# House Speaker Contest **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 12, 2022, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770 "2022-11-12T00:48:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/321 "2023-01-03T19:25:52Z")
whoa, now they are putting jordan up! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/322 "2023-01-03T19:26:17Z")
Is all this horse-trading and smoke-filled-room-negotiating just to decide who gets to appoint the chair of the Hunter Biden Laptop Investigation Committee? cuz it’s not like this Congress is going to do any actual work. Ninja’d by RitterSport to some extent. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/323 "2023-01-03T19:26:33Z")
I take back what I said before about this being a clusterfuck, as a clusterfuck requires some sort of advanced planning. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/324 "2023-01-03T19:27:32Z")
The look on McCarthy’s face while Gaetz (four seats away) hollers out his nomination of Gym Jordan is priceless. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/325 "2023-01-03T19:28:06Z")
mccarthy better move his stuff out of the speaker’s suite. ---
**Author:** ![mjmartin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3d9bf3/32.png) [@mjmartin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmartin)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/326 "2023-01-03T19:28:28Z")
Does Matt Gaetz have a specific concern with McCarthy, or is this just an attempt to stay in the news? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/327 "2023-01-03T19:28:43Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > they can spend the next two years collecting their checks and blaming the Democrats. Well, this is their main strength, after all. Governing? They don’t have a clue how to do that. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/328 "2023-01-03T19:31:27Z")
Second round not looking great ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/329 "2023-01-03T19:31:46Z")
3 for Jordan and we are still in the B’s… damn, we are looking at 3rd ballot. edit: Make that 4 for Jordan, still in the B’s. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/330 "2023-01-03T19:36:23Z")
So we at least know Gaetz will give Jordan his 5th voting sending this to the 3rd ballot. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/331 "2023-01-03T19:36:49Z")
there goes the maths again! ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/332 "2023-01-03T19:37:59Z")
Even if McCarthy eventually gets the speakership, isn’t this the first time it has taken multiple votes in a long time? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/333 "2023-01-03T19:38:19Z")
Since 1923 I believe ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/334 "2023-01-03T19:38:21Z")
Last time was 1923, so, yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/335 "2023-01-03T19:39:43Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > That, and bullshit investigations, are exactly what they plan on doing anyway. > > And, continuing resolutions will come with threats of shutdown and default. > [@jsc1953](#): > > Is all this horse-trading and smoke-filled-room-negotiating just to decide who gets to appoint the chair of the Hunter Biden Laptop Investigation Committee? cuz it’s not like this Congress is going to do any actual work. 1. Congress does real work on the down low. It doesn’t get much press and everyone ignores it. They use big-ticket items to fundraise off of, turning it into a big battle, and those are the ones where nothing gets accomplished - the status quo is usually the acceptable option so doing nothing is equivalent to saying, “Actually, we’ve dialed that one in pretty well, already.” 2. McCarthy is not a True Believer. To keep power, up-until-now, he needed the support of the crazies on the right because Trump and them are the primary source of funding for the party. If that changes then, so far as he’s concerned, he’s perfectly happy being best friend of Liz Cheney and Ben Sasse if that’s the way the political winds are blowing. Unless Jeffries _does_ become the Speaker, I’m not seeing the winds completely fall out of the sails of the crazy right to such an extent that McCarthy could move to the center. So I do expect that, if elected, he’ll run some investigations and spout nonsense as he needs to - appearing, in public, to still support the hard right. But, if he was elected on the back of a secret centrist coalition then those investigations will all be set up to fail in some way and he’ll focus most of his energy on working on real legislation. He’ll be obliged to by the deals he cut. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/336 "2023-01-03T19:40:19Z")
the word in the halls is that all 19 the didn’t vote mccarthy are all going to jordan. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/337 "2023-01-03T19:40:50Z")
Uh, is there any real doubt McCarthy will get it in the end? I mean, there is no chance a Democratic representative could get it…is there? No, Repubs would not leave it that way no matter what. This must all be dramatic show. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/338 "2023-01-03T19:45:16Z")
So what’s the end game? In round 3 Jordan reluctantly accepts the nomination and becomes speaker? Hard to see it… ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/339 "2023-01-03T19:45:27Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Uh, is there any real doubt McCarthy will get it in the end? I mean, there is no chance a Democratic representative could get it…is there? No, Repubs would not leave it that way no matter what. > > This must all be dramatic show. The hope of the 19 is that the party decides to offer another candidate than McCarthy (or McCarthy gives up something major - weakening the Speaker role) to get their votes. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/340 "2023-01-03T19:47:01Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Unless Jeffries _does_ become the Speaker, I’m not seeing the winds completely fall out of the sails of the crazy right to such an extent that McCarthy could move to the center Okay, in fantasy land, I have a question. How much power would Jeffries have as speaker if the Democrats are still in the minority? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770.md?page=18)