U.S. Politics January 2023: Kevin McCarthy's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Life

https://i.imgur.com/IFgeVGo.png

any predictions on how long he'll last?

will die in office in 2024. will have an off the cuff conversation at his favorite Steak 'n Shake about how health code violations are stupid, will die a year later from a tainted Frisco melt

or if he'll "win" in the first place?

as part of his negotiations with the freedom caucus (excuse me --- *barfs violently*), mccarthy has agreed to make it much easier to bring Motions to Vacate to the floor. up until now, at least half of the GOP would have to agree to bring the motion to the floor. it's rarely if ever used. Mark Meadows was the last one to try, in 2015, against Boehner. the motion didn't work, but it was indicative of how overly tanned Boehner's balls had become, and soon he was out of a job, high as fuck and rich. what a sad story for Boehner!! before that, it was last tried in 1910.

until now...

A parliamentary rule in the House of Representatives called the "motion to vacate the chair" is playing a major role in Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) bid to become speaker of the House.

A motion to vacate is a parliamentary procedure similar to a vote of no confidence in which members of the body can submit a request for the presiding officer to step down. McCarthy reportedly told his conservative naysayers this week that he would lower the number of members needed to bring forth a motion to vacate and force a vote on the House floor.

As the rule currently stands, half of the House GOP would have to vote to bring forward a motion to remove a leader. McCarthy has apparently agreed to lower that number to "less than five," according to CNN. This may not be enough to appease his most ardent critics, who reportedly want just one member to be able to force a vote on the speaker's suitability. However, the centrist wing of the GOP has suggested they don't want to lower the threshold to less than 50.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/what-is-motion-to-vacate-kevin-mccarthy
https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_check/When_was_the_%22motion_to_vacate_the_chair%22_rule_last_used_in_Congress

but hey, what are the chances that a handful of freedom caucus members would try to bring McCarthy down. this is a Young Gun!

i think he will become the speaker because there's no one else, and then i think he'll go down sometime this summer

He may not have enough votes for a straight win on the first ballot, but nobody else is even close to having enough, right? So eventually it's kinda gotta become him? The question is how much humiliation the crazies are gonna put him through before that happens...

no matter who gets the seat, it's going to be a terrible person. it's just are they a 5 or an 8 on the evil scale

we're going to see a lot of pointless investigations into things Biden/other liberals did (or didn't do), and it's going to be 0% about actually taking any punitive action, 100% to influence the 2024 election and get dumb voters outraged.

probably the smart thing will be not to take the bait each time

normal stuff pic.twitter.com/ixAjSBPzXB

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 2, 2023

it's a good thing Clarence Thomas doesn't believe such things, no sir. glad to have such a pure, non-corrupted justice on the bench.

Clarence Thomas believes in the Constitution.

Y'all should read The New Yorker story on McCarthy.

fuck mccarthy, obviously, but the troubling thing is that there doesn't appear to be a limit on how far he will go to appease the freedom caucus. they prevented him from being speaker last time around, and the lesson he learned was that he needed to kiss some more ass.

McCarthy already pledged to reinstate Greene to her committee positions, right? it's hard to remember with everything going on, but the reason she lost those positions, in early 2021, was because she is a white supremacist. when she was finally, FINALLY just barely held accountable for that, by suffering the indignity of no longer being required to do anything on committees she never should have been close to in the first place, she claimed that she had been hoodwinked:

Greene spoke on the House floor ahead of the vote and said her past comments "do not represent me."

Calling herself a "very regular American," Greene said she "stumbled across" the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory at the end of 2017 but stopped believing in it a year later when she "started finding misinformation." But Greene has continued to spread false, QAnon-fueled theories since then, telling a local news reporter in July 2020 that she was "concerned about a deep state."

"I was allowed to believe things that weren't true," she said on the House floor Thursday. "I would ask questions about them and talk about them and that is absolutely what I regret."

somehow, since then she has repeatedly been fooled by these bad people! she's so unlucky! in feb 2022, she was fooled into appearing at white supremacist Nick Fuentes' white supremacy convention. when criticized about that, she described the conference as “1,200 people gathered to declare that Christ is King.” now she's probably McCarthy's most important ally. lol

xps all tolled I guess we should just be glad that all Thomas wants to do is re-criminalize gay sex

(and the pill)

can you imagine living in a boring-ass rich person suburban neighborhood and a group of your peers is going completely unhinged, led by Ginni Thomas, who believes all this shit and drags everyone along because they think she has an inside line to the workings of government? I mean, I wouldn't be living there, but what a trip. just getting high off your own supply

Love'em, such good people

the fundie church we went to in the 90s is long gone (well, it's a new church, really), but my mother has a lot of FB friends from that era, and at least three or four of them have gone down the Q rabbit-hole, and used to harass my mother over anything she posted that was pro-Democrat, but she still won't block them (so I showed her how to adjust audience settings).

and the scary thing about it is how lucidly they recall every little molecular detail of shit that they've read, like...perhaps if they'd applied the same energy to learning how things actually work, they wouldn't be so insane. like I can't even remember facts/details as vividly as these nutbars seem to be able to.

Privately, McCarthy remains defiant, keeping some final tactics available as he intends to stay on the floor Tuesday as long as it may take to get elected, according to several lawmakers who, like others for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private and ongoing deliberations.

“To use his words, if they’re playing a game of chicken, he’s ripped the steering wheel out of the dashboard and he’s got his foot to the floor,” one Republican lawmaker said, paraphrasing a recent quip by McCarthy.

...Without a speaker in place, basic House functions such as swearing in members and voting on a package dictating House rules would be delayed indefinitely. It’s a warning that McCarthy allies have routinely given their Freedom Caucus counterparts, and have emphasized that without McCarthy, a consensus candidate would have to emerge between the GOP and Democrats, ruining Republican chances of influencing anything in the next Congress.

the novel thing about this negotiation is that the people preventing him from being being speaker would, i think, be fine with congress being completely shut down. he's playing chicken with people who are totally fine with his worst case scenario. there's not really much more he can give them that he hasn't already done. he's already pledged to let the white supremacists run the show. he can narrow down the number of people needed to challenge his speakership from 5 to 1, which is absurd, because if you can't even get 5 of the worst fucking people on earth to agree with you that there should be a different speaker, maybe you shouldn't waste everyone's time in holding a vote on it. and he can accede to dipshits like Ralph Norman, whose said this afternoon that " he is still going to vote against him unless McCarthy adopts a seven-year balanced budget amendment." (ooooooooooook?) maybe he can give committee positions to a few more white supremacists, that might sweeten the deal

i'm guessing

The lunacy of House republicans appears to be incurable. Governance at the national level is going to be a train wreck. Again.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/us/politics/trump-desantis-hispanic-evangelicals.html

Mr. Báez, the pastor of a network of churches, avoided any mention of politics for years when his pulpit was in Philadelphia. He thought of his role at the time, he said, as being above politics. He rarely even voted.

But since moving to Florida in 2019 and starting a new congregation that meets in a former nightclub in downtown Miami, he rarely hesitates to speak about political issues.

Mr. Báez has told congregants about his decision to stop allowing his young children to watch Disney movies. He said the company had gone too far in its support for transgender rights, and he applauded the law passed last year by Mr. DeSantis and state Republicans that restricts classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity.

