Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / Open Thread: Meet the GOP’s Mr. October, Patrick ‘Bowtie of Butthurt’ McHenry

Open Thread: Meet the GOP’s Mr. October, Patrick ‘Bowtie of Butthurt’ McHenry

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I don’t think I was the only person who assumed McHenry got the ‘Acting (Petty) Speakership’ because it could safely be assumed that he was a placeholder, since even his fellow Repubs wouldn’t be able to put up with his prissy hall-monitor routine for very long. The NYTimes reports it’s not quite that simple:

Moments after the House voted to boot Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, as the speaker, one of his closest confidants, Representative Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina, stepped up to the dais to take the gavel as the interim speaker…

It was also the first time that a law enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks came into force in the House, where each speaker must submit a secret list of people who could step into the post temporarily in the event of a cataclysmic event or other unforeseen vacancy.

Mr. McHenry’s name was first on Mr. McCarthy’s list of names. Under House rules, Mr. McHenry “shall act as speaker pro tempore until the election of a speaker or a speaker pro tempore” and is responsible for overseeing the election of a replacement.

The rules do not stipulate how quickly the House must move. Mr. McHenry intends to hold a speaker candidate forum on Tuesday, one week after Mr. McCarthy was deposed, meaning a new speaker will not be elected until that day at the earliest…


Count on Mr. Charles P. Pierce for a succinct summary:

Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina is a cheap little twerp in a bowtie who has been elevated by the defenestration of Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy into the role of Chief Petty Officer of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. At the end of a long afternoon on Tuesday, McHenry adjourned the House by slamming down the gavel with murderous force. He proceeded to give Rep. Nancy Pelosi a gratuitous kick on his way home from work…

Pelosi is in California helping to arrange the funeral rites for Senator Dianne Feinstein, which makes McHenry’s little power play even more odious. But McHenry’s CV as a colossal political dick is impeccable. He got started in national politics by getting hired by Karl Rove; in ratfcking circles, this is like riding as a youngster with Jesse James…

So it’s going to be McHenry running things in the House until the current sede vacante period finally ends. This does not bode well for an Era of Good Feelings. Already, the Republicans in the House have settled on a strategy of blaming the Democrats for the Republican cannibal feast. (In his interminable farewell press conference, McCarthy tried this tack as well.) This makes very little sense, of course, but it does give them some mock logic behind their interpretation of events. Meanwhile, the knife fight to become McCarthy’s successor, and to fill all the leadership positions in the caucus, has commenced…

War to the knife spork — spork to the hilt!


(And don’t you *dare* try shoving your grubby little trotters into my spare stiletto heels, you piglet… )

… McHenry has been one of the most completely shameless of House Republicans since his arrival in Congress, in 2005, when he immediately and publicly endorsed Tom DeLay’s brilliant plan to exempt himself from ethics rules as his connections to Jack Abramoff began to end his career. But he was born to be cheerfully corrupt: He’s a product of the College Republicans, an organization that trains little Lee Atwaters, Karl Roves and Grover Norquists in the arts of scorched-earth campaigning and wholly irresponsible “governing” on behalf of the monied interests that bought you your job. The ethos is win by any means necessary, legal or quasi-legal (or worse, as long as you never get caught), and McHenry was very good at that, according to Benjamin Wallace-Wells’ memorable profile of the then-freshman in the Washington Monthly.

After the College Republicans, and a failed state legislature race, McHenry moved on to truly insidious conservative astroturfing/push-polling/communications firm DCI, then worked for Rove, then took a political appointment in the Bush administration, then moved to the district he now represents, where he started a real estate company that did not actually buy or sell any real estate, so that he could run for Congress as “a small businessman.”

Once in the United States House of Representatives, McHenry personally intervened in a wild and bloody College Republican National Committee chair election, on behalf of a personal friend of his who’d become slightly toxic after he sent fundraising letters attempting to trick “elderly people with dementia” into donating to the CRNC.

Another of McHenry’s first acts in Congress, Wallace-Wells writes, was to champion a bill that was specifically written to rip off a large portion of his constituents, by making it “much harder for government to regulate or block the conversion of credit unions into banks …” He is a close ally of major consumer financial institutions with a plum assignment to the Committee on Financial Services, which is great for raising money…

No favor too small for a friend, or too big for a donor: Your modern GOP, folks!

