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All hail the time of the bunny!

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

The revolution will be supervised.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

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

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Let there be snark.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Second rate reporter says what?

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Jordan Pinned (Open Thread)

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The latest from WaPo:

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will not seek an additional speaker vote Thursday, and he will back a plan to give Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), the temporary speaker, additional powers, according to multiple people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the situation. After two rounds of votes, a group of Republicans had made clear that Jordan did not have enough support to win the speaker’s gavel. With House functions at a standstill, lawmakers can now move forward on a proposal to expand McHenry’s powers.

Jordan’s bid for the speakership is supposedly “paused” while the other clowns figure out a way to give the bow-tied temp twerp enough power to keep the lights on. The Post says Jordan retains “the option to hold a speaker vote at any time.”

Earlier, Hakeem Jeffries said the Dems hadn’t discussed expanding McHenry’s power because they were focused on blocking Jordan, whom Jeffries rightly called “a clear and present danger to our democracy and the poster child for MAGA extremism.”

But now WaPo says senior Dems support the McHenry Speaker Lite option. Does it even require their consent if Repubs unanimously-3 support it? And can the Oppositional Defiant Disordered conference unanimously-3 support anything, including bacon-pooping, bourbon-peeing unicorns? We’ll see.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

158Comments

  1. 1.

    cain

    The Dems supporting it might make some GOP not support it. Meaning the 8 assholes might decide fuck that. We’re gonna do it all ourselves or nothing.

  2. 2.

    brantl

    I do admire that the caucus that has shown no gumption at all, previously, has now shown .5% of what they should.

  4. 4.

    Another Scott

    Something, something off the map.

    I assume the devil is very much in the details and the Democrats are strategizing.

    I believe these are the present rules:

    Vacancy

    The Office of Speaker may be declared vacant by resolution, which
    may be offered as a matter of privilege. Manual Sec. 315; 6 Cannon
    Sec. 35. Under rule I clause 8(b)(3), adopted in the 108th Congress,
    the Speaker is required to deliver to the Clerk a list of Members in
    the order in which each shall act as Speaker pro tempore in the case
    of a vacancy in the Office of Speaker. The Member acting as Speaker
    pro tempore under this provision may exercise such authorities of the
    Office of Speaker as may be necessary and appropriate pending the
    election of a Speaker or Speaker pro tempore. A vacancy in the Office
    may exist by reason of the physical inability of the Speaker to
    discharge the duties of the Office.

    It still reads to me like they have to eventually vote for an actual Speaker, not just give the Spt more power temporarily.

    I assume the bomb-throwers will not like this at all, because they see the prize and they want it so that they can finally, finally crush their enemies. Losing when they are so close is not something they will easily go along with.

    IOW, I still would not be surprised if the House did not have a Speaker (or effective acting Speaker who can move legislation) until just before the CR runs out on Friday November 17. Chaos agents want chaos.

    We’ll see!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  5. 5.

    danielx

    And can the Oppositional Defiant Disordered conference unanimously-3 support anything, including bacon-pooping, bourbon-peeing unicorns? We’ll see.

    I for one would welcome such unicorn overlords.

  8. 8.

    lowtechcyclist

    Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will not seek an additional speaker vote Thursday

    So what?  Isn’t McHenry the guy who schedules votes on this? Isn’t that, like, his entire job until there’s a Speaker again?

    ETA: Maybe if McHenry doesn’t hold votes on the Speakership, a Dem should step forward, claim the position is apparently unoccupied, and start holding votes.

  9. 9.

    Anoniminous

    Forwarded from last thread with additions:

    Speaker Pro tempore powers are limited to only presiding over floor debate and voting about the election of a new speaker. Any other power granted by the legislature must be specifically granted by the House members acting as a Committee of the Whole since the Rules Committee cannot bring a motion to the floor because there’s no Speaker to call the House to Order. However “The rules of the House in the 1st United States Congress expressly provided for the House, on any business day, to resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. This procedure was used to discuss matters for which no specific action had been decided.” As a Committee of the Whole the House will operate under procedural rules that are based on those of a committee.

  11. 11.

    Maxim

    @Ocotillo: Are Jordan and McCarthy allies? Since McHenry is Qevin’s hand-picked special temporary replacement, he might not be that eager to go along with Gym’s ideas. It might be more like the Squeaker acting behind the scenes, and I can’t imagine the Gaetz Gallery will be thrilled about that, either.

  13. 13.

    Tony Jay

    A Brief Brexitania Billet-Doux

    “He Flies, They Fleas, We Flee”

     

    Our own Prime Miniature scuttled off to Israel today for his own ‘you’re telling me you pay actual cash money for this quality of PR advice?’ photo-op with Bibi the Butcher. Rishi ‘ka-ching’ Sunak, a man so out of his depth in the world of grown-up politics emotions social interactions any-bloody-thing that he’s rumoured to be claiming expenses for a second home at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, has spent the last week or so desperately trying to out-cheerlead Nu-New Labour Leader and soulless vector for centre-right spitefulness Sir Keir Starmer where Israel is concerned. Flying off to spend a few hours being peered at bemusedly by Likud figures who stopped keeping track of anything to do with UK politics around the time Liz Truss was losing popularity contests with wilted vegetables is about his level of smartboi thinking.

