For those of us who have worked in and around Congress for years, last night’s final election of a speaker in the early hours of Saturday was nothing short of an extended Nascar race, particularly if you come to watch the cars crash. The evening had everything from gallows humor to a virtual wrestling match on the floor.
It finished as unpredictably as it began. Kevin McCarthy fell just one vote short of winning as tempers boiled over and the GOP sought an adjournment until Monday. The Democrats then overplayed their hand by gratuitously seeking to prolong the pain by opposing the motion. Then something unexpected happened…
…the holdouts changed their votes.
At midnight on Friday, after twelve hours of grueling deliberations and votes, there was no reason to force the GOP to continue to vote except to enjoy the sport and spectacle of the moment. It was gratuitous and peevish and it produced the opposite effect on the GOP ranks.
It was reminiscent of the scene in True Grit when John Wayne stops Glenn Campbell from spanking Kim Darby — not because she didn’t deserve it but because “you are enjoying it too much.”
The opposition to adjourn clearly was too much for the holdouts watching the glee of the opposition. Popcorn is one thing but prolonging pain is another. The holdouts agreed to vote present to give McCarthy the win.
Some Democrats seemed stunned by the reversal of fortunes with Rep. Dean Phillips (D., Minn.) rising to nominate Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and saying, “I rise to say, ‘Wow.'” Opposing adjournment for fun is like staying too long at a dinner . . . you can get stuck with the check.
The moment seemed to galvanize the GOP and McCarthy and others quickly changed their votes to oppose their own motion and join the Democrats. They then elected McCarthy as the 55th Speaker.
The moment should not be lost on Democrats. It is one thing to prolong the punishment but you cannot enjoy it so much that you supply the missing unifying catalyst for the opposing party.
The 118th Congress is now in place and will reconvene on Monday. Things are likely to now move fast and furious for the new majority. There is likely to be a shortage of popcorn in the beltway.
The bad guys overplay their hand and lose. One of the tastiest treats in life.
P.S. Typo: The Democrats then overplayed their hand by gratuitously sought to prolong the pain . . .
sought should be seeking.
There was almost a fist fight between Republicans Gaetz and Rogers on the floor last night. Rep. Hudson physically restrained Rogers.
Thank God the immense concentration of power in the leadership of House of Representatives has been diminished. In recent decades, the philosophy of the leadership of both parties has been to run roughshod over the rank and file.
Hear hear. Dems will complain of gridlock, but the old-fashioned term is checks and balances.
A majority party running roughshod over a minority party is bad enough. Worse, however, is when party leaders run roughshod over their own members, which was the focus of the debate this week.
Thank god for gridlock, now they can’t hurt us.
There is nothing in the constitution about Democrats and Republicans, afaict, but they have effectively controlled the political process since the Whigs went out of business in the mid 1800s.
It doesn’t matter how you count the votes if only Ds and Rs can win. Evidently, even duly elected members of congress can’t seat a Speaker – a constitutional requirement – or take a pee without permission. The ‘IC’ has six ways from Sunday.
That’s why I propose a constitutional amendment to ban all private, proprietary political parties from participation. In fact, I propose a ban on even ‘running’ for elected office and all associated political advertisement ~ think of the savings!
Just write it in. .. and cut out the middle man.
*Snowden for President 2024 ‘The Crown Jewels of National Security’
As often happens, it seems like Turley and I were watching two completely different circuses last night. Here’s what I saw:
(1) It took 15 votes to elect a Super-RINO swamp critter Speaker of the House — a man who is essentially a lobbyist working for special interests against the interests of the American people in general and people who vote for republicans in particular (including people like me, a lifelong Independent with equal-but-different contempt for both parties) — a man recorded in a January, 2021, phone conversation as saying that he wanted his fellow House republicans BANNED from social media.