A small man in search of… a taller milk crate.
Open Thread: Meet the GOP's Mr. October, Patrick 'Bowtie of Butthurt' McHenry

Reader Interactions

161Comments

  2. 2.

    Alison Rose

    THIS is the “standing on a box” people are freaking out about? It’s not like he was hiding it and trying to trick people. It’s obviously so that he’s more visible to cameras and reporters behind that crazy tree of microphones. Who fucking cares.

  4. 4.

    Jay

    Sorry Anne,

    as per the thread below, we arn’t allowed to use sizeist comments at BJ, so every mention of “small”, being physical stature or personality need to be edited out according to the Jackals,….//

  6. 6.

    Jay

    @Alison Rose:

    see knob 1, that lowers the stand by 8″.

    see knob 2? 1 foot.

    see the base knob? another 8 inches.

    See the people in the background?

    You can’t loosen a knob or two and lower them.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    The truth is you never should trust anybody who wears a bow tie.

    A cravat is supposed to point down, to accentuate the genitals. Why do you want to trust somebody whose tie points out to accentuate his ears?

    – from State and Main

  10. 10.

    sdhays

    So, apparently the government is open today, and Qevin is no longer the Squeaker, because he thought the Democrats wouldn’t vote for the CR without Ukraine funding, and then he could blame Democrats for the shutdown. Oops.

    Nancy said he was stupid, and wow, she wasn’t lying.

  11. 11.

    Birdie

    @Jay: I just read the last thread, and gotta say, I wish I could get away with behaving like a (certain kind of) ‘progressive’ straight white man receiving constructive criticism. Oh the fragility! 

  13. 13.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Suzanne: Crrikey yes.  Used to be, they’d say of such a man “he doesn’t have a woman in his life to tell him ‘get that fixed ffs.'”

  17. 17.

    Anne Laurie

    @Suzanne: They pay him enough to get his pants hemmed.

    He’s still hoping he’ll ‘grow into them’, like his momma used to promise.

    Better chance his legs will grow another several inches than he’ll ‘grow into’ his new job, you want my opinion…

  18. 18.

    Jay

    @Suzanne:

    Either sartorial or sizeist shaming, one strike, two strikes, or is it 0.5 strikes or do they cancel each other out?

    I am so confused,……..///

  21. 21.

    divF

    The Barbaras Boxer (D-CA) and Mikulski (D-MD) were 4’11” Senators who served long and distinguished careers in Congress from the 1980s until 2016.

    I admire them both, and this topic gives me an excuse to mention their names.

  23. 23.

    Anne Laurie

    @Jay:

    Sorry Anne… we arn’t allowed to use sizeist comments at BJ, so every mention of “small”, being physical stature or personality need to be edited out according to the Jackals,….//

    I claim in-group privilege, since I am quite short, and also a small, mean soul.

  28. 28.

    Jay

    @Birdie:

    film makers used to make Audie Murphy stand on a box for the romantic scenes, because they didn’t believe that audiences would find the romance believable, despite his being a Congressional Medal, ( and multiple other awards) War Hero.

    Audie always objected, but was overruled.

  31. 31.

    RaflW

    I think, in a twisted way, it’s good that this jackass kicked Nancy out of her second, close in office as his first official act. It makes the GOP’s absolute pettiness, disregard for tradition, and loathing of “civility” just blindingly obvious.

  32. 32.

    Cameron

    I don’t give a tin-plated shit whether he sleeps under Donald Trump’s lifts or towers over John Fetterman.  Bro is an asshole.

  33. 33.

    Madeleine

    @Suzanne: Hmmm. There is such a definite change at the line where jacket meets pants. Looking again, I wonder if he wasn’t wearing pants and had to borrow a pair, hence the excessive length.

    typos corrected.

  34. 34.

    Yarrow

    It was also the first time that a law enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks came into force in the House, where each speaker must submit a secret list of people who could step into the post temporarily in the event of a cataclysmic event or other unforeseen vacancy.

