💣 The Disastrous 118th Congress - MAGA Mike Johnson Saved by Shadow Speaker Hakeem Jeffries

[Delarin]

Earlier I said 6 republican present votes would give Jeffries the speaker-ship... but honestly I'm not sure if its 6 or 12. A present vote reduces the total needed, but by 1 or 0.5? I'm not sure.

Actually the answer is 11.

It would have been 12 with a full House of 435 members. However, VA-4 is vacant due to the death of Rep. Donald McEachin on Nov. 28, 2022.

At the moment there are 212 (D) and 222 (R) members. Assuming all Dems stick with him (why would they not?), for Jeffries to win,he needs for the Repubs to vote for no more than 211 persons by name.

222 - 211 = 11 "present" votes.

[raison de arizona]

The 11th hour MSNBC. I'm watching Stephanie and Boebert, her guest. Stephanie is doing better than I expected, but Boebert hardly ever shuts up, and she's giving me a headache.

Boebert is making the rounds tonight. She butted head with and talked all over Hannity earlier. He was displeased with her, and she was not having it.

[Luke]

Bobo was insane with Stephanie Ruhle. Totally agree Bobo is headache-inducing. She was almost as hard to listen to as Orly Taitz. And she's just so stupid. Ruhle heard massive errors and just basic failures to understand civics, but kept saying "come back to talk about that because policy doesn't matter until there's a Speaker. With her tiny little victory, Bobo is the last person who should be making waves.

But it's starting to become clearer -- the terrorists are demanding prime committee assignments. Of the 20, apparently, they want FOUR SEATS on the Rules Committee. Mark Levin went ballistic over it, saying (and for once he's right) that McCarthy is going to reward these people and that means others will have their assignments pulled. The caving he's doing is unbelievable, ONE VOTE for a Motion to Vacate. If he gets the job, which is often referred to as "Mayor of Hell", we'll need a poll: "How long does this dumbass last?"

Great opinion piece by John Harris, founder of POLITICO, at https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... l-00076248. Here's one of his quotes. Classic and true:

OrlyLicious @Orly_licious 6m
From @harrispolitico: "#KevinMcCarthy, whatever the outcome of this contest in coming hours or days, can rest assured he has earned a legacy — as a symbol of pathos and ineffectuality, an emblem of the cannibalistic spirit of the age." #SpeakerVote

This can't keep going on, the GOP has got to be hemorrhaging support from Americans. Look forward to polling, easily could see a 5-7 point drop for this insanity. And as mentioned, Democrats will use this with every stupid vote they take and remind folks how this dopey Congress started. Jim Carville was on the other night and said, usually you pull the pin on the grenade and throw it... these people are pulling the pin and handing it around.

PS: Lt Biscuit is up to 25 votes (likes). She has officially gotten more votes than the McCarthy dissenters. Things are moving Biscuit's way! People are saying her first official acts will be presenting Fogbow with the Congressional Gold Medal, Obot Amnesty, and a huge budget increase for our brothers at DARPA. And Pup-Peroni will officially become a budget line item. #BiscuitForSpeaker


* The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions.

[MN-Skeptic]

It sounds like the rabble rousers will only vote for McCarthy if he promises them plum committee positions. But if I were an average Republican House member who now realizes that I will no longer be on a certain committee because McCarthy has given my seat away in order to buy a vote, I would not be happy and I would definitely not vote for McCarthy. Right?

[p0rtia]

It sounds like the rabble rousers will only vote for McCarthy if he promises them plum committee positions. But if I were an average Republican House member who now realizes that I will no longer be on a certain committee because McCarthy has given my seat away in order to buy a vote, I would not be happy and I would definitely not vote for McCarthy. Right?

[Volkonski]

McCarthy proposes key concessions after House adjourns for second day without electing a speaker

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/04/politics ... index.html

After suffering yet another stinging defeat on Wednesday, in which he lost a sixth round of voting for House speaker, Kevin McCarthy proposed more key concessions in his push to get 218 votes – including agreeing to propose a rules change that would allow just one member to call for a vote to oust a sitting speaker, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The major concession comes as McCarthy is struggling to find a path forward with the House adjourned until 12 p.m. ET on Thursday.

The House GOP majority has been stuck at a contentious stalemate amid opposition to McCarthy from a group of conservatives. The fight, which began on the first day of the 118th Congress, has thrown the new House GOP majority into chaos and undercut the party’s agenda.

The House will continue to be paralyzed until this standoff is resolved. The situation has grown dire for McCarthy’s political future as Republican allies are beginning to fear that the House GOP leader may not be able to pull off his gamble for speaker if the fight goes much longer.

It’s not at all clear whether McCarthy and his allies will be able to lock down the votes – and the longer the fight drags on, the more imperiled his speakership bid has become. But there were signs Wednesday that negotiations are progressing.

McCarthy’s latest concession would be a significant win for hardline conservatives – after the California Republican had already proposed a five-member threshold, down from current conference rules that require half of the GOP to call for such a vote. But many more moderate members had been concerned about giving in to the far-right on this matter since it could weaken the speakership and cause chaos in the ranks.

In two more concessions, the sources said, he’s also agreed to allow for more members of the Freedom Caucus to serve on the powerful House Rules Committee, which dictates how and whether bills come to the floor, and to vote on a handful of bills that are priorities for the holdouts, including proposing term limits on members and a border security plan.

