Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

I was promised a recession.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Insurrection II: This Time The Call Is Coming From Inside the House (12th Attempt Starts Now)

Insurrection II: This Time The Call Is Coming From Inside the House (12th Attempt Starts Now)

by | 368 Comments

This post is in: 

Insurrection II: This Time The Call Is Coming From Inside the House

Day 4, attempt 12.  I am getting tired of this movie franchise.  The first 11 weren’t enough???

Will there still be 20 bomb throwers after the first vote?  Or will there be more?  Or fewer?

Stay tuned!

 

I changed the featured image from the circus monkey used for yesterday’s posts to the gallows built on Jan 6, 2021. I really am convinced that this is enemy action from inside the house, not a bunch of clowns who are trying to make a point by humiliating McCarthy.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

368Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    For what it’s worth, I don’t know that all 20 of the bomb throwers understand the whole game.  But some of the 20 most certainly do.

  2. 2.

    Baud

     I am getting tired of this movie franchise.  The first 11 weren’t enough???

    The Slow and the Incurious.

  4. 4.

    Alison Rose

    I don’t know if I can sit through the votes anymore. Might just follow along here and Twitter. I think I’m only curious at this point to see if any of the Nevers have finally agreed to support him.

  6. 6.

    Leto

    Justin Wolfers@JustinWolfers
    3h
    It’s jobs day, and non-farm payrolls for December comes in HOT again, adding 223k jobs, which is both robust in its own right, and stronger than expected.

    Unemployment is down a tick to 3.5%, near 50-year lows. Anyone who thinks this is economy is in a recession is bananas.

    Payrolls jobs for the previous two months were revised down slights (November down 7k to +256k; October down 21k to +263k). But still the 3-month average is rocking along at an extraordinary +247k new jobs per month, and if it’s slowing, not by much.

    Hang on, I’ve just calculated the unemployment rate to extra decimal places, and December’s rate of 3.468% is a new 50 YEAR LOW, the lowest rate since 1969.

    8:39 AM · Jan 6, 2023

    Beat the everloving shit out of Republicans with this. All day, every day.

  7. 7.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    I’m apparently in the minority here.  The longer it takes to seat this clown, that’s one less day we have to endure hearings about Hunter Biden’s Laptop or any other incidence of faux-outrage these kooks dream up.

  8. 8.

    mrmoshpotato

    Day 4, attempt 12.

    Hot! Diggity! Dumbasses!

    Just turn over control to the adults who actually want to govern (the Democratic party), you fuckfaces!

  9. 9.

    NotoriousJRT

    Who are the Wheat Bozos and who are the Chaff Bozos? The entire caucus is at fault.  There are no get out of jail free cards for this national train wreck.

  10. 10.

    Ken

    This Time the Call is Coming from Inside the House

    Oh, I think there were some calls coming from inside the House two years ago.

    One of the fantasy scenarios in our recent comments was that someone else gets voted in as Speaker, and McCarthy walks out of the building and down to the DOJ to cooperate with their investigation.

  13. 13.

    Soprano2

    @WaterGirl: The only thing is, they’re also chomping at the bit to start all those pointless investigations and to impeach Joe Biden and everyone in his administration every day, and they can’t do any of that until they elect a Speaker.

  14. 14.

    M31

    lol the WaPo and their low expectations — latest is that if a few more votes go to McCarthy, he still won’t win, but it would create ‘momentum’.

    So if you lose 11 football games 21-3, but then you lose one by 21-6 you’re totally on a winning streak and momentum is on your side

    ok, 12pm time for the losing to start, LET’S GO TEAM

  17. 17.

    PaulB

    McCarthy has said that votes are possible over the weekend, so he apparently a) doesn’t expect to win today, and b) doesn’t want to adjourn until Monday?

    It will be interesting to see if all of those breathless stories about a deal *in writing* (!!!!) have actually come true and, if so, whether any votes are moved.

    It will also be interesting to see whether the holdouts offer up anyone new for consideration as a candidate.

  20. 20.

    SFAW

    According to TPM, some McQarthy-supporting TX Rethug has gone home, won’t be back for NN votes. A few more like that, and it’s “Speaker Jeffries, come on down!”
    [No, I don’t really think he’ll get it, but it’s fun to joke about it.]

  23. 23.

    mrmoshpotato

    I really am convinced that this is enemy action from inside the house, not a bunch of clowns who are trying to make a point by humiliating McCarthy.

    I concur.

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I agree with that in the short-term.  But the promises they are extracting in return for maybe McCarthy votes gives a crazy amount of power to the so-called Freedom Caucus, and I think they are bomb-throwers and will try to destroy as much as they can from within.

    That’s the part that concerns me.

  26. 26.

    PaulB

    Representative Wesley Hunt (R-TX), a McCarthy vote, will miss the vote(s) today and over the weekend. His wife gave birth prematurely and their newborn son spent time in the neonatal ICU.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    @Ken:

    Oh, I think there were some calls coming from inside the House two years ago.

    I thought the same thing, even as I typed the words up top!  But in a different way now.

  28. 28.

    Leto

    @PaulB: ​ smearing poop all over the place, as well as flinging hamburders against the wall, does not count as “writing”.

  29. 29.

    PaulB

    House Democrats are whipping against any potential adjournment vote, so McCarthy would need near unanimity in his caucus to adjourn.

  30. 30.

    mrmoshpotato

    Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action

    And what the flying fuck is the twelfth time?!

    Someone teleport me some maple breakfast sausage.

  33. 33.

    Old School

    @WaterGirl:

    Who thinks this quorum issue was planned as a delaying tactic?

    They did a quorum count yesterday too.  Not sure about the earlier days.

  35. 35.

    WaterGirl

    @Soprano2: I am starting to think that there are two factions at work here, and for the moment they are on the same path with what appears to be the same goal.

    Short-term goal?  Embarrass and humiliate McConnell.  That works for both factions.

    The side that wants to completely tip over the table has a bigger goal, I think, which is to undermine the government by taking control of the House.  They are willing to postpone hearings, etc for their larger goal.

    That’s my thinking at the moment, at least.  My thoughts on this took a turn last night and they are evolving.

  37. 37.

    trollhattan

    When is the next debt ceiling cliff? (Can a cliff have a ceiling, or vice versa?)

    Asking for a friend.

  39. 39.

    Ken

    @Alison Rose: I don’t know if I can sit through the votes anymore.

    Someone last night said that they were beginning to learn the names of all the representatives in order, from the repetition.

    I haven’t been listening. Does the list have a good rhythm? Maybe Lin-Manuel Miranda can put them into a rap, for his new musical “No, Kevin”.

  41. 41.

    Joy in FL

    Fascinating strategy: I want you to vote for Kevin, but this vote is not about Kevin. Therefore, vote for Kevin.

  43. 43.

    Leto

    I can only hope Officer Goodman punches this worthless turd straight in the scrote. Thanking the Capitol Hill Police… asswipe.

