Fogbow

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 4:45 am

Gupwalla wrote: ↑Thu Dec 08, 2022 8:16 pm

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Thu Dec 08, 2022 6:36 pm I heard/read recently that he's the first republican in his family. I wonder where that came from?

I think I probably mentioned that on this forum. It’s from his Wikipedia article.

As for why he became a Republican - it probably had to do with him coming of age in the 80s.

Or being dropped on his head.

Six Republicans have already come out against him, and several others share their very conservative, anti-establishment views.

But all this doesn’t mean McCarthy is doomed. He may not have 218 votes right now, but there’s no obvious alternative to him, either. So the likeliest outcome may be that he wins the speakership after putting in a little elbow grease. According to Axios, McCarthy has been meeting with some of his detractors. And while four have told reporters that nothing will change their minds, the other two may be more malleable. Rep. Matt Rosendale told Puck News he would vote for McCarthy in “extreme circumstances,” which means that there are some circumstances in which he would vote for him. Meanwhile, Rep.-elect Mike Collins pledged to vote against McCarthy in September 2021 when he launched his campaign. His spokesperson has not responded to multiple inquiries about whether he will keep his promise.

McCarthy has another reason for optimism: Technically, he doesn’t even need 218 votes to become speaker. He needs only a majority of the votes cast for a named candidate. So if some members skip the vote or abstain (in House parlance, vote “present”), it would lower the number he needs to hit. Biggs, Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Bob Good, Rep. Ralph Norman and Rosendale have all said they will not vote “present.” Still, that could be a way for them to not oppose McCarthy without saying they changed their mind. So McCarthy could win the speakership if three of his opponents (including Democrats!) skip the vote or vote “present,” assuming every other Republican votes for him.

As messy as these scenarios would be, they are still likelier than the Democratic dream scenario that some moderate Republicans would work with Democrats to elect a compromise candidate. The last time a majority party failed to elect a speaker was 1839, when Democrats held the House majority but party infighting led to the election of Whig Rep. Robert M.T. Hunter with bipartisan support.

* * *

The official nominee of the party that controls the House has won every speaker election since at least 1913, even when its majority was narrower than it is now. So it may not be smooth sailing, but Republicans will likely get their preferred speaker one way or another. Kevin McCarthy is just hoping it’s him.

Chad Pergram @ChadPergram wrote: McCarthy:
If we had President Trump, we wouldn’t have inflation

Erica Marsh @ericareport wrote: BREAKING: Hakeem Jeffries is now in the LEAD to be the next House Speaker after 12 House GOP members announced their opposition to Kevin McCarthy's bid to become Speaker.

raison de arizona wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 4:06 pm That's...not how this works.

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 8:35 pm The retiree in FL said he will have a heroic announcement to make on Thursday. Will he offer to take the place of McCarthy ?

pipistrelle wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 10:21 pm the big announcement may have nothing to do with McCarthy. could be he's stepping aside heroically to let De Santis take over.

bob wrote: ↑Thu Dec 15, 2022 11:17 am Besides, his first act in office would be to appoint McCarthy as the Vice Speaker, to do the day-to-day actual cat herding.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has offered a key concession to critics of his bid for the House speakership during private conversations this week: reducing the threshold that is required to force a floor vote on ousting the sitting speaker, according to six Republican sources familiar with the internal discussions.

McCarthy has been trying to find a compromise threshold that would appease his critics enough to earn their speaker vote, while still being palatable to the rest of the House GOP, and has been sounding out all corners of the conference in private phone calls this week.

One of the numbers that has come up in recent conversations between McCarthy and GOP lawmakers – and which has not been previously reported – is a five-person threshold, according to two of the Republican sources.

Currently, the majority of the House GOP is required to call for the so-called motion to vacate the speaker’s chair. But some conservative hardliners are pushing for a single member to be able to call for such a vote, which they see as an important mechanism to hold the speaker accountable.

A five-person threshold, however, may be too low for the moderate wing of the party, some of whom have privately suggested they would be willing to agree on a 50-person threshold.

And some of McCarthy’s fiercest critics, including Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, told CNN they see the five-person threshold as still too high, underscoring the significant challenge McCarthy faces as he works to lock down the speakership.

BREAKING: MeidasTouch co-founder Ben Meiselas executive produced this true crime thriller with Colin Kaepernick for Hulu exposing the shocking corruption, crime, and cover-up in Kevin McCarthy’s district in Bakersfield. Welcome to KILLING COUNTY!

Kevin McCarthy wants to roll back same day voter registration to 30 days before an election and said “that’s plenty of time if you care about voting.”

Here's Donald Trump's latest organizing embarrassment: Two of his adult children did not know they had to register as Republicans more than six months ago to vote in New York's April 19 Republican primary.

"They were, you know, unaware of the rules, and they didn't register in time, so they feel very, very guilty -- they feel very guilty," Trump said during a telephone interview with Fox News' "Fox and Friends" on Monday morning.

McCarthy's defense of George Santos is filibustering and whataboutism. Pathetic.

Ashli Babbitt’s mother rips Kevin McCarthy for saying the officer who shot her was just doing his job: “We’ve known for quite some time that Kevin McCarthy is no friend of ours.”