Mr. Báez has also been outspoken in opposing schools that educate children about gender identity.

“No teacher should be talking to young children about sexuality — let me as a parent do that,” he said, adding that he first became aware of the issue during the so-called bathroom bill debates years ago. “We have moved into the extreme views on this. We have to respect parents, not impose one view.”

Mr. Gracia, who emigrated from the Dominican Republic as a young man and is now 57, described himself as “old-fashioned” in his ideas about leadership, spending time reading about emperors and famous generals. That informed his views of Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Trump, he said.

“I have always been a great admirer of guts and being aggressive, and they both have this behavior of a true leader,” he said, musing aloud whether the two Republican rivals could run on a joint ticket. “I see in both of these men a drive and a strain that is extremely needed in the kind of world we live in today.”

GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told his conference he has given his all ahead of the crucial speaker vote. In a closed-door session, McCarthy made clear that there is no more to negotiate, according to people in the room. One person emphasized just how strongly McCarthy came out against detractors, scorning them for moving the goal posts again. As he was wrapping up, a lawmaker shouted, “Preach it, baby!” Members applauded and gave him a standing ovation. A defiant McCarthy yelled into the microphone, “I’ve earned this job,” and added an expletive.

just report the fucking expletive

Can't wait till Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has to meet with Biden and Speaker Jeffries next week.

“I’ve earned this job,” and added an expletive.

"fuckbois."

all of their worst members are expressing outrage this morning, I won't link because they are obnoxious af, but it is amusing to see them tear each other apart.

yeah it's looking like jeffries might have the most votes at the end of round 1, lol.

to counterbalance all this, i'm reminding myself that almost no one in this country is paying attention or will care, even if a series of really hilarious and humiliating events occur for mccarthy. but i'm warmed by the thought that it is going to be almost impossible for a GOP-led house to get anything done at all. i assume they'll unite on hunter biden and things of that nature, but otherwise you couldn't count on them to organize a barn wedding at this point

if only 8 GOP members could be convinced to vote for jeffries, "as a goof"

from yesterday:

This is very interesting. DON BACON tells us if McCarthy ends up bowing out, he may run a candidate against SCALISE if he runs. He said the candidate he has in mind is currently serving in congress, but won’t be in the next congress.

He declined to say whether it was fred upton

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 2, 2023

going to be totally unsurprised when the "nothing's changed, I will not vote for him" crowd eventually votes for him and he agrees to do things behind closed doors and pretends publicly that they caved.

I frankly can't predict what will happen. These ghouls are so adamant about strategy being a symptom of selling out that I can't see them bowing.

Congress will kickoff in March

Andy Biggs still saying he doesn't have the votes, before launching into a stirring rendition of "Dadow Shancing"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az5dzXRRh4E

Elise Stefanik manages to be in the background of so many of these pictures. She's someone who will say or do anything to advance her own career.

Lots of "bend the knee" talk

These people wanna be on TV and publish ghost-written books.

Aguilar deploying Biggie quotes in nominating speech

Gosar nominating Andy Biggs

What a fucking shitshow. They seem bound and determined to find the lowest common denominator.

Good title, A+

About to go to the House Floor. pic.twitter.com/81QVxmbHBb

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 3, 2023

Already up to 4 non-McCarthy votes from Republicans

this thing where he has like 10 people who won't vote for him, and his trick to get them to vote for him was to tell them that 5 members can initiate a vote of no confidence if he wins. doesn't seem like a good trick!

You know what I think of Beschloss but you must admit this is rather good. https://t.co/bgBetTTIeF

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) January 3, 2023

Catie Edmondson
Jan. 3, 2023, 12:56 p.m. ET7 minutes ago
7 minutes ago
Catie Edmondson

Some light guffawing from Democrats as two Republicans vote against McCarthy before the House clerk even gets to the “C” surnames.

now there are 7 votes-- so McCarthy can only lose 3 more?

“I earned this job,” Mr. McCarthy said.

“Bullshit!” came the response from Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, one of the hard-right Republicans opposing him. (She later told a reporter she did not shout anything during the meeting, but would not say whether she had spoken up.)

Gaetz votes for Biggs.

Gosar -- Biggs

10 votes now.

“But since moving to Florida in 2019 and starting a new congregation that meets in a former nightclub in downtown Miami, he rarely hesitates to speak about political issues.”

We should really spend some time thinking about this sentence

So Jeffries is going to end up with the most votes--which means a bunch of Resistance Libs will be temporarily very excited

McCarthy down 12.

lol so what happens now?

12 noon sharp and Republicans just had the metal detectors removed from the House floor #118thCongress pic.twitter.com/IRi8Q7LWJl

— Sarah Groh (@sarahgroh) January 3, 2023

xp - feverish manuevering

Plenty of time to make McCarthy sweat before the gavel falls

13 against McCarthy

Which is to say, it seems there's an opening for people to change their protest votes before all's said and done?

If concessions are being handed out for votes, why not get in line for the goodies?

Should start a betting pool on which GOP numbnuts will be the first to have a gun slip out of their pocket or purse and discharge on the House floor.

Which is to say, it seems there's an opening for people to change their protest votes before all's said and done?

― عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Now that the floodgates have opened this looks less likely. The opposition will grow.

My guess is we endure several speakers before the 2024 election. Maybe one of them will be Speaker Jeffries.

Down 16 now.

McCarthy tries to convince all but 9 of the reps who voted for others to switch? Someone more palatable to both sides is nominated?

Here's why it's bad for McCarthy:

Ralph Norman votes for Andy Biggs. Norman had said he would vote against McCarthy on the first ballot.

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 3, 2023

I see. Jim Jordan could ask the people who voted for him to throw their votes to McCarthy, but Biggs now has enough votes to keep McCarthy and Jeffries at a tie.

So the ultimate outcome is that we get House Speaker Scalise, leaving most everyone wishing it had been McCarthy?

Since they removed the metal detectors, we can only hope that means that this will end in a protracted gun battle.

Scalise has the experience then

lol you beat me to it

McCarthy and Jordan heading off somewhere together

McCarthy and Jordan heading off somewhere together

Jordan's taking him to the showers to "extract some concessions".

inserting some contractual obligations

Vacating the chair

🚨🚨 NEWS: Sources tell me TEAM MCCARTHY wants to move DIRECTLY into second ballot.

JORDAN making the rounds on the floor to whip his supporters.

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 3, 2023

Final numbers:

MY UNOFFICIAL VOTE COUNT:

Jeffries: 212
McCarthy: 203
Biggs: 10
Jordan: 6
Banks: 1
Zeldin: 1
Donalds: 1

MCCARTHY LOSES 19 ON FIRST BALLOT

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 3, 2023

Biggs Banks, the lost No Limit Soldier

Can't the GOP just split up right now instead of sometime in the not too distant future?

I think we have to wait until Trump announces his 3rd party run

MCCARTHY acknowledges behind closed-doors there are likely 20 or so members voting against him, not 5

— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 3, 2023

Clearly a victory for McCarthy, since it was only actually 19.

McCarthy now visibly whispering (sweet nothings?) in MTG's ear

So close to losing a full 10% of his caucus...

Anything he promises results in the dilution of his power lol. This is all stupid. Meteor, hit us, please.