    Once there he gripped Bibi’s bloodstained claw in his own lacquered wooden one and mouthed high-pitched noises about “total support” and “we want you to win”, proving once more that there are no depths a Tory will not sink to if… actually, fuck it, there’s no qualifier necessary. He didn’t say it in cod-Latin though, or try to work in a blustering ‘joke’ about “Masada, you-sadda, we all sadda”, so thumbs up I suppose, you little weasel. Could have been worse. It’s not like anyone who matters actually gives a shit what the British Prime Minister says about anything these days, anyway.

    We know where he got the idea, though. Flobalob, who would fly to Kyiv so often he had a closer personal relationship with UIA’s baggage handlers than with most of his own kids, used ‘important foreign trips’ as an escape route when something was going on in the UK that Tubs’a Boom wanted to be far, far away from. So, Operation: Long Pants clearly has nothing to do with the two by-elections that are taking place in Tory seats today after the belated resignations of two disgraced Tory MPs. One an oversexed weirdo who got blind drunk and refused to take no for an answer, and the other one who just groped the balls of two unwilling men in a private members club (Nadine Dorries and Chris Pincher, for anyone who wants to look their tawdry stories up). Majorities of 20,000 + are likely to evaporate thanks to how toxic the Tories have become since the glory days of ‘Getting Brexit Done’, and it’s clear that Sunak has no intention of being anywhere near a domestic News camera while all that’s going on.

    While all that is going on, the geniuses atop the Nu-New Labour Party are performing their usual self-inflicted Dance of the Prats in advance of bad news for Tories. A number of Labour Party councillors of Middle-Eastern heritage have taken the drastic step of resigning from the Party in disgust at Sir Kier Starmer’s recent comments on right-wing gobshite Nick Ferrari’s LBC radio show in which he rushed to support Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’ by cutting off food, water and power to Gaza’s civilian population. Since then, an alliance of 19 prominent international law and human rights academics have come out and demanded that Starmer, a former human rights lawyer himself (as his cheerleaders endlessly inform everyone for the flimsiest of excuses) withdraw his extremist comments and explain exactly what the Labour Party’s position is these days on collective punishment, forcible transfer of civilians and war crimes, which must have stung the little turd in his softest parts because he quickly scuttled off to ‘clarify’ how he’d also told Ferrari that “… obviously everything should be done within international law”.

    As you may imagine, it’s hard to overstate how meaningless and hypocritical this ‘clarification’ was, since what he’s talking about supporting here is an out and out war-crime, but ‘meaningless and hypocritical’ are the de facto starting point for everything Starmerite Labour says these days.

    As far as the resigning councillors were concerned, this was the last straw. Under Starmer and his coterie – all of whom achieved their current eminence by gleefully enabling the campaign of fake antisemitism smears that undermined the previous leadership – Labour is quite simply no longer a safe or welcoming place for Muslim members, a fact evidenced by the extremely expensive Forde Report Starmer himself commissioned (and then supressed) and the unedifying quote from “a senior Labour Party source” dismissing the resignations as the Party “shaking off the fleas”. Yeah, seriously, because referring to minority members as insects is just tickety-boo in 2023 Britain. It’s an absolute shit-show, and exactly what everyone with two brain-cells to rub together said was going to happen to the Labour Party’s stance on Israel once Starmer and Co jumped into bed with the disinformation goons back in 2017.

    It would appear that ‘senior figures’ within the Party have made it known to the clique of self-important onanists around Starmer that this is a Big Fucking Deal and he’d better do something to unhammer the wedge they’ve been pounding on in order to prevent a much wider disengagement of Muslim leaders and their communities the Labour Party, because after the initial ‘flea’ comment, Starmer and some of his front-benchers quickly ran off to hold ‘meaningful discussions’ with these ex-Labour councillors and ‘clarify’ the Leadership’s commitment to actual international law, rather than the wibbly-wobbly-whatever we say it is version they’d been farting around with prior to getting their curlies yanked. There are a LOT of seats across the North and Midlands where the Muslim vote is important, possibly vital, to getting Labour MPs elected. The current Leadership’s not-so-cunning belief that they could continue to use the well-worn antisemitism trope as a bludgeon against internal dissent looks like it’s running out of gas at the worst possible time for them. Tiny violins, etc.

    The British Media are, of course, all over this. With daily Breaking News alerts about Labour’s Islamophobia Scandal and a cannonade of opinion pieces and editorials tearing Starmer apart for enabling and protecting Islamophobes within the party…. oh, hang on, no they’re not. Quite the opposite, in fact. After all, who gives a fuck what a few fleas have to say when there’s a narrative to push? The time for front-paging these stories will be closer to the next General Election when explaining to millions of Muslims how little respect the Nu-New Labour Party has for them will be much more helpful to the electoral chances of a self-destructing Tory Party. They were warned that this was going to happen, but as is always the case with these legends in their own tiny minds, they knew ‘better’.

    Except they didn’t. Wankers. Anyway, better out than in. Back to your scheduled displays of MAGAt ineptitude. I’m going home, taking the boy to Scouts and then chilling. Think I’ll watch some Poker Face and Fall of the House of Usher. A world where liars and murderers get their just deserts/appalling rich people get screwed by their own awfulness seems a nicer place to be right now. Plus, Carla Gugino.

  14. 14.

    Frankensteinbeck

    So.  Republicans did not fall in line.  Trump does not control the Republicans in congress, who told his personal Speaker pick to go fluff himself.  What did happen is that they got utterly sick of this process and they’ve moved on to “Maybe we only need an acting Speaker.”

    I’m a flippin’ prophet.