  45. 45.

    PaulB

    Your cheat sheet.

    Not Kevin:

    • Andy Biggs
    • Dan Bishop
    • Lauren Boebert
    • Josh Brecheen
    • Mike Cloud
    • Andrew Clyde
    • Eli Crane
    • Byron Donalds
    • Matt Gaetz
    • Bob Good
    • Paul Gosar
    • Andy Harris
    • Anna Paulina Luna
    • Mary Miller
    • Ralph Norman
    • Andy Ogles
    • Scott Perry
    • Matt Rosendale
    • Chip Roy
    • Keith Self

    Present:

    • Victoria Spartz
  47. 47.

    tobie

    There was an interesting article in the NYT the other day that manufacturing is moving back not only to the US but to Mexico. One interesting tidbit in the article is that 40% of the component parts for goods made in Mexico are manufactured in the US. That figure was 4% for goods made in China. Maybe NAFTA wasn’t so bad after all.

    Overall, some 40 percent of the value of Mexico’s exports to the United States consists of parts and components made at American plants, according to a seminal research paper. Yet only 4 percent of imports from China are American-made.

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    @PaulB: Guessing we’re not the only ones who want to skip the blah-blah-blah of the R nomination speeches?  Plus, if your state is in the second half of the alphabet, that surely means you don’t need to be there for another 30 minutes or an hour.

  51. 51.

    PaulB

    @trollhattan: When is the next debt ceiling cliff?

    The Treasury Department hasn’t given a precise date yet, I think, but I seem to recall some stories have indicated that Juneish is what they’re looking at.

  52. 52.

    feebog

    @PaulB:

    Representative Wesley Hunt (R-TX), a McCarthy vote, will miss the vote(s) today and over the weekend. His wife gave birth prematurely and their newborn son spent time in the neonatal ICU.

    That brings the number down to 432 Representatives.  The Dems were short one, and Ken Buck of Colorado left Thursday for a scheduled medical procedure.  Not sure when Buck will be back.  So the magic number is now 217.

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    Has anybody seen my snorkel?

    Deadly storms unleashed fierce back-to-back blows to California at the end of 2022 and the start of 2023, and AccuWeather meteorologists warn that a series of storms lining up across the Pacific Ocean will continue to aim for the Golden State with rounds of heavy rain and mountain snow. The dangers of flooding and mudslides will increase with each passing storm.
    The atmosphere has flipped the switch to storm mode as the weather pattern through mid-month has the potential to unleash more than a foot of additional rain in some locations and many more yards of snow over the high country of the Sierra Nevada.
    “Factoring in the storms that began in late December forward through mid-January, rainfall and mountain snow in some areas could rival amounts that do not occur, on average, for 25 or 50 years or more,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Mike Doll said.
    A couple of upcoming rounds, in particular, have drawn the attention of AccuWeather forecasters.
    “After a couple of weak storms [relatively speaking] this weekend, a bigger storm will arrive early next week and then another big storm the following week,” AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said.
    https://www.accuweather.com/en/winter-weather/hyperactive-pacific-storm-train-to-keep-slamming-california/1451070

    Sacramento River through downtown will hit monitor stage early next week, making me very happy they finished the latest levee improvements last year.

  56. 56.

    WaterGirl

    @feebog:

    The Dems were short one,

    How and when were the Dems short one?  Unless you are referring to the Rep. who passed away in December?  Or are you thinking we only have 211 today?

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t think the holdputs are rational. They are trying to grab power within their caucus and Congress, and I guess that’s kind of a rational motivation. But there seems to be a lot of emotion involved, and some it is hatred. That is a powerful motivator that can eclipse self-interest.

  59. 59.

    JoyceH

    I really do think we could wind up with a Speaker Jeffries if this goes on much longer. As longer as the Dems stay committed to all showing up, and the Republicans who aren’t in the denial caucus start giving up and going home. Twelve Reps absent and 212 wins. Also think it not out of the question that a few of the vanishing breed of GOP moderates could cross the aisle.

  60. 60.

    Another Scott

    @trollhattan: It’s supposedly next summer sometime.  But I don’t know if that’s when they hit the limit and start the “extraordinary measures” to drag actual default out another few months (stop paying government pension contributions, etc.), or if that’s the actual default date.

    Nobody knows the actual dates right now, because it depends on the economy, tax receipts, etc.

    The debt limit is set at $31,381,462,788,891.71, or a bit under $31.4 trillion.

    The $0.71 is there just to mess with the numbers geeks, probably.

    HTH a little!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  61. 61.

    James E Powell

    @Leto:

    Hang on, I’ve just calculated the unemployment rate to extra decimal places, and December’s rate of 3.468% is a new 50 YEAR LOW, the lowest rate since 1969.

    For the Fed, this is terrible news.

  62. 62.

    mrmoshpotato

    @fancycwabs:

    On what authority is McCarthy saying he’s gonna have votes over the weekend? It’s not like he’s Speaker of the House. 

    And fancycwabs for the win with a mountain of salt for McCarthy’s balls!

  64. 64.

    Alison Rose

    @Ken:

    Someone last night said that they were beginning to learn the names of all the representatives in order, from the repetition.

    There were some where I was like, what is their name?? So I’d brought up the list of Reps in another tab. Foushee was one, Moolenaar, Nehls (sounded like Nails to me), a few others.

  65. 65.

    sdhays

    It’s hilarious how the Republican leadership team likes to use these votes to count how many people are willing to support Qevin McCarthy as Speaker because they can’t count to 218 on their own. Apparently Sucker Carlson believes that this is “how the systems is supposed to work”, and yes, there are always negotiations in the majority on how to organize the House, but they had a couple months to figure this out before the previous Congress’ session ended. THAT’S how it’s supposed to work.

    If Our Qevin was worthy of being Speaker, he would have developed a Plan B in mid-December that involved cutting these bastards off at the knees when these assholes were making a big stink. Instead, he made threats against Senate Republicans for voting to pass budget legislation without the new “Republican majority’s” input.

  66. 66.

    circular reasoning

    I hope every Dem who speaks today does exactly what Clyburn is and uses it to focus on 1/6/21. Would be great to call out each of the most egregious Republicans who are in the room by name .

  67. 67.

    WaterGirl

    @Leto: I totally agree.  212 212 212 etc.  I have watched them all.

    But feebog was saying we have been down 1, and I am trying to figure out what he is referring to.

  68. 68.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Alison Rose: I’ve been doing that since the first vote. It’s fun to read about Republican floundering, but watching performative condescending asses act like condescending asses just isn’t for me.

  69. 69.

    Geminid

    @trollhattan: From what I’ve read the debt ceiling issue will become acute towards the middle or end of summer.

    A different deadline is October 1. Congress needs to pass a new spending bill to fund the government by then. Last year they passed continuing resolutions and finally put through the Omnibus bill right before Christmas.

