Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The willow is too close to the house.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Consistently wrong since 2002

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

T R E 4 5 O N

Their freedom requires your slavery.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

The revolution will be supervised.

This fight is for everything.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

No one could have predicted…

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

He really is that stupid.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: Repub Bacchanalia

Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: Repub Bacchanalia

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Apparently a hapless living victim must be torn to pieces, to placate the Pale Gods of the GOP Death Cult…


Reader Interactions

88Comments

  5. 5.

    Evap

    I know this is funny and all, but it is stressing me out.  At least the Dems managed to get a budget passed.  What happens when the debt ceiling needs to be raised?

  7. 7.

    Anyway

    From the first tweet – McCathy invoking The Biggest Sorest Loser Trump signals all kinds if desperation there. Trump is toast, d00d.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    @Evap

    There will be much gnashing of teeth, bloviating and pundits wailing the end is nigh, but at the 11th hour just enough Rs without a death wish will climb aboard for minimal reason to prevail.

  9. 9.

    The Thin Black Duke

    In a sane world, the clusterfuck in the House would be the stake in the heart of the Both Political Parties Are The Same nonsense…but it won’t.

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    My New Year’s resolution was to generally ignore the Republicans as long as they were fighting each other more than attacking the Democrats.

    They sure are making it easy for me.

    What a farce.

  12. 12.

    David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch

    I love the smell of republican kaos in the morning!

    That smell: that panicked, flop-sweat smell…. smells like victory schadenfreude.

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    I suspect that Kevin’s failure to secure the gavel isn’t (or isn’t only) because he’s Kevin. I think the real biggest problem here is the Never Kevins and their fellow hostage-takers. They’ve taken Kevin and the GOP hostage; and if any other real GOP candidate for Speaker turns up, they’ll take that person hostage too. Right now, these hostage-takers have the real power in the party.

  14. 14.

    Hilbertsubspace

    Our ship of state struggles in difficult waters.   The Fjord of the Lies.

    Also, good almost morning.  I need coffee, why am I typing this?

  15. 15.

    BruceFromOhio

    How awesome if six fascists would find souls and spines and vote Jeffries on the next ballot just to shiv Jordan and the klown kar kavalkade and put this idiocy to rest. Yes, I’ve been driven mad by the image of Trey Gowdy before coffee.

    @Hilbertsubspace: Yes, why? Questions, questions, but like the elusive Speakers Gavel, no answers.

  16. 16.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Amir Khalid:

    Right now, these hostage-takers have the real power in the party.

    Goes back to the carrot-and-stick comments from yesterday: Kevin has neither, and the rabble know this. If there were anything resembling repercussions, the rabble would make a splash and then stop fooling about.  But there isn’t and they won’t.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    David Schweikert, House Freedom Caucus founder who voted for McCarthy, says failure to elect McCarthy is “absurd, but we just keep doing it, and doing it, and doing it until some folks understand that playing chicken with a high-speed tank is really dangerous for the republic.”

    BWAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHA… gasp… wheeze....

    10,000 unemployed comedians and here he is giving it away for free. First off, when was the last time a Republican, any Republican, gave a shit about this country? 2nd of all, that high speed tank is stuck fast and trying desperately to reverse itself out of the Republican muck.

  19. 19.

    Butch

    Not really this point of this whole post, but when was the last time the press went running to Obama or Bill Clinton or George Bush for a quote?  Just asking, Mr. Haake.

  20. 20.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Evap: Remember, the Democrats get to vote too. They’d all be behind raising the debt ceiling (unless there are some dumb poison pills in the bill). That means that only a few Republicans need to support it. But the Democrats have no reason to vote for Kevin McCarthy, so the Republicans need to be nearly unanimous to elect him.

  22. 22.

    Fester Addams

    I’m dismayed at the number of people who fail to include “disgraced” in front of “former Republican speaker” (whichever).

  23. 23.

    Balconesfault

    @Matt McIrvin: But the moment McCarthy brings the debt ceiling to the floor … 5 of his cohorts will call for his ouster, and we’re back here again.

  26. 26.

    Geminid

    @Evap: The House Republicans say they intend to use raising the debt ceiling as leverage for drastic cuts in social spending programs, even Social Security. They might even pull that off- if they can present a united front.

