The end of an era.
I am so glad that Nancy Pelosi chose to stay in Congress, even though she is no longer in an official leadership position.
The day this photo came out, I changed out the banner for the Politics posts. To this one. So whenever you miss Nancy Pelosi, you can click on Topics in the sidebar, and she will be there for you.
And of course, the fuck you clap. I will always love her for this.
It may be the end of an era, but it’s also the start of a new one!
Hakeem Jeffries nominating Nancy SMASH in 2020. Take the 2 minutes to watch, you won’t regret it.
Hakeem Jeffries to Clarence Thomas: Why are you such a hater?
Hakeem refers to him as “the former twice-impeached so-called President”
hahahahaha
WATCH: House Democrats fight for the people, that's our story, that's our legacy, that's our values, that's our commitment as we move forward. Get stuff done. Make life better for everyday Americans.
RT if you agree with our newly elected leader Hakeem Jeffries. pic.twitter.com/HXUwuLyjyW
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) December 2, 2022
Welcome, Hakeem! Bring it.
I know you guys may think I’m crazy, but I think we’ll win back the House with special elections and I think he will be the Speaker of the House before the end of 2023.
Open thread.
Elizabelle
I hope you are right about the special elections. I do not think that’s crazy at all.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I don’t think you’re crazy. I’ve been thinking much the same thing. Mostly I’ve been pinning my hopes on insurrection charges, but we could also have the more petty kinds of crimes that Republicans are always committing.
It seems to me the Jan 6 committee and DOJ have been very quiet regarding what legal trouble active members of Congress might be in, as have many of those members themselves. I think / hope we may have some pleasant legal moments coming up in 2023.
Jesse
From your lips to God’s ears (re: retaking the majority — I wonder if that’s ever happened before in congressional history).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Possible, but I think unlikely. How many resignations/deaths/indictments are there in an average two-year Congressional term? We’d need six, right?
Keith
How does the Speaker position work exactly? Is there currently no Speaker or is Pelosi technically still the Speaker until there is a new one elected? If there is currently no Speaker what does that mean for the business of the House if the position remains vacant for an extended period?
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Has to be the right district too. And we can’t lose any.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Keith: A tweet I saw yesterday said that the Speaker swears in the members of the House. No Speaker, no House. There are no members, just members-elect.
Just found a WaPo article that says in 1856 the Speaker’s election took two months and 133 ballots. As far as I can tell from a quick scan, it’s silent on the question that Random Twitter Commenter raised.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t recall the number, but it’s crazy high. I’m thinking something maybe 63 in the last congress? I’m sure someone will chime in with the exact number.
Also, what is the exact number for the balance in the House right now
edit: okay, it’s 222 R and 212 D.
If we flip a special election seat, that’s 221 R and 213 D.
If we flip a second one, that’s 220 R and 214 D.
A third one, 219 R and 215 D.
A fourth, 218 R and 216 D
Fifth, 217 R and 217 D (even split)
Sixth, 216 R and 218 D
Yes, that assumes we don’t lose any special elections.
Miss Bianca
@Elizabelle: I second this emotion.
eclare
Love Hakeem’s alliteration!
TaMara
These republicans congresscritters out in the press this morning is fun. I hope they are drinking pepto by that gallon.
New Deal democrat
I think your assessment that the Democrats could regain the majority via special elections during this term is a good 50/50 possibility.
Paul Krugman has written, correctly I think, that had gas prices been at the beginning of November what they were one month later, the Democrats would have kept control of the House.
In the meantime, Pelosi’s mentorship may come in handy as early as today, depending on how badly the GOP screws up its leadership elections.
Old School
@Keith:
According to The Atlantic, a speaker is require to do anything else.
mrmoshpotato
That would be awesome (and hilarious).
randy khan
I don’t think it’s crazy to believe that special elections could return control of the House to the Dems. For that matter, I don’t think it’s crazy to believe that we could have three or more Speakers during this period, as even if McCarthy gets the votes he will be teetering on the edge from the start.
(We may get treated to the spectacle of House Republicans who have been indicted or convicted of crimes not resigning their seats, as that’s one tactic to make it harder for the Dems to get control, but at a certain level I’m not sure that would be so bad.)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Good
MattF
@WaterGirl: You have to include ‘Congressman gets extradited to Brazil’.
WaterGirl
Special elections aren’t always well-funded, though they may be this year.
I’m thinking we can use our Balloon Juice fundraising super powers for special elections in the House and for any state Supreme Court seats that open up.