Really wanted "JORDAN making the rounds on the floor to whip his supporters" to end "with a wet gym towel."

Is Kevin McCarthy’s defeat Biden’s Katrina?

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) January 3, 2023

Korea, Career, Korea, whatever

What a weird year this already is

OK, I've lost interest now

would Jim JOrdan as speaker just help speed dissolution? I'm sure he'd focus on really important things.

just got home after a few hours of not checking my phone. lol at him losing 19 votes. also lol at news that Jordan is trying to persuade his goon squad to vote for McCarthy, and instead, some of those goons are voting for Jordan instead. McCarthy has already lost this second round, as well.

looking forward to seeing how long Mccarthy's pledge to remove the wheel from his "car" and slam on the accelerator pedal will last

So what's the play now? All the anti-McCarthy people vote for Jordan and then Jordan throws his votes to McCarthy?

how does the second round work exactly

there is no plan, now. really, i don't think anyone knows. i don't know how this ever resolves, unless 19 people in mccarthy's own caucus suddenly figure out that they're incredibly dumb

can Jeffries briefly pretend to be a racist bigot for 5 minutes and con people into votes

xp I don't think you'd go broke betting against their ever figuring that out.

how far does this go before McCarthy approaches Jeffries with help on a compromise?

Strom Thurmond nominated

i guess if i had to bet, i would only bet $1, and i would wildly speculate that the only person who the current house GOP could agree on is going to be someone who isn't in congress (e.g., Upton, and lol Trump)

again, i think the astonishing thing is that mccarthy already bent over backwards to show himself to have absolutely no spine and to make clear that white supremacists would be running the show. i don't know what else the freedom caucus could want, they got their ideal stooge to take the heat for their corruption

josh marshall:

One of the core dynamics here is that, McCarthy’s strategy was to give the radicals anything and everything. Because that was the case, he had nothing really left to give. That’s not the only dynamic here. But it’s an important part of this. He enabled them. They want to make trouble. And the only trouble left to make was to destroy McCarthy himself.

so McCarthy's already lost again. Too bad they have to go through the whole roll call.

the idea with these repeat votes is that people change their vote after they've made their point. is *anyone* changing their vote on this round?

yes, but not in a way that helps mccarthy. Good and Gosar went from supporting Biggs (lol) to Jordan.

(e.g., Upton, and lol Trump)

Upton Sinclair as house speaker? I like it!

xp that seems like progress for mccarthy given that jordan nominated him this round. not a lot admittedly.

Jim Jordan is a gigantic piece of shit. he nominated McCarthy again for this second round, and voted from him). but it seems likely that Jordan was aware that he would become an alternative candidate during this process. by nominating mccarthy and then voting for him during failed second vote, maybe Jordan's thought (his first one) is that he can later claim to be a consensus candidate that showed real support for mccarthy, etc, but ultimately had to bow to the GOP's will to choose Jordan instead, a role he would reluctantly accept out of respect to patriotism, etc etc

but it goes without saying that there is no way that Jordan will become speaker of the house. so that whole plan is doomed as well

they should elect McCarthy, then immediately vote to vacate the chair. that would be funnier

be hilarious if a bunch of people abstained and didn't realize that only a quorum of votes cast are required (not total members of the House), and Jeffries wins

as far as the '5 votes to introduce motion to vacate' thing goes, caek otm upthread that having 19 people vote against mccarthy in the first round suggests that it's an incredibly bad, short-sighted idea. if mccarthy ends up prevailing, i would guess that he'd just abandon that whole pledge. it hasn't been adopted yet, and he would be digging his own grave to allow it

a speaker of the House has never been removed and the ability for the House to do so is theoretically, based on a memo from Jefferson. it would probably get tangled up in Court.

*theoretical

i saw it described as handing every member an signed, undated resignation letter which sounds about right.

Jordan w/ 18 votes!

you can see the importance of the fraud from new york, george santos. the GOP needs every single vote during the next 2 years. they're already down to a 4-vote margin and you can see how that motivates the more openly corrupt members of the party. take that down to 3 votes and it gives them even more power, and it also adds to the annoyance of the GOP actually having to show up to vote, in person - all of them - for every vote for the next two years. if someone is sick, if someone's kid is getting married, if someone needs to appear at a white supremacist convention, anything at all that is very common for a GOP Rep., they have to instead do the last thing on earth that they ever wanted, which is to show up in DC and fulfill the bare minimum obligations of their office. it's a really hard time for them

Imagine being so dumb and bankrupt that you swear to all hell that Jordan of all people will come through for you. https://t.co/P3WF7Vi3T9

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) January 3, 2023

Jordan at 19. is that all it will be?

god I'm hoping some of the insane white supremacists don't know what a quorum is

I've been joking about Jeffries becoming speaker but my god

there's no way

and if did happen, holy shit don't go to a rural area for a while because things would get really frightening

Greek Chorus for speaker

clint eastwood's empty obama chair for speaker

going to third ballot lmao

Thus sucker's going to a sixth, seventh, and eighth ballot

Miami Sound Machine wrote a song about this

The wives have gone home, the congressmen are stuck making googoo eyes at the pages.

Jeffries - 212
McCarthy - 203
Jordan - 19

nobody budged, lol

i know this is incredibly dumb, but hear me out: what if one of them nominates "the constitution"

https://i.ibb.co/bXrYMNK/2023-01-03-15-18-23.jpg

" ... you don't think!"

“McCarthy agrees to provide caucus members Dove bars every night, personally, like Santa Claus”

hear me out: what if one of them nominates "the constitution"

Maga McFreedom-Eagle

We only need 131 more ballots to beat the record set in 1856

I’m skeptical that the recent trend of horrible people getting publicly dragged (musk, FTX, Tate) will continue for long but you have to enjoy this while it lasts

xp the thing about the 1856 vote is that there was a gentleman’s agreement to take a shot of whisky after each round. Arguably prolonged the process significantly, although it made that evening’s game of The Congressional Razz more captivating then ever

If we reach 44 rounds of balloting, take note of the context from this wiki note:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Flkx_qtWQAIxq2k?format=png&name=large

An election for speaker took place over the course of eight weeks, December 5, 1859 through February 1, 1860, at the start of the 36th Congress, following the 1858 / 59 elections in which the Republicans won a plurality of the seats. William Pennington, a freshman congressman, received a majority of the votes cast in the 44th ballot and was elected speaker. The bitter election dispute deepened the rift between slave states and free states and helped push Southern political leaders further toward secession.

none of them are sane/clever enough https://mastodon.social/@mtsw/109627048832223852

Conservatives will vote for Rep. Jim Jordan on the third ballot too, according to GOP Rep. Bob Good.

Good told CNN that he expects Jordan’s support to grow.

He said the fact that Jordan doesn’t want the gavel is “exactly” why they want him.