    I doubt Democrats are into the ‘acting Speaker’ idea, so I’m out of oracular visions.  The only one I have left is that this will be settled in time to avoid a shutdown, which is at least on course to happen.

  15. 15.

    New Deal democrat

    I’m re-posting below a comment I made a couple of days ago, suggesting likely courses of events, together with updates. Not too shabby a forecast, imho!:

    I think we can lay out a couple of plausible “if/then” scenarios:

    1. In the caucus vote, there were almost 100 votes against Jordan. Over 1/3rd of those melted away in the subsequent secret ballot. Most of *those* flipped in the first vote today. So long as Jordan gains ground in each round of voting, he will continue to be the favored candidate until he wins.

    UPDATE: This didn’t happen, so:

    2. But if his support stalls at any number under about 210 or so for two or at most 3 ballots, I think his candidacy rapidly unravels. And it is more likely that happens than it was with McCarthy earlier this year, because Jordan’s group has made so many enemies and has used such heavy-handed tactics.

    UPDATE: This started happening in the 2nd vote, with stories that Jordan was on track to lose more votes in round 3. So:

    3. If Jordan’s candidacy falters, the two next most likely scenarios are (1) the nomination of McDaniels for a pro tempore or permanent position, followed by (2) the re-nomination of McCarthy.

    UPDATE: This is where we are now, with McDaniels front and center.

    4. If all of those fail, that is when we will begin to see more movement towards an accommodation with Democrats. That will only happen if and when a very large number of GOPers are convinced that there is no other way they are ever going to get to 217. This moment, if it comes, is probably still 1 week away.

  16. 16.

    danielx

    @Maxim:

    Gaetz does seem to be keeping a low profile right now. He may be popular with his constituents, but his colleagues (such as they are) are treating him like shit on their shoes.

  17. 17.

    bbleh

    Oookay, so rather than an incompetent bomb-thrower whom the Republicans can’t pull together to elect, we have a Democrat-baiting twerp whom the Republicans can’t pull together to appoint.  Sounds like things are going great!

    Were I the Dems, I would agree to ONE additional power, ie, to preside over the passage of a CR.  Other than that, let them flounder and sink.

  18. 18.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @fancycwabs:

    If they want McHenry to have the powers of speaker, they should make him speaker.

    Yep.  It’s more of the same go around to get around bullshit, like the “straw” vote the republicans took behind closed doors that they didn’t honor because “more votes than you” is for suckers and all the Trump cronies who were deemed “acting” officials because they had no way in hell chance of being confirmed. I hope the Dems don’t cave to this crap.

  19. 19.

    Maxim

    @danielx: He and Santos and Cruz should see how many people they can get to join their Most-Hated Caucus. They may not get anything done, but at least they’ll be unified!

  22. 22.

    Cameron

    Bacon-pooping, bourbon-peeing?  Y’all really want John Boehner back?  (Actually, compared to what’s on offer, he doesn’t sound too bad – I’d take a cynic over a lunatic any day.)

  23. 23.

    Brachiator

    Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will not seek an additional speaker vote Thursday, and he will back a plan to give Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), the temporary speaker, additional powers, according to multiple people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the situation.

    I’m so glad that there is nothing critical happening in the world right now that might need Congress’ attention.

    Also, is this bullshite really so controversial that people need to be anonymous in order to comment?

  26. 26.

    Anoniminous

    Apparently expanding Speaker Pro tempore’s powers has hit a snag in the Republican Caucasus. A large number of members saying they will not vote in favor.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    bow-tied temp twerp

    I’m sorry, but everything I’ve read about him indicates he’s a permanent twerp

  31. 31.

    cain

    @lowtechcyclist:

    ETA: Maybe if McHenry doesn’t hold votes on the Speakership, a Dem should step forward, claim the position is apparently unoccupied, and start holding votes.

    To troll the GOP, the Dem should wear a Jim Jordan mask. Some might be stupid enough to vote for the Dem because they look like Jim Jordan.

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    @Tony Jay: Ah, Mr. Jay. I’m wondering if you caught a Middle East Eye article dated October 6th and titled, “How Keir Starmer killed Labour’s left wing.”

    I know you have observed Starmer’s “brand of right-wing authoritarianism” from up close, but I thought you might find this piece worth reading.

  33. 33.

    Ocotillo

    @Maxim:  Not really sure how that works, didn’t McHenry vote for Jordan to be Speaker?

    He remains the party’s Speaker designee. They just haven’t held the election yet. In a basic sense he IS Speaker already. He’s been running the caucus for the last week or so. In a week it creates an entirely new structure. The majority has a whip, a majority leader …

    and a Speaker designee, Jim Jordan. Then there’s also a largely ministerial medium-term, super-sized but not full size pro tem Speaker, who presumably take his cues from the head of the caucus, Jim Jordan.

    Above is from Twitter what Josh was saying.

  34. 34.

    Tony Jay

    @Geminid:

    I haven’t seen that, but I’m bookmarking it now for when I need an injection of anger-strength to help move some heavy furniture.  👍

  35. 35.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, …

    Aaron Fritschner
    @Fritschner
    15m

    I’ll ask again- who is “leadership?” Who is making decisions for the House Republican conference? I mean this literally, which specific people? It is an extremely important question and utterly opaque right now

    Jake Sherman
    @JakeSherman
    16m
    MCHENRY just left the conference to open the floor.