    Yesterday’s events show that may not be the case in 6-8 months, when the need to raise the limit becomes acute.  A lot may turn on the House Rules governing legislative procedure, and whether there is a mechanism for bringing bills to the floor against the majority caucus’s will.

    I think these rules have yet to be voted on, and this vote could be contested similarly to the Speaker vote. This time a different set of Republican members might be the contrarians.

    There are over twenty Republicans who either flipped purple districts or are purple district members who had close calls in the midterms. They may not want to be like the Gaulish warriors who would chain themselves to their comrades when going into battle. That did not turn out well when these Gauls went up against Roman cohorts.

    These purple district members may not be able to preserve the procedure called “petition to discharge” that allows a majority signing to put a bill on the floor.  Then, when debt ceiling crunch time comes, they will have one other option: defect from their caucus and help Democrats reorganize the House.

    They would not neccessarily join the Democratic Caucus and elect Hakeem Jeffries Speaker. A small group of defectors might help elect a “caretaker Speaker” acceptable to Democratic leadership, who could help pass critical legislation starting with a debt ceiling raise.

    Former Republican Reps Tom Reed or Charlie Dent might be suitable for this role. Personally, I would like to see former Senator Jeff Flake chosen just so the next 15 months would go down in history as the anomalous “Flake Congress.”

    This way, the Republican train wreck could be isolated and not become a national train wreck. After eight months demonstrating their unfitness, the rest of the Republicans would be left to stew in their own acrid juices. Meanwhile Democrats could salvage this Congress, and prepare a blue wave that will make them a majority in the next.

  28. 28.

    David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch

    Kevin McCarthy, one of the most loathsome political figures of the post-civil war era, will seek to become Speaker of the House, succeeding a woman whose historic service was epic. He lacks the attributes that are the cornerstones of political leadership.https://t.co/fYJutBwHTu

    — Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) January 3, 2023

  29. 29.

    David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch

    The debt ceiling isn’t an issue. Biden will just mint some coins.

  31. 31.

    Elizabelle

    Not interested in these fools or their folly.  It’s like being forced to pay attention to Kardashians all day.  No.  Just no.

    Am interested in Damar Hamlin, and praying for his full recovery.  Someone I had never heard of until his injury Monday night, and he seems like a very fine individual.

    I hope that he recovers, and he and his teammates take up the cause of putting AEDs (automatic external defibrillators) in as many playing areas as possible.  And that coaches and parents learn to use them, rapidly.  Most injuries, like Damar’s, (thought to be commotio cordis) happen in youth sports — baseball or hockey.  A projectile to the (not fully developed) chest.

    It’s hard though.  AED must be used within a minute or two of injury, and even then the odds are long.  They can save bystanders, though, too.  Parents and spectators.

    Gift article, Leona Wen, WaPost:
    What we can learn from Damar Hamlin’s tragic cardiac arrest

    …. most cases occur in younger individuals. One NCCR analysis of 188 commotio cordis fatalities of athletes found that the average age was 14.7. One explanation is that the chest wall muscles are less developed in younger recreational players than in professional athletes. This might explain why commotio cordis has not been documented in Major League Baseball or, previously, in the National Football League.

    …. Widespread AED availability and prompt bystander resuscitation could help avert tragedies beyond young athletes. Every year, more than 18,000 Americans suffer a cardiac arrest in public and could be saved with immediate defibrillation. All of us can help by learning CPR and knowing how to use an AED.

    …. Hamlin’s experience should spark a similar call to action, and once again, the focus should be on where most of these tragedies occur: not professional sports stadiums but rather local high school gyms, baseball diamonds, hockey rinks and youth athletic fields all across the country.

    Richest country in the world; one of the more obese, too.  Bunch of people with hearts weakened by Covid now, too.   Why not have more AEDs accessible, and know how to use them?  (I see them when I’m out at stores, etc.; start keeping an eye out for them.)

    Recover well, Damar.

  32. 32.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Evap: The Rethuglicans all go to Russia begging their Daddy Vladdy for rubles, because they are a party of Putin’s bitches.

  34. 34.

    mrmoshpotato

    McCarthy, who says there is no scenario where he will drop out, told me he spoke to Trump tonight. Says Trump still supports him. Says Trump is concerned about how it looks because “it doesn’t look good for Republicans.”