WaterGirl
@MattF: I hope to also be able to include congress critters indicted for their participation in the planning to overthrow the government.
MazeDancer
While Dems are celebrating their historic Leadership with no white men, the GOP can’t even agree on one.
After weeks of groveling. Kev has switched to macho swagger. Calling out Gaetz by name. Hollering about doing the (white) People’s business.
But Gaetz, et al, only want to.grenade throw. Governing is wrong. All that matters is blowing things up and increasing their speaker’s fees at hate fests.
WaterGirl
Did you all see the Nancy SMASH letter this morning?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: LOL. I know nothing about Clark, but she’s growing on me fast!
Mike in NC
@MattF: Read this morning that this Santos fraud is being investigated by Brazilian authorities. Putin spread rubles all over the world to buy pliable fascists and it seems like Santos was one of them.
Here’s hoping the GQP has to settle on Stefanik as inept leader who can get absolutely nothing done.
WaterGirl
@MazeDancer: I think they will elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker today. I just think they want to put the fear of god into him first – to make sure Kevin knows exactly who his new owners are.
Lucky for us, his new owners have competing priorities. Still it’s going to be a shit show and there are a ton of gullible people in this country who will believe half of the shit they throw at the wall in their so-called hearings.
Carlo Graziani
Nothing wrong with that kind of crazy. It’s called “hope”, and in moderate doses it keeps us sane.
Leto
Don’t know if this was already posted, apologize if it was:
‘This Must Be Stopped’: House Republicans Plan to Gut Ethics Office
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Agree. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t end up Speaker, and shocked if the GOP can’t agree on anyone.
Dorothy A. Winsor
We’re not the only ones enjoying all this
frosty
@WaterGirl: Mustn’t forget Scott Perry is going to be indicted for seditious conspiracy and will cop a plea to avoid a trial. The plea will include resignation from Congress and a ban from ever holding public office again.
A boy can dream!
Nicole
I think you are optimistic, but definitely not crazy. And man, I want you to be right. I’m grateful for your optimism, WaterGirl; it makes me optimistic too.
M31
I want the Democrats to tell the GOP that sure, they’ll help vote in a compromise candidate Speaker, but only if it’s Hunter Biden
RaflW
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: It seems to me the Jan 6 committee and DOJ have been very quiet regarding what legal trouble active members of Congress might be in, as have many of those members themselves.
A lot of pundits, press folks have been totally missing the point of the House GOP making the Ethics process toothless. It’s not to protect pathological liar George Santos (or, not really), it’s to protect what I saw was five GOP House members with active investigations out there.
Five is a really important number, as our smart OP indicates.
Leto
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Ted Lieu should simply ask him if he concurs. “Do you concur, Congressman?”
WaterGirl
@frosty: I think that dream might just come true, frosty!
WaterGirl
@Nicole: We have to want it more than they do. I think that’s key.
PAM Dirac
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes. I suspect a nontrivial part of the backlash to the abortion ruling is a fraction of low information voters realizing that the Rs really are monumental assholes. I think a decent chunk of people, with strong reinforcement from the narrative our media overloads push, think that it is all just political gamesmanship, nothing to pay much attention to, both sides, it will all be OK. I think about 6 months of seeing the House in disarray will help reinforce that the most Rs are not only assholes, but selfish, stupid, and incompetent as well.
frosty
@WaterGirl: I see you’re already on it for Scott Perry. Good!
piratedan
with the talk about flipping the House in a post indictment scenario….
let’s look at the suspects….
Santos could be gone if extradicted to Brazil, I think that one is a potential flip…
The Traitor caucus comprises of who exactly? every time I try to pin this down, it seems that I forget someone:
Biggs (AZ); Gosar (AZ); Perry (PA); Greene (GA); Jordan (OH); Roy (TX); Laudermilk (GA?); Gaetz (FL)
I know that there are others but they don’t get as much sunshine and I want to make sure that I don’t confuse them with just any run-of-the-mill GOP asshole.
but say the above get perp-walked, and are subsequently forced to resign, any realistic chance to flip those seats are small (imho)… but here’s where my vision fails me, until DOJ finishes connecting dots, we really don’t know how far the rabbit hole goes and how many rabbits are in that warren.
billcoop4
@WaterGirl:
There’s also an empty seat caused by the death of Donald McEachin (D-VA 4). It is expected to remain blue after the special election on 21 Feb 23. So that will be
222R 213D
Flip 5 and lose none.
