Trump, and undoubtedly he also lost bladder control, because the next thing we know is that he hastened down to Florida to kiss Trump's hand. Now he's locked in a fight to the death with the ultra MAGAhats who can smell McCarthy's weakness from the opposite side of the House of Representatives' chamber at the Capitol. Things are not going to get any better for Kevin in any subsequent balloting. Whatever Kevin thinks he might gain by sucking up to the MAGAhat hardliners, he's liable to lose that and more votes by ordinary Republicans who are put off by Kevin's disgusting performance.
Now would be the time for a united Democratic Party to make a counter offer to the Republican colleagues who are watching their party spiral down the sewer pipe. Hey, Willie Brown did that in California to great effect; but then again, California politics, even in the state capitol building, are mostly sane and content-focused. Our national House of Representatives could learn a thing or two about building coalitions that, even by fits and starts, eventually come up with a workable solution that rewards none of them to any great extent, but one that all sides can live with. And that's the point of the whole thing. Finding something that everybody can claim as their own, and that makes meaningful progress in taking care of the people's business. For the better part of three years, I had a front row seat and watching that happen within the state capitol in Sacramento. Politics is not a zero-sum game, nor can it be, because all members of the Legislature are never on the same side all the time. Coalitions come together and disperse, simply because the interests involved are so variable, and individual members practice the art of leaving their egos in the cloakroom when they come to work on the morning. Sometimes it takes a while to come to agreement, but that is expected. At at the end of the day, former adversaries gathered together to share drinks across the street at one of the bars or local restaurants nearby. It's not a perfect arrangement, but it works an awful lot better than what we are seeing in Congress today, with a reasonable and effective Democratic Party trying to deal with a dysfunctional and faction-ridden Republican contingent.
The Republican party can reconstitute itself and get back on the rails if its members are willing to do the job that their voters sent them to Washington to do. The culture warriors are simply a loud and obnoxious contingent within their party; and it's time for those who are mature enough to handle the job to seek out allies from the other side on matters in which they can all agree. But Kevin McCarthy is not the guy to run that kind of operation, because he is too scared of offending the crazies, and the craziest one of all, former president Donald Trump. Republican Members of Congress have themselves witnessed what an effective legislative body the Democratic Party has been over the preceding two years. They stand no chance of emulating the Democrats' obvious success in enacting President Biden's progressive programs into law. Whether from prudence or conscience, those Republicans who want to accomplish something meaningful for their constituents can look to the Democrats to see how it's done. But it takes conviction and maturity, and a willingness to be straight with their constituents to make it happen. Let's hope that some of them do have those essential qualities of leadership to tell the people at home that continually bashing the other side is not the way to take care of the people's business.
I'd purely LOVE to think that your eminently reasonable proposal and comment would meet with favor--and, tbh, I'm sure there are maybe a dozen sane Repubs who would be more than willing to try...but the performative whackdoodles are running the board right now, alas.
All it takes is one vote beyond one-half the membership. McCarthy is such a weak leader that he doesn't even deserve the title of Leader. He's as much of a loser as Trump.
"Coddling the crazies is no way to go about leading the House, son" reminds me of Dean Wormer in Animal House.
Biggs: "Kevin! You're gonna pork Kevin McCarthy!"
Gosar: "Andy, I anticipate a deeply ridiculous political farce."
Amen, brother!! Coddling crazies is never a good idea. Not for Putler either.