    Sorry!   Morning gross out incoming!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Who’s going to ask Kev first how Dump’s baby cock and scrot taste?

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    David Schweikert, House Freedom Caucus founder who voted for McCarthy, says failure to elect McCarthy is “absurd, but we just keep doing it, and doing it, and doing it until some folks understand that playing chicken with a high-speed tank is really dangerous for the republic.”

    What “high-speed tank” is this bitch talking about?

  36. 36.

    Baud

    @Elizabelle:

    Not interested in these fools or their folly.  It’s like being forced to pay attention to Kardashians all day.  No.  Just no.

     
    I’m not interested in them, but it’s important for our rank and file to spread information and mockery about what’s going on to normies. If the roles were reversed, that’s what the GOP rank and file would be talking about.

  37. 37.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Geminid:

    The Republican Party is starting to look like the Donner Party!

    Ain’t that the truth?

    Thanks for starting my day off with a laugh!

  38. 38.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Then there would be a hjgh stakes standoff. Absent a mechanism like the petition to discharge, it could turn out that a small group of Republicans will blink first, defect, and help reorganize the Congress.

    Three of tbem might be Valadeo, Newhouse and Bacon. The first two are in “jungle primary” states and already survived after voting to impeach Trump. They could win again as Independents, and that could even ease their path. Bacon has been barely hanging on in his purple Omaha district and plans to retire, I think. He’s already retired once, ten years ago as an Air Force general.

    They may find a couple more like minded colleagues willing to make that break. I would do it just so I didn’t have to sit in Republican caucus meetings and listen to Lauren Boebert babble away, or look at Bob Good and feel my skin crawl.

  39. 39.

    lowtechcyclist

    @NotMax:

    There will be much gnashing of teeth, bloviating and pundits wailing the end is nigh, but at the 11th hour just enough Rs without a death wish will climb aboard for minimal reason to prevail.

    What, five R’s are going to switch parties?

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    In a sane world, the clusterfuck in the House would be the stake in the heart of the Both Political Parties Are The Same nonsense…but it won’t.

    Sadly, all too true.

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:  There is a case for that.

    Suspect it’s a while before this circus makes it to normie consciousness, though.

  42. 42.

    lowtechcyclist

    @BruceFromOhio:

    How awesome if six fascists would find souls and spines and vote Jeffries on the next ballot just to shiv Jordan and the klown kar kavalkade and put this idiocy to rest.

    Hell, it wouldn’t even take that.  If eleven of them decided to go home before the last ballot of the day, Jeffries would then have 212 votes out of 423, an absolute majority.

  43. 43.

    mrmoshpotato

    A while ago, on CNN: Analyst: You remember that after Newt Gingrich resigned, Republicans managed to find a consensus candidate to be Speaker. @jaketapper: Yes, a child molester.

    Republicans – only the best people.

  44. 44.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Elizabelle: The conspiracy cesspits of Fox and the Internet are claiming he was killed by the COVID vaccine, though the venerated analysis technique of just making shit up.

  46. 46.

    Elizabelle

    @Matt McIrvin:  Yeah.  They won’t pass up an opportunity to lie, will they?

    On the topic of normies:  maybe the UK’s revolving door of Prime Ministers (and its affiliated lettuce meme) have penetrated some Americans’ heads.

    Maybe not, too.  It’s funny that even journalists can’t rapidly remember Liz Truss (who is showing up in crossword clues, LOL).

  48. 48.

    TS

    @Geminid:

    There are over twenty Republicans who either flipped purple districts or are purple district members who had close calls in the midterms.

    Most will put it down to their own brilliance – they assume they will be re-elected as long as they work against the democrats. They have no reality other than their right to rule.

  50. 50.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: The five members wouldn’t neccesairy switch parties. They could just defect, and as a small independent caucus help Democrats reorganize the Congress under new leadership.

    Right now, House Democrats are wisely rejecting such a course. They are giving Republicans enough rope to hang themselves. That political calculus might change after 7 or 8 months, when the Republican caucus has proven itself incapable, and their trainwreck portends a national trainwreck

    As to which five Republicans, I would look at a list of the 20 or so Republicans who broke with their caucus to vote for the Infrastructure and CHIPS+ bills, especially the older ones who may be ready to retire.

  51. 51.