BC
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Keith: I’ve been trying to figure this out: Nothing official can happen until a Speaker is elected and members sworn in, but the election of the Speaker by non-sworn members is official? If this is accurate, that’s the case:
From the filibuster to the debt ceiling to, apparently, the election of the Speaker of the House, much of our government is just fables and habits agreed upon.
randy khan
@WaterGirl:
Don’t forget that the reason the Dems have only 212 is that there’s a vacant seat in Virginia because Congressman McEachin died. There’s a special election to fill that seat on February 21, and the Dem nominee is, let’s say, heavily favored. So the Dems need to win that plus flipping 5 seats to get the majority, a slightly lower bar.
randy khan
@billcoop4:
Great minds, etc., but you beat me by a minute.
RaflW
“[the House GOP] cannot unleash the torrent of subpoenas that Republicans have vowed to send the Biden administration’s way” without a speaker. But as I think about it, I am hopeful that this talented WH has been prepping for the onslaught of bullshit.
I’m picturing dozens of clownshow hearings where Admin folks (and retirees like Fauci) give long, withering testimony a la Hillary’s epic rejoinder a few years ago. There is no there there with this GOP crapola. Worked for maximum ‘here’s our transparent view into the lack of corruption’ should, one hopes, further discredit the merchants of slime.
frosty
@piratedan: Damn, you’re right, Perry isn’t flippable. The Dems have run really good candidates in his district and they’ve never even reached 40%.
Still, it would be great to have him gone.
randy khan
@piratedan:
It’s worth remembering that nobody can be forced to resign, and kicking someone out of the House requires a 2/3 vote.
Now, if someone is sitting in jail, that person will be unable to vote because the Republicans are planning to eliminate proxy voting, something that they hate because, well, I don’t know why. So it helps some, just not as much as a resignation and flip in the special election.
geg6
@frosty:
Amen.
WaterGirl
@piratedan: I saw this on twitter yesterday. It’s wrong about all of these being SENATORS, but you should be able to figure out who the House members are in this list.
Delk
I bet Comer goes down in scandal. He’s chomping at the bit to pick some fights that might punch back harder.
WaterGirl
@billcoop4:
That makes a lovely rotating tag!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@RaflW: They’re almost certainly going to try to replicate the success of the Jan 6 televised presentations.
It will go as well as when right-wing loons try to do comedy.
WaterGirl
@Delk: He’s not on my radar. What’s that about? Or are there so many R scandals that this one has momentarily slipped my mind?
geg6
@piratedan:
True, but someone like Perry must go even if another GQPer will just replace him. He is a seditionist who should be in federal prison, not Congress.
Kristine
@WaterGirl:
Postcard Power!!!
hells littlest angel
You’re goddamned right. I don’t think Santos will last 90 days.
piratedan
@WaterGirl: yup, there’s your list of suspects/traitors who were in on the plans….
hell with Cruz, Lummis, Johnson you’re on your way to not needing Sinema and Manchin for anything in the Senate…
frosty
@WaterGirl: I loved your line yesterday: “Need $5,000 or $10,000? Give us a couple of hours.”
piratedan
@geg6: agreed, if the voters in his district elect another asshole to replace him, so be it… but no American should suffer a traitorous asshole representing them. I know that would be the case for the two from AZ as well….
WaterGirl
@randy khan: Yes! Just trying to not count our chickens before they are hatched. But I will happily count that chicken (hopefully) in February.
Nice to start with an early boost. Kind of like adding “eat lunch” to your long to-do list so you have something to scratch off early! :-)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I don’t know the parliamentary mechanics of these hypotheticals, I assume some Dems would have to vote for those changes? A secret ballot would really send the howler monkeys into orbit
cain
@Old School: It’s noon right now – let’s see what that motherfucker does. :)
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I just want to see the photo of Nancy Pelosi in the House chamber sipping her glass of wine.
cain
@Mike in NC: Can we confirm that he is even gay? The man has lied about everything.
WaterGirl
@Kristine: Yes, absolutely! I thought about including that but the sentence got too long and awkward.
Delk
@WaterGirl: no scandals yet. He was all over the news this morning going off about disinformation and targeting DHS. HHS, WH, and others… Covid blah blah blah, Hunter blah blah blah…
hells littlest angel
@frosty: Still, it would be great to have [Perry] gone.