  71. 71.

    Another Scott

    Jeffries is wearing a black lapel pin that says “January 6” under some smaller word.  It’s good there’s a visual reminder.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    PaulB

    Gaetz is nominating Jim Jordan.

    Edited to add that he kept it secret for several minutes as to just who, precisely, he was nominating.

  87. 87.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Leto: and trademark filings in 2022 were higher than in 2020 (2021 was a weird year because everyone was trying to monetize side gigs and so there was a massive spike that threw the data off). Trademark filings are another indicator of the economy http://HTTPS://www.USPTO.gov/dashboard/trademarks

    patent filings seem to be close to steady, maybe slightly lower in FY2022 than FY2021 (I would need to drill down into the data more closely)

  88. 88.

    tobie

    I love how GOPers are complaining about inflation and yet don’t want to enforce antitrust legislation. F’ em.

  89. 89.

    PaulB

    Boebert nominated Kevin Hern again. Donalds is, once again, left out of the nominating process.

  90. 90.

    Another Scott

    Interesting.  They’re starting the vote, a lot of GQPers are gone (the just showed Boebert leaving and she’s early in the list).  Is something happening??

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  96. 96.

    Eunicecycle

    @Another Scott: the clerk does circle back at the end to catch anyone who didn’t answer the first time. But I wonder if some stunt is being planned. I don’t have any idea what it might be (waiting to make sure the rest are still voting lockstep?) but I’m not very familiar with parliamentary procedures.

  99. 99.

    Kelly

    @MattF: song has been running through my head all morning.

    I had “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” running thru my head all of yesterday. I’m not sure if it was inspired by the wreck of the House Republicans or the storm hitting California.

  101. 101.

    Darkrose

    @trollhattan: Thank Doris! One of the things I love about Matsui is that she’s always focused on the levees and making sure there’s money to shore them up.

    I’m going to take this window to run out and get some staples at the store and then hunker down for next week.

  102. 102.

    lowtechcyclist

    I changed the featured image from the circus monkey used for yesterday’s posts to the gallows built on Jan 6, 2021.

    Where is this featured image located? I didn’t see any circus monkeys yesterday, and I’m not seeing a gallows today.  (Using the MS Edge browser on a Win 10 PC.)

    ETA: OK, I did see some circus monkeys on the House floor when I was watching C-SPAN.  But I don’t think that’s what you meant.

  108. 108.

    Ruckus

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    It does go both ways.

    This does look a bit like they are working for someone who wants the US to fail as a country.

    And it also looks like a bunch of fucking idiot assholes, the gang that couldn’t think straight.

  110. 110.

    R-Jud

    I assume big-money donors were busy on the phone with the 20 insurrectionist dickheads last night. Or had their assistants’ assistants on the phone.

  115. 115.

    Kent

    Gaming this whole thing out, it occurs to me that there are really only two things that we need the House to do in all of 2023.

     Extend the debt limit sometime in the summer (Thanks Manchin and Sinema)
    Pass some sort of omnibus funding bill to keep the government funded for 2024.  And frankly, the more they dick around the further they will be behind the Senate and the more likely that the Senate will govern whatever omnibus funding bill eventually gets passed.

    Beyond that I don’t know what else even really matters.  The Senate deals with all confirmations, not the House.  Most of the rest of the stuff they have planned is just performative bullshit like endless Hunter Biden “investigations”

    So fuck it, let them stay unorganized and un-operational and an international embarrassment until June.

    I do have to wonder if this temper tantrum by this anarchist wing of the GOP is going to make the rest of the House GOP delegation MORE likely to cater to their bullshit in June and December, or LESS likely to put up with it.  I have to go with less likely but that is just a random guess.  I can’t imagine this entire fiasco is giving them MORE clout with their non-insane (or less-insane) colleagues.

  116. 116.

    Another Scott

    Qevin made it through the “C”s without losing yet.  He’s down 3.  He might actually make it this time, but it’s still early.  The showy applause for some of the votes seem to indicate that those people changed their minds…

    The desire to fly home for the weekend continues to be a nearly irresistible force!!

    But it’s not over…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  117. 117.

    scav

    @lowtechcyclist: Quick little peek of a monkey on those sideways gizmoos to move between posts.  Not that we’d notice if we’re glued to the main post, but maybe as we shift between rounds and rounds and rounds of voting.

  119. 119.

    tobie

    Awful day. The GOP is not going to raise the debt ceiling unless Medicare and Social Security are slashed. I hope the White House has a plan.

  120. 120.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: She voted on time.  I was jumping to conclusions.  Oh well.

    But something is definitely different this time.  They want to catch their flights home for the weekend!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  122. 122.

    artem1s

    @M31: ​
     

    So if you lose 11 football games 21-3, but then you lose one by 21-6 you’re totally on a winning streak and momentum is on your side

    I see you are a Cleveland Browns fan.

  125. 125.

    RedDirtGirl

    Just jumping in without reading the thread, so apologies if it has already been addressed, but why is Donalds no longer a contender on the republican side?

  127. 127.

    realbtl

    Once this clusterfuck finally ends I’m trying to imagine how the R caucus even functions. Gotta be a lot of bad blood.

  132. 132.

    TaMara

    @Kent: I have to agree with all this. I’ve been thinking for a while that the longer this goes on, the better for Democracy. They’ve proven they are a threat to it (insurrection, anyone?). Let them dangle their incompetence and hate for governing out there for as long as necessary.

  133. 133.

    PaulB

    Victoria Spartz has insisted that she’s voting Present because she’s not seeing any “movement.” With (at least) five votes shifting to McCarthy, I wonder if she’ll switch back to McCarthy.

  134. 134.

    eclare

    @realbtl:   I can’t believe “establishment” R’s aren’t more pissed that they are being denied seats on important committees for newbie hostage takers.

  135. 135.

    trollhattan

    @Darkrose: +1 on Doris–she has one of the most unlikely paths to congress imaginable and has been a steady, supportive hand to use ever since taking the reins of her late husband’s seat.

    I’m prepping go bags “just in case.” The river is already at a level that might be described as mid-window and it will hit house-rooftop next week. This always makes me nervous, even if it’s been a decade. We do own two paddleboards.

  137. 137.

    lowtechcyclist

    Out of the first 12 of the twenty, we have 6 votes for Hern or Jordan, 5 defections to McCarthy, and Gosar hasn’t voted yet.

    That takes it to another ballot.

  138. 138.

    The Moar You Know

    Once this clusterfuck finally ends I’m trying to imagine how the R caucus even functions. Gotta be a lot of bad blood.

    @realbtl:  Under most circumstances I’d be thinking that the Contrary Twenty would be assigned to the Restroom Cleanliness Subcommittee, but I’m not sure McCarthy has the capacity for payback.  He seems weak and cowardly.  We shall see.  If he doesn’t embark on a course of savage payback he’s going to get this done to him on every single vote.