Hmm, I see Anthony Devolder's path to the speakership there. xps

xp The communicative skills on display here, truly inspirational

Better this than voting to repeal Obamacare again though

Can't believe there hasn't been a single bootlicker to throw Trump's name in the mix.

we're just getting started! seems like someone will nominate him at some point, if nothing else than because they would get an article written about them

Some Democrats might not show up for future rounds, I’m told, by several sources… some are just bored by the House GOP drama, others think it’s better than voting present

— Robert Costa (@costareports) January 3, 2023

For now, it’s wait and see mode. What’s happening is some are gaming out what a missed vote or present vote would mean for the threshold and ending the chaos, all while wanting to stay on @RepJeffries’s good side. No one wants to break ranks but many don’t want to be here all day

— Robert Costa (@costareports) January 3, 2023

this seems the most believable outcome tbh

Sounds likes a real hostage situation

Always bet on laziness

pete sessions, voice of reason

“Sixteen of the 19 will be there until the cows come home,” said Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), a supporter of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “I think it ends when someone grows weary … I think this costs us prestige. There’s an old saying that the whole world is watching. The whole world is watching. I’d like to see us fight like hell internally to make this work.”

“I think somebody’s going to have to say, this is starting to look bad,’” Sessions continued, adding that he didn’t have any other names of a consensus candidate. “I’m not there yet.”

Yes, when I think of the current GOP, "prestige" is the first thing that comes to mind.

Dennis Hastert could be Speaker from prison via Zoom

or from the grave via seance, maybe he died (hopefully)

Newt is tanned, rested and ready iirc

he'd totally accept it

Newt may be the most relentless self-promoter of the last half century. I realize that's saying a lot.

But would Newt’s wife’s hair accept it

well he traded that in for new hair, it might be different now

Surprising choice but ok pic.twitter.com/HQ85sfXZCD

— Eli Valley (@elivalley) January 3, 2023

jeb! for speakership

third round, here we go again. same candidates.

Democrats would be stupid for not showing up every single time to draw this out as long as possible.

yeah I'll be pissed if they don't

the should be playing pickle ball on the House floor while this debacle unfolds (again)

You have to assume this is Boebert's last stand, and she knows the full force of the GOP machine will be working against her next cycle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm1wLkRJ30U

Jordan with 7 votes.

McCarthy just LOST another vote, Donalds voted for him on first few ballot, now voted Jordan.

OK, I've un-lost interest a tiny bit

Bowman said this right after he spotted Rep. Byron Donalds and urged him to "vote for a brother," ie vote for Jeffries for speaker and end this. "Reparations!"

— David Weigel (@daveweigel) January 3, 2023

they should do the vote in reverse-alphabetical order to shake things up a little

Dems should nominate Liz Cheney next round and get 6 R people to vote for her. she's terrible and not redeemed by the Jan 6th committee but since you don't have to be an incumbent House member to be speaker it would be a hilarious jizzing on the foreheads of the far right

and I don't see 6 Rs defecting otherwise

lmao bowman

don't see it at all really but hell we know our theories are much more interesting than what will really happen, is people will want to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and finally just vote for McCarthy

right now I'm playing Mortician and have the sound from the roll call playing over it, it's made the songs very interesting

btw Trump supported McCarthy after McCarthy thoroughly licked his boots. Trump looks weaker than ever.

On her floor convo with Rep. Gosar earlier, AOC tells me that McCarthy made claims within the GOP conf. that some Ds would walk away to lower the threshold. Gosar was asking AOC for clarification — would she walk away? “We would never do that,” AOC told me. Jeffries all the way. pic.twitter.com/yDsbJjFIPU

— Gabe Ferris (@GabeFerris) January 3, 2023

dems in disarray

well this is going to a 4th ballot, he's already lost 12 to Jordan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dp29XacCe8

Did Steve just slip and say... "some of these f..kers"?😳 pic.twitter.com/OnxUaRPrLA

— Christopher Bouzy (@cbouzy) January 3, 2023

lol

nominations:

a literal turd
a figurative turd
Louie Gohmert

lol AOC missed vote 3 and I think I heard her holler "Jeffries!" a few seconds later.

xposts Gaetz was also spotted having a chat with AOC on the floor, presumably also on the topic of whether or not the democrats would please go away to make it easier on them

i really shouldn't be laughing about any of this.

and yet.

Jordan again at 19

something for everybody

now he's at 20

not the first time he's been around 20-somethings and not done anything

sad lol

with all this obstruction they should call this the Bowel of Representatives

Kevin McCarthy is still not speaker. A staffer delivers Clay Higgins an entire footling from Subway outside the House chamber. It is nearing 5pm.

— Joe Perticone (@JoePerticone) January 3, 2023

oh dear. this is a different version of what was being discussed. This is less that Gosar/Gaetz asking the Dems to do this than asking for assurance they wouldn't, or trying to see if McCarthy was accurate that Dems wld bail him out. https://t.co/b36u7B7fr4

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 3, 2023

i am loving this

lol Jeffries still got 212. only diff is that McCarthy lost more vote

three votes, almost identical results.

A staffer delivers Clay Higgins an entire footling from Subway outside the House chamber.

footling is a fitting typo here, even if it doesn't quite make sense grammatically

This is really, really great.

agreed, my day has been made

Is it Christmas again, or what?

I'm really delighted, this is what every day is like in the UK Parliament right, it's so funny

what if someone just leaves a couple dozen cans of silly string on the house floor, just to see what happens

With no power, nothing to do
I still remember, why don't you?
Don't you

DON'T YOU

time to get black rod pilled

another hour or so and the evening news shows will be on, for people who still watch those, and the news will be that the debacle is still ongoing with no end in sight

silly string and banana peels for all. we can add "yakety sax" in post, right?

Has anyone prank ordered 100 pizzas to the House floor yet?

Shall the defectors form their own Pizza Party?

Kids on House floor ... pic.twitter.com/Eqlu3TtkgC

— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) January 3, 2023

Couldn't they provide something to entertain those poor kids, like a drag show?

January 3rd is the new January 6th

xp lol Dan that is a perfect zing

amazing photo

just threw $20 in the betting market for Jim Jordan. if I'm gonna follow this crap ima make a little money

(he won't win but I'll just make a little money as the price goes up and sell lol)

some interesting things happening in the statehouses today, as well:

Eying the board, Ohio's House Democratic caucus allied with about 20 Republicans (out of 64) in Ohio's state House to elect Jason Stephens as Speaker over the choice of the Republican caucus. https://t.co/KExUwaDAOa

— Taniel (@Taniel) January 3, 2023

Very loosely, inverse situation in PA, where Dems gained state House by a narrow 102-101 majority in Nov. but faced 3 vacancies that prevented them from electing their preferred Speaker. Now a Dem lawmaker was elected who says he'll be an Indy speaker.https://t.co/zdnFF2Svsa

— Taniel (@Taniel) January 3, 2023

lol now they're talking about voting to adjourn?

Money on roll call vote on whether to vote on adjourning

who presides over the chamber during all this

needs 218 votes. i don't see it

xpost Eric Andre

JUST IN: Kevin McCarthy officially falls on the third ballot.. a motion was made to a adjourn and was passed by voice vote.

House will reconvene tomorrow at noon.

Meanwhile- The US is without a Speaker of the House or a functioning House or Representatives.

— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) January 3, 2023

how 2 save either house or representatives

Honest question, since I have no clue about the procedural nuts and bolts of this: 20 Trumpy nutjobs are like "No way McCarthy." But they haven't put forward any viable alternative that could gain enough votes (Jordan, lol.) So why would (or should) McCarthy blink and stand down at this point?

absolute shitshow

It is possible to elect a Speaker with fewer than 218 votes. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) were elected with 216 votes in 2021 and 2015, respectively.