He hurts his own party more than ours. Not that I’d mind seeing him dragged off to jail or a morgue.
cain
@WaterGirl:
Pretty unlucky for him. I hope he understand he’s not going to be swinging his dick so much. It’s going to get curb stomped by everyone. He’ll be the least powerful person in the entire House.
cain
@piratedan:
I would assume that the voters will vote for someone even more extreme as vengeance. Plus all those will be out there on Fox News squeaking like demented squirrels on heroin. (or maybe in jail, I can see the DC Press hanging around the federal penitentiary.)
WaterGirl
@cain:
Maybe that’s the definition of hell?
When you are a principled person, and you’re dammed if you do and damned if you don’t, you have the luxury of doing the right thing. Whatever you think is right.
But when you’re an empty shell of a man like Kevin McCarthy, and there’s nothing left inside you but sheer ambition, you don’t even have that.
MisterForkbeard
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: My guess is that they’ll vote and he’ll fail, and then they’ll change the rules so it’s a secret ballot and the fail caucus can vote for him anonymously.
Then they can spend the next day or two fighting about who changed their minds and voted for him once the spotlight was offf.
lowtechcyclist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Five, not counting the special next month to fill McEachin’s (sp?) seat in a very blue VA district. After that it would be 222-213, so five would swing it to 217-218.
But they’d all have to be in (a) gettable seats (b) currently held by GOPers. If a Dem has health problems and quits, or someone in an R+10 seat is indicted for their participation in 1/6, that doesn’t help. Not sure what’s likely to come our way besides possibly Santos’ seat.
Wapiti
My hopey-prediction is that McCarthy eventually wins today’s vote, but is forced out within a few months. Then he resigns, because only a decent person like Pelosi would continue as a Representative when they’ll never do anything more.
PAM Dirac
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Finally found the search term I needed, vacancies. Looks like 5-10 per year or 10-20 per Congressional session.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Wapiti: Who knows? Lindsey Graham coined a phrase when he said he was determined to be “relevant”. Graham and McCarthy are both mediocrities who stumbled and glad-handed and belly-crawled their way to positions of prominence in American politics (long list, but I can’t not name-check Susan Collins). McCarthy should have peaked as a state senator or city councilman with a moderately successful insurance broker or some such. Can he just go back to Bakersfield? Never been myself, but I understand it’s not one of your more glamorous and interesting cities in California.
FelonyGovt
Love, love, love that photo of Nancy in sunglasses and her fabulous red coat.
coin operated
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ride through there sometimes going from Vegas to the Cali coast. You’re not missing anything…
WaterGirl
@PAM Dirac: It appears that the 60+ number I was remembering was for more than one congress.
There were 17 in the congress that just ended.
Still, I’m thinking that in the shitshow environment we are about to experience, there may be a lot more resignations on the R side. I would give Dems a shot at at any seat up to R+10.
PAM Dirac
@WaterGirl:
I think that was probably turnover, reps that either choose not to run for re-election, but serve out their term, or don’t get re-elected. It appears the term vacancies is used for when someone dies or resigns before the term ends and has to be replaced. I think you may be right that this term might see an unusual number of vacancies.
WaterGirl
This is pretty in-your-face from the Dems. Loving it.
jonas
Probably true. That, and also not having f’d up in NY and lost several House seats in otherwise safe D districts, including the one George “If that’s even his real name” Santos won on LI.
schrodingers_cat
@billcoop4: Or entice some of the Rs who have been elected to blue-purple districts to flip.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@jonas: I do find it kind of weird that SP Maloney’s loss hasn’t gotten more discussion than Rob Zimmerman’s.
karen marie
I’m watching/listening to the vote on cspan’s youtube channel. The lack of enthusiasm of those voting for McCarthy is palpable. Democrats are having fun voting for Jeffries.
There was some cheering just now – did a Dem vote for McCarthy?
...now I try to be amused
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It was a light-bulb moment for me when I first read that radical politics attracts second-rate politicians who see it as their ticket to get ahead. If you can’t win the game, try changing the game to something you can win. Same thing with the Brexiteers.
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: S. P Maloney’ ls loss caused plenty of comment at the time becaue he was DCCC head and also the circumstances of the New York primaries created a lot of animus towards him. Zimmerman was a newcomer and was not mixed up in intra-party feuding like Maloney was. So there was a lot of discussion about Maloney.
Most House races get little attention so a lot of people did not know anything about Zimmerman until all of a sudden his opponent became notorious.