(2) The culmination of a week of Hannity attacking House conservatives night after night for blocking the installation of a malignant anti-constitutional swamp critter as third in line to the presidency of the USA, basically burning any connection Hannity had with his own core audience similar to the way that Fox “News” has been burning its connection with its core audience by;
(a) attacking and lying about Trump,
(b) denying that there was any fraud or misconduct associated with the 2020 (and now the 2022) election,
(c) promoting a pfake COVID “vaccine” as “safe and effective” when it was long ago proven to be neither safe NOR effective.
(3) A wildly-fraudulent process executed by the establishment “republican” Surrender Party in coordination with Fox “News” that actually led “republican” Representative Ben Crenshaw to call conservatives “terrorists” and the “enemy.”
(4) Swampy McCarthy’s drunken GOON trying to physically attack and intimidate Representatives Gaetz and Boebert, after both of them appeared to be surrounded by establishment “republican” THUGS for an extended period of time, making Representative Boebert appear visibly uncomfortable at both their physical proximity and the message they were apparently offering to the two holdouts against gangster Swampy McCarthy.
IN SUMMARY: What I saw was the most embarrassing and corrupt beginning to a “republican” majority House EVER — a travesty executed for the purpose of getting this lying, corrupt, anti-constitutional, anti-free-speech RINO swamp critter THUG elected Speaker of the House.
@Ralph
Agreed. The Professor’s continued good faith in people that hate what even HE stands for is gobsmacking. All I saw was the dems getting what they wanted to continue do exactly what they’ve been doing the past number of years in a completely unfettered manner. Their takeover seems to be complete – it is impossible to counter them or eject them. Still praying it doesn’t come down to firing shots. I wish I could muster some hope for my country, but I can’t. Musk is all we’ve got, pray he stands firm.
I’m concerned, but not particularly pessimistic — possibly because pessimism isn’t an especially productive or creative state of mind, and partly because I tend to view things the way they currently are as what is hilariously referenced at the Engrish website (that’s Engrish, not English) as “the clam before the storm.”
One thing that pessimistic people overlook is one of Trump’s greatest — and irreversible — accomplishments, which was to open up people’s eyes to the complete corruption of the media. Polls show that most Americans want forensic audits of elections after the 2020 election, and most Americans think that tampering influenced the 2020 and 2022 elections, and most republicans were OPPOSED to Swampy McCarthy becoming Speaker. What that shows (or PROVES) is that most Americans no longer use corporate media as their trusted source of information, because NO corporate media — Fox, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, or others I may be forgetting — have been reporting on people demanding election audits, or there being election fraud, or republican voters opposing Swampy McCarthy. People are clearly locating that information elsewhere than corporate media. It’s not just a few “conspiracy theorists” or “election deniers” or “anti-vaxxers,” etc., to quote a few of the labels invented by corportate media to stigmatize the MAJORITY of people who;ve wokent up to the fact that they’re being lied to relentlessly.
When you combine that apparent FACT that corporate media has lost its influence with Musk’s freeing up Twitter (if that actually happens), it opens up all sorts of possibilities. There’s no telling what will happen now that the citizenry has been liberated from the slavery of reliance upon FAKE NEWS.
No House vote on rules package last night. I want to see what rules they agree to.
We never had to deal with this much chaos when George Santos was Speaker.
Did it look like a mess?
Sure.
Go round and round. Debate. Make deals. Break deals. Find common ground. Vote. Vote again. And even again. Until they come up with a solution, or person. No one gets everything they want.
Isn’t that what democracy is?
IIRC, this is what picking a party candidate looked like. Smoke fill back rooms.
Or used to.
About time.
Based on their difficulty even electing a Speaker — the most votes since before the Civil War — I anticipate this GOP-led House to be all hat and no cattle.
Nope. It’s a HUGH win for taxpayers. Republicans will now be able to block any bills passed by the Senate and signed by the President.
If the House blocks bills, they never reach the President.
What bills will THEY pass?
The Federal Government is not supposed to rule the people’s lives. It exists to bond the states together, not to rule them. Communists and dictators need the type of cohesiveness you are seeking. That cohesiveness belongs more to the states and localities, than to a one shoe fits all federal government.