    PAM Dirac

    @Butch:

    Not really this point of this whole post, but when was the last time the press went running to Obama or Bill Clinton or George Bush for a quote?

    I’m waiting for our media betters to start pointing out that this mess is as much a drumpf failure as a McCarthy failure. McCarthy is drumpf’s pick. Why can’t drumpf put any pressure on the crazies, take control of the situation? Because he is lazy and powerless. He can’t actually DO anything except whine and rant.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    @Elizabelle:

    Technically, everything penetrates the normie consciousness. The problem is that normies retain that information as a whisper in the mind, and it takes a lot of random whispers to move them in a particular direction.

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    Is he Beavis or Butthead?  I forget.

    Tweet from Matt Gaetz.  Maybe Putin pays him, too.

    Today the House didn’t organize

    Biggest loser:  Zelensky

    Biggest winner:  US taxpayers

  54. 54.

    SFAW

    @NotMax: ​
     

    The only McCarthy in Congress worth more than a rat could spit was Clean Gene.

    You forgot Andrew!

    PS: WaterGirl – don’t need to correct it this time.

  55. 55.

    PAM Dirac

    @TS:

    Most will put it down to their own brilliance – they assume they will be re-elected as long as they work against the democrats. They have no reality other than their right to rule.

    I’m not sure that is true. There are are big money donors who might not be too pleased to get caught in the chaos of a default. Big money will be taken seriously.

  56. 56.

    SFAW

    @PAM Dirac:

    I’m waiting for our media betters to start pointing out that this mess is as much a drumpf failure as a McCarthy failure.

    You’ll be waiting a long time. Murc’s Law is a harsh master/mistress

  58. 58.

    Geminid

    @TS: I think you may be leaning on a stereotype here. All stereotypes are based on relative truths, but as applied to individual cases they can break down. I think the only way to evaluate the assertion you make would be to look at the list of Republicans in purple districts and appraise them individually, as three dimensional people and not two dimensional stereotypes

    This is actually not that hard to do. The lists are out there. So is reporting on the individual members, although it might only be found at state and local news sites.

  59. 59.

    EarthWindFire

    @Elizabelle: If that’s how Matt Gaetz feels, he’s welcome to resign and refuse his pension. He gets paid by the US taxpayers. Maybe his side hustle with Putin pays better but, still…

  60. 60.

    Nelle

    @Elizabelle: When on a walking trip in rural England, we saw defibrillators in iconic red telephone booths.   A very good conversion of what was becoming obsolete.  I was on alert for them as a former neighbor, an actor in his early twenties, had gone into cardiac arrest during a performance and was saved by a doc in the audience.  His parents then began a campaign for more defibrillators in public places.

  62. 62.

    TS

    @Geminid:

    I have trouble seeing any of them outside of the dimension pointed to by the GOP. They have been voting against the interest of those they represent for many years. Perhaps a couple who are retiring (or dying, c. McCain) may wish to go against the mold – I will wait to be convinced.

  65. 65.

    tobie

    @Matt McIrvin: I think the best retort to this is that it’s more likely that COVID weakened his heart. Myocarditis from the vaccine is extremely rare; lifelong vascular troubles because of COVID is frequent.

  66. 66.

    SFAW

    @tobie: ​ No, that’s not “the best retort,” because that’s pretty close to what Cucker is claiming*. The best retort is “get your anti-science, anti-reality horseshit the fuck outta here.”

    [“Horseshit,” not “bullshit,” because you can then feed them ivermectin.]​

    *ETA: To be more clear: implying that the vaccine caused myocarditis.​

  67. 67.

    lowtechcyclist

    @PAM Dirac:

    Why can’t drumpf put any pressure on the crazies, take control of the situation? Because he is lazy and powerless.

    He’s got enough of a following that he could wreck the party way more than he’s already done. He is not powerless.

    But he wants to be on the side that’s winning.  And Kevin’s not winning right now.

  68. 68.

    tobie

    @Elizabelle: Definitely Butthead. I guess he was too busy sending out rhetorical firebombs to realize that the omnibus appropriations bill passed two weeks ago. Must be tough being a member of Congress and having to remember these little things…oh never mind.

  69. 69.

    tobie

    @SFAW: I hear you. All I meant to say was that Tucker and his ilk love to blame the vaccine for very rare and questionable side effects but never acknowledge the many known side effects of having COVID.

