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Kevin McCarthy (GOP House Leader)
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[h1][b]The Right Has Already Won the Speakership Election[/b][/h1]
[link=https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/03/politics/right-house-speakership-election/index.html]Ronald Brownstein[/link]: Stubborn conservative resistance to House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy has put the party at risk of precipitating the first speakership election that extends to more than a single ballot since 1923 and only the second since the Civil War.
But even if McCarthy ultimately prevails, the show of strength from the GOPs conservative vanguard has ensured it enormous leverage in shaping the partys legislative and investigative agenda. And that could reinforce the image of extremism that hurt Republicans in the midterm election, especially in the key swing states likely to decide the next presidential contest Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona.
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A minority but significant number of crazies can blow up bombs and so long as their compatriots are too afraid to shut them down…
The House is either going to be a total joke the next 2 years or they will find levers to make America look like crazy a55holes again with their partial return to power.
These people actually get elected and re-elected by voters???
This is how democracies die.
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Things getting heated in House GOP meeting. McCarthy swore in his speech, dropping a god damnit. And he made clear he would negotiate no more. McCarthy also said opponents came to him with personal asks last night. Lauren boebert yelled in response to speech: BULL SHIT
[link=https://twitter.com/MZanona/status/1610293065020854273]https://twitter.com/MZano…us/1610293065020854273[/link]
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[b]The Incredible Shrinking Kevin McCarthy[/b][/h1]
[link=https://morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/welcome-to-the-maga-crackup?r=2k4r8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web]Charlie Sykes[/link]: Today was supposed to be the GOPs celebration of the Red Wave, a moment of triumph and anticipation. Instead, we are likely to get a shitshow for the ages from an unruly, dysfunctional political party that is obviously not all that interested in governing
Time after time, the man who would be speaker tried to shrink himself into the office, and is ending his bid by offering multiple concessions to the bomb-throwers in the caucus who will hold him hostage if he survives
But its chaos either way, isnt it? McCarthy is a hollow man and a weak leader, and his caucus is now in the process of testing just how weak he is. One of the most powerful speakers in House history is about to be replaced by one of the puniest.-
Let the crazies do crazy. Its working.
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Democrats nominate Rep Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the first Black man or woman to lead a party in Congress. Democrats give two standing ovations initially. One for Jeffries. And another when Rep Pete Aguilar (D-CA) says Democrats are United
The Ds are having some fun right now
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McCarthy passes number of No votes needed to get the gavel on the first ballot.
Other R nominees include Gym Jordan and Andy Biggs -
Quote from dergon
Democrats nominate Rep Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the first Black man or woman to lead a party in Congress. Democrats give two standing ovations initially. One for Jeffries. And another when Rep Pete Aguilar (D-CA) says Democrats are United
[b]The Ds are having some fun right now[/b]
As they should. “Smile and wave”
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The vote totals:
Hakeem Jeffries 212
Kevin McCarthy 203
Andy Biggs 10
Jim Jordan 6
Other 3-
Hakeem with more votes than Kevin.
Telling.
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So much for this is how democracies die
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Not hoist by their own petard yet
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I guess the questions werent that rhetorical.
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Larry Hogan:
Today’s dysfunction in Washington is more evidence that the divide in our party isn’t about policy or ideology.
It’s between those who want to win and get common sense conservative results and those who want to be a performance act at the circus.
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Well said by a moderate member of the Republican Party
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If the moderate Reps cant win, Heres to the moderate Dems that can.
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Thats the difference between the parties right now
The left isnt willing to hold the Dem agenda hostage
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MCCarthy going the wrong direction
20 votes for Jordan on the third ballot
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One thing is clear. Its not going to be McCarthy unless he agrees to cave on all of the crazies demands. Does he have the integrity? Even if he did cave not sure what the moderates would do.overall bad for the Reps tiny majority.
This is good theater. Reminds me of its bad but its been worse before and it will get better
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[link=https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1610298811368280066]https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1610298811368280066[/link]
Eyepatch McCain calls those who oppose McCarthy “the enemies”
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Quote from Frumious
Hakeem with more votes than Kevin.
Telling.
Yeah. Nobody wants to look like Harry Reid after his ‘gym accident’.
It’s easy to take a meaningless vote.
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McCarthy ain’t all the way dead yet. He could still maybe convince a number of the NO votes to flip to “present”
Then he could maybe win with only 212-213 votes.-
Would this scenario happen? Dems go to a few of the more normal republicans. Nominate on of them. All Dem votes go to said republican. Keeps Kevin, Gymbo, or any of loonies out of the chair.