    The house will recess. But it’s in leadership’s interest to move quickly to the floor with this resolution to empower mchenry.
    Oct 19, 2023 · 4:05 PM UTC

    Very good question.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  37. 37.

    Ken

    A remote possibility is that at the next vote, Jeffries nominates McHenry, with the implication that McHenry will get at least 212 votes. Do you think he could get 10 more votes from Republicans?

  38. 38.

    Soprano2

    What a week for Colbert to have Covid! He’s been in repeats the past two nights, I guess he’s not feeling well enough to do the show from his house, or they decided they didn’t want to do that anymore

  40. 40.

    hueyplong

    At the risk of opening myself to charges of appearance- and fashion-shaming, McHenry really does sort of look like a ventriloquist’s dummy.  Not in Charlie McCarthy’s formalwear league, but still.

  42. 42.

    smith

    So it looks like the GQP bomb-throwers in the House don’t like the super-sizing the temporary Speaker Idea, because they think the Dems are behind it. Which guarantees it will need Dem support to pass. Master tacticians.

  46. 46.

    Anoniminous

    @cain:
    If that what it takes to prevent it I’m for it.  It is a bad decision now and a horrible precedent for the future.  GOP needs to put on their Big Girl Panties.

  49. 49.

    hueyplong

    @Craig: We’ve read that McCarthy picked McHenry.

    We’ve read that McHenry supports Jordan, and he in fact voted for Jordan.

    I’d be curious to know the date that McCarthy’s secret list of successors was last revised.  Maybe that would tend to clear up this apparent contradiction.

    For all we know McCarthy, a slithy tove who voted for Jordan, is in fact a Jordan supporter now.

    Trying to follow the thought patterns of a basket of deplorables is headache-inducing.

  50. 50.

    piratedan

    @Craig: based on McHenry’s background and track record as a temp, I would have a hard time believing he’s a Dem plant (considering his first “act” was to remove Pelosi and Hoyer from their digs).  His background indicates he’s a Roger Stone acolyte and I wouldn’t extend my trust any further than I could flush him. Like most GOP congresscritters he may not be as camera friendly or well known as others, but likely just as loathesome.  I have to believe that the Dem members know this as well.

  51. 51.

    smith

    Oh, great, now there are Rs saying they should just declare that McHenry has the power to act as Speaker without any vote at all, and then pretend it’s true. Kind of like putting up a slate of fake electors.

  52. 52.

    trollhattan

    @Tony Jay: This fookin’ guy. Big Oil’s bestest friend (“okay, let’s do some fresh drilling here, okay, let’s roll back those pesky greenhouse gas reductions ‘because boiliers,’ alright then, let’s not bother with EVs for awhile, people lurve buying their petrol by the co$ty litre”) can still cozy up to the criming fascist Israel PM? I’m having Tory cognitive dissonance.

  53. 53.

    Tony Jay

    @trollhattan:

    Bibi is a right-wing shitbag with no moral imperative other than money and power. Sunak’s only problem with him is that Bibi is so much better at the getting and keeping power but than he is.

  54. 54.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @smith:

    Every god damn word I predicted is coming true.  I don’t think they can make this stick, though.  It doesn’t take many Republicans on top of all Democrats declaring McHenry’s not the boss of them to shoot it down.

  55. 55.

    JWR

    @smith:

    Kind of like putting up a slate of fake electors.

    I was just reading up on this “committee of the whole” stuff, and this seems to be what the Repubs are trying to do.

  56. 56.

    trollhattan

    @Scout211:

    So many questions….

    Not strong, yet, considering I never heard of her, but some Kari Lake vibes there nevertheless.

    How will she change “California’s direction” in the US Senate? Isn’t that what a governor can do? Run for governor, Kari!

    What is a “sky cave?” Caves specifically are sky-free. Is it a cave suspended in the air, thus the sky contains a cave?

    I have questions.

  58. 58.

    TriassicSands

    @Brachiator: Also, is this bullshite really so controversial that people need to be anonymous in order to comment?

    That may be the case for those living in the party of grievance and vengeance.

  59. 59.

    Tony Jay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Like, how’s that supposed to work? They can’t choose a Speaker, but they’re all going to agree that Mirror Universe Patton Oswalt gets to wear the crown without earning it because, what? They all love and respect him so much?

    I suspect that this One Kewl Trick is going to go the way of The Inevitability of Gym Jordon, much to the astonishment of the Republicans Get Things Done crowd.

  60. 60.

    Scout211

    @trollhattan: I have questions.

    This will most assuredly answer all your questions, Trollhattan.  It’s clear as mud!

    This election will be a choice between how it’s been done, and how it can be,” Pascucci said in her campaign announcement. “Voters are disappointed are disappointed by the polarization and partisan fighting they see in California, and across the nation. We need aspirational leaders now who will bring America back to its ideals. Washington is in dire need of a heavy dose of truth. I am the person to bring it.”

  63. 63.

    Anoniminous

    Republican Conference is leaking like a 1962 Triumph motorcycle.  Apparently the McHenry empowerment deal is dead.  McCarthy is screaming at Gaetz.  The Jordan people want another round of voting.  The non-Jordan people want him to step aside for …. well, nobody knows who they want.  Nobody is talking to the Dems.

    Meanwhile the Grown Ups (Dems) are waiting for the GOP to stop throwing tantrums.

    ETA:  the chances of Jefferies becoming Speaker have slightly increased?  It only takes 5 – IIRC – GOP No Shows.

