# The Great Ongoing Revolving Speakership of the 118th Congress {Mike Johnson is new speaker as of 2023-10-25} **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 12, 2023, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432 "2023-10-12T02:05:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 30
**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:** [October 19, 2023, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/581 "2023-10-19T02:44:17Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Not a way to achieve any cooperation, but politics. > > Instead, he demonized the favorite boogeymen of the right That is exactly how to play the politics best. At least that’s how it seems to me. His message is trying to sell a consensus approach. Especially to a bulk of Team R: Most of _us_ are great. Gaetz though. That guy was the idiot troublemaker. Wasn’t your fault. We was fine! And guys we can work with some of the Ds. Not these three demons but some. To Team D: _most_ of you are reasonable people. I’m not demonizing or trashtalking _all_ of you, just these extremist few. It even helps those three! For them being attacked like that elevates them as leadership. Raises their profile even more. Plays to their brands. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/582 "2023-10-19T02:49:33Z")
In any reasonable country, AOC and Ilhan wouldn’t even be far-left; they’d just be left-wing or even centrists. “Let’s don’t let people die in medical poverty” should not be an extreme left-wing position. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/583 "2023-10-19T03:13:10Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > …a charismatic young Democratic politician… And female. And has a foriegn-sounding name. And openly mocks them. Terrifying, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/584 "2023-10-19T03:28:07Z")
It wasn’t best politics when the people singled out were blacks or Asians or Jews (or purported homosexuals or communists) or some other minority that happened to be hated at the time. Never was and isn’t now. Those who defended it then are now subsumed into the scum remains of history. (Florida and Texas schoolbooks excepted.) You can’t have it both ways. You cannot be a reasonable, moderate politician who knows how to play the game _and_ shout out bigoted messages of hate to the lowest levels of your base at the same time. One takes precedent over the other. The behavior cannot be defended and should never be defended. Learn from history. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/585 "2023-10-19T03:28:39Z")
Sorry I haven’t read this entire thread, but I’m kinda thinking the republicans don’t want to fill the position so nothing can happen, then can try to blame Biden for nothing happening. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2023, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/586 "2023-10-19T03:36:25Z")
Democrats are preventing us from having a Speaker since they are not helping to elect Jordan. is what I expect to hear 48 hours from now. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/587 "2023-10-19T03:43:15Z")
Is what they have been saying for the last 48 hours. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2023, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/588 "2023-10-19T03:45:37Z")
I thought they were still blaming the moderate Republicans for not having a Speaker. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/589 "2023-10-19T04:36:55Z")
Nope. McCarthy has very explicitly blamed Democrats for not saving his ass. As if that is their job. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2023, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/590 "2023-10-19T04:37:43Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > McCarthy has very explicitly blamed Democrats for not saving his ass. I was future-quoting the FC. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/591 "2023-10-19T04:44:04Z")
> ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/592 "2023-10-19T04:46:45Z")
> [@Digger11](#): > > To add to this, the Democrats scarcely have conservatives anymore. Among other issues, they’ve done their best to eradicate ALL opposition to abortion within their caucus, and very nearly succeeded. The 2 parties have certainly sorted on abortion. [WAPO](https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/05/18/parties-flipped-abortion-reshaping-activism-our-politics/): “Fifty years ago, conservative Republicans often supported abortion rights, while many liberal Democrats did not.” There are many factors involved, but I’d point to Richard Viguerie stumbling over this fundraising goldmine when he was building his junk mail empire during the 1970s. Fewer and fewer Democratic politicians oppose yanking away a woman’s ability to obtain an abortion. That said, the pressure isn’t coming from the top of the party. [2017 article in the Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/04/pro-life-democrats-abortion-sanders-perez-party/524394/): > Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer recently [said](http://freebeacon.com/issues/schumer-says-democrats-are-big-tent-party-but-strongly-pro-choice-party/) the party is “strongly pro-choice,” but remains a “big-tent party,” while House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi [said](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/pelosi-course-you-can-be-democrat-against-abortion-n749856) “of course” it’s