    We did such dumb things after 9/11. This is yet another one, one which I hadn’t heard of until yesterday. A secret list? Gah. We behaved like such scaredy cats after 9/11. “The list must be sekrit!” So dumb. And it leads to shit like this twerp becoming acting Speaker.

  35. 35.

    Jay

    @RaflW:

    It actually, sort of follows tradition,

    but not on a day’s notice when they are out of town.

    Tradition says the shadow offices belong to the ex-Speaker and ex-Leader of the house.

  38. 38.

    HumboldtBlue

    @RaflW: ​
    I saw a quote on Twitter earlier — didn’t follow the link — stating he overstepped his authority in that move, as if the GOP is in any way bound by rules and customs.​

  41. 41.

    Yarrow

    I don’t care how tall the guy is, standing on that cheap plastic milk crate makes him look really dumb.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    @Yarrow

    As the list is secret, and as a Speaker need not be a member, why couldn’t it consist of a half dozen random people?

    “Hmm, top of the list is Joe Q. Blow of Burnt Armpit, Idaho.”

  43. 43.

    Jay

    @Jackie:

    It’s actually funny,

    some interpretations of the rules say that his only job is to oversee the election of a New Speaker,

    others say he is The Speaker in all power until there is a vote, (which he controls) and a New Speaker is installed, ( if one is).

    Another Schrodenger’s Speaker.

  47. 47.

    Jay

    @wjca:

    Suit wise, over decades, the only things that changed were the width of the lapels, cuffs or no cuffs, suitable material, buttons and the width of the tie.

    In the early 80’s I wore a satin navy blue suit, made for my Grandfather in the early 1920’s and was perfectly in style at the time.

  48. 48.

    HumboldtBlue

    Who dresses Sarah Huckabee?This clown looks like a sofa cover.​And Joe Biden is a damn good president.

    Since fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, 715,000 Americans and counting have been approved for student loan forgiveness. Tanya and Chad are two of them.​

    And speaking of height, Fetterman has choice words for the House GOP.
    Replacing one dick with a different kind of dick isn’t going to change anything in the house. We are one DNA test away from the Jerry Springer Show.​

  49. 49.

    piratedan

    he’s a petty man, emblematic of the party he’s chosen. tbh, I could give a shit about his size, stature, what have you… I care that he’s cut from the same cloth as the rest of these spiteful fucks that consistently rely on the Dems to cover for their political immaturity.

    He’s a small man in more than just the literal sense of the word. However you choose to insult him is up to you, I have no issues with his petty cruel existence being turned back on him.

  51. 51.

    wjca

    @Jay: Tradition says the shadow offices belong to the ex-Speaker and ex-Leader of the house.

    OK, McCarthy is now the (most recent) ex-Speaker.  But the Majority Leader hasn’t changed.  So what’s the excuse there?

  53. 53.

    RaflW

    To that Sally Simpson Xitt, Robert Draper of the FTFNYT described the Speaker Protempeste thusly “Known as a subdued and nonconfrontational conservative legislator, Mr. McHenry’s dyspeptic mood was evident…”

    It’s just outrageous how these Times reporters just baldly lie. Nothing, not one iota, was learned by the whole Judith Miller debacle. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

  56. 56.

    piratedan

    @wjca: The GOP is apparently angry that they misunderstood the unspoken agreement that was supposedly made with the Dems that they would save McCarthy if push came to shove, despite the previous history of Kevin not honoring his agreements, lying about the proposed investigation of Joe Biden, the lying about J6, the change in not passing the CR funding the government excluding the Ukraine promises and then not sharing how that would be getting done and in the process of blaming the Dems for the shutdown that he was helping orchestrate with the Crazy Caucus… so they’re shocked that they weren’t saved by Democratic pragmatism and are now attempting to exact petty retribution while attempting to figure out what else to blame the Dems for, so they’re going for the grand gesture of ditching office space that was usually reserved for the opposition office holders.

  57. 57.

    cain

    @HumboldtBlue

    That would look delightful in the 1890s as a window shade.

    Today .. she doesn’t quite pull it off and it makes her look oddly Victorian. But kudos for not wearing a pant suit.