Although Matt Gaetz accumulated some new enemies this week in Congress, by far the least respected institution in America, he earned the loyalty of millions of conservatives from coast to coast.
Still waiting for Gaetz to lead. Gaetz is like most Republicans, they dont like the work of being in the leadership. Back benchers yowling like two cats mating. I have no expectations they will accomplish anything with all their hearings. They have no idea how to leverage information to advance their cause.
You are talking about Gaetz the pedophile right? I forgot, that isn’t a crime when Republicans do it.
Gaetz was never charged with a crime. I know of no one who is suggesting he got favorable treatment.
His wingman Greenberg who went to jail for the same offenses, some with the same teenager would say different.
“After the sentencing, Greenberg’s attorney Fritz Scheller said he was “disappointed” that the Justice Department hasn’t charged anyone else as part of the sex-trafficking investigation, which includes Gaetz.
Scheller previously said in court that Greenberg gave investigators information about seven or eight other men as it pertains to the illegal sexual contact with a minor.
“We expect the federal government to take on the hard cases and not just the easy convictions,” Scheller said, urging prosecutors to “pursue others.”
“That’s what they’re there for,” Scheller added, saying the Justice Department should hold “higher-level” figures accountable for the sake of democracy.
Scheller said he and Greenberg communicated “fairly recently … in the past few months” with prosecutors as part of his cooperation in the sex-trafficking investigation.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joel-greenberg-sentenced-sex-crimes-freind-matt-gaetz/
TL;DR: Enigma lied. Imagine that
enigma – what is the actual evidence that Gaetz had sex with a teenage girl. Does the girl say so? Is there documentary evidence of a liason in a hotel? Is there a picture of them together in an intimate setting or even in public? Did anyone see them in an intimate location? Does the girl have a gift or a communication from Gaetz? Are there flight-logs showing that he was on Epstein’s jet? (Oops, wrong politician.)
Other than the eyewitness testimony of his wingman, there is evidence he paid for the minor’s travel for the purpose of sex, also a crime.
https://nypost.com/2021/04/29/matt-gaetz-associate-admits-both-men-had-sex-with-teen-girl/
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/547280-gaetz-paid-accused-sex-trafficker-who-later-sent-same-amount-of-cash-to-teen/
Besides paying for the minor to have sex. Gaetz paid actual adults for sex which is also a crime.
Enigma, you should learn to read past the headlines and see if the facts below the headline match it. They don’t, and that is your problem. You always make unjustified assumptions.
You already know these prosecutors wanted a conviction and weren’t scared off. Who wants a jury to laugh you out of court because of hyperbolic headlines that don’t match the facts? Are you attracted to ridicule by your claims that do not concur with the facts?
I should have added besides the Venmo payments there are a number of Cash App and Apple Pay payments for sex, though he calls it tuition.
Prosecutors would love to pin anything on Gaetz but failed.
Over time you have developed credibility problems. This time is one more to add on top of all the others.
—
Career prosecutors recommend no charges for Gaetz in sex-trafficking probe
Investigators see credibility challenges for two main witnesses in a probe of the congressman’s alleged past dealings with a then-17-year-old
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/23/gaetz-no-charges-sex-trafficking/
Scared prosecutors don’t mean there was no crime, in this case they felt the word of one pedophile screwing the same girl wasn’t good enough. By your standards, Prince Andrew isn’t a pedophile because nobody dared to prosecute him.
“Scared prosecutors “
Prosecutors aren’t scared of Republicans especially far right ones. Along with credibility problems, are you also lacking the knowledge necessary to render opinions?
While it’s true that Prosecutors are reticent to prosecute any rich, white men, Democrat or Republican. The fear of Trump meant jailing his attorney for paying off Trump’s porn star, with Trump’s money (that he wrote off on his taxes_ then pretending Trump wasn’t somehow involved. That fear has trickled down to his acolytes like Gaetz who we know paid for the transport of an underage teen for sex.