So the 10% Group of 20 will be wagging the 90% Republican majority. Pathetic.

[neeneko]

It sounds like the rabble rousers will only vote for McCarthy if he promises them plum committee positions. But if I were an average Republican House member who now realizes that I will no longer be on a certain committee because McCarthy has given my seat away in order to buy a vote, I would not be happy and I would definitely not vote for McCarthy. Right?

Does kinda seem like some that could really roll out of control. All you need is, what, 5 of your buddies to agree to block things with you and you become the next set of holdouts waiting better assignments. Seniority replaced with brinkmanship.

[New Turtle]

I'm sure some of them are asking for things they know he won't agree to, and these negotiations are partly in bad faith.

[Danraft]

Yes, i don’t take joy out of McCarthy having to make deals. As I said, Democrats are better served by negating all these deals by offering a way out.

Otherwise it will be a red-pilled House doing Biden-Laptop, Lockup Fauci, nonsense.

[noblepa]

Otherwise it will be a red-pilled House doing Biden-Laptop, Lockup Fauci, nonsense.

They will in any case. That's a foregone conclusion.

The Republicans used to be known as the "Party of NO". Now they are the party of revenge.

[Suranis]

The Republicans used to be known as the "Party of NO". Now they are the party of revenge.

They have been the party of revenge since the failure of the Bork nomination, and then Bush Senior "getting fucked by that asshole from Arkansas." So they went all in on revenge after that.

Ironically Bush Senior himself seems to have been fairly cool with getting beaten by Clinton as they were friends afterwards.

[Dr. Ken]

[SuzieC]

Next century -old record to be broken: 9 votes for Speaker in 1923.

[AndyinPA]

If McCarthy makes a deal with the Democrats, that will only infuriate the rest of the party. I can't imagine how badly he wants this title. His life is going to be pure misery the next two years, no matter what happens, but a deal with the Democrats would make every moment worse.

At this point, I'm just pissed at what this means for the country.

[Kendra]

Gaetz just voted for tfg per CNN.

[noblepa]

The Republicans used to be known as the "Party of NO". Now they are the party of revenge.

They have been the party of revenge since the failure of the Bork nomination, and then Bush Senior "getting fucked by that asshole from Arkansas." So they went all in on revenge after that.

Ironically Bush Senior himself seems to have been fairly cool with getting beaten by Clinton as they were friends afterwards.

That's true. I firmly believe that Bill Clinton's impeachment was revenge for his having the audacity to be re-elected.

But, back then, revenge was not the only thing they lived for. The desire for revenge has certainly been there for a long time, but it has been growing for the last ten years, and has exploded in the last two years to be an all-consuming rage in the hearts of many R's. The older, slightly more moderate party members can no longer control the monster they have fostered for 40 years.

They have not put forth any legislative agenda or vision for the country, other than "owning the libs", and "restoring democracy" (even if it means scrapping the Constitution to do so).

[noblepa]

How do we know that they are incompetent at governing? They've never tried it. (OTOH, I agree that, if they ever do get around to governing, they will suck at it).

[Volkonski]

Slight change from yesterday- there has been 1 vote so far for "others".

[noblepa]

This whole debacle is certainly entertaining, but there is a serous question: If not McCarthy, then who?

If the R's finally give up and decide that Kevin is not going to be their speaker, who might emerge as a consensus candidate, that might actually be elected speaker? There doesn't seem to be any obvious Plan B.

[Volkonski]

Slight change from yesterday- there has been 1 vote so far for "others".

Gaetz voted for Trump in 7th House speakership election.

[Dr. Ken]

Slight change from yesterday- there has been 1 vote so far for "others".

Gaetz voted for Trump in 7th House speakership election.

Chalk this up to another election trump lost.

[AndyinPA]

I knew nothing about Donalds or his wife at this time yesterday. I looked them both up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Don ... _education

In 1997, Donalds was arrested for marijuana distribution; the charges were dropped as part of a pre-trial diversion program. In 2000, he pleaded guilty to a felony bribery charge as part of a scheme to defraud a bank.[13][14][15]

I'm sure he's found gawd and been forgiven.

He and his wife are highly involved in charter schools and are anti-vaxers. She has been on faux noise.

[Phoenix520]

So, a straight up criminal. That’s two this Session. Good start, thugs.

ETA I’m squishy on marijuana “crime”, but on bank fraud I’m not.

[MN-Skeptic]

[Luke]

hahahahaha Marc

Marc E. Elias @marceelias 2h
How long until McCarthy agrees to fly a QAnon flag over the Capitol?

So cute for Gaetz to nominate the disgraced loser. On Twitter, they think doing that "owns the libs" but that's not right. As if that lazy poot would be up before noon to work. And having the loser on camera every day overseeing the total trainwreck would be awesome.

More importantly: #BiscuitForSpeaker is still soaring!

Lori Bayless-George @crickette04353h
Replying to @Orly_licious and @GreggEvans16

And she is biracial!!! A win for all!!

OrlyLicious @Orly_licious 9m
Replying to @crickette0435 and @GreggEvans16

Absolutely! Lt Biscuit will keep MAGA in line and there will be Pup-Peroni in every pot for American pets!