    Yeah, I am assuming he gets Speaker at some point.  There is a decent chance he may not.

  139. 139.

    Anoniminous

    @MattF: ​
     
    The song that has been running through my head was recorded by Lily Allen and generally considered the musical F-Bomb of the early 21st Century by those who qualify such things for the rest of us.

  140. 140.

    patrick II

    Do you think Putin is enjoying this? Matt Gaetz gives a strong hint in a fundraising email about his chaos-inducing actions. Via Axios.

    Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) campaign asked potential donors to “support our fight with critical reinforcements” and in one email dubbed McCarthy “Kiev Kevin.”

    He even spelled “Kiev” in the manner preferred by Russia.

  142. 142.

    opiejeanne

    What a fucking joke. The only good thing about turning this on just in time to “hear” someone voting for Jordan is that we couldn’t hear Kornacki. MSNBC has no sound on my tv, so we’re watching it on CSPAN.

  144. 144.

    Eunicecycle

    @eclare: that could end up being a big deal. Members wait forever to be on certain committees like Appropriations and Rules. If someone doesn’t get a chance because of Boebert, etc, they will be PISSED!

  146. 146.

    Anonymous At Work

    @RedDirtGirl: He never was.  The 20~21 shit-flingers weren’t voting *for* anybody, each and every time.  They were voting *against* Kev-kev.  They just needed a name to vote for.

  152. 152.

    PaulB

    Anna Paulina Luna has switched to McCarthy, the sixth to do so, joining Dan Bishop, Josh Brecheen, Mike Cloud, Andrew Clyde, and Byron Donalds.

  153. 153.

    Chris Johnson

    I really am convinced that this is enemy action from inside the house, not a bunch of clowns who are trying to make a point by humiliating McCarthy.

    Oh, absolutely. The thing that makes it confusing, I think, is that ALL of them are enemy action, but some of them want wealth and power within THIS country. And they all hate America, depending on where you draw the line and call it ‘blue’ America, but some of them want to be IN America and want comfortable privileged lives within America.

    Some of these folks act like suicide bombers, politically if not literally. They did arrange for no metal detectors, but the trick there is the non-MAGA republicans would be just as eager to come in packing, and they hate the MAGAs as bad as the MAGA hate them, and very likely know what the real situation is.

    So it’s a question of how many MAGAs who are actually waging a desperate war on America on behalf of Putin to stop aid to Ukraine and to disable American government (even though they are supposedly preparing to BE it) are ride-or-die for their true cause. Some of them like Gaetz could well be subject to blackmail (so many Republicans fit that description…) and some of them just plain see America as a sea of libs and are completely happy being terrorists.

    For a bunch of Republicans, it crosses a line to be sacrificial warriors for Putin. They want Dems to lose, but THEY do not want to lose, they want to have great power.

    Putin does not want them to have power, he just wants America to be broken, and if you make an omelette… and so, we see an awful lot of wealthy Republicans not wanting to go full MAGA anymore. Putin and Russia need them to destroy themselves for the cause. They don’t want that.

  155. 155.

    Anonymous At Work

    @patrick II: Eh.  Give a little credit.  Kyev was spelled “Kiev” until Ukraine gained independence AND started to assert themselves in such ways.  I have trouble trying to correct my spelling of Ukrainian-area names and I am support Ukraine.
    Gaetz either is doing it for Mother Russia [and her rubles] or is a disinterested troll.  My money here is on the latter.

  158. 158.

    Immanentize

    @opiejeanne: I don’t know. Hern has some shady stock corruption, and he is trying to ban RU-482. Donalds does have the ghetto to success story he is happy to tout, but I don’t know of any conviction?

    Thanks eclare — both are equally representative of the modern GOP it seems.

  160. 160.

    kalakal

    @opiejeanne: Donalds. There was a weed charge dropped in the 90s and

    in 2000, he pleaded guilty to a felony bribery charge as part of a scheme to defraud a bank

  161. 161.

    James E Powell

    What is “the deal that was cut overnight”?

    Guy on MSNBC says even if McCarthy loses, if it’s closer, it’s a win.

  162. 162.

    Ken

    @Another Scott: The $0.71 is there just to mess with the numbers geeks, probably.

    Checksum.  Or they’re encoding a message, very slowly, using the pennies.  71 mod 26 is 19, so that’s a T (assuming A=0, B=1, etc.).

  170. 170.

    Ken

    @James E Powell: What is “the deal that was cut overnight”?

    I don’t know the details, but I’ll bet these people who switched their votes are going to be pissed when they find he’s promised each of them the same committee chairmanship. Not to mention whichever of his “loyalists” had seniority and expected the chair.

  178. 178.

    Captain C

    @realbtl:

    I’m trying to imagine how the R caucus even functions.

    I think a nontrivial number of their members either don’t care if it functions or actively want it not to.

  180. 180.

    PaulB

    10th defection: Chip Roy.

    We’re getting into the neighborhood where McCarthy might actually get more votes than Jeffries for the first time.

  182. 182.

    trollhattan

    @eclare: No, not as long as the levees hold. Best as I can figure is the house elevation is about 20 ft msl and the river, a mile away, is currently at 23′, predicted to crest at 31′ next week.

    I just get jittery when this happens, which as been a long time, because drought. Sacramento is considered the nation’s second-most flood-prone city, behind New Orleans. (One reason I was “Houston, why?” after Hurricane Harvey.)

    There’s also a second river, the American, about five miles away to keep an eye on.

  183. 183.

    Leto

    Lol at the dude who yelled out, “Kevin (really long pause) Hern!” The saltiness after that, haha!

  187. 187.

    Immanentize

    To my earlier point:

    White Congressman literally pats Donalds on the head after he votes for Kevin McCarthy.— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) January 6, 2023

  189. 189.

    PaulB

    11th defection: Keith Self.

    That’s all of them except for the two that missed their vote call on the first round (Gosar and Ogles).

  191. 191.

    Captain C

    @PaulB: Republicans:  We can’t let that [person] beat McCarthy a 13th time!  That would be humiliating.  Unlike the first 12 times.

  192. 192.

    PaulB

    And Spartz is no longer voting Present but is voting for McCarthy.

    So McCarthy has picked up 12 votes, with two of the holdout caucus yet to be heard from. It’s going to be a real test of the never Keviners to see if they really do mean it.

  195. 195.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Haven’t read all the comments, but I agree. From one narrow perspective, the government is more-or-less funded to October, so we can bumble along. Not having a House for 9 months is much better than having a Republican House for 9 months. And who knows? Five or six Republicans might get hit by trucks by then, or switch parties, or be imprisoned in Brazil, or step on a rake, or…

  196. 196.

    Matt McIrvin

    @schrodingers_cat: I now think they are trying to shut Congress down for long enough, or break it in such a way, that the US defaults on its debt, causing a global economic catastrophe that they think will cause a revolution that they win. Some may think this will cause the 2020 election to be reversed and Trump reinstalled in the White House.