  71. 71.

    trnc

    I disagree with the premise of the Dana Houle tweet. I think it’s safe to say that none of the people voting against McCarthy for speaker had any problem with his asinine joke about hitting Nancy with the gavel.

  72. 72.

    Geminid

     

     

    @TS: Right now we are both speculating, and as you say empirical evidence is best.

    You can get some empirical evidence from past performance, though. That’s why I suggest people look at the Republicans who in the last Congress defected to join Democrats in passing the Iinfrastructure and CHIPS+ Bills. Similar dynamics will be in play over a debt ceiling bill, only they will be more intense.

  73. 73.

    PAM Dirac

    @lowtechcyclist:

    But he wants to be on the side that’s winning.

    Of course, but if really had significant power he could determine the winning side. He can’t so he has to wait around and see who he can claim to have supported the whole time. Hardly the stuff that makes people afraid to go against you.

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    @Nelle:  Excellent repurposing of those iconic red booths.  AEDs.  And Little Libraries, too.

    AEDs save $$ and lives and futures.  Might even be made in the US of A.  (Thinking of how to appeal to funding sources.  Could be a national initiative.  Should be government-funded, too.)

    @tobie:   Butthead it is.  (Now, make him butthurt, too!)

    Good to see you here posting more.  Best to the ‘rents.

  75. 75.

    SFAW

    @tobie:

    Yeah, I got that. It’s just that I have found that trying to argue with liars/evil using truth/reality/science usually has no effect. Thus, a FOADYSM-equivalent response is my go-to response.

  76. 76.

    Ken

    McCarthy, who says there is no scenario where he will drop out, told me he spoke to Trump tonight.

    Did Trump give him the cell phone numbers of Steve Bannon, Ginni Thomas, and the leader of the Proud Boys?

  77. 77.

    WaterGirl

    @Geminid:

    @Evap: The House Republicans say they intend to use raising the debt ceiling as leverage for drastic cuts in social spending programs, even Social Security. They might even pull that off- ifthey can present a united front.

    When Brian Schatz was on Pod Save America before the holidays, he said it’s gonna be “you get nothing.”  No trading at all on the debt ceiling.  You get nothing.  As long as the Dems stick to that, I think we’re good.

  78. 78.

    Ken

    @mrmoshpotato: What “high-speed tank” is this bitch talking about?

    I’m guessing the “game of chicken” metaphor has taken root in the GOP caucus — unsurprising, since they have the emotional maturity of a 17-year-old — and he’s trying for a macho description of his faction’s vehicle. The rest of us recognize it’s a clown car.

  79. 79.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: As always, I look to my sister for how normies are reacting to things.  (Not the religious “I am voting for Trump because Hillary doesn’t go to church” sister, but the one who is very proud that she always votes but doesn’t pay attention until 45 minutes before the election, and even then I think she just takes her cue from her husband.

    My sister has no idea that there is a new House.  She has no idea that they have to vote on a Leader.  She isn’t even aware of yesterday’s clusterfuck.  Pretty sure she doesn’t know the bills have to pass the House and the Senate, resolve any differences between the two houses of congress, and then be signed by the president.

    She has no idea that there is a debt ceiling, let alone that it has to be voted on every year.

    I doubt she even knows what Brexit is, or a prime minister, or how their government is organized, let alone who Liz Truss is.

    So I don’t think yesterday made a bit of difference to people like that.

  82. 82.

    Wolvesvalley

    @WaterGirl: Does anyone know whether Hamlin ever actually had covid?

    On another tack, have you seen that the GoFundMe for his toys-for-needy-kids project is now more than $6.2 million?

  83. 83.

    Matt McIrvin

    @SFAW: Yeah, there’s no point in treating an obvious lie pulled out of someone’s ass as if it were a good-faith argument. These people will jump on tweets by grieving relatives of anyone who dies for any reason and insist the vaccine killed them–it’s profoundly gross.

    The commenter who wanted me not to even bring it up was probably right. But I suppose I wanted to warn that it’s out there.

  86. 86.

    WaterGirl

    @Wolvesvalley: As far as I can tell, it’s all speculation.  No info on whether he was vaccinated or not, no info on whether he had Covid or not.  Pure speculation

    I hope he can recover and have a full happy life.  Just from the video I saw, he seemed like a bright light in the world.

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