All/many Repubs could unite in ripping Speaker Jefffies a new one, each and every day.

trump or bust am i too late

Xxpost that's if people fail to show for roll call and vote. Majority needed regardless

I nominate my good self.

do we have to have a speaker of the house? what if no one ever wins this vote?

House is over

McCarthy claims Matt Gaetz told him he wouldn't care if speaker stalemate ends with Democrat leading the House

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDWIGkv5bJk

What exactly is their beef w McCarthy? He’s not Trumpy enough?

he's not really one of them, not a made guy (seriously, like George H.W. Bush)

Could start going another way when he thinks he can, is what they think, I think.

So how long can Jordan afford to stay with him?

Did y'all read last week's New Yorker profile. Guy's a soulless glad-handler. He's not vicious enough.

"your moments of clarity disqualify you sirya fucking douche!"

if this doesn't end in a kanye nomination, all politicians should be legally declared cowards.

Guy's a soulless glad-handler. He's not vicious enough. Yeah, like Poppy Bush to them. Also, he yelled at Trump about Jan. 6. (before going down there and trying to make nice, but there's the shit you can't take back)

(Even though he became "My Kevin.")

He's not vicious enough.

considering his caucus, this is a surefire recipe for failure

Democrats already sending out emails trying to fundraise off of the "utter chaos on the House floor."

Did y'all read last week's New Yorker profile.

Maybe for $5 a word, paid in advance. Otherwise, fuck no.

Such loyalty

EXCLUSIVE: 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."

— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) January 3, 2023

If you get on board the Trump Train, you will, at some point, be thrown off.

Democrats already sending out emails trying to fundraise off of the "utter chaos on the House floor."

They adjourned so they can't even say my $10 would go toward catering their dinners.

I have received four emails from Hakeem Jeffries in the last 30 minutes.

Lol I was gonna say "not me", and then lo and behold

Minnesota politics continue being endearingly unique ... first trans lawmaker sworn in by governor juggling a tin of bars in his other hand:

Leigh Finke ( @leighfinke ) first #transgender person elected to the state's legislature, attends the first day of the 2023 legislative session in Minn. @MPRnews pic.twitter.com/63XOjn5n5j

— Kerem Yücel (@keremyucel) January 3, 2023

Re: the Speaker race... I see no indication that tomorrow won't be a replay of today. This is viewed by the trumplings as a personal branding exercise, rather than coherent legislation

The only thing I remember from the New Yorker profile is that a young Kevin McCarthy ran a deli out of his aunt and uncle's yogurt shop.

https://www.republicanleader.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/kevin-o-deli-2.png

Santos trying to leave the Capitol tonight, still not answering any questions pic.twitter.com/L4OcDZEF4m

— Caitlin Huey-Burns (@CHueyBurns) January 4, 2023

Like Sinema - just utter contempt for any non-donors

I think at this point he has no friends at all. He lives in an era when he’s expected to carry on even though everyone knows he’s a fraud. In the past it would have been rough but he would’ve been forced down by now, out of...what was it? Shame? I forget how it used to work.

Santos/Sinema '24

Republicans need to settle this, they are rapidly running out of time for the Hunter Biden trials

"I didn't mean that holocaust, I said hellacaust!"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/01/03/george-santos-first-day-in-congress/

I feel like this conversation is happening somewhere in DC this evening:
Santos: I can't do this! I can't take 2 years of this!
Shadowy figure: We're paying you to do this, so you're going to fucking do it. You know what happens if you don't.

...or I've been watching too much tv.

nah that sounds about right

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/01/03/heres-all-the-legal-trouble-george-santos-faces-as-he-joins-congress/?sh=2cb8ba3a6ac1

Of course they really neeeed him in the House, so---?

the GOP works in deleterious ways

As much as I have worried about a slide into some form of authoritarianism — and still do — I have always allowed the caveat that these guys are incredibly dumb and capable of fucking up just about anything.

my proposal: Santos for speaker

the Santos hilarity is played out at this point

Not generally much of a fan of humor-based political stunts on the House floor, but honestly, Democratic MOCs arriving with vats of popcorn is a solid bit.

— mstdn.social/@emilylhauser Emily L Hauser אלה אסתר (@emilylhauser) January 3, 2023

I'm not so much amused as amazed at Santos: just how far does his fraud go, and how much does it matter, legally and politically? Too soon to know, esp. if somebody gets him some really ace legal advice: either cop to a plea and get it over with as quickly as possible, or maybe brazen/ draw it out as long as possible and sink back into the news cycle---either way, while in or out of office---I suspect further revelations will be upstaged by factions of House members, and what they get whichever Speaker to do.

I'm also surprised that nobody checked his claims, incl his basic bio ffs, until he was about to take office. Apparently if McCarthy was already in and doing business, Santos would be too.

not quite true

A tiny paper broke the George Santos scandal, but no one paid attention

popcorn buckets is a played out bit

why check his claims when McCarthy has his vote?

George Santos told his first lie of the New Year, falsely claiming to have been sworn in as a Congressman by the Speaker of the House on January 3rd.

The House has no Speaker, and no Congressman has been sworn in. pic.twitter.com/dGY0iV4osi

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) January 4, 2023

I'd be fair on this one and say his staff likely set an e-blast to go out days ago. But it's still funny

GOOD MORNING

Where's the tax r...

o never mind

Lol

👀👀 pic.twitter.com/vA7GPu9XSO

— Zack Stanton (@zackstanton) January 4, 2023

Seems unlikely, but so does everything else.

Benoit Blanc for speaker

List of today's nominees released:

https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2022-12/221201-gop-kanye-tweet-mn-1415-5d8d24.jpg

Stefanik maneuvering in the background.

Stealthfanik

I didn't know that Fred Upton is Kate Upton's uncle.

rumbles in the rotunda

Democratic leaders are urging the rank-and-file to stay united. Amid rumblings that Republicans will try to adjourn when the House convenes at noon, leaders told Democrats during a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning not to help the GOP. They told caucus members to vote against such a motion, forcing Republicans to solve their problems.

haha, sorry one more thing. i was kind of astonished.

“Republicans are the party of ‘never,’ and it's always ‘never’ when they don't like somebody and that's how we failed the country.”

who said it?

marjorie taylor greene, yesterday

She's starting to taste the possibility of larger office, evidently

She should taste a bullet.

Apologies; that was churlish of me.

List of today's nominees released:

A triumverate! They could rotate days.

I wasn't sure who Upton was and I was going to make a joke about Kate Upton would be a good candidate for speaker of the house

but I just discovered that Fred Upton is actually her uncle

small world!

nepo-uncle smh

Fremme Nepo venuncle

Speaking of Nepo Babies:

Trump belatedly spoke out in favor of McCarthy this morning and urged Republicans to turn their fire on Mitch McConnell pic.twitter.com/tKjFWguaX0

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 4, 2023

Some details from yesterday. What a happy bunch!

https://thetriad.thebulwark.com/p/kevin-mccarthy-the-chaos-speaker

byron donalds is a nominee for this fourth round of voting. chip roy is making the nomination speech. Roy says that republicans judge people by the content of their character, rather than the color of their skin.

jordan is not a nominee, in this round.