possible to be “pro-life” and a Democrat, and have the support of the Democratic Party. Tom Perez, the chair of the Democratic National committee, meanwhile is facing harsh criticism within the party for remarks widely interpreted as saying that Democrats who oppose abortion were not welcome in the party. Has McCarthy ever called for a “Big Tent” on safe and legal abortion? I doubt whether Jim Jordan has. Joe Manchin identifies as Pro-Life and gets mixed ratings from various pressure groups. Another Anti-abortion Dem is Bob Casey Jr. Donnelly was an anti-abortion Dem who lost in the the general election: he wasn’t primaried. The Republicans have 2 pro-choice Senators: Collins and Murkowski. Both opposed the [Women’s Health Protection Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Health_Protection_Act) of 2022, but offered a narrower bill in its place. I think Digger’s contention is unproven. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/593 "2023-10-19T05:07:43Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Democrats are preventing us from having a Speaker since they are not helping to elect Jordan. From the Biden-Harris-HQ account on Truth Social, here’s Rep Austin Scott on CNN saying with a straight face that the Dems created this problem because 96% of the votes to oust McCarthy were Democrats. [Truth Social](https://truthsocial.com/@BidenHQ/posts/111257627400092131) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/594 "2023-10-19T06:02:49Z")
> [@](#): > > I guess after all the phone calls don’t get him to vote for Jordan, you hold a “rally” at his office. “Will be wild!” ---
**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:** [October 19, 2023, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/595 "2023-10-19T08:42:43Z")
Afterwards: “But it said ‘peacefully’!” ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/596 "2023-10-19T10:54:32Z")
“Peacefully” (wink-wink). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/597 "2023-10-19T11:10:58Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > AOC has been saying mean things about Republicans and the mess they are in, that they caused on themselves. All they have to do is invoke her name and it sends the dummies in droves to Fleece-a-Rube dot com. Ya can’t pass-up a chance to make a little money. That’s pretty much all there is to it. Although not necessarily only about fundraising. It also creates enthusiasm both pro for them and con for the demonic Ds. Any of the famous R pols could hold a rally and stand in front of the crowd at the microphone. Say “woke” and the crowd goes wild. Say “border crisis” and the crowd goes wild. Say “tax cut” and the crowd goes wild. Say “AOC” and the crowd goes wild. By the end the crowd will be panting for more and marveling at how much they got out of listening to the “speech” and what a great and wonderful Republic that speaker was. Like the old joke about the prisoners who’d memorized and numbered all the jokes any of them knew, this is the level of discourse needed to reach these folks. It’s just keywords. Pavlovian conditioning at its most basic. Also not unlike how an unscrupulous website operator could trick a Google search back around 2002 by just dumping lots of keywords into a hidden part of the page. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/598 "2023-10-19T11:26:18Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Like the old joke about the prisoners who’d memorized and numbered all the jokes any of them knew, this is the level of discourse needed to reach these folks. (And the punchline of that joke is the new prisoner who attempted to call out a number, and was confused when it was greeted with silence; one of the old-timers said to him, You just don’t know how to tell a joke. … Which is something to keep in mind as DeSantis flounders to diminishing effect in front of what should be sympathetic crowds.) But back to the subject of the thread. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/599 "2023-10-19T11:36:52Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > People have been talking ever since Trump got elected that the Republican Party might need to split into two parties. Sheer inertia says no. Too much power is invested in the Republican brand and Trump remains the head of a cult. > > Nothing will change until the 2024 election. If Trump loses and the Democrats take back Congress, the party might break. Any other scenario gives them hope. Hey, losing might give them hope - in the form of anger. What might finally cause the GOP to split is if Trump somehow failed to win the Republican Primary. He would certainly run Independent, and then the MAGATs would follow him. I’m hoping for a miracle. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432/600 "2023-10-19T12:35:30Z")
Moderating: > [@Digger11](#): > > To add to this, the Democrats scarcely have conservatives anymore. Among other issues, they’ve done their best to eradicate ALL opposition to abortion within their caucus, and very nearly succeeded. This comment was a complete hijack to the discussion at hand, and it has caused a lot of needless response in a thread where none of it belongs. Let’s drop discussions about abortion and the extent to which Democrats are “conservative”. This is not the thread for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-revolving-speakership-of-the-118th-congress-mike-johnson-is-new-speaker-as-of-2023-10-25/991432.md?page=31)