  64. 64.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Tony Jay:

    That’s pretty much what I’m thinking, yes.  It’s possible but doesn’t seem likely that enough Rs are tired enough of the mess to vote for McHenry, who they don’t have a personal animus towards.  I mean, you saw how the votes flipped around when Jordan became the only nominee.  There’s 100+ R reps who only care about getting this over with.

    But if they don’t have enough votes for that, then a bunch of Rs would also declare any action taken with McHenry in charge illegitimate, and all Ds would.  A lot more Rs won’t want to even pretend House is in session if there’s a chunk sitting it out.  The rest would stall out.  They’re not as brave about defying norms as McConnell and Trump trained us to think.

  65. 65.

    Soprano2

    @Frankensteinbeck: What’s to keep Jeffries from declaring he’s Speaker since he got the most votes? If the rules don’t mean anything anymore because the R’s have decided to play Clavinball, then why not? They’re nuts with all this stuff.

  66. 66.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Scout211:

    Washington is in dire need of a heavy dose of truth. I am the person to bring it.”

    Bringing the “I alone can fix it” vibe.

  67. 67.

    hells littlest angel

    @Another Scott:Losing when they are so close is not something they will easily go along with.

    In their case I think the objects in the mirror are nowhere near as close as they appear.

  68. 68.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Anoniminous:

    ETA:  the chances of Jefferies becoming Speaker have slightly increased?  It only takes 5 – IIRC – GOP No Shows.

    Nope, 5 GOPers voting for Jeffries, or 10 no-shows.

  69. 69.

    JWR

    @trollhattan:

    Not strong, yet, considering I never heard of her, but some Kari Lake vibes there nevertheless.

    Christina Pascucci, I think, and she used to be a Los Angeles area TV reporter for one of those not quite Big Three networks. And that’s all I know about her.

  72. 72.

    New Deal democrat

    @smith: There’s actually a pretty simple workaround, not that GOPers are smart enough to think of it.

     

    There is nothing in the Constitution requiring that the Speaker remains for the entire term. The Speaker serves in accordance with the House rules. See, e.g., McCarthy, Motion to Vacate the Chair.

    McDaniel could be elected Speaker, and then the rules amended to state that “the speaker’s chair shall be deemed vacant unless a new Speaker is elected within 60 days.”

    As to whether the Democrats should support that, I only have 1 question: did McDaniel vote in favor of the CR or not?

  73. 73.

    smith

    @New Deal democrat: You keep citing McDaniel — do you mean McHenry? Though, I guess the GQP could avoid the disaster of a Jordan Speakership if they adopted a rue that only persons with “Mc” at the start of their name can be Speaker.

  75. 75.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Soprano2:

    What’s to keep Jeffries from declaring he’s Speaker since he got the most votes?

    The Ds don’t want to break the system themselves, but if the Rs break it I don’t think they’ll go along.  It sounds like ‘Don’t take a vote’ died a fast death.  It really is harder to break norms than Trump and McConnell make it look.  Of course, once a norm is broken, it’s not a norm anymore.

  79. 79.

    Hoodie

    Just read about the new proposed congressional maps put out by the GOP legislature here in NC, looks like a ridiculous gerrymander that could lead to an 11-3 or 10-4 GOP advantage.  There would be no help from the GOP-controlled state supreme court in overturning these.

  80. 80.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Insider claims that homocon Peter Thiel is an FBI Informant. The article is largely based on claims by notorious far-right troll Charles “Rage Fury” Johnson, so who knows. But watching the cult lose its shit over the allegations make my freude shaden.

    Johnson also claims to have been an FBI Informant, whose codename was “Genius.” Johnson being one of the stupidest people on the internet apparently doesn’t realize the agent that dubbed that was being extremely sarcastic.

  81. 81.

    dmsilev

    @Anoniminous:

    Republican Conference is leaking like a 1962 Triumph motorcycle.  Apparently the McHenry empowerment deal is dead.  McCarthy is screaming at Gaetz.  The Jordan people want another round of voting.  The non-Jordan people want him to step aside for …. well, nobody knows who they want.  Nobody is talking to the Dems

    I’m reminded of a scene from _The Dark Knight_, where the Joker announces to two potential minions that he has one open job slot, tosses some random weapons (pool cues, I think) into the room, and then closes the door. I think this could be a very viable, and potentially very pay-per-view lucrative, way forward.

  85. 85.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @lollipopguild:

    So she is a republican pretending to be a democrat?

    Yes. With CA’s jungle primary there’s no penalty for doing so, since our primaries are open to all comers (with the top two advancing to the general election). Though obviously she won’t get any support from the CA Democratic Party.

  87. 87.

    CaseyL

    @Hoodie: Goddamnit.  I keep hoping NC will go Blue, but unless the actual voters in those districts decide to start supporting Democrats, that seems like a lost cause.

  88. 88.

    Betty Cracker

    CNN report about a House rage-babies meeting earlier today:

    A closed-door meeting of the House GOP Conference turned heated today, multiple sources tell CNN, a further sign of chaos as Republicans struggle to elect a speaker.

    At one point, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the effort to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker, was told to sit down by McCarthy but refused. Illinois Rep Mike Bost then “got all emotional and ugly and was cussing him” and “telling him it’s all his fault,” one member said.

    Other lawmakers, including some who support Jim Jordan’s speakership bid, slammed the Ohio Republican for backing an expected resolution to empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry, calling him “self-serving.” Some members encouraged him to drop out of the race.