No charges, you must by just pushing the party lies.
Gaetz is the one that wanted a pardon.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/matt-gaetz-pardon-request-related-to-trafficking-probe-testimony-transcript/ar-AA15Kr0E
“…Gaetz the pedophile…”
_____________________
There went the final vestige of even the vaguest concept of legitimacy related to anything this delusional, racist, antithetical, anti-Constitutional, anti-American,entitled and unworthy communist ward of the state writes (do you still need affirmative action and the full panoply of favorable, biased, communist social engineering to persist or may we abolish that unconstitutional rubbish now?).
This wholly erroneous and vile fraud is equivalent to and deserving of the unsavory, ad hominem, n-word response.
At some point, Professor Turley is going to find himself compelled to allow arrows of equivalency in the quivers of the attendant authors as a consideration of equity.
Of course, the polite among them here will not stoop to his level and use them, derived of their immutable sense of decency.
I’m so proud you made it through four paragraphs without mentioning Lincoln. Baby steps!
Democrats never did understand that this prolonged vote wasn’t about “chaos” or any other stupid label Dems tried to put on it. This vote, and debate, was about democracy, something the Democrats gave up a long time ago. Democracy is messy, but it’s certainly preferable to the totalitarian side show Pelosi and her cult followers exhibited for the last two years. Dems have been shamed, and can never again claim to be the party of democracy and independent thought.
Democrats didn’t overplay their hand. It was in the people’s interest that the Republicans pick their Speaker so the House could resume all its functions. If anyone overplayed his hand it was Matt Gaetz. He’s made a lot of enemies from his own party’s colleagues. Had he voted McCarthy in the next to the last vote, he’d have been lauded as rational. Boebert had the same opportunity. In the last vote, the altering of their stoic irrationality fell without a mic drop.
Kid, I agree with you.
Democrats did overplay their hand. Had they voted for McCarthy earlier, they would have had a Speaker closer to their side of the aisle. The conservatives pushed McCarthy from the left side of the Republican Party toward the center.
The episode was about democracy peeking its head out to see if it still existed. No Republican overplayed his hand, causing harm to the public, though it might have been if permitted to go on any longer.
Matt Gaetz is entitled to his opinion. If it hurts him, that is his problem. The nation is better off with a bit more democracy.
If one wants the Republicans to speak with one voice, then the Speaker must accept principles that meet the basic requirements for conservative leadership.
What were the Freedom Caucus’s demands? These demands are the problem for those that think the debate is solely about a hard right shift. Principles are involved. The governed have a right to demand from those who govern.
Here are some of the demands. Aren’t these demands what all Americans, Democrat, and Republican, should be seriously considering?
—
asked McCarthy to hold votes on a balanced budget, the Fair Tax Act, the Texas Border Plan and term limits for members of Congress but “he refused,” Perry said in a statement.
Perry also said: “We requested transparent, accountable votes on individual earmarks that would require two-thirds support to pass, and to ensure that all amendments to cut spending would be allowed floor consideration. He dismissed it.”
The Pennsylvania congressman also said the caucus “demanded that he cease his efforts to defeat competitive conservative candidates in open Republican primaries” and he denied it.
https://justthenews.com/government/congress/house-freedom-caucus-chair-says-mccarthy-declined-his-members-offer-ahead
To conservatives who think a prolonged vote for a Speaker is wrong, think about principles. How can Republicans speak with one voice if there is no agreement on the basic principles? This is not a matter of ‘perfection is the evil of good’.
—
The Demands of the Freedom Caucus Are Not Unreasonable
McCarthy needs to prove he will make the House the People’s House again.
https://spectator.org/freedom-caucus-demands-are-not-unreasonable/
Sorry to be a downer but “same as it ever was”. BUT if by some miracle they push through term limits, that would be a start… 😉
Term limits require a constitutional amendment.
And one I would definitely support as I suspect the majority of Americans would. The time has come to take away the concentrated power of the elite political class as well as federal judges.
