Well, this didn’t take long. And where oh where was that mystery candidate of Bob Good’s on the second ballot? Anybody see that? I thought that was going to be the salvation of the GOP, right then and there and…..crickets.
As I write, it’s two-ish in the Pacific time zone, meaning it’s around five in D.C. The third ballot is in process. Jim Jordan, surprisingly, is picking up steam and who knows? Maybe he’s entertaining vainglorious notions of actually becoming Speaker. I don’t know how his skills as bomb thrower and performance artist would translate over into the Speaker’s job, but it would be entertaining to find out.
I give Jordan zero chance of being elected Speaker. At this point, I also give zero chance to McCarthy. He played his cards extremely badly. But that’s not surprising. The man lacks a fundamental understanding of politics and how things are actually done in the corridors of power, despite all his years there.
You have to stand for something. You have to be solid and dependable. Yes, compromise will be necessary from time to time but compromise and caving are two totally different things.
Jim Clyburn must see this happening as well. Raw Story:
In an interview with Raw Story, the South Carolina Democrat argued that it wouldn’t be to hard to find enough Republicans to cross over and find a consensus House Speaker with Democrats.
“I think there are enough on the other side, if we stay together as we are, we only need six of them to come over,” he explained.
Clyburn then pointed to the number of Republicans who won in Biden-voting districts in 2022 as potential targets to build a consensus coalition around a new House Speaker candidate.
When it comes to Democrats’ current strategy, however, Clyburn said that they are simply “staying out of [Republicans’] way” as they fight among themselves.
All 212 House Democrats backed Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on the first two ballots for House Speaker, which left him with more votes than McCarthy in both instances, despite the fact that Republicans currently hold a majority in the House of Representatives.
This may be the way things go. I honestly thought Bob Good would show up with his mystery candidate on the second ballot, as he told Fox News. No mystery candidate is a curve ball I wasn’t expecting.
Was Good just blowing smoke? Or did the candidate bail out at the last minute? We may never know.
Meanwhile, the Democrats may end up cleaning up the Republican mess, and keeping the wheels of government turning. Sound familiar?
[PHOTO: WIN MCNAMEE, GETTY IMAGES]
I don’t know, how anyone in their right mind, would ever CONSIDER voting for McCarthy for Speaker. He’s nothing but a lying POS!! He loses on the third speaker ballot, what does that tell you? Time for the Repubs to save face and tell McCarthy to concede!!!
I honestly don’t know what will happen now. We’ve never seen this. The last time this happened was 1923. This is quite incredible, though. That much we can say.
I think McCarthy’s toast. I sincerely do. I think what’s going to happen now is Jim Clyburn, always the voice of reason and pragmatism, will find some compromise that is livable.
The disgrace of the party is something else altogether. The GOP is going to have a hard time living this one down.
You’re likely right about Kevie. The Raw Story article has 6 republicans crossing the aisle to vote for a consensus candidate-Hakeem Jeffries. A democrat. I’m not so sure that could happen. The “moderate” republicans, such as are left, are not very moderate. They’re only “moderate” when compared to the raving loonies making up the rest of the ‘pube side of the House. I just don’t see a republican, let alone 6, voting for a democrat to take the House Speaker position. I hope I’m wrong tho’ because a republican holding the speaker’s gavel in our current political atmosphere will be a bloody disaster for the nation.
I actually do, Spike, for one simple reason: they want to get work done for their individual districts more than they want to be tribal. So long as there is no Speaker, there effectively is no House. And every day that remains so is another day the moderates are unable to prove otherwise. As Dalton Trumbo wrote and Charles Laughton said in Spartacus, “Oh, don’t be so stiff-necked about it. Politics is a practical profession. Every criminal has what you want so you do business with them.”
Maybe Gym Jordan was the mystery candidate. Didn’t Good nominate him in the second round?
If so, Harcourt, that would be contradicted by Jordan’s own actions asking members to vote for McCarthy.
Oh, c’mon, Moondoggie, we both know that there’s no real alternative now amongst just the GQP. It’s why we’re here.
And Gingrich has shown up whining about the House Rs:
He started them down this road (and was speaker for all of four years, accomplishing zero useful.)
Gingrich whining is like winter snow in Colorado. The latter is more pretty.