The congresswoman quipped that in attempting to avert a shutdown Republicans were “run[ning] around the House like a Roomba, until they found a door that House Democrats opened”
The congresswoman quipped that in attempting to avert a shutdown Republicans were “run[ning] around the House like a Roomba, until they found a door that House Democrats opened”
I can’t believe no one has enough dirt on Matt Gaetz (and MTG and the rest) to keep them in line. If nothing else, threaten to keep putting junior high schools within 500 ft of Gaetz’s house so he has to move every 3 months. You don’t whip votes with policy arguments.
I suspect that to rub elbows with the upper echelons of republican leadership, you have to give up some juicy dirt they can use to control or get rid of you. I mean that's the only explanation of Madison Cawthorne. That guy was awful but once he let slip about orgies and shit he was gone quicker than you could say news cycle.
I think the problem is Matt is threatening scorched earth and they believe him. Use any dirt to keep him in line and he'll spill all the beans and bring down the whole party. Because everyone knows these trumpets don't give two shits about the republican party.
I mean, look at Beobert. A scandal that big, on video, would have resulted in an instant resignation 20 years ago. But she's so vile that everyone just shrugs and moves on, because it's not even surprising, just funny.
They're all like the Teflon Don. It doesn't matter how dirty you get em, it slides right off, into their supporters mouths. They swallow that filth, smile and come back for more.
The reason it seems no one is keeping them in line is because they ALL have done the same shit
As these two. So leverage is even across the entire GOP which means there is no leverage to use a giant one another.
My robot vacuum regularly yeets itself down stairs because the programmed turning radius is slightly tighter than the wheelbase. So... it is a close call.
I think I drunkenly suggested on a feedback form that my congressman yeet himself down the steps of the Capitol the other night. Here's to hoping they'll prove to be even more alike!
Pelosi told the caucus that McCarthy was not to be trusted before the vote. Kevin’s gonna regret breaking his deal with Biden while also making it impossible to stay in power without a decent number of democrats. Just let the cannibals eat each other, seems to be the attitude.
They guy thinks he's much smarter than he actually is. He's good at complaining about things but then it comes to actual leadership he falls flat on his face simply because he's not smart enough to do the job effectively. People here hate Nancy Pelosi but she was unbelievably effective at keeping the party together when it came to important legislation that they wanted passed.
I know I’m stepping into murky waters here. I do believe McCarthy is a weak speaker because he can’t keep his party under thumb.
But I’m also struggling to reconcile that they came up with a bipartisan bill (granted, not a longterm one). No one gets everything they want. Isn’t that what we want balanced and working government to do?
I like AOC a lot but this is another example of her just being a really bad politician. A (relatively) good leader and representative, but a horrible politician.
Right now? The Democrats have mccarthy over a barrel. They should not be talking about ousting him. They should be talking about how cooperative he was and list very specific things he agreed to. Make it abundantly clear that he is following up on his side of the bargain with the implication that he will be removed otherwise. Talk about how they have their differences but, when push came to shove, they prevented a republican led shutdown AND have the following packages on the table for an immediate vote.
Instead? This just speaks to "a divided house" and will play in to whatever gaetz decides to do after fall break is over and his latest girlfriend has to go back to elementary school. Hell, a lot of outlets are already trying to paint the pedo as a "king maker".
The problem is that McCarthy has already screwed Democrats over, big time. Biden made that deal with McCarthy, and then Matt Gaetz yanked the leash and Kevin came to heel, like a well trained dog.
If I were Biden, I would not trust any deal that Kevin makes. So why should Democrats bolster his position as Speaker, while they know Matt wil always hold his leash?
Unfortunately it sounds like he's trusting exactly Kevin McCarthy 💀
President Joe Biden on Sunday urged House Republicans – particularly Speaker Kevin McCarthy – to keep their word on government funding and aid to Ukraine after he signed a bill that narrowly avoided a shutdown.
That's impossible with the way our system is set up (FPTP). They will never fracture hard enough to abstain from voting or actually come across the aisle. The crazier, more passionate viewpoints will take charge of party, and the rest will meekly follow with the justification of "they're less crazy than the dems." Maybe some individual voters will realize that the entire party is going nuts, but for every "independent" voter who finally gets the message, 5 ignorant fools who have never voted are scared into joining the electorate by a new level of fear mongering lies about who and what is responsible for the state of the country.
With book bans being stacked upon decades of defunded public education, things are very bleak.
There is a less than zero chance of this ever happening
Because just look at the "good republicans" like romney and mccain (rest in piss) and so forth. They act like they care about decorum and how they are the party of small business and so forth. But when it comes time to vote on all the hateful shit? They vote right alongside their qanon brethren.
The only difference between the gop and the qop is that the former SOMETIMES say the quiet part quiet.
They didnt pass a new bill to avert the shutdown, they passed a 45 day extension of the old bill so these assholes can continue posturing and dick measuring until mid November.
That way, if millions of people go hungry it will be right before the holidays. Maybe that gives dems more ammo against McCarthy and gaetz IDK. "If Republicans get their way there will be millions of starving kids and also they wont have presents under the tree. GOP wants to kill Santa"
Usually I would agree but they pretty much did that with the first CR. Then Mccarthy tried to back track on promises and play strongman. They know he will do the exact same thing this time too. This puts more pressure on the far left since it makes it appear there is bipartisan support to oust him.