    There was also an emotional and heated discussion over the death threats that some GOP lawmakers who oppose Jordan for speaker have faced.

    Josh Marshall said earlier that the McHenry Speaker Lite proposal was originally pitched to Jordan as a stop-gap from now to January to give Jordan time to threaten hold-outs campaign for more votes. But it sounds like maybe he soured on it. Who knows?

  89. 89.

    Scout211

    @Sister Golden Bear: I posted that downstairs. It’s a very interesting read, with several sources (some anonymous).  Thiel had no comment. LOL.

    It was interesting that Thiel has a stake in several companies that have federal contracts.  Hmmmm

  91. 91.

    Anoniminous

    New World. GOP’ers didn’t expect Democrats to force them to act responsibly and govern. That, in my – perhaps mistaken! – opinion, is the proximate cause for the RW “Dems Made Us Do It!” hysteria.​

  92. 92.

    dmsilev

    Post liveblog:

    The meeting is intense and people are mad. Members are taking turns speaking at the microphones. One faction wants to empower acting speaker Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.). Another wants Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to keep running for speaker. Another wants Jordan to drop out. Another wants the eight Republicans who voted to oust former speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to stand and apologize and renominate McCarthy.

    That would be peak hilarity. Basically a Soviet confession-of-sins-against-the-Party by Matt Gaetz et al. It’ll never happen of course.

  94. 94.

    RSA

    @Scout211:  “We need aspirational leaders now who will bring America back to its ideals.”

    We need leaders who know the difference between “aspirational” and “inspirational.”

  95. 95.

    Tony Jay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Yup. It’s crazy talk. Desperation. A McHenry pseudo-Speakership would be a rickety joke. Like Quevin’s reign on steroids. He’s be totally at the mercy of his causes and would lack even the bare minimum democratic credibility.

    So, thinking of it in those terms, the GOP should love it.

  96. 96.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Anoniminous:

    That, in my – perhaps mistaken! – opinion, is the proximate cause for the RW “Dems Made Us Do It!” hysteria.​

    Maybe.  I think ‘proximate’ is important here.  They think like abusers.  They probably all are domestic abusers, but they’ve definitely built their politics around it.  It’s never their fault, we made them hit us, and it’s an incredible sign of how pissed off they are at each other that they even briefly abandoned blaming Dems.  It’s not just a tactic, though.  They feel how dare Democrats not clean up their mess.  We’re supposed to thank them for treating us like shit.

    Throw in a little lashing out in all directions and some being embarrassed when they noticed that when all the press stenographers had was people blaming Republicans, the press actually did blame Republicans.

    EDIT – Someone suggested that McCarthy was specifically furious when Dems actually agreed to a budget deal instead of being tricked into refusing and letting McCarthy save face with his crazies.  That does make sense from his behavior.

  97. 97.

    Another Scott

    Mica Soellner
    @MicaSoellnerDC
    15m

    DONALDS predicts the resolution is dead.

    “I don’t think it’s going to come to the floor,” he says.

    Says McHenry expressed in conference he does not support the resolution to empower him temporarily

    (via https://nitter.net/fritschner )

    The House is supposed to be in session tomorrow, but I’m sure there are a bunch of GQPers who just want to go home and get away from their “good friends and colleagues” for a while.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  98. 98.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @RSA: ins-pire, as-pire, ex-pire, whatever. [ass-pyre?]

    ETA I’m having a lot of trouble with spelling here

  101. 101.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Sanjeevs: from what I’ve heard she gets only probation. I’d take probation if I was in her position. I don’t think it gets better than that for her and it’s better than doing any time.  I just don’t think its right that they don’t lose their right to vote like any other two bit colored criminal would. The bondsman guy only got a misdemeanor and probation and he actually  was involved with messing around  with the Coffey County election voting machines and he didn’t lose right to vote. That’s messed up.

  103. 103.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Pretty sure a pseudo-Speaker is unconstitutional. Not that anyone cares what is and what is not constitutional any more.

  105. 105.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @RSA: ”

    We need aspirational leaders now who will bring America back to its ideals.”

    We need leaders who know the difference between “aspirational” and “inspirational.”

    An aspirational leader wants to get something done. Sounds good to me, better than inspirational when it comes to anything other than election time.

  106. 106.

    JWR

    From Politico:

    Is an acting House speaker considered in the presidential line of succession?

    … When all leadership positions are present and accounted for, the speaker of the House is usually second in line to take up the mantle after the vice president.

    But legal experts say that even empowering McHenry to move legislation isn’t the same as being the real thing.

    “By calling this person speaker pro tem, that by definition, means there isn’t an actual speaker,” said Michigan State law professor Brian Kalt. “So whatever powers they give him, parliamentary powers to run things in the House, as long as he’s not the speaker, he’s not in line of succession.”

    Kalt said that the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 states that the speaker must be the speaker, leaving no wiggle room for a speaker pro tem to be in line.

    Eric Schickler, co-director of UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, concurred.

    “Speaker pro tem, even if authorized to act as if he were the speaker or with some of those powers, it’s still not the same,” Schickler said.

  108. 108.

    Citizen Alan

    @piratedan:

    I would have a hard time believing he’s a Dem plant (considering his first “act” was to remove Pelosi and Hoyer from their digs).

    Ah, but Pelosi has actually authorized members of her own caucus to vote against Dem initiatives when she was sure she had the votes to pass them anyway. #eleventy-dimensional chess.

