Politics 2023

[Rusty Edge]

Tell me, if during one of those Speaker ballots a dozen or so Republicans in Congress voted for Jeffries, and the Democrats there too, would he become Speaker of Congress? Or is it only a vote for or against a proposed Speaker (McCarthy)

Oh, it's an open election requiring a majority of votes cast. It is also a public Republican faction fight.

It's been suggested that the Democrats should have offered committee chairmanships to the first 6 Republicans to vote for Jeffries.

Regardless, yesterday McCarthy was losing votes compared to the first ballot, today he is gaining votes. He could possibly win tonight. The smaller the opposition faction gets, the more pressure he can concentrate on it. Or he may hit the plate glass ceiling.


 

[Rusty Edge]

McCarthy's proclamations were either premature or a great big "KICK ME" sign.
Boebert voted present, taking as they say, the "off ramp"
Gaetz wasn't present for the first roll call, but pulled the rug out from under McCarthy at the last second. Charlie Brown making field goal attempts comes to mind.
Somebody confronted Gaetz and had to be drug away before he could put hands on him.

While they were voting to adjourn, McCarthy and Gaetz were chatting and smiling, then suddenly all of McCarthy's cronies grabbed red slips to change their adjournment votes to No at the last second.

So.... will Charlie kick that field goal tonight?

[Buster's Uncle]

Kevin McCarthy elected 55th House speaker, quashes GOP rebellion with major concessions

[Geo]

Tell me, if during one of those Speaker ballots a dozen or so Republicans in Congress voted for Jeffries, and the Democrats there too, would he become Speaker of Congress? Or is it only a vote for or against a proposed Speaker (McCarthy)

It's been suggested that the Democrats should have offered committee chairmanships to the first 6 Republicans to vote for Jeffries.

Let's see... the committee for Energy Resources, Judiciary, Armed Services, Tax Revenues, Ways&Means, and Oversight Committee.
What'do ya think? Would that have done the trick. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Ethics.

-I don't know that there's much prestige attached, but chair of that committee is gonna be an important job for the KKKrime Party...

[Rusty Edge]

Tell me, if during one of those Speaker ballots a dozen or so Republicans in Congress voted for Jeffries, and the Democrats there too, would he become Speaker of Congress? Or is it only a vote for or against a proposed Speaker (McCarthy)

It's been suggested that the Democrats should have offered committee chairmanships to the first 6 Republicans to vote for Jeffries.

Let's see... the committee for Energy Resources, Judiciary, Armed Services, Tax Revenues, Ways&Means, and Oversight Committee.
What'do ya think? Would that have done the trick. 

Probably not. The current GOP seems to think that the only thing worse than a Democrat is a traitor, which is what they call Republicans who work with Democrats. Liz Cheney was the #3 Republican in The House, but once she worked with the January 6th Committee she was shunned. Same foe Adam Kinzinger, also on the committee. Likewise, all of the Republicans in The House who voted for [Sleezebag]'s impeachment have either been defeated or forced into retirement. Not that retirement is terrible. They keep their pay and healthcare (last I heard). But anybody that crosses the line knows the cost, and most aren't willing to pay the price.

[Buster's Uncle]

Profiles in Courage, that.

[Buster's Uncle]

Just FYI - I'd totally be up for politics talk w/ sane grownups right now, just not thinking of a topic...

[Rusty Edge]

Maybe.

 My mother-in-law has changed status from assisted living to nursing home within the complex, so I am on demand for moving between wings. Some of that will be shuffling stuff within the complex, the surplus will need to be packed and brought here until it is redistributed within the family, sent to GoodWill, or disposed of. My wife is coordinating with her nieces, I need to find and buy some storage totes. Looks like things are happening sooner rather than later.

[Buster's Uncle]

Busy - family duty is important.  Got it.  God luck and Salute.

[Rusty Edge]

Well, it was a long, hard, day which taxed my balance and back, and I was mostly working solo. It was productive. Among other things I packaged and relocated to my home "temporarily" a Highlander full of stuff. My back is feeling better now...unless I move. Anyway, I've got some time tonight.

I'd like to praise Joe Biden for a moment. Not because he's an interesting speaker, because I think he's lacking in that regard, but because he's kind of a symbol of what I thought most politicians used to be over the course of my life.

He's somebody who cares and has a vision of how to make things better and works towards that, even if he has to compromise to do it, even if he has to work with people he usually disagrees with or finds disagreeable.

