U.S. Politics, November 2022: “I don’t know, you hear the same things I do”

Good morning!

i really should have put that within Hide tags. it might be a good practice to completely hide #huntergate inside tags for the duration of the breathtaking scandal

oh shit, Jim Jordan on the case.

When's that George Clooney produced Ohio State abuse scandal doc coming again?

If you think about it, Hunter Biden would never have been the son of the president had Joe Biden not become president. This goes all the way to the top. #offbrandon

Can only imagine they'll find a way to work his daughter's diary in there too. I'm sure this will be at least as productive as the Benghazi hearings.

anyone have any thoughts about pelosi/house democratic leadership? apparently she's supposed to announce it, any moment now

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/nancy-pelosi-future-plans-announcement-democrats-lose-house-rcna57573

The speaker’s plans are still unclear, but a source told NBC News that she took home two different versions of the speech she plans to deliver. She is expected to speak at 12:10 p.m. ET.

"We’re all waiting for white smoke from the Vatican," one senior Democratic lawmaker told NBC News.

the ole 'two different versions' trick, i love it!

The longer one is a Tom Moulton remix

has vibraphone and at the start she rips the fake one in half then commences

she's reading it now, and it just said "gave proof through the night that the flag was still there" and received very tepid applause

damn, i was hoping she'd go with the "now it's time to settle every single grievance, at length, you fuckers" version

two olds enter. no olds leave.

she's reading it now, and it just said "gave proof through the night that the flag was still there"

america is the most embarrassing country.

aaaaand she's stepping down

Helluva run. Best House Speaker since Rayburn and maybe even better than Rayburn.

Pramilaaaaaaaaaaa

The longer one expounds on her feelings re vampires vs werewolves.

i would just like to note at this point that hakeem jeffries is terrible, and will make a terrible dem house leader/speaker. is he running?

The real question is who among the Dems has her talent for iron control over the caucus?

xp she definitely had a good run during a very complicated time. i do wish she would have passed the torch in 2018, but alas. speaker decisions are difficult because it's not about who has the best ideas or the best vision for the future or whatever, it's about who can get all of the members to vote in the same direction

Whatever triumphs we've got -- there are a few -- it's thanks in large part to her vote counting.

xxp how's Clyburn's record as whip?

i don't know, but like pelosi, he's 82, and it would great if they could get some leadership that is within 20 years of most of their voters

quick googling but the median age of democratic voters appears to be about 35 years old. so fuck, if they can even get within 25 years of that, it would be a nice change of pace

Steny Hoyer is a spry young 83, call him in

Hunter is 52, just saying

The median age for representatives in the last congress was 60, but it's possible that's lower among just the Democratic delegation

I just... shut it all down. Just shut everything down.

Herschel Walker doesn't come across as the ideal US Senator, but the main reason he's called "stupid" seems to be because he speaks in a heavy regional dialect, with lots of colloquialisms. This alone does not make him "stupid" -- he sounds like countless Blacks in the Deep South

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) November 17, 2022

This man has somehow amassed more than 300,000 followers and they can't all be hate follows.

Clarence Thomas has a regional accent. He is stupid.

I just can't imagine even feigning that kind of incredulousness.

Hoyer and Clyburn both stepped down as well so there ya go.

Jeffries will earn some leadership position then.

At least one of our Dem reps from Minnesota has already named him by name, so the wheels are def turning

Hoyer seemed the most innocuous. I can't think of anything memorable he ever said. Or was his power in the back rooms?

Jeffries served as a clerk for Judge Harold Baer Jr. of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, then worked in the litigation department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison before becoming assistant litigator for Viacom and CBS, where he worked on litigation stemming from the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy.

TIL

Jeffries to me then: “I’m a Black progressive Democrat concerned with addressing racial and social and economic injustice with the fierce urgency of now. … There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism.”

— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) November 17, 2022

cool, cool

"hard-left democratic socialism"

wha?

"never take the knee"

lol Fighting the real enemy-- Chapo

The political song satirist Mark Russell once rhymed "well... anyhoo" with "Steny who?"

And that has not left my mind.

I have no idea where my car keys are but I can remember verbatim lyrics to some stupid sub-"Capitol Steps"-level parody song from 20 years ago. This is 51, folks.

just hitting me now how bad jeffries is going to be. don't know what you've got til it's gone.

I would probably not put anyone soiled by SBF money in a leadership position but that’s just me.

call your congressperson and tell them to support Pramila

I've been assuming for years she wants it

as a compromise, jeffries should at least do a tip of the hat and a nod in the direction of hard-left democratic socialism

He can't -- he's on his knees.

"There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism."

https://media.tenor.com/A6REms8pMPMAAAAC/gia-gunn.gif

Can't believe they're gonna replace a passionate socialist crusader like Nancy Pelosi with a sellout hack like Hakeem Jeffries.

There was a Politico article a couple of weeks ago that implied that the job is Jeffries' if he wants it:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/04/secret-meeting-hakeem-jeffries-pelosi-00065078

Clyburn: "I look forward to her continued service and doing whatever I can to assist our new generation of Democratic Leaders which I hope to be Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar."

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FhyR1lAX0AInqCW.jpg

Jeffries sounds like a dud

From @WUTangKids — The next 2 years of Republicans running the house summed up in one quote:pic.twitter.com/dCVnMb63uU

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) November 17, 2022