Tag Archives: House Speaker

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Can it get worse for speaker?

I have asked a question in the headline atop this post that I believe I can answer.

Yes. It can get worse. It seems to be worsening daily for U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose majority in the congressional chamber is now down to a single member. Meaning that the dude has virtually no governing majority.

Johnson is facing an insurrection — if you’ll pardon the use of the term — within his own party. The MAGA caucus led by Marjorie Taylor Greene wants him booted out. The reason escapes me. The guy is one of them! Still, MTG wants him gone, but hasn’t yet taken the final legislative step to get him removed, which would be to call for a vote of House members.

GOP congressmen are fleeing the chamber. Ken Buck of Colorado said so long, saying he can’t work in such a chaotic atmosphere.

The late Sen. John McCain used to demand that the Senate follow “regular order.” He should have spoken those words to the House, too. Regular order establishes a procedure for legislating that can seem boring, cumbersome and arcane. It sure beats the hell out of the madness we are witnessing these days with MAGA nitwits blathering constantly about how the House cannot allow Democrats to have any say in how the place functions.

The MAGA clowns are not interested in governing. Their only interest appears to be seeing their names in bold print in headlines across the country.

Speaker Johnson is presiding over all of this. He cannot control the House. The MAGA cultists are running amok and are running roughshod over the guy they chose when they booted his immediate predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, out of the speaker’s office.

Boy howdy, Mike Johnson is occupying the worst political office in D.C. It’s likely to get even worse.

national news

House speaker: world’s worst job

There can be zero doubt — none whatsoever — that the worst job in the world has to be speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Particularly now, in this climate, with a slim Republican Party majority in the House being kicked around by a vocal minority mob of malcontents.

The malcontent in chief, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, has filed a motion to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from his tenuous seat in power. It’s not a done deal, as Greene, R-Ga., said she hasn’t yet called for a vote on whether to kick Johnson to the curb.

You’ll remember that Johnson’s predecessor as speaker, Kevin McCarthy, was booted out because he had the stones to work with Democrats on a bipartisan government funding bill that forestalled a possible government shutdown. That didn’t suit MAGAites in the House, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who filed a motion, called for the vote and got McCarthy kicked the hell out.

Johnson emerged as a successor. It took several House votes, just as it took the House 15 ballots to select McCarthy, but Johnson got the job. He promised to adhere to the MAGA agenda.

Oh, but wait! He then just recently worked with those dreaded Democrats on another, longer-term funding bill.

Enter the QAnon queen herself, Greene, to fire a warning shot at Johnson.

My goodness, the job is difficult enough, even without the melodrama attached by the MAGA blowhards in the House. It’s a damn important job, too, as its occupant is second in line to become president.

It is aggravating to see this office being held hostage by a gaggle of troublemakers intent on disrupting the so-called “regular order” and arguing against efforts to actually govern … which is what compromise is all about.

national news

McCarthy bows out? G’bye!

Kevin McCarthy has had enough of Washington, D.C., and is leaving Congress at the end of the year, prompting some members of the MAGA clown squad among congressional Republicans to concoct some sort of “conspiracy” to deny the GOP any real power as the governing majority.

Conspiracy? They all have rocks in their noggins!

I get why McCarthy wants out.

He lusted after the House speakership. When Republicans regained control of the House after the 2022 midterm election, McCarthy announced his intention to run for speaker. He got there … but only after 15 ballots on the House floor. He gave up damn near everything to the MAGA morons before getting enough votes to take the gavel.

Then he riled the MAGA loons by working with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown, allowing one of the chief MAGA blowhards, Matt Gaetz of Florida, to call for McCarthy’s removal as speaker; that was one of the deals to which McCarthy agreed. The House removed McCarthy.

“No matter the odds, or personal cost, we did the right thing. That may seem out of fashion in Washington these days, but delivering results for the American people is still celebrated across the country,” McCarthy wrote.

So … he goes from being second in line to presidential succession to a place on the back bench. Would you want to stay in office serving an institution that treated you like that?

He’s a goner. Fine. Hit the road, dude. As for conspiracy, there isn’t anything of the sort.

national news

Hope dashed with speaker pick

My hope all along during the House speaker kerfuffle was that the competing wings within the Republican Party could find a compromise candidate, someone who would pledge to work with all the members of the House.

That’s not what they got in Speaker Mike Johnson. Oh, no. They got a MAGA acolyte who wants to ban abortion nationwide, who continues to challenge the legitimacy of President Biden’s election in 2020, who questions whether we should continue to fund Ukraine’s battle for independence against the Russian aggressors and who seemingly sides with those who want to shut down the government.

