There’s an injury-law firm that advertises a lot here in the Chicago area (though apparently they aren’t based here) – their ads often feature the two principal lawyers with the rolled-up sleeves, and loosened ties. It does seem pretty trope-y, and I’m pretty sure that they didn’t come up with it.
Two-Twenty Two-Twenty Two-Twenty Two!
But seriously, back to the thread, will someone please remind me, ha ha, how it is the Democrats’ responsibility to elect a, ha ha ha, Republican speaker??
Ha ha ha ha. Jeeze fuckin louise.
Technically he died as a member of the National Union party working with a Democrat so he would not get the votes for Speaker.
The House is largely paralyzed right now. So much effort has been going toward addressing this matter that nothing else can get done. If the Rs can put up a reasonably moderate candidate, the Ds might consider supporting that person, just to get back to work.
The Rs hate government slightly more than they hate America. This paralysis is the kind of thing that makes them happy. And the likelihod of them putting up a reasonable candidate – hey, a perch just rode past my window on a bicycle.
The only way to light a fire under their asses would be to freeze their bank accounts until they get this fixed.
So the mods should look outside the House. How many votes would Chris Sununu get? And would the Dems vote for him as Speaker to F over the FCers?
Because you want a functioning House with someone in charge who is reasonably close to the middle. And you’re worried that a FCer will eventually make enough threats to be elected by the Pubs.
There’s an absolute, 100% immovable requirement for “reasonably close to the middle”: it’s a willingness to reach across the aisle and compromise with Democrats. Someone who uses the Republican idea of negotiation (only within the Republican party, never with Democrats), and who believes that compromise is a sign of cowardice and treachery, is definitionally nowhere close to the middle.
So this is the test: which someone has reached out to Democrats for their support?
And I think there are a few Republican Governors that fit the bill.
Are they the strange combination of ambitious enough and stupid enough to accept a nomination?
If they are, have they passed that test I put in italics?
Chris Sununu yes. I think Phil Scott would not leave the governorship for the speakership. What about Mitt Romney?
I think a big part of the reason he’s retiring from the Senate is that he’s tired of dealing with the RWNJ wing of the GOP, and that wing may be even stronger in the House than it is in the Senate.
Would a Speaker who is not a Representative be paid?
$223,500 per year as per Executive Order 13970.
Not bad. I’d do it for half that.
How is your gavel banging?
Depends. Am I allowed to use it to discipline unruly congressmen?
Thanks for the laugh first thing in the morning!
Republicans: Hey Democrats, we really need you to bail us out here, we’re in way over our heads. But it has to come in the form of you guys voting for a Republican, ok? Not us guys voting for a Democrat. But we really need you guys to fix what we’ve done.
Democrats: Did you know that fish sometimes ride bicycles?
The next time Jeffries gets to address the floor, I double-dog dare him to just start reading the script of Bee Movie.