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

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"