The MAGA clowns turned on the lights in the back of the House chamber and found the congressional newbie who fits their description of the near-perfect House speaker.

What a shame. And a sham!

I heard MAGA Mike declare upon taking the oath that he would be the speaker for the entire legislative chamber. Doesn’t that imply he would be willing work with Democrats along with Republicans? It does to me.

Then again, how does that square with the MAGA goons’ stated mission to avoid working with Democrats? That’s what got former Speaker Kevin McCarthy into trouble, right? He locked arms with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown and then — presto! — we had the motion to vacate the speaker’s chair. It came from a single MAGA congressman, Matt Gaetz of Florida.

Ladies and gents, what we have now is a speaker who will serve only a small minority of the majority party in the House. To hell with public opinion of the rest of the country that opposes a national abortion, opposes shutting down the government, wants to continue supporting Ukraine and believes Joe Biden was elected fairly, squarely and legally as president in 2020.

God help us!

national news

Clown show loses another one

The congressional Republican clown show keeps losing its yuksters, apparently because they have had enough of the laughs their show keeps producing.

Get a load of this: Rep. Tom Emmer came out of a closed-door Republican voting session as the party’s latest nominee to become speaker of the U.S. House … only to tell his fellow Republicans — three hours later! — that he doesn’t want the job after all.

What the hell? Oh, but wait. House Republicans nominated Emmer anyway reluctantly after five votes among members of the GOP caucus.

It’s been three weeks since the MAGA cult booted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy out of his office. Republicans then turned to Rep. Steve Scalise, who then dropped out. Up stepped bomb-thrower Rep. Jim Jordan to seek the speakership; three failed House floor votes ended his bid to become the Man of the House.

Then we saw Rep. Emmer rise … only to take a header.

This is a case of a once-great political party being unable to find its backside with both hands.

Once more with gusto: the Republican Party has been seized by the crazed cult that marches to the cadence called by the immediate past POTUS, the clown who says the 2020 election was rigged.

These bozos cannot govern! They intimidate themselves and seek to bully others. They cannot even nominate one of their fellow Republicans to lead a legislative chamber — in which they hold the slimmest majority.

I have to mention that a boatload of important work needs to get done. Let’s see: How about that government shutdown thing? We’ve only got a few days before the government runs out of money. Will the House of Representatives GOP clown show gather itself in time to find someone — anyone! — who wants to take what looks like the worst job in America?

Doubt is creeping in.

national news

House GOP in tailspin

Well now … just how dysfunctional can the U.S. House Republican caucus get? Pretty damn dysfunctional as it appears to me.

The House GOP tossed Rep. Jim Jordan’s candidacy for speaker into the crapper today, ending the Ohio fire-breather’s effort to become the latest Man of the House.

Good grief, man. The GOP “controls” the House by an unworkably thin margin. Among those Republicans is the cadre of MAGA loons who call the shots. Jordan is one of them, or so we thought.

Jordan is a 2020 election denier and is a reported architect of the 1/6 frontal assault on our government and the attempt to overturn the 2020 election result that produced a Joe Biden presidency.

He lost the GOP vote initially to Rep. Steve Scalise, who then dropped out. Jordan tried three times to win the speakership, losing greater margins with each vote.

The MAGA goofballs cannot govern! Can’t anyone see how this is playing out?

To be candid, I don’t give a flying crap in a saucer about Jordan. I cannot stand his bullying, his boorishness, his bellicosity.

However, I do care about our government. I want a strong and principled Republican Party to go toe-to-toe with the Democratic Party. Yes, I favor Democratic principles more than Republican ones. However, the failure to elect a permanent speaker puts our very government in jeopardy.

The GOP has installed Rep. Patrick McHenry as “interim” speaker. The chatter now is to grant him a bit more authority, to buy him some time to get his political balance and then, perhaps, elect him speaker for the remainder of the current congressional term.

To do that, though, we need the MAGA clown show to lay down its trick balls and get real.

The Republicans are supposed to lead Congress. They aren’t doing anything of the sort. It looks to me as if they are writing their own political obituary … to be published Election Day 2024!

national news

Why Jim Jordan?

Allow me this semi-confession — given that you might already know how I feel about these matters — but I don’t give a smelly pile of rat poop about the future of today’s Republican Party.

I do want to know, though: Why in the world would the U.S. House GOP turn to a certifiable flamethrower to become speaker of the House? That well might happen if Rep. Jim Jordan emerges to take the gavel and run the affairs in the House of Representatives.

My long-held desire was to see a return of the “old Republican Party.” The one that stuck to principles such as strong defense, low taxes, less government. One can debate those points with level-headed politicians.

