This is weird:
The eight House Republicans who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy made their colleagues an offer today: Vote Jim Jordan for speaker and punish us https://t.co/aTJC3HlUBO
— POLITICO (@politico) October 20, 2023
"Punish us"? Seriously? Is this some kind of masochistic Republican ritual just now coming to light?
I have no idea why these folks think their colleagues would be willing to vote for Jim Jordan if only they could take a swat at the eight rebels who caused the whole Speaker debacle in the first place, but there you have it. If you're nuts, you're nuts, I guess.
However there is a different read on this. I admit I'm stretching, but maybe this is a sign that the Gang of Eight are feeling some remorse over ousting Kevin McCarthy. Perhaps it's leading up to a scenario where McCarthy stands for Speaker again and is elected unanimously in a glorious show of Republican unity. Stranger things have happened.
I think you may be overthinking this.
I'm reading this as "Hey, if you guys are as mad about what we did as you say we are, all you have to do is vote in our choice of Speaker. Once the House is open for business again you can use the tools available to punish us anyway you like! You gotta put a Speaker in place first, though. May we suggest Jim Jordan?"
I don't get the impression that the resistance to Jordan is out of spite towards Gaetz and the seven others who dumped McCarthy -- that's a separate issue -- but that they really have a problem with Jordan. If they really hate Gaetz, they'll work with Democrats to elect a speaker *and* then punish him the the rest of his gang.
Well, if that offer includes Jordan, count me in!
something like the 'black mirror' series premiere would be at the top of my list
But animal cruelty is never cool.
good point; maybe a trump RealDoll?
Once Jordan did not get elected Speaker in the first vote, and I saw that McCarthy and Scalise voted for him, I realized that McCarthy thought he still had a shot.
I think you pose a plausible resolution.
I wasn't ahead of it like that, but at this point I could see it coming back to McCarthy (though early reports are that Emmer will be up next). If it does I think Gaetz and one or two others will still be nays, just to save their pride, but not enough to kill the nomination. Then he and whoever else votes that way can be expelled from the caucus.
He won't mind because he's already planning to be governor of the great state of Florida and thinks expulsion would help him. Or maybe he'd just resign and start his campaign right away. Come to think of it, that would be more his style-- blow the place up, then walk away before the dust cloud settles.
McCarthy is likely the only person who could get a CR deal done, but then Gaetz would oust him again afterwards.
I can totally see that happening.
They go leaderless until something important needs to be moved along, then re-elect McCarthy, only to boot him again afterwards to keep their promises to voters.
Groundhog Day, GOP style.
I don't think they will be adopting that one-person MTV rule again. That was something the Freedom Caucus had specifically extorted from McCarthy and of course that was precisely the petard by which they were all hoisted.
How else are they going to square the need to get stuff done with the promise to voters to burn government down? Anyone who negotiates gets primaried from the far right.
I thought the rules remain the rules for the whole of the 118th Congress. Does the House get a do-over because there will be a new Speaker?
As I understand it, that's right-- they've adopted the rules for this Congress. But they can also change them by majority vote anytime they want to, and who doubts that Ds would insist on changes if they managed to work something out with the relatively saner ones?
Turns out that the MTV rule has been what it is now since 1837, except for a few years under Pelosi. They got it from Jefferson, who worked a lot on parliamentary rules when he was vp (ie president of the Senate). It's almost identical to a no-confidence motion in a parliament.
And it's only a problem now because of the very odd coincidence of that teeny-tiny R majority plus the Krazy Kaos Kids who figured out how they could use it against their (nominal) party's majority.
At any other time it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference-- speakers who have control and/or confidence of their caucus will win every time anyway, so the MTV is just a dead letter. Pelosi had no reason to worry about it or change it, as far as I know (so now I'm curious why she did, actually).
Unfortunately, the possibility of some bullshit slap on the wrist for these 8 schmucks will have to wait since Gym just lost a super secret Republican vote to remain as Speaker Designate.
Back to to drawing board for clown caucus.
You really think they are using a drawing board? The results don't suggest such sophistication.
"You can punish us once we got everything that we wanted, namely a pro-Trump, pro-insurrection speaker that will derail the government." And by punishing us, we mean a very mean slap on the wrist, or painful tickling with a feather.
Once I get caught robbing a bank, I'll make that offer to the judge: you can punish me, but please give me $1,000,000 beforehand, then you can punish me.
The comfy chair!
Nobody expects the SPANISH INQUISITION!
They're just assuming everyone else will be as motivated to get revenge on a helpless victim as they are.
Not that hard to figure out, and not that weird, either, at least among prepubescent bullies. Maybe a bit weirder for apparent adults, but remember, we're talking about Gaetz.
He thought he could dominate the rest of his little club, and just found out he isn't big and bad enough. Now he's trying to haggle, but dipshit bullies like this lack the empathy to understand they've already shot their wads.
This is the "bargaining" stage of his grief.
I think it's more like "PLEASE don't throw me into that briar patch!!"
This is Gaetz and company actually mocking the rest of the Republican caucus. It's their childish way of daring them to come and get them.
"Want to come for us? Sure, but you need a Speaker for that, and the only Speaker you'll get is Jordan, so go ahead and make our day"
Sociopaths, every last one of 'em.
always the martyr
Vote Jim Jordan for speaker and punish us
Right, so when that punishment does take place (loss of committee assignments, no official fundraising help) we can raise money off our "punishment" from the small-dollar rubes we grift our campaign funds from. Sorry Congressman, we've figured out what this about and found it stupid. Thanks but no thanks.
Unserious people engaging high school level shenanigans while their country’s democracy slowly dies. They really don’t care.
The House will have gone without a Speaker for at least 3 weeks. It's unsurprising that Republicans are casually picking a speaker.
There's enough Republicans who just don't care about a functional government that the only way things get done is through bipartisanship. And yet, they continue to resist bipartisan support.
So, let them writhe in the suffering of their own making. It's like I always say, don't help people who don't want your help.
Would Kevin McCarthy even want the job again?
Or is he curled up with a well-thumbed cop of Alan Moore, thinking, "one day, the caucus will beg, 'save us,' and I will whisper 'no.'"
One of them probably watched the Dark Knight recently and is playing Commissioner Gorden. “Don’t punish the boy, Harvey. Punish me.”