    There’s a lot of magical thinking involved, but they are into magical thinking in general. I doubt it’s rational chessmaster strategy.

  197. 197.

    Geminid

    @tobie: Biden and other party leaders have a plan. But the resolution of those issues is not riding on this Speaker fight. McCarthy himself intends to leverage the debt problem to force cuts in those programs, even though he has only a 9 seat majority.

    One important variable will be the House Rules that have yet to be voted on. Will there be a mechanism that allows a measure to be brought to the floor by means of a “petition of discharge”? That could be a means for passing a raise in the debt ceiling. About 20 Republicans defected in the last Congress to vote for the Infrastructure and CHIPS bills. The dynamic over the debt ceiling would be similar to that for tose two bills, but more intense. The difference now is that the majority control’s the process.

    The rule governing a challenge to the Speaker will also be important. One possible way out of a debt ceiling crunch would be for a group of Republican defectors to mount a successful Speaker challenge and help Democrats reorganize the House under a new Speaker who would allow a vote on a debt ceiling bill.

    For now, potential defectors like Don Bacon (NE) seem intent on fighting the intra-party fight by backing McCarthy. He and others might have a different calculus by August, and the acrimony this fight is creating may be even worse by then.

  198. 198.

    PaulB

    @Immanentize: I’m not clear as to whether everyone is really here today. I know that McCarthy has two supporters that are not in the chamber, so it’s a tossup as to whether he or Jeffries will be the top vote-getter.

    If all 434 of them were in the chamber, I think McCarthy would have a couple more votes than Jeffries.

  204. 204.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Eolirin: Ugh, what I meant.  Breaking habits on spelling is hard, like if Webster’s decided to use “theyre” to combine all the possible misuses into one word.

  205. 205.

    PaulB

    According to CNN reporter Manu Raju, Ralph Norman, one of the defectors to McCarthy, told him [Raju] an hour earlier that he would be voting for Byron Donalds, so some late-breaking developments.

  207. 207.

    Ken

    @The Moar You Know: the Contrary Twenty would be assigned to the Restroom Cleanliness Subcommittee

    “He had been appointed to a sub-committee of a sub-committee which had sprouted from one of the innumerable committees dealing with minor difficulties that arose in the compilation of the Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak dictionary. They were engaged in producing something called an Interim Report, but what it was that they were reporting on he had never definitely found out.” — 1984, George Orwell

  208. 208.

    WaterGirl

    C-SPAN says Jeffreis only has 205.  What’s up with that?  Okay, it’s at 211 now.  I feel better.

    Who are we missing on the Dem side?

    McCarthy got 213, though. bummer.

  209. 209.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Anonymous At Work:

    This. I’ve been reading about the Eastern Front for 40 years and those spellings for Ukrainian cities, towns and provinces are pretty much burned into the memory at this point.

  211. 211.

    artem1s

    how much you want to bet the defectors are only enough to keep Jeffries from having a higher tally than McQarthy?

  212. 212.

    PaulB

    Of the original 20 holdouts (plus Present-voting Spartz), there are just 7 left.

    • Andy Biggs
    • Lauren Boebert
    • Eli Crane
    • Matt Gaetz
    • Bob Good
    • Andy Harris
    • Matt Rosendale
  213. 213.

    opiejeanne

    @trollhattan: I visited the Capitol building in Sacramento years ago with a field trip my youngest was on, and they said that when the building was first going to be used, the newly elected governor had to be taken to it in a rowboat because of flooding.

  214. 214.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Matt McIrvin: ​

    I now think they are trying to shut Congress down for long enough

    I think you are giving them way, way too much credit. They’re monkeys flinging shit. The closest to strategy involved is that screaming about RINOs may help them get reelected. These people are not bright, and they’ve proven it again and again. As the saying coined about the Trump administration goes, “These people aren’t evil geniuses. They’re not Lex Luthor. They’re shitlords.”

    @Geminid: ​

    McCarthy himself intends to leverage the debt problem to force cuts in those programs.

    As did Boehner, as did McConnell, as did Ryan. McCarthy is a worse negotiator with less control over his caucus than any of those, and has a worse hand.

  217. 217.

    PaulB

    Jeffries has 211 votes, so there is a Democratic Representative who is missing or did not vote.

  218. 218.

    Ken

    @PaulB: If all 434 of them were in the chamber, I think McCarthy would have a couple more votes than Jeffries.

    Time to change the rules to allow the Speaker to be elected by plurality.  Then McCarthy’s in, and they’ll have a quick vote to adopt the rules (because all the Republicans are definitely on the same page there), and Congress can start business Monday.

  219. 219.

    artem1s

    Only 2 votes short this time due to absences. But hand grenades and thermonuclear warheads rule still applies.

  221. 221.

    PaulB

    With 432 members voting today, McCarthy needs 3 additional votes to push him over the top. He has 214; he needs 217. That would make the final tally 217 to 215 should that shift happen.

    Edited to add that the C-Span tally doesn’t match with CNN’s tally. C-Span has McCarthy at 214; CNN has him with 213. Either way, he would need 3 additional votes.

  222. 222.

    Immanentize

    @WaterGirl:

    Me: Byron Donalds, blink twice if you’re okay.

    Donalds: …

    Me: Byron? BYRON!

    Harriet: Let me tell you something, my brother. You can’t free everybody.— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) January 6, 2023

  224. 224.

    Baud

    Mark my words, when Kevin has the votes, the media will pump him up for staring down the radicals as if he wasn’t a weak leader.

  225. 225.

    Immanentize

    @artem1s: I agree this could have been the reason — as whichever hold out said, “in good faith — McCarthy.” A proof that they are willing to work toward a goal, but not allow it?

  226. 226.

    H.E.Wolf

    @eclare:”Yeah, who didn’t vote for Jeffries?”​

    David Trone of MD (D) is apparently absent.​

    ETA: 67-year-old white millionaire.

  227. 227.

    PaulB

    @eclare: Yeah, who didn’t vote for Jeffries?

    I don’t know, as I can’t find anyone commenting on that. I’m guessing that there is a Democratic member who had to miss today’s proceedings.

    Edited to add that H.E. Wolf immediately above this note provided the info. Thank you!

  232. 232.

    West of the Rockies

    On the twelve votes of McCarthy my true love gave to me one Boebert braying, two Jordans jerking, three Gaetzs grifting, four Trumpies twerking, five Kevin flips…

  234. 234.

    eclare

    So Trone and Buck are absent, that gets us to 432.

    That means Hunt (TX) stayed even though he has a preemie baby?

  236. 236.

    H.E.Wolf

    @PaulB: ​

    @eclare: ​
     I’m hunched over my .pdf of the 118th Representatives-elect. :)

    If I were there in person, I’d be sorely tempted to revive the outdated custom of hissing (certain insurrectionist Republicans, I’m looking at you).

