# Outsiders for Speaker of the House **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 10, 2015, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsiders-for-speaker-of-the-house/734126 "2015-10-10T06:19:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsiders-for-speaker-of-the-house/734126/1 "2015-10-10T06:19:07Z")
Since the Speaker of the House doesn’t have to be a member of the House of Representatives, I’ve been amusing myself by thinking of other Republicans who fit the bill. I wonder what the Dope would think about Speaker Limbaugh. 🙂 To keep this semi-quasi-plausible, I would like to restrict this to people who could command fairly serious attention from the House Republicans if they actually did consider outsiders for the job. Rush Limbaugh Michelle Malkin Charles Krauthammer Condoleezza Rice George Will ---
**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:** [October 10, 2015, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsiders-for-speaker-of-the-house/734126/2 "2015-10-10T08:17:06Z")
Why don’t they just bite the bullet and make Ted Cruz the Speaker? He’s been doing the job, might as well get it for realsies. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsiders-for-speaker-of-the-house/734126/3 "2015-10-10T14:49:25Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Why don’t they just bite the bullet and make Ted Cruz the Speaker? > > He’s been doing the job, might as well get it for realsies. He’s a Senator. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsiders-for-speaker-of-the-house/734126/4 "2015-10-10T14:56:44Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > He’s a Senator. The whole point of this thread is that the Speaker need not be a member of the House of Representatives. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsiders-for-speaker-of-the-house/734126/5 "2015-10-10T16:27:33Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > He’s a Senator. So? He wouldn’t be a member of the House of Reps and wouldn’t have a vote. What provision of the Constitution would bar the House from choosing him? ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsiders-for-speaker-of-the-house/734126/6 "2015-10-11T14:48:01Z")
I don’t think you are seriously considering the impossibility of the matter being settled in any way at all, including an outsider. The R’s are futzed up because they chose to allow wingnuts to join their ranks in order to try to elect national candidates. The party is at least two parties with so little in common that any attempt to find a compromise candidate, one acceptable to wingnuts whose main purpose is to stop the government from functioning as it should and others who want the government to play its important, but limited, role in the matters that people care about. It just won’t work. The only way to move forward is for the D’s and moderate R’s to vote together. It would be easy for the D’s to help elect a moderate R to the speakership. The wingnuts would howl and shit themselves, but, so what? ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outsiders-for-speaker-of-the-house/734126/7 "2015-10-11T14:49:43Z")
Incidentally, once the speakership is settled, the D’s and moderate R’s should continue to work together, ignoring the screeching and pissing and moaning from the far right of the chamber.