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Quote from DICOM_Dan
Would this scenario happen? Dems go to a few of the more normal republicans. Nominate on of them. All Dem votes go to said republican. Keeps Kevin, Gymbo, or any of loonies out of the chair.
No outreach to Ds yet –
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA): We would look at that, but I havent seen any proof that Republicans are willing to engage.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): We havent had any outreach Were looking for a willing partner to solve problems for the American people, not save the Republicans from their dysfunction.
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[link=https://twitter.com/OrrChris/status/1610377789638672386?s=20&t=s2k03ZIEoedWMb5eo_XH3Q]Chris Orr[/link] reviews the last four GOP speakers:
[ul][*]Newt Gingrich: Resigned and left Congress.[*]Dennis Hastert: Resigned and later went to prison for sex abuse.[*]John Boehner: Resigned and left Congress.[*]Paul Ryan: Resigned and left Congress. [/ul] And thats leaving out Bob Livingston, who was designated to become speaker after Gingrich but resigned once his extramarital affair became public.
This is the job Kevin McCarthy is willing to be publicly humiliated for.
The last four GOP speakers:
Gingrich: Resigned; left Congress
Hastert: Resigned; went to prison for sex abuse
Boehner: Resigned; left Congress
Ryan: Resigned; left CongressThis is the job that Kevin McCarthy is willing to be publicly humiliated for, however short his tenure.*
— Christopher Orr (@OrrChris) January 3, 2023
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[h1][b]Fred Upton Open to Serving as Speaker[/b][/h1]
Former Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) said the idea of his serving as Speaker is an intriguing suggestion, and hed be willing to do to put an end to the dysfunction that is doing damage to the country, according to the [link=https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/2023/01/04/fred-upton-finds-house-speaker-suggestion-intriguing/69776182007/]Detroit News[/link].
Said Upton: I would need Democrats. I could get a significant number of Republicans.
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For sure. As much as I would like both parties to be involved Im content with the Dems leading the way and the Reps being shown their arse. They cant be this stupid forever?
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[link=https://twitter.com/GarrettHaake/status/1610408754721218561]https://twitter.com/Garre…us/1610408754721218561[/link]
Former President Trump declined to say if he’s sticking by his endorsement of Kevin McCarthy for speaker tonight, telling me in a brief phone interview he’s had calls all day asking for support, and “We’ll see what happens. We’ll see how it all works out.”
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Kevin about to learn that Trump has no loyalty. Donald will turn on him in the snap of a finger as soon as stench of “loser” begins to rise.
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Its been an interesting day.
Marge got backstabbed by her homies in the freedom caucus.
Kev cant get the votes and it looks like knives are out for him.
Her comes Elise Stefanik?
Can Hakeem maybe win it by plurality?
Kev finding out maybe he shouldnt have been so loyal to Trump.
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Quote from DICOM_Dan
Her comes Elise Stefanik?
She’s certainly on a long list of potential compromise candidates. Both mainstream and Trumpy.Quote from DICOM_Dan
Can Hakeem maybe win it by plurality?
I don’t think there will be any appetite among the GOP for a Democrat as speaker. And there’s no plurality victory in this (or else he would have already won.) It’s a majority requirement.
I think the best that Dems could hope for is a bipartisan republican .. either a moderate or at least a strong pro-democracy type … that gets the votes of a a bunch of republicans…. One of the never-trumpers in the House. A moderate known for bipartisan outreach … at the most extreme end, looking outside of the House of the House to a non-member (Cheney) or a respected elder statesman.
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Donald Trump [link=https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/109628095735391441]blames House Republican Chaos on … Mitch McConnell[/link]:
“There is so much unnecessary turmoil in the Republican Party, in large part do to people like the Old Broken Crow, Mitch McConnell, his wife, Coco Chow, who is a sellout to China, and their RINO allies, who make it difficult for everyone else by constantly capitulating to Hopeless Joe Biden and the Democrats. The 1.7 Trillion Dollar Green New Deal booster that McConnell and the RINOS handed to the Dems last week was a real downer and embarrassment to Republicans!”
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[link=https://puck.news/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin/]Tara Palmeri[/link] suggests Trump just doesn’t have the juice to get Kevin across the finish line:One of the cruel ironies of all this is that McCarthy, who went to extraordinary lengths to placate Trump, is being stymied by card-carrying members of his MAGA movement. And where is Trump in McCarthys hour of need?
Actually, Im told from sources close to him that hes been burning up the phone for McCarthy, but his pleas dont seem to be making any impact. Even Trump loyalist Matt Gaetz hasnt been moved. Instead, Im told, the recipients of Trumps calls have rebutted his request to support Kevin with relentless flirtation and flattery, Trumps ultimate love language, such as suggesting that he should be speaker. Naturally, this deactivated and neutralized the 24 presidential candidate.