What a statement. Comes across as "most of you wouldn't be ok with a Black man for the job, we're kinda maybe alright with it kinda"

He made a comment about how for the first time two black people were nominated for Speaker, got a round of applause, and then had to add that well we don't see color.

Anyway, looks like McCarthy lost again.

So much for Trump's golden touch!

I wonder if Crazy Nancy Pelosi has packed the jar she kept on her desk that contained Donald Trump's balls.

Gaetz and McCarthy slapfight coming

From Ned’s link:

Crenshaw added that Tuesday’s dysfunction was a bad omen for the next two years and that Democrats are poised to out-maneuver Republicans if the Freedom Caucus continues to rebel against leadership.

“Democrats are way smarter at this game than we are,” he said. “They will all vote in lockstep because they’re smarter than these guys.”

Democrats in array!

Republicans have control of the House of Representatives, but no one has control of the Republicans of the House of Representatives.

I dunno, the Clown Prince of Crime might.

“Who’s on first?”

“No one here really knows what baseball is”

This version of the GOP seems like a meme stock version of a political party.

"give it to me"

"No"

"give it to me"

"No"

"give it to me"

"No"

"give it to me"

"No"

“Would you like a slice of cake?”

*accepts plate of cake, throws it across the toom*

it is extremely funny to see trump warn republicans not to embarrass themselves. he has used toilet paper from the 1980s stuck to the bottom of his shoes

i took the Trump thing as a sign that they had worked it out and he could get some easy points on top of it

... haha

I wonder if they'll just nominate a different third guy each time, until they've run through the entire GOP caucus

why don't the democrats throw him a few votes. yknow for the norms.

This time we nominate Rick Lazio

only Hastert can save us

not that trump ever makes sense, but...clearly whoever "wins" the speakership is going to endure living hell and be loathed from all sides. you'd think trump would support one of the freedom caucus people who have been kissing his ass for the last several years, just because there's no way they'll win. that way he could spend the next 2 years saying that if only his recommendation had been picked, the u.s. would be #1 and so great. instead he'll have to fall back on his prediction that "Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB — JUST WATCH!”

Yep that makes more sense than whatever is going on here. Has team Trump calculated that he needs to make a run at the center right? What does that look like....

This is a helluva ruse to stop Santos from getting sworn in before the FBI arrives

They're stuck in McDonald's drive thru, one or two more votes should do it

i am enjoying this trend of some of the voice votes turning into out of control yodels, as the voting rounds carry on.

Couldn’t they broker some sort of time-sharing arrangement, like in ABC order every house Republican gets to be speaker for a calendar week?

is there a Norm in the house

Or, nevermind - trading off every day

so, donalds voted from himself, which, props to him.

but now it's starting to make me doubt the sincerity of the frequent freedom caucus claim that they want to vote for someone who didn't seek the position. people like george washington. and...*coughs*...jim jordan

Karl, please! You can never doubt the sincerity of the Freedom Caucus.

Biden notes that newly elected Rep. @GregLandsman couldn't come to bridge because of ongoing votes:

“He's dealing with trying to figure out who's gonna be the next speaker… Wish him lot of luck. He may be the first freshman ever elected Speaker of the House representatives.”

— Justin Sink (@justinsink) January 4, 2023

So if McCarthy withdrew — which I know isn't likely — is there some other actual candidate who could get enough GOP votes? It seems kind of crazy for them to be going through all this when there's no serious alternative.

Scalise was the name floated, but who knows.

PaulRyanBarbell.jpg

Victoria Spartz (R-IN) must have someone else in mind. she just voted "present" (which costs McCarthy another vote), so i guess she didn't want to vote for Donalds, either.

Spartz_Drinks_Sparks.bmp

Watch, they'll end up picking Trump.

With the Spartz "present" vote, McCarthy gets his lowest vote total yet on this round!

This seems to be pure speculation, but:

My money is on Rep. Patrick McHenry of NC. Was a fire-breather, now an operator with a bow-tied pseudo-intellectual act that is viewed by wingnuts as Gingrichesque. @DavidCornDC https://t.co/43JK9lu4mo

— Jonathan Alter (@jonathanalter) January 3, 2023

is there any reason they won't just repeat day 1 - keep nominating Donalds, similar vote margins, then it's time to adjourn for some footlongs at subway?

*footlings

they should nominate one of the children in the rotunda. do they want the position? no. check. do they have a basic respect for governmance? no, they don't even know what that means yet. check. do they want to be on tv? sure, check. are they willing to kick and scream on the floor until they get their way, even if they don't even remember what set them off in the first place? at least one of these kids does, check. let the children run the show!

xp The main reason is that it keeps them from the important work of sweeping away the last remnants of the old Republic.

* governmancer, LVL9

they could probably all agree on electing a footlong

what about Jared from Subway? he and Gaetz are natural allies

tell me he's in jail still

The NYT reporters should never describe Matt Gaetz as "gesticulating with great force."

lol one GOP voter voted present, so as a result, Jeffries only missed by 5 votes this time

like McCarthy keeps saying he's close but he's lost a vote since yesterday and that's the extent of his progress.

Kevin's on track. going backwards is what the Republican party is all about

the next pivot is "do we really need a House of Representatives"

here we go again. round 5.

mccarthy is nominated. his nominator describes himself as "an army ranger and business guy", starts with "why would i nominate mccarthy?" and then talks about the dangers of dehumanizing opponents (in his own party). now he's talking about americans sending in reinforcements. he needs to learn about football as well, get the ball deep into the red zone and then go for 2. fuck going for one. go for 2.

not having a rule reducing the number of candidates each time is the problem, like if you could nominate an unlimited amount of people in round 1, then top 3 go to round 2, then top 2 from then on, that would probably solve this thing, but the way it is, I think we're headed for 735 rounds.

describes himself as "an army ranger and business guy"

that won't fly with QAnon. they know that the army and business are in cahoots to groom young men and pretend to sell pizza

this nomination speech for mccarthy has, at least twice now, spoken of people in his own party "cannot trust mccarthy". i like this message, he should keep repeating it

xp follow the pepperoni trail!

McCarthy told CNN earlier that he was not worried if his opposition grew on the fourth ballot. “It doesn’t matter — I have the most votes,” he said.

second-most

Boebert with the nom!

Meanwhile I just saw a clip of Jeffries speaking, which I guess I'd never seen before, and man his hand gestures are super annoying and distracting. Another one of these guys who studied the Bill Clinton Body Language book and just repeats it robotically. (Small complaint, I know, but I hate when politicians can't even seem human in front of a camera.)

I thought he spoke well while noticing his gesticulating with great force.

lol boebert nominates Donalds. she is wondering why the freedom caucus had to "fight so hard" in the negotiations for the house rules with mccarthy. uuuuuuuuuhhhhhh because you were in a fucking negotiation in which you had 20, they had 200, and they already caved to your demands? then she gets jeered at the end

https://i.imgur.com/nuB7dAi.png

she also took aim at trump (heavily recommended tactic) by saying that he should be supporting the freedom caucus.

Boebert says Trump needs to call McCarthy and tells him he should withdraw. Boos.

xpost

New York Times keeps repeating this stupid line:

Mr. McCarthy could win the speakership with fewer than 218 votes by persuading lawmakers who do not want to support him to instead vote “present” or to not vote at all.

that would only work if DEMS also voted present, ya dumbfux. if McCarthy's Republican detractors all voted present, Jeffries would win a majority of the votes cast.

and so far it doesn't seem like Dems are gonna do that.