  237. 237.

    PaulB

    @eclare:  So Trone and Buck are absent, that gets us to 232.

    There is another Republican Congresscritter missing, Representative Wesley Hunt, visiting his wife and new-born son (born prematurely).

    So McCarthy, today, needs 216 votes out of 431 total.

  238. 238.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Anonymous At Work

    1. It’s Kyiv, not Kyev.

    2. It was never *spelled* Kiev, it was incorrectly Romanized as Kiev. The correct spelling has always been Київ.

    3. I bet it didn’t take you decades to switch from Peking to Beijing.

  242. 242.

    H.E.Wolf

    @PaulB: There is another Republican Congresscritter missing, visiting his wife and new-born son (born prematurely).

     Wesley Hunt, TX. African-American, early 40s, former Army officer. His gerrymandered-R district is in Houston.

  243. 243.

    PaulB

    @eclare: I think he stayed.  We were at 434 before because the D in VA died.

    I dunno for sure, but if the CNN tally is correct, only 431 people voted.

  244. 244.

    Geminid

    @Frankensteinbeck: Yeah, I don’t think McCarthy can succeed either. I just pointed out that this Speaker fight was not going to determine the debt question.

    FewIt may actually make raising the debt ceiling easier because of the rancor that is being generated inside the caucus and among Republicans nationally. This fight also tends to support a belief among the general public that Republicans Representatives are a bunch of cranky radicals incapable of governing. That won’t help when they try to play chicken with the nation’s credit.

  248. 248.

    PaulB

    Scott Perry, one of the holdouts who switched to McCarthy today, said on Twitter:

    We’re at a turning point. I’ve negotiated in good faith, with one purpose: to restore the People’s House back to its rightful owners. The framework for an agreement is in place, so in a good-faith effort, I voted to restore the People’s House by voting for @gopleader McCarthy.

    Talk about a meaningless word salad: “back to its rightful owners?” “Restore the People’s House?” Sheesh….

  249. 249.

    Immanentize

    @Kelly: in reality, I can’t get over the Constantinople/Istanbul thingy. I mean — I had to do that right after I finally used “Old New York” which was once New Amsterdam.

  255. 255.

    H.E.Wolf

    @eclare: ​
     Thank you for the updated total of 431!

    I’m extra happy whenever the camera focues on one of our Balloon Juice-supported Democrats is on camera while calling out their vote. (They showed Emilia Sykes today! Maybe someone from C-SPAN reads the blog.)

  259. 259.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Immanentize: I think “Peking Duck” as a culinary descriptor is OK, as is “Chicken Kiev” (which, incidentally, doesn’t really have anything to do with the capital of Ukraine.)

    If you want to be sure of absolution, though, bring in enough for the whole class to share.

  262. 262.

    EarthWindFire

    @sdhays: Apparently Sucker Carlson believes that this is “how the systems is supposed to work”

    So our system only works as it’s supposed to once a century? Well, I’m convinced. Let’s tear it down! //s

  263. 263.

    PaulB

    Apparently, the missing Democratic member has returned to the chamber, so the total is now 432 votes and McCarthy would now need an additional vote to put him over the top.

  264. 264.

    eclare

    @H.E.Wolf:   CSpan reporting Trone is back.  For subsequent votes, number KKKevin needs is up to 217.

    My bad, PaulB got there first!

  266. 266.

    James E Powell

    The political media are preparing their fawning stories about how McCarthy has true grit.

  270. 270.

    H.E.Wolf

    @eclare: Thanks to you, and to PaulB (and to Rep Trone for showing up).

    Now we wait to find out what the Seven Seditious Smurfs will do, in vote #13.

  272. 272.

    James E Powell

    I had to shut if off. I can’t listen to Republicans. I will watch President Joe on youtube.

    I’m struck by how they are raging about issues that they think still matter, like the Afghanistan 13 or COVID shutdowns or whatever from two years ago. Even inflation is fading.

    I’m also struck by how they are saying they want to get to work on things that will never even get a vote in the senate.

  273. 273.

    WaterGirl

    There is a post up for President Biden’s ceremony to honor 12 or so people for their actions on Jan 6 or their actions in holding for democracy in the face of pressure from those who would not honor the votes of the American people.

    It’s 2 posts up from this one

    edit: I can come back to this tread and let you know when that one is starting.

  274. 274.

    Amir Khalid

    Kevin may be happy that he’s gained votes toward winnng the gavel, but won’t becoming Speaker only mark the beginning of his torment at the hands of the hostage-taking caucus?

  275. 275.

    lowtechcyclist

    I don’t know who the bozo is who’s making a nominating speech right now, but the clip I caught was, [click] “the American people deserve answers: on Covid-19” which was clearly the beginning of a list, but I didn’t stick around for the rest of it.

    You’ve GOT answers, asshole.  You just choose not to like the real answers, and want different ones.  “Answers” that somehow implicate people you have it in for, those are the answers you’re looking for.

    I’m sure you’ll find them.  They’ll be made-up bullshit, but you’ll call them the answers, and you’ll enjoy being outraged.

  276. 276.

    James E Powell

    @Paul in KY:

    Istanbul developed in Turkish 16c. as a corruption of Greek phrase eis tan (ten) polin “in (or to) the city,” which is how the local Greek population referred to it. Sort of like San Francisco.

  277. 277.

    kalakal

     

    @Kelly:  I still have to catch myself on the Lebanon

    Then again I used to travel on Watling Street between Eboracum and Londinium

  278. 278.

    Geminid

    @Amir Khalid: There might be an uneasy truce for a while. There will be new fights over committee and chairmain assignments, and then legislation.

    First of all the majority needs to push though a set of House rules. That might be contentious. I’ll be looking to see if there are defections from the other side of the caucus.

  279. 279.

    PaulB

    Oh, that’s interesting. There were only two nominations: McCarthy and Jeffries. The holdouts didn’t nominate anyone.

  280. 280.

    Alison Rose

    Okay, I got too curious and just tuned in. Looks like no spoiler noms from the GOP this time? Maybe that means it’ll finally happen…lucky 13 for Kevin??

  281. 281.

    PaulB

    Via Twitter, Representative David Trone, Democratic Representative who missed the first vote:

    7AM: Surgery

    2PM: Back at the Capitol, still wearing my slippers and hospital socks

    Time to vote for Hakeem Jeffries!

  285. 285.

    WaterGirl

    @Geminid: I believe the Rs believe that the rules package has already been worked out over the past couple of months.

    And it’s my understanding that a lot of what McCarthy has been promising is also in the territory of rules.

    So I think they think the rules are a done deal, except for the part where they make them official.

    Is that actually the case?  Who knows?  All these people do is lie.

  287. 287.

    PaulB

    A third holdout, Eli Crane, votes for Jordan.