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Matt Gaetz has now written to Architect of the Capitol to ask how long McCarthy will be allowed to occupy Speakers official suite before he is considered a squatter. Getting more interesting every minute.
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Something like that
Longshot obviously . But were in uncharted waters now
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I saw a Democrat post a question in their Instagram story asking why a few Dems wouldnt vote for McCarthy to keep him from giving anymore concessions to the crazies. It would be smarter for them to follow DCDs plan.
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[link=https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1610667260091269120?s=20&t=6Imspt4s97DXNjzTlE6bLA]Punchbowl News[/link] confirms that House Republicans will try to adjourn the chamber until tomorrow, forgoing speaker votes today.
House Democrats will whip against this motion, so Republicans will have to carry this adjournment vote on their own.
[link=https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/house-speaker-leadership-vote-1-4-23/h_4650a96eedbfcbb1e59fa7bc11bc6c44]CNN[/link]: McCarthy and his team are fearful that if they go to a fourth ballot they could lose more votes, something that could undercut their claims of regaining momentum. That is why they have discussed adjourning the House until tomorrow but to do that, they need 218 votes, which they dont have.
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Trump reiterates support for Qevin –
Some really good conversations took place last night, and its now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY, & WATCH CRAZY NANCY PELOSI FLY BACK HOME TO A VERY BROKEN CALIFORNIA,THE ONLY SPEAKER IN U.S. HISTORY TO HAVE LOST THE HOUSE TWICE! REPUBLICANS, [b]DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT.[/b] ITS TIME TO CELEBRATE, YOU DESERVE IT. Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB – JUST WATCH!
🚨NEWS — several sources tell me that House Republicans will try to adjourn until TOMORROW, forgoing speaker votes today
House Democrats will whip AGAINST this. republicans will have to carry this adjournment vote on their own@bresreports @heatherscope @PunchbowlNews
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 4, 2023
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It’s a MAGA Fyre Fest. I don’t see how they can adjourn as you say they don’t have votes. The tolerance of the MAGA folks is really coming full circle to bite them in the buttocks. Bobo vs MTG. Gaetz vs Qevin. The craziest of the crazy like Nick Fuentes are picking sides. Nazi Nick also claims there’s some juicy green room stuff from MTG.
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Already at 9 votes against McCarthy on the 4th ballot (which the McC team didn’t want to have but they didn’t have votes to adjourn)
…. on to ballot number 5-
Kevin dropped another vote with Spartz(R-IN) voting present when she had voted for McCarthy previously.
[ul][*]Hakeem Jeffries 212[*]Kevin McCarthy 201[*]Byron Donalds 20[*]Other 0[*]Present 1 [/ul]-
Bobo seems to call out Donald on the floor. With her Donald should call Kev and tell him to withdrawal as he does not have the votes.
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Trump doesn’t seem to have any juice at all.
He put out another statement encouraging all Republicans to vote McCarthy and reportedly he was working the phones with the 20 never-Kevins … and didn’t move a single vote
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[h1][b]GOP Lawmaker Says McCarthy Must Commit to Government Shut Down oer Debt Limit[/b][/h1]
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who has repeatedly voted against Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for speaker, [link=https://twitter.com/ReporterCioffi/status/1610737048926683169?s=20&t=VJpu4Am7wAuw5BD-4g4r9A]told Roll Call[/link] that he wants McCarthy to devise a debt-limit deal suitable to fiscal conservatives.
Said Norman: Is he willing to shut the government down rather than raise the debt ceiling? Thats a non-negotiable item.
McCarthy critic Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said he wanted McCarthy to devise a debt-limit deal suitable to fiscal conservatives.
"Is he willing to shut the government down rather than raise the debt ceiling? That's a non-negotiable item."
— Chris Cioffi (@ReporterCioffi) January 4, 2023
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After a sixth round of voting, the House failed once again to elect a speaker.
The vote totals for the sixth round:
[ul][*]Hakeem Jeffries 212[*]Kevin McCarthy 201[*]Byron Donalds 20[*]Other 0[*]Present 1 [/ul]-
Yup, shut it down again becuz a Dem is POTUS. When Conservatives are in charge, run the debt up like a drunken sailor & when Dems try to address debt limit because of the increased debt by conservatives, why just shut down the government!
Why? Because conservatives are fiscally conservative.
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You know what would solve Cons concern with shutting down the government? They don’t have to do anything other than not elect anyone & stopping anyone form getting elected. No government business with a disfunctional House.