I think Boebert's nom speech was the only one so far to get no applause

Who is that to Boebert's right/our left? That's an awesome dress, she looks like a superhero.

I thought he spoke well while noticing his gesticulating with great force.

He did speak well, I agree. Was just distracted by the theatrics.

Dunno, but I'm having fun trying to interpret the expression on her face. xp

Matthew 10:36: And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

(the only bible verse I know)

Going to be weird if this continues on January 6.

unless some Dems vote present, McCarthy has already lost on this ballot as well

Man this thread title is really delivering.

it's like fish in a barrel with these guys

mccarthy starting to remember that old saw about wrestling with a pig

Should I watch the NYT livestream like I did yesterday afternoon? These charlatans enervate me and this thread's funnier.

lol you clueless bimbo

Justin Amash, who left the Republican Party and the House a couple years ago, arrived and is floating himself as an alternative. "If they can’t decide on someone from their own conference, and they’re hesitant to pick someone from the other caucus, I’m an independent option."

Looks like McCarthy's strategy is to just keep having votes until everyone is bored and wants to go home

cant recommend livestreaming but the NYT live blog has been generating some chuckles:

I’m in the speaker's lobby peering into the chamber, and I can see a Republican member who is doing some shoe shopping on their phone.

The NYT live tally has been useful:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/01/04/us/politics/house-speaker-vote-tally.html

shit, Donalds got the memo that you're supposed to want the job, like george washington and jim jordan

GOP lawmaker Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who voted for himself after he was nominated for speaker, just told reporters he never really wanted to be speaker and didn’t come to Washington with that goal.

that you're ^not^ supposed to want the job. obviously

"Me? I'm no hero . . . "

summer's not too far off, let's just call a recess and come back in the fall

same vote again. lol

feel like they should consider coming up with a plan

nah. One more vote should do it.

i feel like there are probably several million americans who are paying no attention at all and are getting very annoyed at phone notifications going off every 30 minutes informing them that mccarthy has not been chosen

We've had the losingest time

After so many rounds of voting and hearing the same couple of names, a slip-up was bound to happen. Democrat Dina Titus (Nev.) said “McCarthy” when her name was called before immediately saying “Jeffries” and laughing it off. Fellow Democrat Veronica Escobar (Tex.) almost did the same thing earlier on the fifth ballot but caught herself and awkwardly paused before saying “Jeffries!”

mccarthy's only winning scenario, at the moment, is for 17 democrats to accidentally say his name

its crazy they didnt whip the votes before all this what did they think would happen

this is like some version of purgatory, but with Subway

If you stand in front of a mirror and say his name 3 times do you get a result?

Can’t they vote by holding up auction paddles?

Kevin thought he had earned it

Pelosi would have made sure she had the votes

Subway is actually the only winner here

this is like some version of purgatory, but with Subway

My version of purgatory already had Subway in it tbh

lol

George Santos getting caught up in his first convo with another human all week and missing his vote is… quality content. pic.twitter.com/zlPmPhlKOd

— Nate Morris (@_natemorris) January 4, 2023

C-SPAN really needs to just have the Curb Your Enthusiasm music on standby at all times

its crazy they didnt whip the votes before all this what did they think would happen

I think it's more that they tried and tried and couldn't get it done. It's not like they had an option to not have a vote on it.

they needed to try something else then find another guy offer more goodies something this is teh epic fail

lag∞n, get in there, offer goodies

"What they're really interested in is chaos," wrote Boehner. "They want to throw sand in the gears of the hated federal government until it fails and they've finally proved that it's beyond saving."

https://www.rawstory.com/kevin-mccarthy-john-boehner/

Who'd get it / would have gotten it if this were a secret ballot? Jeffries in the 3rd?

lol the santos clip. when they called his name twice and he didn't answer, i just figured he was on the phone with a lawyer (or pretending to be on the phone with his lawyer) or something

In silence, Boehner then finished his third bong rip.

Boehner otm, but has anyone thought about maybe changing the rules so there's a path out of chaos that is more democratic than the shitty anti-democratic rules we've been playing under forever?

IMHO the solution would have to start with a way to undo gerrymandering at the state level.

lol @ Santos' cringe after he realizes he missed the teacher calling his name

the solution would have to be to throw every Republican into a moat

john boehner otm. maybe it IS good to tan your balls?

i still don't really think a scenario where any sort of democrat-approved candidate wins is likely, but i do think that the freedom caucus would rather have jeffries as speaker than mccarthy. boebert and friends don't really have any idea what they're doing, they're not pushing any coherent plan or policy. all they have is "get this country back on track". the only role they have ever served is as the obnoxious opposition who gets to appear on newsmax. that's way more fun and easy when the speaker is from the other party

xp The alligators would refuse to eat them out of professional courtesy

maybe it IS good to tan your balls?

been saying it on the gay thread for at least a decade

LMFAO making public policy now

Many people are saying! xp

It just occurred to me that if trump turns against McCarthy, he’ll basically be following Boebert’s orders. And there’s no way he would ever do that. Shrewd move Boebert!

that old canard about the GOP circling the wagons while the Dems cannibalize

Without a speaker, the United States House of Representatives essentially becomes a useless entity.

"becomes"

I'm currently on the other side of the world, and even I can't resist following this over coffee.

Rep. Kat Cammack is the answer to the question upthread on Boebert's flank, and she's pulling major faces at the podium right now

-The House literally doesn't have the votes to adjourn
-As long as it doesn't adjourn, the House is required to take endless speaker votes
-No one can win those votes
-So Kevin McCarthy is stuck in endless repeating, inescapable loop of failing to become Speaker over and over

— Will Stancil (@whstancil) January 4, 2023

this is very funny also its weird that the country has managed to function for hundreds of years under out batshit constitution

going to be headed to "trading sex for votes"

what they should do if they really want to stick it to the freedom caucus is elect boebert speaker

Someone keeps interrupting Cammack and I'd be surprised if it's not Boebert

Paul Carrack for speaker

Tempted by the vote of another

cammack just said that democrats had "popcorn and alcohol over there", then gave a shit eating grin as they yelled back at her

what an asshole

Cammack sounds like a portmanteau of Biden's "C'mon, Jack!"

and cammack is the one in the blue and white dress who was glaring at Boebert. she finishes her speech and gets a standing ovation from 200 republicans

Tempted by the vote of another

Cool for Kat

many lulz to be had here, but among the lulziest is Trump as elder statesman, calling for unity and warning of potential embarrassment

Supervillain, then

Interesting that she is from Colorado. I used to live not far from where she's from--even attended the same high school for a year. Well, not at the same time--I graduated college the year she was born.