    Assuming that Gaetz votes for not-Kevin, McCarthy will once again come up short.

  288. 288.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I was in the car just now and flipped through MSNBC. Who was the goober using his (I’m assuming) nominating speech to promise to investigate Joe Biden and Ukraine?

  289. 289.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: I don’t know. But a group might want to hold out for a vote or two as a flex, to show the anti-McCarthy group that two can play that game. Or there may be a substantive issue that they’ll dig their heels in over.

  291. 291.

    PaulB

    McCarthy might end up getting there eventually, but this report from CNN about his strategy is pretty sad.

    McCarthy’s allies plan to turn up the heat on the remaining holdouts and pick them off one-by-one to get the speaker votes — but it won’t involve horse trading or more negotiations.

    The emerging strategy, according to sources involved, includes leaning on former President Donald Trump to help squeeze the holdouts. Their camps have been in touch and believe Trump is willing to make some more calls.

  301. 301.

    PaulB

    One more holdout has flipped to McCarthy: Andy Harris.

    So McCarthy picks up one more vote, with one holdout vote yet to be tallied (Matt Rosendale). It won’t be enough to put McCarthy over the top, though, regardless of how Rosendale votes.

  305. 305.

    bjacques

    Couldn’t McCarthy promise two of the holdouts the best committee seats of the other two?

  306. 306.

    PaulB

    There are three people that McCarthy’s people have been lobbying hard: Eli Crane, Andy Harris, and Matt Rosendale. With those three votes, and with the votes of the two members currently out of the chamber, McCarthy would finally eke out a victory.

    Harris caved but Eli Crane did not, at least not in this round. We’re still waiting to hear from Rosendale.

  308. 308.

    OverTwistWillie

    Trade the cash

    for the beef

    for the body

    for the hate

    And my time is a piece of wax

    falling on a termite…

    That’s choking on the splinters.

    Soy un perdedor…..

  309. 309.

    Geminid

    @PaulB: Good’s the bible thumper who knocked out inumbent Denver Riggleman in the 2020 nominating contest for the 5th Virginia CD. His allies made sure by engineering a caucus/convention process. The convention was held at Liberty University, where Good had worked years as a fundraiser. Liberty has a low-profile political machine that swings a lot of weight among 5th district Republicans, and Bob Good is their guy.

  310. 310.

    Marcus

    @Chris Johnson:

    I don’t post here often

    But have been following this trend for a while …..started around Brexit. There is a lot of pieces converging

    Just curious what is your take on Bari Weiss, Matt Taibbi, and Glenn Greenwald?

  316. 316.

    PaulB

    The last holdout, Matt Rosendale, continues to hold out. That’s 6 continuing to vote for not-Kevin.

  317. 317.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Jesus. Just turned on MSNBC and they’re interviewing the former head of the Capitol Police about 1/6 but they won’t mute the roll call vote. How the fuck do they think this is good television production, much less journalism?

  318. 318.

    cain

    @Amir Khalid: I think he just wants that title, and it’s ok if he sucked at it – he will be immortalized – I mean people still remember Nero, right? :-)

  319. 319.

    eclare

    @PaulB:   Why do all of these never KKKevin conversions keep saying “pursuant to negotiations” before they vote McCarthy?  Are they threatening to revert back if they don’t get more?

  320. 320.

    PaulB

    Where we stand after 13 votes: 6 people continue to hold out; 15 former holdouts have switched their votes to McCarthy; 2 McCarthy voters are currently out of the chamber but are supposed to fly back in tonight.

    Continuing to hold out:

    • Andy Biggs
    • Lauren Boebert
    • Eli Crane
    • Matt Gaetz
    • Bob Good
    • Matt Rosendale

    Former holdouts now voting for McCarthy:

    • Dan Bishop
    • Josh Brecheen
    • Mike Cloud
    • Andrew Clyde
    • Byron Donalds
    • Paul Gosar
    • Andy Harris
    • Anna Paulina Luna
    • Mary Miller
    • Ralph Norman
    • Andy Ogles
    • Scott Perry
    • Chip Roy
    • Keith Self
    • Victoria Spartz

    With Buck and Hunt returning to the House, McCarthy would have 216 of the 218 votes he needs.

  321. 321.

    PaulB

    @eclare: Are they threatening to revert back if they don’t get more?

    Definitely a Godfather move: “Just remember, I own you.” or “Nice Speaker role you have there; it would be a shame if I had to vote to take it away from you.”

  323. 323.

    topclimber

    @Geminid: Are we still live? Debt bluff will be called, as it always is. Or did I miss a default somewhere? As for ongoing spending, I count on the Republicants to give us a shutdown like they have in the past.

  324. 324.

    H.E.Wolf

    Per the excellent Electoral-Vote blog: These are the elections for Speaker that required more ballots than this situation. In chronological order, they are:

    John W. Taylor, 1820 (elected after 3 days, on the 22nd ballot).
    Howell Cobb, 1849 (elected after 20 days, on the 63rd ballot).
    Nathaniel P. Banks, 1855 (elected after 62 days, on the 133rd ballot).
    William Pennington, 1859 (elected after 58 days, on the 44th ballot)

    The link has a paragraph of interesting details for each one.
    https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2022/Items/Dec30-1.html

  326. 326.

    PaulB

    Final tally:

    McCarthy 214

    Jeffries 212

    Jordan 6

    432 members present and voting; 2 currently out of the chamber but supposed to return tonight. Right now, McCarthy needs 217 and he is 3 votes short. With the two members returning, he would need 218, but would have 216 with those two extra votes, so would only need 2 votes from the holdouts.

  327. 327.

    Nettoyeur

    @The Moar You Know: If McCarthy gets to be speaker in the end, I reckon  there will be some uncomfortable consequences for the rebel holdouts despite all the pre-vote deals. “You go for the King, you best not miss.”

  328. 328.

    TooManyJens

    Wesley Hunt really ought to tell McCarthy to go fuck himself for asking him to leave his newborn in the NICU (edit: and maybe miss his mother’s funeral?) to fly back to DC and bail his incompetent ass out.

  330. 330.

    James E Powell

    @Nettoyeur:

    Even if they succeed in breaking McCarthy’s will & some one else is the speaker, these yutzes are going to be despised nobodies in the Republican house. I suppose they do not care. Governing was never their career plan.

  331. 331.

    TooManyJens

    @eclare:

    Yes. I cannot imagine having your mother die and your child born four weeks early in the same week, much less having to then drop everything to go vote for some dipshit because he can’t close the deal without you.

  335. 335.

    PaulB

    Motion to adjourn until 10:00 pm tonight. Electronic voting will take place now for the next 15 minutes.

  336. 336.

    TooManyJens

    @Old School:

    Oh, I misunderstood. Hern’s mother’s funeral was mentioned at the end of an article about Hunt and my eye just glided right over the different name.

  337. 337.

