The GOP won the House! Barely! It took DeSantis almost feloniously redistricting five districts in Florida and – of course, Texas with its Picasso-inspired districts (Seriously, toss out red/blue, throw in greens, yellows, and browns, name it “Serengeti” or something equally nebulous, call it a “lost Picasso,” collect $50 million), using those tools and much more, the GOP crawled over the top and have their five-vote majority.
So, we’re three days in. Has Jim Jordan begun the Biden impeachment hearings? Is Marjorie Taylor-Greene grilling Hunter on a witness stand? No, that would be demonstrative of competent incompetence (It’s a GOP thing). They can’t even get a speaker, despite the fact that 90% of the party is set on one person.
It’s a bad look. How many times has a person spoken down to you with serious advice; “You’re not going to fix the problem until you fix yourself.” Well, the entire country is looking at the Republicans and wondering if they’re capable of fixing anything because they cannot fix themselves. The Republicans look like a party whose only real specialty is the troll tweet.
And now, Haberman is on CNN with Anderson Cooper, twisting that knife even deeper. The nation is watching, and the nation never saw this happen with the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi: Transcript from Mediaite:
They are now proceeding to make Nancy Pelosi the person that Republicans reviled over the course of the last more than a decade. They’re highlighting why she was able to get stuff done and why she was effective. This is the opposite of where Republicans want to be, and Trump, you know, makes everything about himself. Yet, to your point, he’s been doing nothing. He is something of a diminished presence.
Ouch, Maggs! C’mon, prepare people for something that impactful. Comparing the poo-flinging monkeys on the Right side of the House to the uber competent and uber friendly Nancy Pelosi? All while saying that Trump is weak? (Much more below)
As a child studying US political history in school, I always wondered how political parties like the Whigs and Tories ceased to exist.
I get it now.#RepublicansInRuin #RepublicansInDisarray #RepublicansHaveNothingToOffer #RepublicansCanNotGovern #ProudBlue #TruBlue pic.twitter.com/d2wTyI49ye
— LA Blue Dot in GA 🌊💔 (@namwella1961) January 5, 2023
If something even close to this was happening within the Democratic party (It wouldn’t, with Pelosi), but let’s say there were some renegades out there. Does anyone doubt that a phone call from President Biden or former President Obama wouldn’t settle the matter?
Yes, Democrats can be quirky, and we have our Manchins and Sinemas (Or did), but they managed to get the majority leader done right at 50-50, with no holdouts, no drama, and no extortion. Come on.…
But Haberman hanging out on “Moderate Voter Television” CNN and telling the audience that Pelosi and the Democrats could get their shit together and the Republicans look like morons… wow. That is the best Democratic commercial in months. ”
:***
[email protected], @JasonMiciak, SUBSTACK: GOP IMPLOSION TIED DIRECTLY TO MAGA REJECTION OF DEMOCRACY
Some of the House Democrats made a fuss about Pelosi staying Speaker, and the dispute spilled into the public realm. But things got settled behind closed doors and when it came time to name her as Speaker that’s what happened. Lest we forget, for the last Congress Democrats also had a very thin majority. However, Nancy Pelosi could make a promise to give the issues of her critics fair consideration, and they could trust that she would keep her word.
That my friends is the difference. Right there.
Pelosi kept her word, and while those who made noises about replacing her didn’t get all the things they wanted they got fair treatment for the things they cared about and even progress on them, if not necessarily to the degree they wanted. And that’s why she was so effective. McCarthy on the other hand as we know doesn’t have anywhere near the years of experience, doesn’t have a history of fashioning legislation and moving it through the cumbersome (but still something that should happen far more often) old-school “regular order” process and no real vision or agenda. Other than to do whatever Trump’s whim is at any given moment to keep him and his disciples happy.
I’ve been thinking about the old tune Welcome Back with some changes to lyrics. Stuff like “Welcome all my friends, this shit-show never ends” and I put it that way because what we are seeing is bad enough but it’s just the warmup. For all those bullshit nominating speeches from the GOP about their “agenda” what we are going to hear blasted from rock-concert type speakers is HUNTER BIDEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (His laptop. His dick pic, his being a Chinese operative, or Ukrainian one or both, etc.) And get ready for a govt. shutdown and default on the national debt because if many in the GOP get their way they will crash the train.
I was already 26 by the time I went through the process of transforming from civilian to Marine. In many ways I was lucky because I’d already learned, having lived through some bitter experiences earlier in life than is typical that no matter how bad things are they can get worse. So yes, it sucked when the DIs showed the entire platoon there was no “bottom” when it came to things getting painfully bad I was never surprised by it. I could keep focused on enduring and getting through it instead of wasting mental energy on “why?” and other related thoughts. And that’s what we all need to keep in mind.
We’ve got hopes (maybe fantasies is a better description) that a groundswell of Republicans will rise up and promote a “moderate” (as in only hard core right wing) Speaker and Democrats will choose to accept that person with some conditions. But make no mistake, that person would be lucky to last for two years and maybe not even one. AND we will still face the awful specter of certain people wielding the gavels of key committees and all the nonsensical bullshit hearings that will come with said “leadership.” The BEST we can hope for is the coming shit-show of this Congress will have times when the amounts of feces flying through the air eases off enough to pass critical stuff like keeping the government open.
The late Andrew Vachss was right: your word is no different than a threat. If you’re always good for the former, people will always fear and respect you. McCarthy, as you pointed out, Denis, has never had that…any of it.
In that first paragraph, surely some mention should be made of the Democrat shenanigans in NY, (which, to be fair, have given us the spectacle of Santos The Wonderful.),( and,to be fair, have shown how poor the Democrat response to his selection was.)
Neither is fair nor worth losing sleep over. Santos is too much of an idiot to hack it in politics or crime. He’s the kind of dummy who’d slap vanity plates on a getaway car.