Donalds is the alt nominee again. this is like watching weekend at bernies 2, thousands of times in a row, only way, way worse

dental plan
Lisa needs braces

whoever is nominating Donalds notes that in this town, which is broken, literally broken, is rewarding criminals and ignoring victims. George Santos is not on camera right now, which is too bad

Washington is broken, y'all.

this is the kind of situation where Dwayne Johnson could prevail as a consensus candidate

The yelling is definitely getting louder ... how many more rounds before people start throwing things?

they should do like a weird western town with twelve people and elect a dog mayor

reading up on the lad this happened worst to = nathaniel "bobbin boy" banks of massachusetts

lol the santos clip. when they called his name twice and he didn't answer, i just figured he was on the phone with a lawyer (or pretending to be on the phone with his lawyer) or something

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, January 4, 2023 2:01 PM (twenty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

George Santos may not even be his real name

I would describe the mood in the chamber as increasingly sarcastic

— Jim Newell (@jim_newell) January 4, 2023

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5049214/user-clip-jared-huffman-pulls-leroy-jenkins

saw on the nyt earlier that the most votes they've ever done is 133 so y'all might want to pace yourselves

that was bobbin boy!

We can get through 3 votes a day apparently, and if the House works full 4 day weeks we can expect a Speaker around late March.

how many more rounds before people start throwing things?

The beatings will continue until morale improves hyuk hyuk

Actually, I think the greatest danger is for a handful of Democrats to vote for McCarthy just to put an end to the standoff - apparently Kaptur said she was open to the idea.

If that happened it would suck even more to be McCarthy - having won his position with - eek - bipartisan support would doom him even more with the delegation from Crazytown

imagine watching this as a civic minded teenager and ever thinking you might want to go into politics

this seems like something that would happen in italy, tbh

pic.twitter.com/8ogBYM0bbW

— Keith-ish Edwards (@keithedwards) January 4, 2023

How long until someone just yells THIS IS BULLSHIT during one of these roll counts?

1 vote recorded for Rep. Bullshit

Lol

democrats shouted that they wanted Cammack's words about them drinking to be removed from the record. McCarthy responded "there are no rules", meaning that they don't have the rules in place to strike something from the record

just want to note that this is the first cool thing mccarthy has ever said

Actually, I think the greatest danger is for a handful of Democrats to vote for McCarthy just to put an end to the standoff - apparently Kaptur said she was open to the idea.

― Immodest Moose (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, January 4, 2023 3:53 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the art of war is generally pretty remedial advice but there are people out there who could benefit from it

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/JcMAAOSw-s5eAwWq/s-l500.jpg

apparently Kaptur said she was open to the idea

Pelosi and Jeffries seem to have already laid down the law on this and the official position is Don't You Fucking Dare.

mmmmm steak

“I wish I could be part of some kind of a unity caucus that would yield [McCarthy] the votes, because the Republicans hold a majority, and maybe put us in a special category,” Kaptur told Taylor Popielarz, a Washington correspondent for Spectrum News.

what the fuck does that even mean, why do we let 75+ year old people stay in Congress

"put us in a special category" = in an ALF

i have no idea who kaptur is, but if they do that, they're done in politics.

“Maybe Freddy Kruger just needs someone to talk to.”

Bipartisanship has kapturred her brain.

Rusty Foster made the comparison, it's not bad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvd6MBsiDBo

we sent a reporter down to a diner in freddy krueger's hellish dream world to find out what regular people in hell think

"Republicans hold the majority" - do they tho

GOP holdouts are now demanding committee spots:

-@mattgaetz wants to chair Armed Services subcmt
-@RepAndyHarrisMD wants to head Approps subcmt on health and human services
-4 of 9 Rules Cmt seats to be hard-line conservatives

Via @HouseInSession https://t.co/Lh8a4VwFAc

— Emily Wilkins (@emrwilkins) January 4, 2023

cspan is funny - watch these idiots

https://www.c-span.org/video/?525146-1/gop-leader-kevin-mccarthy-appears-lose-sixth-ballot-speaker&live&vod

i have no idea who kaptur is

I had to look her up--she's from OH 9, she's been serving since 1983, the second-longest serving woman in Congress behind Barbara Mikulski.

“With regards to the fight over the Speaker… that’s not my problem,” Biden told reporters as he left the White House

far from it, I'm sure he's relishing every moment like the rest of us

for gaetz to have any demands at all, after mccarthy looked the other way for his sex crimes, is ridiculous, but then again he keeps skating through life and getting what he wants.

i don't know much about harris, but he is a leading anti-abortion advocate, and he's such a square (and a political dumbass) that he vehemently opposes recreational marijuana. he's the one who wants the health and human services subcommittee position.

Every day this continues postpones the creation of the House Hunter Biden Activities Committee.

Gaetz and Santos chatting on camera

the house adjourns until 8pm tonight.

they should just not bother with it all like when belgium doesnt "have a government" for a year or whatever

they have waffles instead

Belgium otm

waffles are delicious

Good fries also

also Belgium:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dkDepLX0rk

also Belgium:

https://i.imgur.com/iJRlBLI.jpg

https://cdn001.tintin.com/public/tintin/img/static/herge/1961-Tintin_Talbot.jpg

https://d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net/production/e0ac68bf-93fb-46e4-8c97-692a511d5cf7.jpg

not Belgium but

https://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/We-Need-to-Talk-About-Kevin_i03.jpg

burned boats

Boebert said the “boats are burned.” She said at this point “we need to get to a person that is a consensus candidate.”
Gaetz: “He’s a desperate guy … and I’m ready to vote all night, all week, all month, and never for that person,” per @AnnieGrayerCNN

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 4, 2023

Her Kleagle just had them watch a History Channel show on Hernan Cortes.

The time has come to say "Fair's fair"
To pay the rent, to pay our share
The time has come, a fact's a fact
It belongs to them, let's give it back

How can we dance when our earth is turning?
How do we sleep while our boats are burning?
How can we dance when our earth is turning?
How do we sleep while our boats are burning?

Boats Are Burning is my favorite Midnight Oil song.

Lol xp

So for Jeffries to win with 212 votes there just needs to be 12 republicans who vote present or forget to come back from dinner

please please please

you just can't make this stuff up

On a call with No Labels, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said that some Republicans are working on a backup plan as McCarthy’s speakership bid continues to stall. Bacon said that “if nine percent of the conference refuses to play ball at all, then we’re gonna have to work with Democrats on this.”

He added that the compromise candidate would definitely be a Republican who is palatable to both sides.

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) greeted the idea with much excitement.

Bacon didn’t reveal many details, saying that “you don’t negotiate Wall Street deals in public.”

If Democrats were to help Republicans out of this self-inflicted hell, of course, they’d demand huge concessions. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), while talking about the prospect earlier, suggested that Republicans give up chairmanships to win their help. It’s a good dose of reality against No Labels’ bipartisan dreams.

still horny for bipartisanship at his advanced age

looks like they're starting off with a motion to adjourn and head to subway eat fresh for a nightcap

i hear the new breakfast sandwiches are good? and with a noon return - hey

oh hey I forgot how much I hated Lieberman

Democracy is messy! And so are these new Subs!

motion to "enjoy a footlong melt with -- what's that? oh, um...provolone. with lettu- oh sorry, toasted, please. *one minute passes* yeah i'll take lettuce, tomatoes, onion...spinach...um...salt and pepper, chipotle sauce...and that'll be it. no chips and a drink, no thank you. thank you. debit" fails, 192-225

this is wild

even the vote to adjourn was a shit show. 216-214 to adjourn til noon tomorrow, with a 4 non-votes from the GOP, 2 from the democrats, and a bunch of yelling and booing and cheering

A lotta drunks