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

it's a little closer to going on Shark Tank to find investors for your bottle opener business, for some of them

it's very bizarre to watch the jovial atmosphere among the republicans, the laughing, the jokes. Santos is cracking up at various things, people are slapping each other's backs.

Crane votes present, gets an ovation as well. that's how they're going to get out of this - part of the quartet of gigantic dorky assholes (biggs, crane, good, rosendale) are changing their votes to present to lower the threshold. i don't think it'll matter how gaetz votes, now.

https://i.imgur.com/CrA2amh.png

this is the kind of prick Eli Crane is

Asked whether he’d consider changing his vote for Rep.-elect Andy Biggs to a “present” vote — which would deliver the speakership to McCarthy — Rep.-elect Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) said, “Why would I do that?” A reporter asked him whether he had considered voting present at any point. “No, not really,” he said.

then he voted present.

he's the kind of guy who does the "stop hitting yourself" trick, but then he keeps doing it every single day until the end of high school

lol the guy sitting next to Boebert on the aisle facing Rogers is my congressman.

On that note, Minnesota (pun intended) representing this week, with Tom Emmer one of the top puppetmasters and Dean Phillips delivering the cathartic "Wow" nominating Jeffries in the final lap.

Still kinda weird to see practically nobody wearing a mask on the House floor. (I hear Lauren Underwood was.)

Republican Mike Rogers’ anger at Matt Gaetz likely stems from a potential offer, floated by Republican leadership, that would give Gaetz the gavel of a subcommittee on the House Armed Services Committee, according to two people familiar with the dynamics.

Rogers (Ala.) is the expected chair of the Armed Services panel, and believes there are more qualified people to lead the subcommittee than Gaetz, according to one lawmaker.

"Might give you some perspective on why Mike Rogers blew up on the floor,” the lawmaker said.

Gaetz could've been offered the gavel of the subbasement bathroom towel replacement subcommittee and I still would've wanted to deck him

I have to assume he’ll get punched at some point during the next two years

Good luck Kev

What happens if now he can’t pass the rules

chaos will reign

The more chaos hopefully the less permanent damage done. Seems to be the one point of optimism. Hope that ain't Pollyannaing though.

This was probably noted up thread, but in case it wasn’t

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/06/1147256602/jan-6-capitol-attack-biden-citizens-medal

This wasn't all a distraction now was it

If January 6th had in some way been successful this kind of scenario wouldn't have ensued would it?
Like the GOP were prepared to take power now weren't they?
Wouldn't you like a little more revolution right now? Though might swing the wrong way.

Though that would have been them retaining power and making even more of a mess,

I'm so glad I was in bed by 10.

Opening Arguments podcast from yesterday talking about the process of changing over House of Congress sessions/line-ups/whatever.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1mv8BKEJjZ1yvj8BISnU3K?si=993d109348544734

Like, wondering if there was an actual teleological understanding of what the insurrection hoped to achieve taht was in any way coherent.
Lack of Moderate's reaction might seem to question what can be cut out and rejected so can you get rid of all of teh GOP as extraneous. like, innit.

Gaetz is the one keeping this going, why would he flip now?

― frogbs,

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/07/gop-panel-criminal-investigations-00076890

Given the abject failure of past political stunt committees on Benghazi, the Steele dossier, etc, I can't get too worked up about that bullshit. It will get airtime on Fox/Newsmax/etc but mostly fall flat because unlike the Jan. 6 investigation they're not going to turn up anything very substantive. And looking like they're trying to protect the insurrectionists and Trump plays well with only a small slice of the electorate.

What if one member of the ultraconservative faction succeeds in engineering a cult of personality around himself or herself or themselves? Is that impossible to contemplate?

Will this usher in an era of the Weakened Speaker, or Division on the Right and Left Regarding the Institutions of Government? Why are the Institutions of Government not as much a focus as the Constitution? Are they more difficult to measure because they include practice? Could they be a rallying point along the same lines for the Left? But they would need to be approached critically (cf. the filibuster).

inspiring, dems know the alphabet

hakeem jeffries just went from A thru Z in his speech pic.twitter.com/7wLi2pcIAu

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 7, 2023

https://i.imgur.com/ptg2pNl.jpeg

slay queen

So supposedly they're gonna do the rules vote tonight? Should be a hoot.

be amusing when Kevin doesn't help deliver on any of the promised changes

democracy is the worst form of government except for alphabetization

era of the Weakened Speaker

I read this at first as "Weekend Speaker," which might not be a bad idea.

Weekend At Kevin’s

Porter is a gem. I hope she runs for President one day.

dems know the alphabet

now we know that hakeem has attended a Black church service. i can't say for sure about lag∞n.

I like Porter but that photo is cringey the same way the Liu photo with popcorn was cringey.

Losing the critical hipster vote

the memeification of politics has been depressing

now we know that hakeem has attended a Black church service. i can't say for sure about lag∞n.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, January 7, 2023 4:13 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

very cool man

heres another great jeffries sermon

“Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever!”

Hakeem Jeffries defends Israeli Apartheid like George Wallace did U.S. Apartheid. Was gonna be quiet but seeing so many glowing tweets & lies is too much # to take. Palestinians are even less safe today.pic.twitter.com/bA3hfoJjP0

— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) November 30, 2022

criticizing his policy seems more to the point than dissing him for speaking in the style of a Black preacher

defending a really dumb grandstanding speech because its in the style of the black church, and having the fact that its in style of the black church be the entire defense, is perfected vacuous liberalism

why u hate fun?

fun isn’t the word i’d use

criticizing his policy seems more to the point than dissing him for speaking in the style of a Black preacher

"____ today, ____ tomorrow, _____ forever" echoes not the Black church but George Wallace.

the fun in question is just too illustrative of contrast between the values the dems claim to stand for and their actual political actions, also the work in question is just on the merits lame as hell

"____ today, ____ tomorrow, _____ forever" echoes not the Black church but George Wallace.

― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Saturday, January 7, 2023 7:04 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

tbf aimless was talking about the other speech but yeah extremely strange choice on this one

xp
echoes not the Black church but George Wallace

I think you mistook my intent, which was not to suggest that "____ today, ____ tomorrow, _____ forever" was an echo of the Black church, but that criticizing Jefferies for his unquestioning support of Israel was legitimate, whereas criticism for indulging in a rhetorical tour de force was in 'old man yells at cloud' territory.

are politicians weather, something to ponder

right, but criticizing rhetoric which exactly echoes the rhetoric of a former apartheid state in support of a present-day one seems extremely fair

jeffries was my state assemblyman at one point, i shouldve befriended him i could be bigtime now

instead im debating weather its ok to make fun of embarrassing speeches, sad

a rhetorical tour de force

https://as2.ftcdn.net/v2/jpg/02/20/29/33/1000_F_220293387_kYO9HulyTopVLrDMGNnWoZek7TzicoWC.jpg