Do you think Republicans in the House should consider nominating a moderate speaker that could gain Democratic votes?

[goaded]

It only takes five Republican representatives to defeat anyone else and keep humiliating the Republican party.

I expect a few Democratic representatives could be persuaded to support a candidate who would refuse to dance to the fascists' tune. Especially if they also refuse to gut the ethics committee and a couple more concessions.

They might wait for a few more votes, just to prove their point.

No anonymous opinions, you think it, you own it.

Updates

+1 y

Some really good conversations took place last night, and it's now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY, & WATCH CRAZY NANCY PELOSI FLY BACK HOME TO A VERY BROKEN CALIFORNIA, THE ONLY SPEAKER IN U. S. HISTORY TO HAVE LOST THE "HOUSE" TWICE! REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT. IT'S TIME TO CELEBRATE, YOU DESERVE IT. Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB - JUST WATCH!

Updates

+1 y

The Ohio Statehouse just elected a moderate Republican with the support of the minority Democrats.

"... Democratic members took the opportunity to back Stephens because they felt he would work on redistricting matters in good faith, along with other initiatives like school funding, workers rights, and infrastructure projects."

[RolandCuthbert]

What moderates do you see in the Republican party? Even if there were a couple that isn't enough to elect a new speaker. The dems would need at least 6 Republicans. I don't think they could find two. The Republicans have to figure this out on their own.

But this is what happens when you let the patients run the insane asylum. And they are whining over what everyone should have known was going to happen. These dudes do not govern, they destroy.

[goaded]

Very, very few (if any), but there must be a few who intend to retire in 2 years, or who believe in democracy and government, surely?

You'll notice I didn't ask them to consider a Democratic Speaker, where they'd be starting from 212 votes (I think), but obviously that would be politically unreasonable (aka "taking the piss").

Robert Reichs suggests making Ohio’s Republican Rep. David Joyce Speaker. He voted against impeachment, but he also was one of the few Republican House members who did not object to the counting of electoral college votes on January 6, 2021. Maybe someone who can be worked with.

[Ill_made_Knight]

Upton's name has been thrown around a bit, but guessing someone like that would be unacceptable to the "never Kevins" as well... Freedom Caucus gives no damns.

[goaded]

@Ill_made_Knight All Democrats and just a few Republicans could seal the deal.

[Ill_made_Knight]

Democrats would want concessions to seat a Republican... Jeffries only needs 6 votes also, but that's fantasyland stuff

[RolandCuthbert]

Goaded, it ain't gonna happen. We are in for a long fight. And whatever solution comes out of this will come out of the Republican party alone. They do not compromise. . . even amongst themselves. And the person who is eventually nominated will be unable to control this beast. It will be beyond comical in terms of what happens in the next Congress.

[Ill_made_Knight]

agreed, this is just a tiny sneak preview of the incompetence to come.

[jshm2]

Republicans just need to admit it's retarded and asinine people voting them in, and not their merits. Hence why they cannot find consensus between them to vote in a speaker.

The Democrats have more of their shit together than the Republicans. Even the dullest of Republicans should know that.

[Ill_made_Knight]

Pundits are throwing around ideas like, Dems offer the votes necessary to elect Fred Upton in exchange for retaining some committee chairs or other concessions.
Personal opinion is the current brand of Republican will have nothing to do with any such negotiation. They shouldn't have to, but they'e known since November they would be electing the speaker and still can't get to 218. That's what happens when you have people who have no interest in governing elected.
Even at that I think it's unlikely Republicans don't work it out on their own, and would guess that any sort of bending would only happen after weeks of failure to elect.
R's will work it out is my bet.

[goaded]

Upton is no longer a representative, but that's not necessary, as I understand it. You know who else isn't, but eligable? Trump. Wouldn't that be amusing?

[goaded]

The other, more serious option would be Liz Cheney.

[Ill_made_Knight]

I've seen the Trump option thrown around... being speaker is work, can't imagine Trump wanting to actually work.

[goaded]

He wouldn't have a clue.