  109. 109.

    Alison Rose

    @HumboldtBlue: You sure do a pretty good imitation of an angry Keebler elf yourself. You could choose to be an adult and let this pathetic obsession go. We get it. He’s short. He’s gonna keep being short. And you, apparently, are gonna keep being a jerk.

  110. 110.

    Ohio Mom

    At the start of Jordan’s candidacy, Omnes told us to take a deep breath because Jordan’s election was not guaranteed. So I took a deep breath and saved myself some anxiety.

    Thanks for the reminder, O.

  113. 113.

    JWR

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    from what I’ve heard she gets only probation.

    Per the AP, she gets a wee bit more than that:

    As part of the deal, she will serve six years of probation, will be fined $6,000 and will have to write an apology letter to Georgia and its residents. She also agreed to testify truthfully against her co-defendants at future trials.

  114. 114.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Anoniminous:

    So in other words, the Jordan people are now gratuitously insulting and irritating McHenry.

    That should go well.

  115. 115.

    Alison Rose

    @HumboldtBlue: Calm down, bro. You’re the one being melodramatic here, not me. All I did was point out that you are fixated on his height and can’t seem to let it go. There are a thousand other things to attack him over. His policies and beliefs and actions are all garbage and all fair game. Hell, even the dumb bow ties.

    Let me ask you this: What if, instead of being 5’5″, he had achondroplasia and was only 4’5″? Would you still mock him? Over a disability?

  116. 116.

    jonas

    @JWR: But, ironically, the speaker pro tem of the Senate *is* in the line of succession, and that would be Patty Murray of WA right now.

  117. 117.

    jonas

    @JWR:will have to write an apology letter to Georgia and its residents

    That actually kind of cracked me up. “Dear Georgia, I’m really, really, really sorry I tried to overturn your election…”

  118. 118.

    Ken

    @Another Scott: I’m sure there are a bunch of GQPers who just want to go home and get away from their “good friends and colleagues” for a while.

    I’m beginning to see why the Catholic Church when electing a Pope locks everyone in the room until a decision is made.

  120. 120.

    Ken

    @jonas: Maybe “and its residents” means she has to write one letter to each resident. By hand. And she pays for the postage.

    Naw, she’s an expert lawyer, she would have noticed something like that in the deal.

  121. 121.

    AM in NC

    @Hoodie: I hate these people so fucking much.  I sure hope Anderson Clayton is making a difference in getting out state-wide vote.  We can’t do anything about the court for years, unless one of the Fascists has a stroke. But we have to win the Governorship and claw back a couple NCGA seats.

    It’s just shocking how quickly we went from leading light in the south to Mississippi.

  122. 122.

    Tony Jay

    @Ken:

    I’m beginning to see why the Catholic Church when electing a Pope locks everyone in the room until a decision is made.

    With sexy results!

    Unfortunately.

  124. 124.

    Redshift

    @Soprano2:

    What a week for Colbert to have Covid! He’s been in repeats the past two nights, I guess he’s not feeling well enough to do the show from his house, or they decided they didn’t want to do that anymore

    He said on the show twitter feed that he’s under doctor’s orders to rest through this week. And that he’s treating it with a combination of paxlovid and onions in his socks. 😀

  126. 126.

    realbtl

    Watching the Rs self destruct I keep thinking that whoever came up with the “I didn’t think the leopard would eat MY face said a member of the Face Eating Leopard Party” meme was definitely forecasting the future.

  127. 127.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Vote Straight
    by Jimmy Breslin​

  128. 128.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Scout211: Regarding reposting the same news, I’m on the West Coast, and don’t usually see the earlier threads while they’re live. So I start with the current thread, and when I have time look at the earlier ones.

  129. 129.

    Ken

    @Alison Rose: Why would Jeffries nominate [McHenry]?

    He wouldn’t, but it would definitely torpedo any plans to make McHenry Speaker. I should have been more clear that was what I was getting at.

    In the event it was unnecessary, the Republicans have fired that torpedo without Democratic help.

  130. 130.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

     A Republican source tells Axios reporter Juliegrace Brufke that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) “screamed” at Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Thursday as Gaetz tried to speak up during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill.

    the source claims Rep. Michael Bost (R-IL) was “almost lunging” at Gaetz at one point.

    The popcorn industrial complex is booming

  131. 131.

    JWR

    @jonas:

    “Dear Georgia, I’m really, really, really sorry I tried to overturn your election…”

    Too bad Fox “News” wasn’t put in the same position in their deal with Dominion. Oh well, we’ll just have to settle for the part about being forced to testify truthfully in future trials. ;)

  132. 132.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Noskilz:

    It also seems that Jordan’s prospects are only getting worse, so we’ll have to see how much longer he’s willing to hang in there.

    The group of anti-Jordan Republicans are reportedly having its members deliberately flip against him a few at a time during each round of votes, so that Jordan gets fewer and fewer votes each time.

  136. 136.

    CaseyL

    @Noskilz: ​

    Allegedly, the McHenry power-up scheme is dead:

    .
    ..and now it seems Jordan’s own nomination has risen from the dead, or is undead, or is a Walking Dead….at any rate, he’s apparently going to try again to get the job.

    I guess he figures the GOPers opposed to him will prefer death threats and bullying over chaos…?​

    ETA: Joan McCarter at dKos is doing a very decent live blog of the circus.

  137. 137.