    PaulB

    So far, the vote is on strict party lines: Republicans in favor of adjournment; Democrats opposed. If that holds true to the end, the House will adjourn.

  338. 338.

    PaulB

    You know, if they can vote electronically like this on a yea/nay issue, why on earth can’t they upgrade the technology so that they can vote electronically for Speaker?

    Unrelated: one thing that just occurred to me is that the prior talking point that this is just an awesome example of democracy in action has pretty much disappeared. I guess it just didn’t work when held up against the reality.

  342. 342.

    PaulB

    Another thing that just occurred to me is that they don’t need both Buck and Hunt to return. They just need one of them.

    Currently: 432 votes total; Kevin has 214, needs 217 and is 3 votes short.

    With both returned, it would be 434 votes total; Kevin needs 218, would have 216 and would be 2 votes short.

    But with just one returned, it would be 433 votes total; Kevin would still need just 217, would have 215 and would be 2 votes short.

  343. 343.

    WaterGirl

    @TooManyJens: I have been watching the Biden, so I missed all of those about the fellow whose baby was born 4 weeks early.

    Is he flying back for this or has he told McCarthy to fuck off?  I am on team fuck off, in case that’s not clear.

  344. 344.

    PaulB

    @WaterGirl: Is he flying back for this or has he told McCarthy to fuck off?  I am on team fuck off, in case that’s not clear.

    The report is that they are both flying back. The fellow who lost his mother didn’t leave but will need to at some point. The two that are missing are out because of a prematurely-born son and because of some unspecified medical procedure, respectively.

  346. 346.

    PaulB

    McCarthy claims he will be elected Speaker tonight. When asked why he was so confident, he said it was because he counted.

    Right now, it’s 218 to 211 in favor of adjournment, with 5 outstanding votes, so we’ll be adjourning until 10 p.m.

    ———-

    Now 219 to 212 in favor of adjournment, with 3 outstanding votes, all Republican.

  350. 350.

    PaulB

    @eclare: I hope that they reached that compromise, but I’m skeptical. I expect McCarthy to want the symbolism of having all of the members voting. And the heroic effort of those two brave men returning, against all odds.

    Yeah, sickening, I know.

  352. 352.

    Old School

    If McCarthy made me come into work at 10:00 on a Friday night, I’d be tempted to vote against him out of anger.

  355. 355.

    PaulB

    Love this comment from McCarthy, courtesy of CNN:

    “Because it took this long, now we learned how to govern. So now we’ll be able to get the job done,” McCarthy added.

    [Emphasis added.]

  356. 356.

    Immanentize

    How long are the Democrats allowed to talk while nominating their candidate? I assume as there are no rules, they could take hours if they wanted to. Just to make the pain exquisite?

  357. 357.

    PaulB

    From Julie Tsirkin of NBC News:

    GAETZ, who has been huddling with BOEBERT on the floor, sounds like he is conceding that McCarthy will win: “I think the House is in a lot better place with some of the work that’s been done to democratize power out of the speakership and that’s our goal.”

  358. 358.

    Mike E

    These fcukers were doing it on J6 Day no matter what…you can never fascist too much or too often, apparently.

  359. 359.

    PaulB

    @Immanentize: I assume there are time limits, but that would be priceless, particularly given Kevin McCarthy’s prior “filibuster” via an 8-hour speech which delayed the Build Back Better Act.

    Edited to add: A quick look says that House speeches are usually restricted to one minute or five minutes, depending on what the House is doing. The McCarthy thing was him taking advantage of a “magic minute” that only the Majority Leader, Minority Leader, and Speaker can use.

  361. 361.

    Immanentize

    @PaulB: but the only rules right now are, as people call them, “Jefferson’s rules” as no rules have been adopted at all for this Congress. Which is why CSPAN is watchable this week.

  362. 362.

    Chris Johnson

    @Marcus: Neither do I: I get grumpy plus I’d been a Bernie guy in the primaries and so I mostly lurk.

    Bari Weiss, Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald? It can be hard to tell which garbage is just garbage and which are directly working for Russia. Sometimes it’s easier like with Caleb Maupin, who turned out to be a sex creep trying to get spanked, and was literally working for RT.

    The thing to remember is that Russia is very serious about all this but that is NOT the same thing as directly controlling everybody like there’s some Boris Badenov giving orders. They’re chaos-sowers and narrative mongers and are willing to be patient.

    It’s hard to tell, of the MAGA holdouts, which are straight up working for Putin and which are narrative true believers. I still think certain people like Tucker Carlson are straight up working for Putin. Others like McConnell probably were, but were so clever and ruthless that they were able to step back to save their skins. I would have thought Hannity was working directly for Putin but then he went off on Boebert on his show as if he was unhappy with her handling of things.

    One thing about Taibbi is the history of bad behavior in actual Russia. It’s like Trump trying to do real estate deals in Russia. Some of these people obviously let themselves in for trouble, and are subject to pressure. That doesn’t mean they take detailed orders, just that they are traitors, serving someone else as best they can. It’s not like they’re remote controlled. Putin’s big breakthrough was stochastic politics and chaos. This like the Jan 6 insurrection is a triumph of demonstrating that’s practical. Effective? Jury is very much out on that, but it is possible.

  363. 363.

    Ken

    @PaulB: Seriously? I don’t know which is more ridiculous, the implicit (though true) statement that Republicans didn’t know how to govern before this week, or the idea that anyone, much less this crowd, could learn to govern in four days.

  364. 364.

    Marcus

    @Chris Johnson:

     

    @Chris Johnson: Thanks for the reply

    I too saw Boebert and Hannity…first thing that came out of her mouth …no new financing for Ukraine and Gaetz said the same thing latter…its not coincidental

    I know that Roger Stone is Trumps id and he he too speaks the same language

    I guess for them there is no countries anymore just power and friendly banks

  366. 366.

    Bill Arnold

    @Marcus:

    I too saw Boebert and Hannity…first thing that came out of her mouth …no new financing for Ukraine and Gaetz said the same thing latter…its not coincidental

    They and a bunch of like-minded people have been trying to make opposition to Ukraine/support for genocidal Russian imperialists into a Red Cap litmus test.
    It’s been a tough sell, so far.

  367. 367.

    eachother

    @James E Powell:

    Interest rates too low IMO.
    Yes I have an interest in interest levels.  Specifically income.
    But, economy looks strong if not resilient in the face of Russian war, pandemic, weather impacts etc.  Not particularly wanting to favor bank, mortgage or real estate sectors, or hurt investors or home buyers, but interest rates for economic stability, have room to move. Again IMO. 5% is a very reasonable goal for the Fed.
    No reason for me to think the golden goose will be killed or her egg laying much affected. The value of her eggs has been rising nicely lately. This may not be the best news either. But war, pandemic and Republican control of the house makes egg collectors nervous and covetous.
    And the off the top inflation devaluation also too.

Comments are closed.