# 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:** 49
**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, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/961 "2023-01-05T14:11:37Z")
I agree. If Jeffries gets in, it’ll be due to Matt Gaetz and his group voting Jeffries to give the “establishment” the middle finger, not with “moderate Republicans” who give up on McCarthy. I think even that is highly unlikely, but still more likely than the moderates giving up. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/962 "2023-01-05T14:13:05Z")
The fact that McCarthy could not get the votes together after how many years as minority leader prove he does not have the political qualifications to be Speaker. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/963 "2023-01-05T14:39:06Z")
What politician in modern history do you think would’ve been able to get MTG et. al. to give up the showboating and MAGA grandstanding and silently go with the establishment? This is a real “reap what you sow” moment for the GOP and McCarthy is as culpable as all of them. But I don’t think his _specific_ inability to keep the inmates in their straitjackets tells us much about his qualifications. They just have too much leverage and care too little about governing. Kev’s already promised these guys the moon and they’re still not budging. I think any wannabe speaker would be up shit creek right now. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/964 "2023-01-05T14:41:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > What politician in modern history do you think would’ve been able to get MTG et. al. to give up the showboating and MAGA grandstanding and silently go with the establishment? Off the top of my head, LBJ. ---
**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, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/965 "2023-01-05T14:43:21Z")
TBF, LBJ would have had everyone in line (and would have achieved a comfortable majority to begin with) all the way back in November. And would be already making any troublesome members _pay_. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/966 "2023-01-05T14:43:44Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > What politician in modern history do you think would’ve been able to get MTG et. al. to give up the showboating and MAGA grandstanding and silently go with the establishment? MTG is supporting McCarthy. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/967 "2023-01-05T14:48:57Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > lowering the threshold for introducing a motion to vacate to one member Oh man, if they actually do this, the next two years are going to be even more insane than I expected. Look at how much damage the Howler Monkey Caucus is doing when it takes several of them working together to muck things up. Give them the power to muck things up all by themselves? We’ll see votes to vacate every time the House does anything at all. There’s 20 of these people, who are only to happy to let things burn down. One per week, and we can kiss goodbye almost half the year even if they only do this once each. Add in weeks when the House isn’t in session, and most of the year is wasted before they’ve even begun. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/968 "2023-01-05T14:50:53Z")
Rather than caving, McCarthy should go to all 20 holdouts and say, “When, not if but WHEN, I am elected Speaker, everyone who voted against me on the last ballot are going to end up with the worst committee assignments ever. If need be, I’ll make a committee to clean out the Senate’ spittoons just to put them on that committee. Oh and those who vote against me will never be excused from attending sessions so if they don’t show up I WILL have the Sergeant of Arms arrest them and drag their ass back into the chamber.” ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/969 "2023-01-05T14:54:25Z")
Maybe, but to some degree the Democrats hold the cards here, _ **if** _ there are Republicans willing to deal. Sort of a “If you nominate someone non-insane, and make us a promise that you won’t do A, B, and C we’ll give you X votes.” situation. Of course, that’s _if_ there are sane Republicans out there who can be elected to the Speakership and who can’t be easily primaried by far-right types. What would be _really_ funny is if the Democrats just silently decided to back one of the candidates and decided things _FOR_ the Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/970 "2023-01-05T14:58:22Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Off the top of my head, LBJ. Do you think LBJ would’ve been able to wrangle this flavor of detractors in this current climate? I feel like strong leadership wouldn’t have allowed the schism to happen in the first place. > [@flurb](#): > > MTG is supporting McCarthy. 🤦‍♂️ I saw an article about her complaining that the Freedom Caucus isn’t negotiating on her behalf. Replace her with Gaetz, Boebert, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/971 "2023-01-05T14:59:25Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Republicans > [@](#): > > promise I think I see a flaw in that theory. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/972 "2023-01-05T15:01:02Z")
So the play is for the Kevin Kaves option, and it is unclear that a McCarthy unconditional surrender will be enough to satisfy them. It is also completely possible that some of the less crazy block might not be willing to play along. They can vote for any other, a random outsider, to prevent that complete win for the nuttiest. State they’d vote for Kevin but not the rules he’s promised. And with those changes he would be back in this position every week until he is gone. I hope they got free refills on the popcorn. ---
**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, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/973 "2023-01-05T15:01:24Z")
Problem with this is there is nobody to speak for “Republicans”. Just a mess of mutually overlapping factions that cannot be counted upon to “deliver”. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/974 "2023-01-05T15:02:18Z")
Playing hardball seldom works when the hand one holds is so weak. I think that would just drive some of his supporters away. Sounds like a joke of a threat, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/975 "2023-01-05T15:04:15Z")
The only message it would send to the holdouts is that they need to double down and make sure that McCarthy _never_ becomes Speaker. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/976 "2023-01-05T15:04:43Z")
Kevin is no LBJ. Johnson would have had everybody’s “pecker in his pocket” before Christmas. Keven can’t even find his own pecker. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/977 "2023-01-05T15:06:05Z")
[https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/04/politics/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/04/politics/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote/index.html) > After suffering yet another stinging defeat on Wednesday, in which he lost a sixth round of voting for House speaker, Kevin McCarthy proposed more key concessions in his push to get 218 votes – including agreeing to propose a rules change that would **allow just one member to call for a vote to oust a sitting speaker** , according to two sources familiar with the matter. Bolding added. > In two more concessions, the sources said, he’s also agreed to **allow for more members of the Freedom Caucus to serve on the powerful House Rules Committee** , which dictates how and whether bills come to the floor, and to vote on a handful of bills that are priorities for the holdouts, including proposing term limits on members and a border security plan. Bolding added. Great, so basically rewarding bad behavior. I’m sure there’s no way it’ll be horrible giving MORE power to the Shit-Throwing Caucus. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/978 "2023-01-05T15:07:50Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > And would be already making any troublesome members _pay_. I’m reminded of the Joker in _The Dark Knight_ when Batman is trying to intimidate him into giving up information: “You have nothing! You have nothing to threaten me with! Nothing to do with all your strength!” The hard core Never Kevins don’t care about committee assignments because they don’t care about legislating. They don’t need leadership campaign cash because they have an army of small donors to call on. They don’t need to help raising their profile or getting on Sunday news shows. There’s very little that a Speaker McCarthy can threaten them with. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/979 "2023-01-05T15:07:52Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Playing hardball seldom works when the hand one holds is so weak. I think that would just drive some of his supporters away. Again, the fact that Kevin can’t do it shows he is unfit politically to be Speaker. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770/980 "2023-01-05T15:07:53Z")
For a little humor, turn to David Rothkopf from the Daily Beast: > News: McCarthy proposes key concessions: > –Will babysit for Gaetz’s girlfriends one night a week > –Will personally teach Boebert how to read > –Will arrange for Gosar to be adopted by a family that doesn’t actually hate him I thought that McCarthy was going to weather the storm, but something has to give and I think it’s him. Distasteful as it may be, some leopard is going to eat his face. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770.md?page=48) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-speaker-contest/974770.md?page=50)