  58. 58.

    Jay

    The biggest winner from Kevin McCarthy’s ouster today was Amy Coney Barrett
     
    She was exposed for belonging to the Christian cult People of Praise which the FBI is investigating for sex abuse
     
    McCarthy & Gaetz’s combustion buried that damning exposé
     
    Don’t let her get away with it. – Lindy Li

  60. 60.

    Yarrow

    I missed this yesterday. If Cornyn is making sense the apocalypses must be nigh.

    Sen. Cornyn calls effort to oust McCarthy “disgraceful”

    “We saw a similar thing happen to Boehner, Ryan, and now McCarthy. I’m sure the next speaker is going to be subjected to the same terrorist attacks.”— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) October 3, 2023

  61. 61.

    RaflW

    @Jay: There’s not really enough data on Speakers deposed by their own party to know what the tradition will be. Did the bowtied ProTempeste already scurry into MyKevin’s office? (We’ve heard Qevin is getting Nancy’s forcibly vacated digs.) Does McHenry also get a hidey-hole office when he gets s replaced in one, two, three, four or perhaps five weeks?

    Uncharted territory!!

  62. 62.

    frosty

    @Suzanne: They really do look awful! But try finding a pair of pants with less than a 30″ inseam today. I remember buying Levi’s in high school size 27×27. (hah, that first number will NEVER come back!)

    OTOH it’s easy to find a tailor. The first thing I do when I buy a pair of jeans is get them cut down. Land’s End and LL Bean would do it when you ordered them … but since I retired I haven’t needed to buy real pants again!

  66. 66.

    RaflW

    @Yarrow: I noticed that Mittens said “Speaker McCarthy made a decision to get as close as he possibly could to the radical wing of his party.”

    Um. Is Romney telling us he’s not in the same party as the deposed Speaker? That would be news.

  67. 67.

    frosty

    @Nukular Biskits: I’ve never once heard from my new Republican rep. Since my old one before the PA ungerrymandering was Scott Perry I’m not too annoyed. We got districted in with Lancaster County and apparently Lloyd Schmucker thinks the Susquehanna is a formidable barrier!

  75. 75.

    sab

    @frosty: Sweet summer child. Just you wait. 34″ is in your future. I have gained 40 pounds over the course of my second marriage. He married me for my cooking.

  76. 76.

    AlaskaReader

    Occurs to me, the box and pants looks like he got caught out in public without his stilts.

  78. 78.

    sab

    I don’t want to get into the height thing. I was a small child with a short mother so everyone was shocked when I grew to 5’5″ which is technically taller (by an inch)  than the median American woman.  My sisters in law are much taller ( 5′ 7″ and 5′ 11″) and my step-daughter is shorter ( my mom’s height at 5’2″”)  but her daughter at age 9 is already taller than her mother.

    However tall a speaker of the House is, his pants should be hemmed to his height and not rumpled up at his ankles. That’s just basic good grooming. If you cannot be bothered to learn how to sew I am sure your office has a stapler.

  79. 79.

    sab

    @sab: When we married I had a german shepherd who demanded a lot of exercise. When she died we stopped moving. My pitbull hates leaving the house. Ultimate couch potato.

  80. 80.

    Brachiator

    @Jay:

    film makers used to make Audie Murphy stand on a box for the romantic scenes, because they didn’t believe that audiences would find the romance believable, despite his being a Congressional Medal, ( and multiple other awards) War Hero.

    This happens all the time in movies. Consider Ingrid Bergman.

    Ingrid Bergman might be one of the most beloved old Hollywood actors of all time, but she faced a fair amount of pushback in the pursuit of her craft. Even before Bergman was a proper Hollywood star, her stark — but still stunning — look made it difficult for anyone to see her as a leading lady. David O. Selznick, the film studio exec behind some of Bergman’s first American pictures, had major reservations about the actress. Upon Bergman’s introduction to Selznick, the producer was convinced that the actress “was too tall, her name sounded too German, and her eyebrows were too thick” to make it on the silver screen.

