# 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:** 46
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/901 "2023-01-05T01:44:05Z")
“These guys [MAGA Republicans] are getting high on their own farts”: One of the panelists on CNN. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/902 "2023-01-05T01:44:21Z")
He needs 11 plus the Present voter to vote for him. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/903 "2023-01-05T01:46:27Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > I can not see how this ends well I can’t see how it _ends_ ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/904 "2023-01-05T01:47:23Z")
The dems are eventually going to have to bail them out. Eventually, something critical is going to have to get done and the adults in the room are going to have to fix it. ---
**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 5, 2023, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/905 "2023-01-05T01:47:28Z")
That is the line of the day! “Sitting in the green room of fox, getting high on their own farts.” Beauty. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/906 "2023-01-05T01:47:42Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I can’t see how it _ends_ Not with a bang, but a whimper, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/907 "2023-01-05T01:48:56Z")
That’s the correct quote, @rocking_chair . Thanks for that; I knew I had only paraphrased it. ---
**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 5, 2023, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/908 "2023-01-05T01:49:45Z")
It was awesome! I thought the panel was going to fall off their chairs. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/909 "2023-01-05T01:51:11Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > He needs 11 plus the Present voter to vote for him. That’s only 12 added to a baseline of 201. That gets him to 213, so he would be ahead of Jeffries. The problem for McCarthy is that isn’t enough. He needs to reach 218, so he needs 16 plus that present voter. ---
**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 5, 2023, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/910 "2023-01-05T01:51:42Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > He needs 11 plus the Present voter to vote for him. And _nobody else_ in his side of the aisle to vote for _anyone_ else. Remember: majority of those casting actual votes. > [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > The problem for McCarthy is that isn’t enough. He needs to reach 218, so he needs 16 plus that present voter. If he gets 12 more votes and the remaining 8 people to vote “present” or bugger off, he makes it. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/911 "2023-01-05T01:55:06Z")
Sure. But those remaining 8 are the hardcore Never Kevin’s like Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert. The question is what is he going to have to give up to get them to vote present or bugger off. ETA: He doesn’t have to get all 8 or so. Just 4 of them. Never the less, he’s going to have to give up more than he’s given so far to get them. ---
**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 5, 2023, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/912 "2023-01-05T01:55:07Z")
McCarthy needs to have some people added into his column just to stay alive. more rounds of it just staying the same or him losing another vote or two, the calls for him to walk away will get much louder. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/913 "2023-01-05T01:55:35Z")
You’re correct. That’s my second fuck up tonight. I’m just going to read until tomorrow. 😡 ---
**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 5, 2023, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/914 "2023-01-05T01:57:43Z")
Remember the 2 for 1 rule. 8 takes the count down 4. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/915 "2023-01-05T01:58:11Z")
[Surprise in Pennsylvania: Republicans Back a (Former?) Democrat for Speaker](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/us/pennsylvania-house-speaker-rozzi-independent.html) > [@](#): > > After a long afternoon of suspense, and to the surprise of nearly everyone in the House, the choice was made: a moderate Democrat from the Reading area, nominated by two Republicans, who was on almost no one’s radar and who pledged in his first speech to be “the commonwealth’s first independent speaker.” > > “I’m sure a lot of you didn’t see this coming today,” the new speaker, Representative Mark Rozzi, said at the rostrum. . . . > > Democrats are heavily favored to win the special elections to fill the three vacant seats, but the first of those votes won’t take place until at least Feb. 7. So the looming question as the session opened Tuesday was which party would control the House for now, while Republicans have a 101-99 advantage. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/916 "2023-01-05T02:01:02Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > Remember the 2 for 1 rule. 8 takes the count down 4. Right. But those representatives realize that. Even someone like Matt Gaetz or Lauren Boebert can do that math. If they’re going to give up, they might as well vote for McCarthy. Voting present would be a half assed way of voting for McCarthy. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/917 "2023-01-05T02:27:01Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > I’m of two minds concerning McCarthy. On the one hand, I despise him, and I don’t think that he deserves to be Speaker. On the other hand, I remember all the grief that Boehner & Ryan went through, and I think maybe becoming Speaker is **exactly** what he deserves. > [@MulderMuffin](#): > > Before this is all over McCarthy will have given away every bit of the Speaker’s power in return for the title. Contemplating what McQarthy (or whoever wins what’s looking more & more like a booby prize) will have to face, I’m reminded of Mephistopheles in _Doctor Faustus_: > Why this is Hell, nor ~~am I~~ are you out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/918 "2023-01-05T02:38:35Z")
Breaking: Tomorrow’s alternative Speaker nominee to be Ned Ryerson. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/919 "2023-01-05T02:43:15Z")
We need to start a new thread on sequential posts: > [@rocking\_chair](#): > > That is the line of the day! “Sitting in the green room of fox, getting high on their own farts.” > [@Spoons](#): > > Not with a bang, but a whimper, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/920 "2023-01-05T02:52:39Z")
A sign of the times, perhaps? > “It’s worth taking a few days or **a few weeks** to get the best possible speaker,” said Republican Bob Good (Va.), who has voted six times for candidates who aren’t McCarthy. > **[Speaker fight stagnates as House Republicans fail to find consensus](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/04/kevin-mccarthy-house-speaker-vote/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_politics)** > > For the second day in a row, caucus leader Kevin McCarthy failed on three votes to get enough support to take the gavel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770.md?page=47)