[altaboy]

That's just crazy talk! Someone like that might be inclined to compromise, and we can't have that, can we?

I think that would be a fine idea, but it would never happen today. I think both sides would be better off if they worked together.

[goaded]

Working together requires concessions on both sides. Not one Republican was willing to vote for anything the most right-wing Democrats refused to vote for. It's not because of their policy positions, it's because of extreme partisanship.

[CrazyGirl2]

It’s their party, I suppose they can do whatever they want. I guess that a moderate elected with votes from the other side would be better for the country than a straight party-line vote! But it is times like these that I am so happy to be a non-partisan independent.

[abc3643]

That would be nice.
McCarthy isn't it. He's an asshole with the firmness of a 100-year-old man's boner.
The problem is that moderate GOPers don't really exist in the House anymore because the primary process wipes them out. Ask Liz Cheney. If SHE was still in the House right now, she'd get enough DEM and GOP votes to win it.

[abc3643]

I wonder if the two dislikes/disagrees that I have gotten so far are from fellow limp-dicked sycophants of Trump's. Kevin McCarthy got what he created. He made a deal with the Devil and now the Devil wants his soul.

(more)

[abc3643]

www.nytimes.com/.../...-mccarthy-speaker-race.html
OPINION
MICHELLE GOLDBERG
Leopards Eat Kevin McCarthy’s Face
Jan. 4, 2023

As we approach the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, it’s been grimly amusing to see that the party of insurrection can’t even manage the orderly transfer of power to itself. Rarely does karma play out so neatly.

Kevin McCarthy nurtured the spirit of reactionary nihilism in the Republican Party, first by trying to harness the energy of the Tea Party for his own ambition, and then by his near-total capitulation to Donald Trump. Now the chaotic forces he abetted have, at least for the moment, derailed his goal of becoming House speaker, subjecting him to multiple public humiliations at what was supposed to be his moment of triumph.

It is still possible that McCarthy will manage to eke this thing out by making even more concessions to the growing bloc of Republicans who oppose him. It is not possible, however, that he’ll emerge, in any real sense, as a leader.

Unable to corral his caucus for what is usually an easy vote, there is no chance McCarthy would be able to get them on board for hard ones, like keeping the government open or raising the debt ceiling to avoid plunging the country into default. His best-case scenario is that he’d be a fragile figurehead, a hostage to the hard right and constantly in danger of defenestration. And even that scenario looks increasingly out of reach.

(more)

[abc3643]

McCarthy’s approach to the far right has always been one of indulgence. Despite his own apparent lack of ideological conviction, he recruited many of the Tea Party candidates elected to the House in 2010. As Robert Draper, the longtime chronicler of the Republican Party, wrote in 2011, they represented “McCarthy’s more entrepreneurial approach to politics: seize upon a trend (in this case, government phobia), put all your money on it and then work hard to make the trend last.” McCarthy persisted in this approach as the Tea Party evolved into Trumpism, earning Trump’s patronizing sobriquet: “My Kevin.”

Marginalizing Trump after Jan. 6 would have been politically risky for McCarthy, no doubt. But by flying to Mar-a-Lago to abase himself before Trump just weeks after the attack on the Capitol — signaling to all that Trump remained the leader of the Republican Party — McCarthy helped seal his own fate. Trump is a major reason the Republican House margin is as small as it is; voters rejected many of Trump’s handpicked candidates, as well as the party’s broader election denialism. And though Trump himself has endorsed McCarthy, many of his disciples are hostile to anyone associated with the Republican establishment.

(more)

[abc3643]

As The Times reported, of the 20 lawmakers who, as of this writing, have voted against McCarthy, 17 were endorsed by Trump in 2022. Five of them are freshmen — these are people who are part of Trump’s remaking of the Republican Party. Arizona’s Eli Crane, for example, is a former contestant on the business reality show “Shark Tank,” where he pitched bottle openers made of dummy.50-caliber bullets. (“Shoot open some bottles in the manliest way possible,” says an ad for the product.) Florida’s Anna Paulina Luna, an ally of the Trump die-hard Matt Gaetz, is a veteran and former swimsuit model who built a career as a conservative rabble-rouser, most recently running Hispanic outreach for the right-wing outfit Turning Point USA. These people seem to be crafting brands as much as political careers, meaning they benefit from high drama and have little need to work their way through Republican institutions.