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Ron Brownstein:
Do I have this sequence right? (1) Rs win a surprisingly slim House majority largely b/c so many voters in competitive districts recoil from image of GOP extremism. (2) Far right in caucus uses that narrow majority to demand more focus on the policies that alienated those voters…
Absent an unlikely “unity” deal between GOP moderates & Dems, every possible outcome left in the speaker fight-… McCarthy wins after more concessions or party picks someone to his right… -will mean House GOP doubling down on the approach swing states & voters rejected last November
[link=https://twitter.com/RonBrownstein/status/1610743622105980929]https://twitter.com/RonBr…us/1610743622105980929[/link]
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Yes, he has it right.
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Poor poor Kevin. The Devil grants your wish & it’s not like you thought it should be. But he still wants it.
Living in Hell making the top priority of governing the US and dInternational relations, Hunter Biden’s laptop!
[link=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/03/kevin-mcarthy-next-gop-speaker-unknown/]https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/03/kevin-mcarthy-next-gop-speaker-unknown/[/link]Whoever the hapless soul holding the speakers gavel turns out to be, that person is in for two years of hell.
McCarthy deluded himself into believing it was possible to buy off a vehement group of hard-liners by embracing their MAGA agenda and offering concessions on House rules that would render the speakers job more tenuous, including by making it easier for a small group of dissidents to call a snap vote to toss out the speaker. All of which only underscored McCarthys weakness and the contempt in which he is held by the faction he has courted so arduously.
But the fact is, this wasnt entirely or even all that much about McCarthy, whatever his failings as a leader, or even the radicalization of the GOP during the Trump era. The forces that brought Republicans to this day have been building for more than a decade, going at least as far back as the 2010 midterm elections, which saw the arrival of the tea party movement in Congress.
The Democrats 63-seat loss that year was [link=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/seats-congress-gainedlost-the-presidents-party-mid-term-elections]the largest that a presidents party[/link] had suffered in any off-year election since 1938. The 85 [link=https://history.house.gov/Congressional-Overview/Profiles/112th/]Republican freshmen[/link] constituted 35 percent of their partys incoming majority. What was different about them was not just their conservatism. It was that they had run explicitly on a promise of obstructionism.
Put another way, chaos was their brand. And in the years since, they have been joined by legions of like-minded newcomers. Former AFL-CIO political director Michael Podhorzer calculated that fully 85 percent of GOP members were elected in 2010 or later. -
Dysfunctional House a bit more important than popcorn time. Although Putin is enjoying his American popcorn very much, its like one of his big dreams coming true.
Will voters care? As 1 House member stated it:
Representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas and one of Mr. McCarthys fiercest detractors, rejected concerns about a nonfunctioning House, and said Tuesday evening he did not think most Americans cared.
Do you think anybody in America right now is like, Oh my God, theres not a speaker? he told reporters,[link=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/us/politics/house-speaker-representatives.html]https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/us/politics/house-speaker-representatives.html[/link]
The House of Representatives isnt essentially nonfunctional. Its totally nonfunctional, Mr. Nadler said.
Representative Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia, noted that it had been more than a century since the House had found itself in a similar situation. He suggested changes to House rules to install an interim speaker at the end of a term, rather than face similar dysfunction in the future.
But Mr. Connolly added that some of the Republicans causing the dysfunction are doing exactly what they came to Congress to do: blow things up.
The extremism and dysfunctionality of the Republican caucus is coming home to roost, he said.-
Boebert says not to expect quick resolution … suggests the cherry blossoms may be in bloom before there’s a speaker
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[b]McCarthy Proposes Key Concessions[/b][/h1]
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) proposed several key concessions to the bloc of Republicans opposing him for speaker, including allowing just one member to call for a vote to oust the speaker, [link=https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1610843306312753152?s=20&t=jT7ymfM1yT7Dse3hWc1JIQ]CNN[/link] reports.
In addition, he proposed allowing more members of the House Freedom Caucus to serve on the powerful Rules Committee.
Despite these concessions, McCarthy is still likely short of the 218 votes he needs to become speaker.News: McCarthy proposes key concessions.
- allow just one member to call for a vote to oust a speaker, per two sources
- more members of Freedom Caucus to serve on powerful House Rules Committee
- Promises to vote on some bills like term limits and border securityw/@MZanona
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 5, 2023
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Fascinating theater.
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The vote totals for the seventh round:
[ul][*]Hakeem Jeffries 212[*]Kevin McCarthy 201[*]Byron Donalds 19[*]Trump 1[*]Present 1 [/ul] Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) voted for Donald Trump
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Gaetz tells reporters just now that this all ends either with McCarthy deciding to withdraw from the race or agrees to a straitjacket agreement that fully constrains him as speaker.
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McCarthy fails on the 8th ballot
Boebert trolls him by voting for “Kevin … Kevin … Kevin Hern”