The thing to understand is that people have goldfish memories, if they pay attention at all.
Right now? The news cycle is that King Maker gaetz is a Salesman who is going to decide the next speaker. Well, he has sold a lot of children, so I guess there is that.
This speaks into that. It puts forward gaetz as the bipartisan leader who is doing what must be done. Interviews like this largely build up "both sides hate mccarthy" and avoid the real problem being the qop actively sabotaging the government... in a way that makes them look like "the heroes"
I definitely expect the Democrats to screw this up because... we always do. But if there is a focus on staying on point and making it clear that the Democrats got us this 45 day delay and it is up to mccarthy to follow through: When he inevitably doesn't, an up and coming Democrat can lead the charge and make it clear that we won't take this shit anymore.
As for who: Honestly? If she were better at "playing the game" and had a snowball's chance of ever getting elected president in the US, I could even see this as AOC's "DNC Keynote" moment. As it stands? Hell if I know. I don't know Mike Quigley's politics but he is also 64 so screw that. And I disagree with a lot of Hakeem's politics regardless, but he is also better suited as The Next Pelosi.
Right now? The Democrats have mccarthy over a barrel. They should not be talking about ousting him. They should be talking about how cooperative he was and list very specific things he agreed to. Make it abundantly clear that he is following up on his side of the bargain with the implication that he will be removed otherwise. Talk about how they have their differences but, when push came to shove, they prevented a republican led shutdown AND have the following packages on the table for an immediate vote.
I want to agree with you, but McCarthy put himself over that barrel. He already renegged on a deal once, so I definitely don't think the dems should praise him for how cooperative he was (AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR, and not a moment before), and the whole shutdown fiasco was specifically his doing because he let the traitor wing of the party run the show, instead of letting actual policy people drive the discussion. Call it divided house if you want, but he was an awful speaker by any objective metric.
As for Gaetz, McCarthy is the one who ceded power to him in the first place, so its no wonder the right are trying to make him a king maker. He made the speaker bend the knee from the jump, and McCarthy hates him for it. But he's also hated by a good portion of his own party, so I don't foresee him being any kind of king maker, especially when we'll inevitably get another 20+ votes for speaker before the continuing resolution expires if he tries.
Edit: Or this could just be a 4D chess move to put McCarthy farther over the barrel, knowing that he only keeps his speakership because the dems helped him against those among them who are calling for him losing his seat, as AOC is doing here. Seems like a good way to get more concessions out of him, assuming you can trust a word that comes out of his mouth...
Maybe, but she could also just happen to be right here, on this point. What sticks in the back of my mind is that McCarthy could have ended this at any point by simply doing what he previously gave his word that he would do, which is also what the majority of both Republicans and Democrats and thus all Americans want.
Edit: what I meant by the above is that he was going to pass an actual budget - and wasn't that already agreed upon months ago, more or less? Instead, he merely passed a continuing resolution, which is not the same thing, plus he also left out support for Ukraine. Yes he avoided a shutdown, it would be nice for her to acknowledge that, but he could have done so at any time and far more besides?
The reason he cited as to why he did not is bc he would be removed if he did, except now that seems likely to happen anyway?
He gave his word to everyone, which he went back on, and in a manner that also goes back in his word in the opposite direction too, caving on issues that he previously said were impossible to give in on. He's lying to the other side, he's lying to his own side, he allows himself to come to power with an insane restriction, then does nothing to change that, then seems shocked - shocked I tell you! - when they actually want to use that option.
I have to stop short of actually judging any of that bc I don't know enough, but it does seem an absolute mess. And at this point I could see Dems wishing to see someone else in charge of Repubs, if that would actually make things easier to move forward somehow.
Having someone over a barrel doesn’t really work if the guy over the barrel doesn’t care.
I get the vibe McCarthy doesn’t want to be speaker of the house anymore, probably because of the Q crazies he has to treat like “equals” in order to secure their vote.
Even if the strategy were to be to keep McCarthy, who needlessly manufactured this crisis, the only way for the Democrats to get anything out of him would be for almost every Democrat to vote against him.
So get this. Gaetz wants to oust McCarthy as Speaker for working with Democrats on the shutdown deal. That will take a majority vote in the House, and Gaetz doesn't have enough Republicans behind him to do that. Thus, Gaetz would have to work with Democrats to oust McCarthy for working with Democrats.
Gaetz has handed Democrats the opportunity to be kingmaker. Their question is if they want to keep someone who will sometimes work across the isle to get shit done, or if they want to help Republicans implode by letting the howler monkey contingent run wild in the leadup to a major election year.
The fact that Gaetz apparently doesn't see this shows that he doesn't have the political savvy for the job. Can't think more than one step ahead in 1D checkers.
Let McCarthy embarrass himself with 15-20 votes that fall short, THEN play kingmaker. Put Jon Huntsman, John Kasich, or some other moderate in as speaker. The Constitution doesn't require the speaker to be a member of Congress.
She has zero chance of winning a general election. She's getting the Hilary treatment from Republicans. That is - they're vilifying her right now to poison people against her before she can run.
The only reason Trump became President is because the Democrats ran an unelectable candidate against him. They spent over 20 years making Hilary the villain, and it allowed them to install the worst President in US history.
And they're prepping for AOC to be the next Clinton.
Clinton was also preceded by her husband whose record could be attached to her. Until AOC serves in an administration or something it will be hard to complete the process