    Ken

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: There’s still a remote chance that the Republican caucus reduces their own numbers enough that Jeffries can get a majority.

    (To clarify, I don’t mean that some of them will murder others. I wouldn’t want that. Attempted murder, followed by incarceration of the perp, will suffice.)

  139. 139.

    FastEdD

    Watching the R’s literally lunging at each others’ throats makes me yearn for the popcorn. All I have are Bugles, which kinda taste like popcorn but they are filled with terrible stuff, like BHT. If I get sick it is the GOP’s fault. They made me do it!

  140. 140.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @CaseyL:

    If previous reports are correct, Jordan has convinced himself that he is owed the Speakership, that it is his by right as the natural leader of conservative America.  His behavior is not going to be even close to rational both because of whatever weird delusions are attached to that and the angry tantrums that kind of person throws.

    I really, really don’t want to rule out any possibility, but the rumors of screaming matches don’t sound like he’s found a way to convert his detractors.

  141. 141.

    Juju

    @Alison Rose: He’s like those people who call Ron DeSantis Rhonda Santis, because being female is such an insult. Do yourself a favor and just scroll pst the name, or pie that person.

  142. 142.

    Geminid

    @AM in NC: Gerrymandering of the state legislature has taken North Carolina backwards.

    Recent voting trends are if anything towards the Democrats. In 2016, Hilary Clinton lost by 170,000 votes out of over 4.5 million. In 2020, Biden came up short by 74,000 out of 5.4 million.

    Governor Roy Cooper beat McCrory in 2016 by 11,000 votes, and his winning margin in 2020 was 250,000.

    It sounds like like national Democrats intend to put a lot of resources into North Carolina, and are starting early.

  143. 143.

    Juju

    @HumboldtBlue: That wasn’t very nice. I think her point is McHenry has many other aspects to his person that merit criticism. Don’t criticize the thing or things he can’t control.

  144. 144.

    hueyplong

    Maybe a good time to step back and recall that we’ve gone from “Trump will never be indicted” to “Sidney Powell has flipped on Trump in a RICO case,” while the GOP House clown car crashes on a daily basis amid fist fights over the steering wheel and complaints about how it’s the Dems’ fault they can’t seem to name a Speaker to run over Biden.

    I’ve moved from popcorn to ice cream.  Hope to outlive Trump, but it’s a race at this point.

  145. 145.

    Juju

    @Geminid: I really wish they had put in some resources for Cheri Beasley. Now we have the human badger and the insurrectionist as our senators.

  146. 146.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @dmsilev: ​
     visually I’m thinking Red Guard performing “Loyalty Dance” during the Cultural Revolution more than 1930s Show Trials

  147. 147.

    Scout211

    @Sister Golden Bear: No worries. I wasn’t meaning to criticize, just acknowledge that I was aware of that report and I thought it was interesting. It’s impossible for all of us to read every thread and every comment. Sorry if it sounded like I was criticizing.  We all post information that has already been posted and commented on.  It happens.

    I’m in California, too, but I am usually awake by 5:00 for some  ungodly reason. And I’m retired. Sigh.

  149. 149.

    smith

    They’re dropping like flies today — one of the indicted fake electors in MI has cut a deal with the prosecutor.

  150. 150.

    Martin

    I said before we’re going to hit the budget deadline without a speaker, and shit will get real then. Right now the GOP can afford the theatrics – once people stop getting their checks, they won’t be able to – and they’re going to have to find a candidate that they can get over the line before 5 ‘I was thinking of retiring anyway’ moderate Rs throw up their arms and vote for Jeffries.

  151. 151.

    Citizen Alan

    @Alison Rose: Honestly, I’d rather mock him over his bow tie. Except for my current boss and the Third and Eleventh Doctor, everyone I’ve ever known who regularly wore a bow tie was an asshole.

    As for shortness, I will just say this: Every man I have ever known who has been of significantly below average height has fit neatly into one of two groups: (1) short guys who deal with it by developing great personalities and the ability to roll their eyes at idiots who mock them for being short and and who often develop skill sets that let them turn the disadvantage of shortness into an advantage, and (2) short guys who become viciously bitter and spend the rest of their lives scrambling for the power to punish anyone who makes fun of them. Of the short guys I’ve known personally, the Type Ones have all been democrats and the Type Twos have always been Republicans.

  154. 154.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I heard Jordan called Jacket Off Jerk Off which made me laugh. Also saw TFG called Prisondent which also made me laugh. There’s also a sushi place near me which is called Fuku. It’s been around for a few years. I just don’t understand why you would want to call your restaurant Fuku. I am assuming it makes sense to call it Fuku in Japanese.

  155. 155.

    Ruckus

    @danielx:

    He is shit. But it’s more than just on their shoes. He’s slathering it all over everything because that’s all he knows. He’s a major member of the SHIT Brigade, one of the leading members, possibly the actual leader.

  156. 156.

    Ruckus

    @Soprano2:

    they don’t trust each other

    They do not have a consensus on how to destroy the place so they end up doing nothing. It could be worse.

  157. 157.

    Paul in KY

    @JWR: She could write up a non-apology apology letter that would maybe technically satisfy the conditions, but would really piss off the judge. I bet Tony Jay could come up with a great one!

  158. 158.

    Paul in KY

    @Juju: I think some of them (not all) do that cause ‘Rhonda’ is a stereotypical name for a cross dresser to use & DeSatanis is agin all that, etc. etc.

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