The moment in my life of which I was the proudest of my government was the Souter confirmation hearings, which Joe Biden chaired. I listened to them on NPR while I worked in the barn or in a tractor cab. Sure, there was a lot of innuendo and the Republicans tended to support Souter and the Democrats oppose him based on their suspicions of his true views. But on the whole I thought the questioning was polite and thoughtful, and Judge Souter's answers more so. In the opening remarks to the confirmation hearings for the next Justice Biden stated that he thought that Souter got the best of him, and he was going to change his approach. Souter had a reputation as a swing vote and a thoughtful justice rather than a reactionary. What I think all justices should be, but I digress. I think Biden was probably much more pleased with him than Orin Hatch was. I think it's an example of how Biden made government work and work well.

Some are calling his recent speech was the greatest State of the Union address ever. Not because of his prepared remarks, but because of how he turned the tables on the hecklers such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, and forced Republican members of Congress to express support for Social Security and Medicare. We always used to call that the ""3rd rail of American politics"  because touching it would result in instant death.

I don't think Biden gets enough credit. Therse's been a pandemic combined with open warfare in Europe. Last time that happened the USA had double-digit inflation for 4 consecutive years, and we were still on the silver standard! We're doing better than that this time and we're doing better than the rest of the world. Lowest unemployment rate since when? '69 or '70? Oh, and thanks for the infrastructure!

[Buster's Uncle]

Briefly -I'm still waking up- I think Biden is mediocre, and his career before Pres. was of a hack w/ no particular convictions.

That said?  I LOVE President Biden.  I love how he was elected by a majority.  I love how he pulls on his Big-Boy pants every morning and tries to Do The Job.  -And the old-school attitude you elaborate on, having a conciliatory attitude and Getting Stuff Done?  I think nazis are for defeating, but the old school attitude was there before Reagan because. it. WORKS.


I've also found Joe far less Republican Lite than his history would lead you to expect - like he's a rare specimen who compromised long to get where he is now, and is rare in not getting lost.  He sucks, I wanted Bernie or Dr. Liz and he was forced on me, but he could have been SO much worse, instead of good, which he is.


Luv ya, Bo Jiden.  Fer realz.

[Unorthodox]

I think Biden is mediocre

I thought that was what he RAN ON last election.  "Vote for mediocre me."  "Make Meh great again"  etc. 

[Buster's Uncle]

[Rusty Edge]

Got some time to assemble a cut n' paste  of Stuart Steven's ( author of "It was all a Lie- How the Republican Party became Donald [Sleezebag]") take on Nikki Haley's announcement that she's running for president from a Lincoln Project e-mail I got today

[Announcing a Presidential campaign on Valentine’s Day hours after a mass shooting? Sounds about right for Nikki Haley.

No political figure better illustrates the moral collapse of the modern Republican Party than Nikki Haley. There was a time not very long ago when she was everything the party thought it needed to win.

When Donald [Sleezebag] ran in the 2016 Republican primary, Haley stood next to Senator Marco Rubio, the candidate she had endorsed, and eviscerated [Sleezebag] as a racist the party must reject.

At the time, she sold herself as courageous, someone who would always fight for principle and never back down. And back down she did.

She transformed herself to oppose everything she once claimed to support. Even while [Sleezebag] ran a Presidential campaign degrading women and minorities, she took a coveted spot in the cabinet. And as the years went by, she began embracing her inner MAGA.

After famously taking down the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House, the Trumpified Nikki Haley began to defend the so-called “heritage” of the flag. And as [Sleezebag] put his bigotry into real policy,  Haley continued to defend his work on the world stage, further degrading America in front of its allies and enemies.

Her rise and fall only highlights what many of us already knew: [Sleezebag] didn’t change the Republican Party; he revealed it.

We’ve seen [Sleezebag] break candidates in the primary before. But now Haley is entering the race already broken.

She will never be the voice of truth she briefly was in 2016, and despite her years of attempts to win over the MAGA base, she will never win this primary. But no one should feel sorry for Nikki Haley. It was her choice.

Now, the female star of the Republican Party isn’t the daughter of immigrants who took down the Confederate flag. It’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, who sells Christian nationalist memorabilia and is now arguably the second-most powerful member of the House.

So let Nikki Haley parade around, claiming to be the “future of the Republican Party.” She represents nothing other than its moral rot. And to anyone thinking she can win?

Foolish thinking. ]


I remember a Nikki interview where she told about other women describing her as ambitious, and she explained that she wasn't . Rather, she was passionate, which always led to greater roles and responsibilities.

Nah... she's ambitious. If she were passionate about what she said she believed she would have drawn the line somewhere and invoked the 25th Amendment.