    Of course, Bergman had more than enough talent to make up for the inconvenience her height posed — and Hollywood had no qualms with using a little trickery to mask her height for her shorter male co-stars. Humphrey Bogart had to stand in specially made platform shoes and sit on top of cushions when acting opposite Bergman in “Casablanca.”

    Alfred Hitchcock also had to apply some extra magic when featuring Bergman.

    And when Bergman reunited with another “Casablanca” co-star, Claude Rains, in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious,” the director had to get similarly creative…. For the record, Rains was 5’7″, and Bergman herself two inches taller at 5’9.” …

    Hitchcock agreed that the actors made a great pair, but admitted that Bergman’s height could especially noticeable sometimes. In closer shots, “the difference between them was so marked that if I wanted them both in a frame, I had to stand Claude Rains on a box,” the director told Truffaut.

    But adjustments are also made when there’s a significant height difference between male actors. This is a matter of framing for the camera. Yul Brynner would stand on mounds of dirt to appear as tall as Steve McQueen in “The Magnificent Seven.” And in between shots, McQueen would kick some of the dirt away in order to upstage the other actor.

    That’s show biz.

  81. 81.

    eclare

    @Leto:

    Huh, I just noticed that thanks to your comment.  Along with the pants not matching the jacket, I bet he did not think he would be photographed.

  82. 82.

    karen marie

    Thank you to whoever recommended the Majority 54 podcast.  I’m impressed after listening to a couple episodes (the most recent and then the preceding).

  84. 84.

    Anne Laurie

    @Jay: It will be back, in finished form, tomorrow or Friday.

    (I’m still working on it — hit the wrong button!)

  88. 88.

    AlaskaReader

    @Jay: Maybe, the chance of finding it again,

    …let alone the chance of reproducing the same conditions of a multiply threaded conversation between several disparate entities again is, how you say, …short?

  92. 92.

    AlaskaReader

    @Jay: I’m sure someone will be back to that shortly.

    In the interval, am I the only person that is pretty sure Biden’s dogs are only biting SS MAGA embeds and it can’t be a good thing now that the dogs have been banished and are no longer allowed to roam the Whitehouse?

  93. 93.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Yarrow: ​

    “We saw a similar thing happen to Boehner, Ryan, and now McCarthy. I’m sure the next speaker is going to be subjected to the same terrorist attacks.”

    yeah, why didn’t the Dems save Boehner and Ryan or Newt or Hastert or Tom Delay. it’s their duty. Seriously, not even Aaron Sorkin would write a script where the good guys take a fall to help… [checks notes…] the bad guys.

  94. 94.

    Jay

    @AlaskaReader:

    Fuck no, Commander and Major are the only thing standing between President Biden and the SS.

    I have dealt with protective GS’s and Akita’s lot’s of times.

    Got bit in the balls once, that’s it. They were all “good dogs”.

    Biden needs a Goose Brigaide.

  95. 95.

    HeartlandLiberal

    @Jay: The Romans used goose brigades at their camps and forts to alert when danger threatened. From an NPR article:

    According to legend, Gallic troops tried to sneak up the hill during the night, but disturbed a sacred flock of geese that lived in the temple of Juno. Their honking was loud enough to alert the Roman guards, who threw the invaders off the holy hill.

  96. 96.

    HeartlandLiberal

    I am awake at this ungodly wee hour because our home of 30 years just sold yesterday. The buyers made an offer, we countered, and they accepted our counter offer. We five months ago moved to an independent senior living community. We love it here, are very satisfied. We lost 2,000 sq ft, moving from a house of 3,400 sq ft to one of 1,500. With no room for a garden. Oh, well, my back is such that my gardening days are over.

  98. 98.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    House Speaker Petty McBowtie looks like a sawed-off little twerp who spent a lot of time with his head in toilets in high school, thus his clear inferiority complex. He looks like someone who hangs out near elementary schools while wearing a trench coat. His parents probably hate him too.

    If not, he probably hates his parents.

  100. 100.