The movement these characters are part of — one McCarthy hoped would carry him to power — isn’t simply ideological. It’s also a set of defiant, paranoid, anti-system attitudes, and a version of politics that prioritizes showboating over legislating. That’s why McCarthy has found himself unable to negotiate with the holdouts. There are no real policy stakes, no concessions he can make on issues. The anti-McCarthy faction’s demands are largely about power and visibility, and whenever he meets those demands, they move the goal posts.

(more)

[abc3643]

McCarthy evidently believed that by courting Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, an avatar of hyper-performative politics, he could co-opt her wing of the party. He was set to offer her valuable committee assignments, and, according to Draper, had even offered to create a new leadership position for her. But her elevation would be valuable to other Trumpists only if there were concrete things they hoped to accomplish together. Putting Greene on the Oversight Committee does nothing to help those who aspire to her notoriety. They don’t want policy; they want airtime.

One of the most amazing aspects of the House Republican crackup has been watching Greene’s angry exasperation as her shot at real power is imperiled by attention-seeking hard-liners. “They’re proving to the country that they’re just destructionists,” she said on Sunday. It was the embodiment of the Twitter meme: “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.”

By bowing first to Trump and then to Greene, all McCarthy has done is show other Republicans how much there is to gain from pushing him around. His downfall isn’t surprising: Almost no one who has sold his or her soul to Trump has come out ahead. (The jury is still out on the Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik.) The reason these deals with the devil always go bad, I suspect, isn’t metaphysical. It’s simply that Trump sycophants are ultimately undermined by their weak and flabby character.

McCarthy’s Republican opponents are right in surmising that he believes in nothing and will yield under pressure; the evidence is his inability to stand up to them. His mistake was convincing himself that a party obsessed with dominance would reward submission.

[Snakeyes7]

Honestly, I'm ok with McCarthy losing this. I don't know much about the Democrat candidate but McCarthy is a uniparty establishment shill who will just do what the democrats want anyway.

Seemed like a douche and a turd sandwich situation to me.

[DarkWinterNights]

First time even a fraction of the GOP had a spine. It’s a bummer Progressives folded so hard to elect Nancy last time around and Jeffries this time. Hopefully these GOP get something out of it, though the establishment will inevitably win in the end, vote their own pay raises, fellatiate their Wall Street masters and the country will continue to suffer economic ruin.

[Roxxy99]

The only way you might get some Democratic votes is if they nominated Liz Cheney….. and that might even be a stretch.

[bamesjond0069]

No. There's no place for moderates. We need extremists that can play fucking chess and know when to back off to crush them 3 moves ahead but aren't limp wristed pos liberals in disguise that are satisfied with moderate aka what was once extreme liberal just a decade or two earlier policy.

[exitseven]

No, no matter what the Republicans want to do no democrats will vote for it. It is just the way it is. They need to get America First members to try and help Americans that have really been screwed over.

[Dargil]

The speaker need not be a US Rep. Some third party like Elon Musk (but not him... he's too rich) could be nominated.

[goaded]

Yup. Even Trump could be. I'd love to watch Republican representatives try to find excuses not to vote for someone who wouldn't have a clue how to do the work involved!

[goaded]

What was I saying, McCarthy obviously doesn't have a clue how to do the work involved!

[Agagagagaga]

“ I'd love to watch Republican representatives try to find excuses not to vote for someone who wouldn't have a clue how to do the work involved!”

Why? Because you’re a loser with no life? Get a better hobby. Maybe try talking to a woman. That is if you can tear your attention away from Donald fucking Trump.