We have term limits every 2 years. All of the house and one third of the Senate.
Not sure about that but maybe you are right…If so we don’t want to open up the Constitution to the likes of this Congress then;-)
The eyes of Hakeem Jeffries are dead — there is nothing behind them. When he smiles it doesn’t reach those eyes, which are the gateway to the soul. It was scary to me to see the Dems line up like controlled robots and vote enthusiastically, time after time, for this guy, who seems more suitable for a zombie movie than speaker of the house. Not sure Kevin McCarthy is any better though. This WEF stooge is weak and won’t hold the line for freedom and liberty when he negotiates with the corrupt representatives of the national security state.
Hakeem Jeffries eyes are not dead, those are the eyes of an evil man full of racial hate and a desire to destroy his own nation.
you mean like every open border, hate filled, pro drug, anti-cop, pro-crime, pro deficit democrat?
Either you’re blind or a racist if you can’t see it.
McCarthy brought on this circus for callously dismissing the Freedom Caucus back in the summer, when he didn’t think he’d need their support. McCarthy overplayed his hand back then. And I’m thoroughly disappointed in the many so called conservatives who outed themselves this past week, as establishment shills! Especially commentators and more than a few politicians. Crenshaw won’t be able to be elected dog catcher after his bonehead maneuver!
Chang, as a conservative guy who hasn’t voted for any Democrat since the 1970s I find your attitude to be what always hurts the Republicans. The far right hard core guys like you fight the possible to try to get the perfect and you kill any chance to make gains with the majority of people, which is what politics is all about. I am not saying that Mitch McConnell should remain, or Ronna McDaniel should stay in place, but when your far right folks go after people like Crenshaw and other moderately conservative folks you hurt the party that is trying to fight Biden, Pelosi and now Jeffries.
We saw the above phenomenon manifest itself when Kristie Noem made one political mistake regarding trans sports. Yes, ie was a mistake, but the fools on the far right would rather have a Democrat than to ever support her again. Same goes for Nikki Haley. I find this to be a trait of the hard core Trump people, the Always Trumpers as I call them. They would rather follow Trump of a lemming cliff than support anyone their Dear Leader disagrees with or supports. This is how 2022 happened.
So Chang, save you barbs and arrows for Democrats and stop doing what Tucker Carlson does too often, blame Republicans for not stopping the Democrats rather than blaming the Democrats for what they are doing. I am not saying don’t be critical of Republicans, just remember who the true enemy to our country is and it is the Democrats.
Hullbobby- well said. The enemy of good enough is perfection. Look for perfection in church. You will never find it in politics or life for that matter. I would love to see abortion strictly controlled with limited access but that simply will not fly in some states, no matter how perfect you are. Winning by increments is worth it, but it is frustrating and long. A small victory can lay the groundwork for another and another. Changing hearts can slowly change minds and then votes. When you reach too far and for grandiose results, that is when you are must vulnerable for an attack from other directions. Most grandiose attempts at victory lead to spectacular defeats.
The “chaos” trope, which all Democrats and most of the Republicans, and the MSM, have been using to describe the extended voting is silly. There was no “chaos,” except for the failed recognition by McCarthy and his team over several months that he did not have the votes and would not get them simply by persisting.
The opposition did not trust McCarthy to return to “regular order,” meaning in particular requiring twelve separate appropriations bills and single issue bills. Nor did they trust him to fight to stop spending increases, including in the military, or to conduct unfettered investigations of the FBI/CIA. They demanded changes to the structure of the legislative process to promote these objectives. They had leverage and they used it effectively. When they got what they wanted, they ended their battle. Even Gaetz concluded that either someone he trusted or McCarthy in a straitjacket could be speaker.
Nothing the opposition proposed was actually radical. Regular order was the standard until a couple of decades ago. The Church Committee operated in the 1970s. A single representative could move to vacate the chair until Pelosi changed the rule. The outrages of bills like the $1.7 trillion omnibus are not traditional but a cancerous recent growth.