    Tony Jay

    *** HOT BREAKING NEWS TAKES FROM JACKAL NEWS WHERE NEWS GOES TO GET BROKE ***

    Megan McArgle

    ‘McHenry And The Art Of Ego-Maintenance In The Age Of Me-Too Melodrama’

    …In all the shrieking over Saint Nancy of the Shiny Shoes being asked to vacate a prestigious corner office that she’s not actually as entitled to as she thinks, did Democrats not once stop to think about how their petulance might look to disinterested observers of America’s delinquent legislature? I mean, far be it from me to lay down the law to a woman with all the sartorial elegance and keen eye for a great image that you’d expect from a scion of Baltimore’s famously glam civic aristocracy, but get with the program, sister! It’s hard enough to get your average white, middle-aged male to tidy away the Panthère de Cartier bowls after a Koa ramen takeout, so when someone as well-turned out and non-confrontational as Patrick McHenry says he wants to take a swing at reorganising the whole damned crockery larder, don’t hide behind ‘prior engagements’ that conveniently let you check up on what your own domestic demi-god has got cooking in the kitchen, say “What a great idea!” and join the rest of womankind in marvelling at the progress being made.

    Nobody likes a passive-aggressive whiner, Nancy. That kind of politics went stale around the same time as primary color wardrobe palettes and anti-Russian witchhunts. You’re welcome.

    *** JACKAL NEWS – WE DISTORT, YOU DERIDE

  101. 101.

    Jay

    @HeartlandLiberal:

    Srry. Life changes.

    We are in a 450 sq foot apt, rather than 20 hectares.

    We have plants on the balcony, 22 stories up.

    A month ago, noticed Lady Bug larvae crawling on the patio. Donno where they came from, not our plants.

    They they went in to pupae stage, are/have hatched out, (3 left to fly off out of 21)

    Funny that. Never seen that process before in my life, despite having had many homes and gardens.

  105. 105.

    Geminid

    I often check out the “Visegrad 24” Twitter  site for news of the war in Ukraine. This morning, they had news from another conflict zone: Sweden has called out its army to combat a wave of violence from organized crime elements. An explosion yesterday was the 134th bombing rhis year, and there have been 12 murders in the past two weeks attributed to criminal gangs.

  107. 107.

    MisterDancer

    @Jay:

    “The biggest winner from Kevin McCarthy’s ouster today was Amy Coney Barrett

    She was exposed for belonging to the Christian cult People of Praise which the FBI is investigating for sex abuse

    McCarthy & Gaetz’s combustion buried that damning exposé”

    (Lacking an Twitter account I cannot locate this Tweet Jay is quoting. Also: I removed Bolding because, really? – MD)

    If anyone was like me and wondering “WTF?,” I did some searching. There’s a Guardian article from a couple days ago that, yes, members of the group are being questioned. But, as the article says, “It is not clear whether the FBI has launched a formal investigation into the PoP.”

    So there’s no “damning exposé” here. No radical information about Amy Coney Barrett that comes even vaguely close, at this time, to what we’re dealing with with Thomas. And highly unlikely to be some secret pact to bury this news by (rhetorically) blowing up the entire damn House of Representatives.

    As Charlie Pierce, who did cover this article, says at the end of his piece on it:

    Right now, these allegations are just that. The FBI isn’t even confirming the existence of the investigation. But if it comes to fruition, there will be another front on which to doubt the Court’s credibility, and one involving a completely different kind of corruption.

    Can we agree on two things, here?”

    1. Overloading the FBI asking questions with “Barrett is clearly implicit in sex abuse and the GOP hid it by kicking out the House Speaker” is…pushing credulity, even with Gaetz’s involvement,
    2. Yes, mocking someone around their height is just dumb, y’all. We are funnier, and more ethical, than to fall for that ol’ okey-doke. Let’s act like it, OK?

    Thanks for reading!

  108. 108.

    RedDirtGirl

    @RaflW: I saw a clip of Laura Ingraham interviewing one of the 8 “insurgents” last night, and she brought up kicking Nancy P out of her office, suggesting that it made them look petty. Hmm, I thought, why would she say something so sensible? But then came the next sentence… “That’s not who you are!”

  110. 110.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: And there is news about northern Syria, better known than Sweden as a conflict zone. Turkish national security officials met to map out out a response to Sunday’s suicide attack in Ankara.