[LiamJHayden]

McCarthy failed in 2015 and is failing again. Most likely outcome is he has to step aside and Steve Scalise, who is personally liked by a lot of Democrats even though he is quite conservative, gets the Speakership.

[Avicenna]

This is an immense amount of gaslighting, even for you.

[goaded]

How? McCarthy's not going to win, the Republican party is looking more and more like a joke, and the country would be better off without it being run by morons who thing the world economy is a plaything.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely. Wasn't Obama able to get Republican voters a long with undecided voters

[captain_voidwalker]

I think they should nominate an America first speaker and kick the uniparty people to the curb. Just like the democrats should have kicked Nancy to the curb last time.

[goaded]

Yes, all ten of them should take over the House.

[captain_voidwalker]

Yep 100% correct

[goaded]

No. That's not how democracy works.

[captain_voidwalker]

Your right that's why we aren't a democracy we are a constitutional republic and that's exactly how it should work

[goaded]

Nope, still not. A republic is a democracy. The power is held by the people, not a monarchy, and the only way the power is held by the people is through democracy.

[captain_voidwalker]

No in a republic power is held by elected representatives, whom are elected by the public. Representatives fighting with one another and making government work at a snails pace is exactly how it should be functioning. This stops the minority from bieng ruled over by the majority. There has to come a general consensus all agree upon not just 51% of the population

[goaded]

And the Speaker's position is being held back by fewer than 10 idiots.

[captain_voidwalker]

Exactly this way those 10 people still have power and can make demands and concessions. This is how they represent the people who voted them in.

[goaded]

And the other, what, 425 have to take it? No. As soon as a reasonable person asks for help from the Democrats and makes concessions, they'll be Speaker.

[captain_voidwalker]

Yes they do. That's how our system works.

[goaded]

Watch and learn.

[captain_voidwalker]

That's fine if they wanna go that route, but it's not going to be a good look come re-election time

[goaded]

Nor is being a bunch of numpties for two years.

[captain_voidwalker]

Actualy I think that's quite fantastic. The government not doing anything is always better than whatever bullshit scheme they try and fuck the people over with next.

[goaded]

New Zealand did well without a government for several years, until civil servants needed a pay rise.

[Juxtapose]

They should get a person who will go after Fauci.

[goaded]

What for? Trying to keep Americans alive? People like you are why America's at 787 per million dead in the last 12 months, compared to 585 in Europe.

[RolandCuthbert]

Consider the source. Mr. Youtube doesn't realize Congress cannot prosecute a single soul. All they could do is drag him before a committee. Fauci would actually try to answer these clowns' questions. A good lawyer would just tell him to take the 5th. There isn't a thing they can do to him. Other than look like the clowns they are.

[Juxtapose]

People like you are why people are being found with these weird white blood clots in their bodies 😬

Fauci is criminal and deserves to face justice for the millions of lives he has ruined. He was also responsible for the gain of function research that even Obama knew was insane and forbid. Why do you think he had to go to China to do it?

With how bad Biden is, I actually miss Obama.

[RolandCuthbert]

Well, every one knows that white blood clots only started happening when Fauci came along. And he has only served in government since 1984. You wouldn't have to a Youtube video documenting all those incidents of white blood clots for all these decades.

Fauci is definitely in Youtube jail. But I am quite sure he doesn't care. He only cares what the justice system will charge him with which will be nothing. Even under the orange turd, Barr would never have thought of bringing charges, since there were none to bring.

Fauci didn't ruin any lives. Because Fauci can't pass a law. He can't order anyone to do anything. He can only give advice. And if you are such an idiot, you cannot talk to your own doctor about your health and well being, don't blame him.

Blame yourself. And put yourself in jail.

You miss Obama. I won't be disingenuous. I miss George W. Bush, since I voted and campaigned for him.

[Juxtapose]

@RolandCuthbert Fauci works with the deep state, a. k. a the world economic forum in service of the great reset.

[RolandCuthbert]

No wonder you didn't ask a medical doctor about the vaccine. You need a psychiatrist.

[Juxtapose]

Whatever you wanna believe 🤣