Forget Ringling Brothers, Barnum, AND Bailey. They have absolutely nothing on the current Republican Party and the three-ring-circus they’ve been staging in their botched selection of a new US Speaker of the House.
Politics :
They said “Hand us the House and we’ll show you how to lead.” Too bad their razor-thin majority to lead the US House of Representatives has yet to work out even a little bit.
Unless you’ve been living on the dark side of the moon, you’re aware that not a single new member of the House has been sworn in. That’s because Republicans have spent 2 days delaying the 118th Congress by infighting over who should be the next House Speaker.
GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California wants the job more than he wants air. After all, he’s spent years auditioning for the position by never having a backbone or opinion of his own — all the while twisting his spine into knots in order to appease anyone who could hand him the prize he has long coveted.
And, therein lies the problem.
A small contingent of Republicans (led by Rep.Matt Gaetz of Florida and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado) simply do not like the spineless McCarthy and have been hell-bent on convincing their party to deny him his dream job.
It takes 218 votes to become Speaker of the House. So far, McCarthy has repeatedly come up about 20 votes short.
On Wednesday and after 6 failed vote attempts, Congress delivered an unmistakable message to McCarthy: “We’re just not that into you” which was code for “You’ll NEVER be Speaker!”
The standstill means that the House is currently incomplete and without sworn members. Or, in other words, it’s unable to perform oversight, pass bills, set up constituent services, or conduct the business of America they were elected to do.
So, what exactly is behind the anti-McCarthy for House Speaker sentiment? The answer is simple: ego and personal vendettas.
The GOP screwed up royally when they allowed QAnon/MAGA ReTRUMPlican crazies into their party — and crowned Donald Trump as their sovereign king. Now, these crazies are not only hungry for individual power and importance, but they’ve turned on their own members and want to burn Congress and its system of rules to the ground.
They also have an absolute distaste of and distrust for Kevin McCarthy.
Believing that he’d magically be named Speaker at the 11th hour, McCarthy counted his chickens before they hatched and moved all of his belongings into Nancy Pelosi’s former office before a single vote for Speaker had been cast.
However, Rep. Gaetz took that premature move as an opportunity to report his fellow Republican to the Capitol Architect as a “squatter.”
“I write to inform you that the Speaker of the House Office located in the US Capitol Building is currently occupied by Rep. Kevin McCarthy. As of this morning, the 117th Congress adjourned sine die, and a Speaker from the 118th Congress has not been elected. After three undeciding votes, no member can lay claim to this office,” Gaetz wrote.
“What is the basis in law, House rule, or precedent to allow someone who has placed second in three successive speaker elections to occupy the Speaker of the House Office? How long will he remain there before he is considered a squatter?”
Ouch!
Interestingly, as Republicans threw daggers at each other, Democrats remained silent, nominated Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York on each vote as their choice to be the next House Speaker, repeatedly cast all of their 212 votes for him, then calmly watched Republicans jump through hoops and act out their three-ring-circus while silently thinking ‘told ya so.’ After all, the GOP is single-handily creating the perfect Democratic commercial for 2024 right before our very eyes.
Congress is set to resume its clown-fest today at noon. Some members have mentioned the possibility of entering into a power share agreement with Democrats in order to convince them to join in selecting a moderate Republican as Speaker that (almost) everybody might love. However, only time will tell since this charade could go on for days or possibly weeks.
Oh, Republicans. This is the first time in 100 years that the vote for Speaker of the House has been so unnecessarily contested. And this is your idea of leadership?
OK WASSUP! discusses Politics:
House Speaker vote is a joke!
The Daily Beast: The idea has been circulating around the U.S. Capitol this week like a hopelessly lost tour group: If Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) fails to win enough Republican votes to become speaker, Democrats could bail him out—or help elect a compromise candidate to the post. Both Republicans and Democrats have dismissed the proposal as either an Aaron Sorkin-esque fantasy or a deliberate ploy from pro-McCarthy forces to scare the GOP holdouts into getting behind the California Republican. But with the speakership still in limbo after six roll call votes in two days, the House still paralyzed, and McCarthy’s path to the gavel still very much in doubt, the once far-fetched idea is starting to sound downright reasonable. Within the Democratic ranks, lawmakers and aides are quietly gaming out how and when they might help break the GOP impasse—or if they would do so at all. “I mean, anything… Read more »