    The PKK claimed responsibility for the atacks, and Turkiye says the two attackers came from the area in northeastern Syria controlled by the YPK, a PKK affiliate. So Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned “third parties” to stay clear of YPK bases in Syria. The third parties Fidan referred to would be the American troops cooperating with the YPK in the fight agsinst ISIS.

  112. 112.

    JWR

    I saw Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R) New York, on last night’s PBS News Hour, and if she’s one of the “Normal” Republican’s, we are screwed. She was casting blame around for any and all of her party’s predicaments, and besides it was all the Dems fault, etc. and etc.

    Also, does she look a lot like Elise Stefanik, or maybe SHS, or is that just the natural meanness I see coming through? (Her segment begins at the 18:00 minute mark.)

    PBS NewsHour full episode
    10/04/2023 | 57m 46s

  115. 115.

    Baud

    I wish we’d stop insulting people for their height and go back to insulting people for having small penises.

  116. 116.

    BruceFromOhio

    It’s called an “office,” Jake. All members of Congress have one. And Pelosi has no use for a “hideaway,” she doesn’t hide from anything, not even numbskull talking heads like yourself, for example.

  117. 117.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @sdhays:

    he thought the Democrats wouldn’t vote for the CR without Ukraine funding, and then he could blame Democrats for the shutdown.

    Fascinating theory.  It would explain the immediate Republican fury at Democrats.  This is exactly the kind of thing that drives abusers mad with rage.  Just absolutely insane with it.

  119. 119.

    Tony Jay

    @Steeplejack:

    It’s all getting added to the pile of evidence Jack Smith has requested for The State of Reality vs Shit The Right Says Is All Bonkers And They Know It, coming eventually to a courtroom near you.

    In this example, though, I think McAnglebargle’s general propensity towards spewing garbage just like that may have rendered the verisamil a bit too itudist.

  121. 121.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    McHenry is only 47 and he looks like he is well into his 60s. Prematurely aged and nasty personality, he’s coming across as an alcoholic.

  122. 122.

    JWR

    On either PBS News Hour or Amanpour & Co, can’t remember which, one of the good guys, Elissa Slotkin was on. She’s a good Dem and a veteran who got a bit hot under the collar during the interview, finally rolling her eyes, her voice sounding exasperation at being asked, probably for the umteenth time, what could or should the Dems have done to save McCarthy’s butt, and she simply said, “look, I can’t fix their party, okay?!

    That’s the way it’s done!

  123. 123.

    MisterDancer

    @Frankensteinbeck: It would explain the immediate Republican fury at Democrats. This is exactly the kind of thing that drives abusers mad with rage. Just absolutely insane with it.

    That is a damned good point. And very true.

  124. 124.

    Geminid

    @JWR: Yeah, they’re all blaming the Democrats. Republicans want to pretend it wasn’t one of their own who got the ball rolling, and it wasn’t 7 more who knocked McCarthy out.

    Now Republican House members could be called Blame Ducks. A lot of them will be Lame Ducks as of November, 2024. Rep. Malliotokas could be one of those if Albany Democrats succeed with a new redistricting plan.

  125. 125.

    Tony Jay

    @Baud:

    Well, unless McHenry is actually nicknamed ‘Tripod’ by the Cawthorn Orgy Chorus, I think it’s an implied trope.

  127. 127.

    Steeplejack

    @BruceFromOhio:

    Not Tapper’s fault, at least in this case. “Hideaway office” has become a common term for small places that certain lawmakers have in the Capitol in addition to their regular offices (typically in the Cannon Office Building).

  132. 132.

    Tony Jay

    @kalakal:

    Chuck Norris did it once. That’s the story behind how he lost his chin

    Oh, now, don’t this look odd? I’m leaving it. Life’s mysteries, etc.

  133. 133.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    via Not Max (from State and Main):

    The truth is you never should trust anybody who wears a bow tie.

    A cravat is supposed to point down, to accentuate the genitals. Why do you want to trust somebody whose tie points out to accentuate his ears?

    From Crossfire, Oct. 15, 2004:

    Jon Stewart: How old are you?

    Tucker Carlson: 35

    Jon Stewart: And you wear a bow-tie.