Anyone looking at this objectively would conclude that this was politics at its best. Whether the structural changes will be implemented or make a difference remains to be seen, and it is far from clear that McCarthy will pursue this agenda aggressively, when difficulties arise and a government shutdown looms. Further splits within the Republicans will be revealed as the bills are considered, especially regarding defence spending and Ukraine.
But this was a welcome step in the right direction.
Daniel: You must be an avid reader or a student of modern-day politics. I say your understanding of the issues is in the top 1/100 of one percent. Bravo, and thank you for putting it out there. I have not heard it so succinctly from anyone in the press including from anyone at Fox News. The ‘hair-on-fire’ crowd in the MSM and congressional Dems was beyond irritating.
Agreed Daniel. After watching most Republicans quietly pass a 1.7 Trillion dollar Omnibus spending bill with zero review or analysis, is it any wonder why so many Americans wanted to try and stop this runaway spending spree ? Gaetz and Bobert demanded some fiscal sanity. Hopefully this was a wake-up call for Kevin McCarthy to hold the line…..
D: Finally, someone injects some facts into what motivated the “recalcitrant” 20. Well done.
If I’m reading this right, one of their biggest coups is a promise to conduct a serious investigation into FBI, DHS, HHS, et al. censorship. If they do that, as a *serious* investigation, then they could very well save America — at least for a while.
The DEEP STATE includes all the actors in the FBI, DHS, etc. Those people WILL NOT COMPLY with “requests” for information. Wray would only understand a 5AM ‘wake-up call’ like was done to Trump’s friend in Florida, Roger Stone. I would love to see HIM J-6ed into solitary for a year or so with some big fellas who are complete strangers. He would sing like a bird methinks. Will that happen? Only in my dreams.
The deal sounds a lot better now then when it started out. Pity McCarty & his crew Wasted 60 Plus Days.
They should have already ironed out their differences.
The Democrats expose themselves for what they really are….
The House will be in chaos during the next two years. Kevin sold his soul to the freedumb caucus when he agreed to its demands. All he had to do is negotiate with Jeffries. But no, he caved to the RWNJ’s.
I’m bullish on popcorn futures.
Wally: Did you even read what the demands of the Freedom Caucus were? All perfectly reasonable and pro-democracy. But hey, if you prefer the lockstep totalitarian style of Pelosi and the Dems, by all means join their party.
Election denier should be stamped on every image of Jeffreys lest anyone forget that he is no better than the shoes he’s stepped into.
Yes, and he’s a radical, to boot. Very unlikely that moderate Republicans could crossover and give such a lunatic the gavel. Much more likely that McCarthy would have to buy the votes of moderate Democrats–few as they are–but that nuclear option is no longer necessary.
If I were a moderate Democrat, I’d be disappointed about the blown opportunity. Clearly, the new minority leadership is too clever by half. There were better choices for minority leader, but identity politics got Jeffreys the job.
Anyone who thinks that the GOP will save us from the tyranny is a fool. We have a faked two-party system.
My mantra is ‘Never a R or D Again!’
But don’t misunderstand me, if a third (4th, 5th, 6th…) party ever comes along, that doesn’t mean we allow any of them to be a part of the new ones (like Trump suggesting he will start a third party).
If anyone has ever served as a Rep or Dem, they are banned from participation.
There is nothing in the constitution about Democrats and Republicans, afaict, but they have effectively controlled the political process since the Whigs went out of favour in the mid 1800s.
It doesn’t matter how you count the votes if only Ds and Rs can win. Evidently, even duly elected members of congress can’t seat a Speaker – a constitutional requirement – or take a pee without permission. The ‘IC’ has six ways from Sunday.
That’s why I propose a constitutional amendment to ban all private, proprietary political parties from participation. In fact, I propose a ban on even ‘running’ for elected office and all associated political advertisement ~ think of the savings!
Just write it in. .. and cut out the middle man.
*Snowden for President 2024 ‘The Crown Jewels of National Security’