Not so with the MAGA crowd that seemingly controls the agenda. Jordan is one of ’em. He is an election denier, a Hunter Biden predator, a Donald J. Trump sycophant.

The House is in disarray. It has an “interim” speaker, a gentleman named Patrick McHenry, who took the gavel after the House removed Kevin McCarthy from his short, but tumultuous tenure as speaker. McHenry has no real power.

House GOP caucus member nominated Steve Scalise to be its nominee for speaker, but Scalise only secured 113 votes; he would need 217 votes in a balloting of their entire House.

Scalise then dropped his speaker bid, sending the House into a frenzy — once more — in search of a new leader.

Jordan wants the job he shouldn’t ever have. You see, the House speaker becomes leader of the entire body, which means moderates within his own party as well as those who belong to the Democratic Party. He must work constructively with all sides to help craft legislation.

Does Rep. Jim Jordan possess that skill, or is he of that temperament? Bwahahaha!

national news

Scalise did what? Dropped out?

Occasionally these things happen under the strangest of circumstances.

Normally, I spend my evenings watching the news and seeking to stay current with policy events. This evening was different, as I was enjoying a nice dinner with a woman I had just met. So … what happens when I got home? I found out that Rep. Steve Scalise dropped out of the race for speaker of the U.S. House.

The decision merely sends the already chaotic Republican House caucus into even disarray. The MAGA wing of the GOP is now getting the kind of chaos and confusion that seemingly makes it fly.

The MAGA crowd got rid of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. They rallied behind Jim Jordan to be the next speaker. Scalise, though, emerged as the frontrunner to be the next in line. However, he didn’t have enough GOP votes to guarantee his election as speaker.

Now he’s dropping out of the contest altogether!

The MAGA minions are led by Donald Trump, who today said that Hezbollah is “bright” for considering whether to launch attacks on non-Arab conspirators. Trump also said HAMAS wouldn’t have attacked Israel had he been sitting in the Oval Office. Dude is out of his mind. He’s nuts. Crazy. Not to mention stupid as a sack of hammers.

So here we are. House Republicans still don’t have a candidate to run as speaker, giving more credence than ever that the GOP caucus — led by the MAGA morons — do not know how to govern.

national news

How to pick a House speaker

Do we have another multi-ballot marathon awaiting the U.S. House of Representatives as it seeks to find a new Man of the House?

Two frontrunners have emerged from the House GOP caucus: Bomb-thrower and Donald Trump sycophant Jim Jordan of Ohio and current No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana. I don’t know who has the stroke to be elected. I detest both of them, although Scalise does bring a bit of sympathy to this process by virtue of his being damn near killed when that moron opened fire on the Republican congressional baseball team as it practiced for its annual charity game with the Democratic members.

It took the House 15 ballots to choose Kevin McCarthy as its speaker. His tenure ended recently when one of the MAGA nitwits, Matt Gaetz of Florida, objected to McCarthy striking a deal with Democrats to keep the government running. Gaetz filed a motion to “vacate” the speaker’s chair … and he won!

Well, let’s just hold on with both hands as the GOP-led House seeks to find a way to actually govern. I am not hopeful!

national news

MAGA mugs McCarthy

Kevin McCarthy’s tenure as speaker of the U.S. House came crashing down this week, a brief but still eventful stint as the Man of the House.

It appears that the California Republican will be remembered for brokering a deal that had the twin effect of ensuring his election as speaker and guaranteeing his demise the first time he broke faith with the folks with whom he brokered the deal.

It also appears that McCarthy will go down in the annals of U.S. political history as the worst negotiator ever to ascend to the post that put him third in line to the U.S. presidency. Wow! Stunning, man.

In one sense, McCarthy’s post-expulsion statement makes sense, that a tiny clique of right-wing extremists changed the course of legislative history. These extremists, the MAGA cult, have little support outside the halls of the House, he said. Yet they won the day.

Am I crying over that? No! He brought it all on himself by chipping away at his authority in order to get elected. It took him 15 ballots to win the speakership at the beginning of the year. He got his wish, then lived to regret forging a deal with the legislative devil.

One of the conditions of his being elected speaker was to enable a single House member to call for the “vacating of the chair” if the speaker didn’t do the bidding of the MAGA cult. McCarthy didn’t do the MAGA bidding. His sin was that he teamed with House Democrats to avoid a shutdown of the government.

Big …. deal! The plan he negotiated keeps the lights on for 45 days. Then we’ll face the same crisis all over again. Happy Thanksgiving, y’all. We can thank the former speaker for a return to the madness.

Yeah, this guy got precisely what he deserved to get. A boot in the ass from the MAGA cult that is even less trustworthy than those within the Republican Party who hates them and the Democrats on other side of the House chamber.

This is no way to govern.