    Tucker Carlson: Yeah, I do. I do…

    Nota bene: Carlson hasn’t worn a bow-tie on TV since.

  134. 134.

    eversor

    First time I’ve had a gripe with Pierce but do not refer to that congress criter as Chief Petty Officer.  Not only did he not earn that title he didn’t even serve (from what google tells me) and I doubt some runty dwebish ass jackass wedgied small dicked punchable shit could make it to that rank.

    Also as someone who was a petty officer though not a chief we police our own.  So if he actually was in the Navy his ass can get hauled off to the smoke shack and get the dog shit whipped out of him by everyone else.

    Yes I am condoning punching people.  Some people need a good beatdown.

  137. 137.

    AM in NC

    @JWR: I made the same comment to my husband about her.  “Moderate,” my ass.  “DEMOCRATS are responsible for our fuck up!” is not a rational or moderate position.     They are ALL the same.

  138. 138.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @JWR: I like AOC’s response, something to the tune of:

    “Contrary to how McCarthy’s defenders are behaving, men failing up is not a Constitutionally protected right. The man made risky decisions and faced the natural consequences of them. I am not his mom, and my job is not to put pool noodles around hard corners for Republicans.”

    It’s posted on Xitter, so I ain’t linkin’.

  141. 141.

    MisterDancer

    @Steeplejack: That is a really good piece, thank you! I also snagged on Thread Reader his follow-up on the Dem view on the lead-up to booting McCarthy and fallout, which is also fascinating (and depressing) reading.

    It really does seem like our side is tired of playing nice.

  143. 143.

    Baud

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Apparently, that was in response to a Andrew Yang tweet.  What a disappointment he is. Had an opportunity to help people and threw that away to be part of the anti-Dem savvy set.

  144. 144.

    Geminid

    @Steeplejack: Fritschner’s analysis, that McCarthy intended to lose Saturday’s vote on the 45-day CR so he could blame a shutdown on the Democrats, seems very plausible to me.

  146. 146.

    lowtechcyclist

    @JWR:

     “look, I can’t fix their party, okay?!”

    Perfect, Rep. Slotkin!

    Just remember, you don’t have to wait to be goaded into saying that.  Just open with it, right off the bat.

    Which reminds me, I want to marry that AOC tweet that was front-paged earlier, where she absolutely eviscerates their collective manhood. Pool noodles FTW!!

  147. 147.

    The Thin Black Duke

    The Democrats did their job. They did good.

    Now the voters got to do their job.

    Because it fucking obvious by now that if anyone tries to ‘both sides’ this and votes Republican out of habit, they’re outing themselves as broken people who love tax cuts and hates everyone else who isn’t them.

  149. 149.

    Betty

    @piratedan: The key word is”lying”. Of that, Kevin is a master. Incidentally, I understand Kevin ordered the change in offices. McHenry was following orders.

  151. 151.

    Steeplejack

    Eek! Joe Manchin coming up on Morning Joe. Dunno if I can watch, even in a car-wreck way.

  153. 153.

    EntroPi

    @Jay: if you’re ever in the RI region, let me know.
    All my climbing friends gave up, and I won’t go by myself.

    Granted, I suck at climbing, but I would enjoy it with company.

  154. 154.

    artem1s

    hired by Karl Rove

    be afraid. be very afraid. looks like the rehabilitation of the Bush (Cheney) Crime family has commenced.

  156. 156.

    jimmiraybob

    Oh boy, a Grover reference…..

    “I’m not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”

    Is he still around?

  157. 157.

    artem1s

    @Yarrow: We behaved like such scaredy cats after 9/11

    the ‘secret’ part kind of makes sense if you expect that person to be a target for anyone planning to take out the Speaker. in the case of 9/11 we found out that arcane rules don’t help much in the case of national emergencies. the crazy part was the House had no rules about replacing the person who is third in line to the presidency in the case of death or a national emergency. Remember the plane that crashed in PA? it’s likely target was the Capitol – one third of the acting arm of the government – where all the spending decisions are made. and no rules about who is in charge and can act as speaker in an emergency – except the one where it can take days/weeks to whip up a consensus vote and another week and 15 tries before you get it done.

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