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Post by jayme on Jan 5, 2023 9:17:02 GMT
Any guesses? Should we have a betting pool?
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Post by JoeP on Jan 5, 2023 10:20:47 GMT
I predict it will take less than the record 133 rounds ... but it might take longer than 2 months (the 1856 record).
I can't see any of the pigheaded Republicans backing down. I feel like it may some some abstentions or absences to get an actual result.
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Post by tangent on Jan 5, 2023 10:28:40 GMT
Pfft! It's far too early to expect a resolution. In 2011, Belgium went 541 days without a functioning government whilst Northern Ireland broke that record in 2017.
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 5, 2023 22:08:11 GMT
Oh, great...We're now on par with such paragons of good governance as Lebanon, Iraq, Belgium and Northern Ireland. I'm impressed.
It's all fine and good until it comes time to up the debt ceiling.
The House of Representatives has primary control the pursestrings of the country. If they don't meet, sooner or later, bills stop getting paid and things get real messy.
I predict that it will come when all but four of the recalcitrant dickhead Fweedumb Kakas members tire (or otherwise absent themselves) and fall into line, or...six Republicans cross the aisle in a gesture of 'bipartisanship' and help make Hakeem Jefferies the SOTH. In the latter circumstance, one might expect some pretty plum concessions (usually chairs or pork) for those Republicans who did so. I suspect they might need some security assurances, as well (if you know what I mean). Contrarily, enough Democrats could form a caucus to counterbalance the Fweedumb Kakas and vote as a bloc with the regular Republicans in exchange for terms like ignoring the Fweedumb Kakas demands and, maybe, a committee chairmanship or two.
The amusing thing is that McCarthy has painted himself into a corner by pissing off all the Democrats catering to the Fweedom Kakas nitwits over past years and then alienating the Fweedom Kakas by wheeling and dealing on legislation they favored. McCarthy did this to himself.
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 5, 2023 22:38:13 GMT
Heh...Here's AOC, the Democrats' more extreme member and, if you let it roll, you'll get Lauren Boebert, the Republicans' more extreme member, giving her two bits.
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 6, 2023 1:14:11 GMT
Evidently, a moderate Republican has indicated that discussions are under way with the Democratic Caucus.
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Post by Moose on Jan 6, 2023 1:47:09 GMT
I actually did not realise you did not have one right now - am out of touch with US politics. And bored with UK ones.
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Post by jayme on Jan 6, 2023 11:30:17 GMT
I actually did not realise you did not have one right now - am out of touch with US politics. And bored with UK ones. Nancy Pelosi stepped down, so they need to elect a new one. This is the first time since the 1920's that it has taken more than one vote. It has always gone so smoothly, I didn't even realize this was a thing that could happen. Neither did I realize what the repercussions could be. This is more serious than a lot of people probably realize. It will hit us when government services we depend on shut down from lack of funding. Some people will lose services, and some gov't workers and contractors will lose their jobs. The House holds all of the gov't purse strings. The new congressmen can't even start working because it's the Speaker's job to swear them in. Basically, the same MAGA reps that were election deniers are now holding Congress hostage. I'm probably overthinking, but it's almost like they failed to overthrow the government on Jan. 6th, so they're trying another way. Although, strangely, Trump is against this and told them to vote for McCarthy. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan are also, oddly enough, against this. One thing that makes me hopeful is that, apparently there's a possibility that if the Republicans can't get one of their own elected, the Dems may be able to if they can get some of the not-so-insane Republicans to work with them. When will people stop voting for idiots like Boebert? Sigh... |
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 6, 2023 15:25:41 GMT
Not quite. Following the elections, there is a new majority, a Republican majority, in the House. This means that the new majority would normally select their leadership as the new Speaker for the coming two year long legislative session of Congress. Nancy Pelosi took the opportunity of this change of power to retire from the Speaker's job. IIRC, she ran and won her election, but chose to step down as the party leader in the House in a move to elevate her successor as Democratic leader in the house, Hakeem Jefferies.
The dire circumstances are at some distance, but still realities. The thing is, even if the Republicans select McCarthy, they may well impose some of those unwanted results, given the 'reassurances' coming out of the Republican ranks. The FweeDumb Kakas (the current troublemakers) WANT to fuck up the federal government.
Yes, hostage. That is what is happening. Many here are puzzled in that McCarthy has pretty much acquiesced to the extremist demands, but they want more. Whackadoodles galore.
There are, indeed, options available to avoid the worst of the outcomes, but the question is, will the less extremist Republicans actually turn to them before irreparable damage is done? The thing is, this extremist splinter group WANTS to irreparably damage the democracy and economy of the United States to advance their dogmas.
I'd say when voters are required to successfully complete a civics test in order to register to vote....say, the test required of immigrants to naturalize? Other than that, removing the ability of monied interests to 'purchase' elected officials by selectively padding electoral warchests with obscene monetary donations. A dolt is a helluva lot easier for a Daddy Warbucks to control than a well-educated candidate.
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Post by jayme on Jan 7, 2023 8:46:52 GMT
Well, the hostage situation didn't last as long as I thought it would. McCarthy has the gavel.
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Post by tangent on Jan 7, 2023 10:45:22 GMT
I'm disappointed, I was hoping they would go for the 1856 record of two months  |
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Post by JoeP on Jan 7, 2023 13:05:57 GMT
I'm disappointed too .. in everything.
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 7, 2023 15:22:44 GMT
Well, the hostage situation didn't last as long as I thought it would. McCarthy has the gavel. Hmmm....I went to bed after the 14th vote, as they were doing a roll call on the adjournment motion. It looked to me at the time as though vote #15 would not be until Monday afternoon, even when it was just one vote shy of a determination. So, McCarthy has the gavel, but who has McCarthy's testicles gripped in their fist? I suspect we will see a situation where the inmates take over the asylum. Hostage-taking will become normal. Who was elected as the party whip? ETA: Tom Emmer, of Minnesota, who does not seem to be a member of the FweeDumb Kakas, which surprises me, as he is the point man for assuring that all the Republicans 'vote correctly' (as directed) on various items of legislation up for votes. He'll be making the rounds to push all those whackadoodles to close ranks and vote together. He has my pity. |
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 7, 2023 17:01:18 GMT
The next question is, "How long can McCarthy hold the SOTH position?" Rumor has it that any single House member will be capable of calling for a vote of no confidence in the Speaker.
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 13, 2023 3:28:14 GMT
I'm beginning to suspect that we, the American public, may well be held hostage for the next two years by these clowns.
Anything on their agenda will NOT get through the Senate, nor avoid vetoes at the president's desk. The biggest impact they can make is to be a huge spanner in the works and drag their feet on everything. Expect them to do just that....it's not a glitch, it's a feature of the system; it's how it was designed.
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Post by jayme on Jan 14, 2023 4:32:28 GMT
Yep. And if all else fails, just have a new person move to remove the Speaker every day.
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 14, 2023 18:24:21 GMT
To be honest, there are many things they could be doing instead which are best not done at all. So, yeah, I could give modest approval to that...
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