US House of Representatives 4: Day One And The Clown Caucus is Already in Disarray.

[AnywhereButHere]

4th vote taken. Still no Speaker. McCarthy's bad, bad day is continuing.

Santos spent most of the vote hiding in the cloakroom, apparently, only emerging to vote and then scuttle back away. Well, at least the Brazilian government will know where to find him should they come looking! 

[onekidanddone]

2 minutes ago, AnywhereButHere said:

4th vote taken. Still no Speaker. McCarthy's bad, bad day is continuing.

Santos spent most of the vote hiding in the cloakroom, apparently, only emerging to vote and then scuttle back away. Well, at least the Brazilian government will know where to find him should they come looking! 

How can a member of congress vote for speaker if they haven’t been sworn in?

[AnywhereButHere]

Just now, onekidanddone said:

How can a member of congress vote for speaker if they haven’t been sworn in?

I was wondering that too, but this was what someone said on the NYT page

Quote

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/04/us/house-speaker-vote/9870b1a7-1559-5e1e-adb5-8e50188dfb24?smid=url-share

11 minutes ago

11 minutes ago

Catie Edmondson

A reminder that the Constitution allows members-elect to vote for speaker, because the election of the chamber’s leader is given the highest constitutional priority. In the meantime, the House clerk presides over the proceedings.

I'm also pissed that members can abstain/vote "Present" from voting for Speaker. If you as a body are electing leadership for that body, then I feel it should be required that it's an active vote. None of this sitting out/avoiding the issue bullshit. 

[47of74]

Lieu wasn't the only one breaking out the popcorn

Quote

Tuesday kicked off the first day of the new Congress, and it did not go well. House Republicans spent the morning melting down and calling each other names and ultimately ended the day failing to elect a new speaker.

There wasn’t much for Democrats to do besides hang tight in the chamber, since the House can’t function at all without a speaker—if they were to leave, they risked lowering the threshold of votes that Republican frontrunner Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) needs to secure victory. So they brought their (literal) popcorn, took selfies, made jokes, and just generally reveled in the schadenfreude of it all.

“I’ve got my popcorn ready,” tweeted Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.).

Kelly’s Illinois colleague, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, brought a three-flavored popcorn bucket—objectively the best kind— to the House floor.

 

[AnywhereButHere]

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/04/us/house-speaker-vote/b102675b-e359-532d-be6d-05984df1f46f?smid=url-share

Quote

Jan. 4, 2023, 1:38 p.m. ET2 minutes ago

2 minutes ago

Michael Gold

George Santos has been pretty consistent in his support for McCarthy but he appears to be in a huddle with some of the McCarthy defectors at the moment.

 

Not a bad strategy on their part. Dude has been isolated so badly that a little bit off attention might get him on their side. 

And we're heading to vote 5.

Warren Davidson of Ohio just re- re- re- re- re-nominated McCarthy and is windbagging on about cohesiveness or some shite like that. Everyone is applauding - probably because he finally stopped talking.

Pete Aguilar of California just re- re- re- re- re-nominated Hakeem Jeffries. He laid out the bare bones, sensible reasons for voting for Jeffries. Sadly all reasons that put the fear of progress/reality into the republicans...

Lauren Boebert of Colorado (by way of a galaxy far, far, away) just nominated Byron Donalds. Basically just told McCarthy that no one likes him or wants to play with him, so he should just go home. Very grown up of her.

And here we go again!

 

[GreyhoundFan]

He seems to be unable to help himself.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[Howl]

Oh. 

 

[onekidanddone]

8 minutes ago, Howl said:

Oh. 

 

They will be best friends on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and enemies on alternate Thursdays. The GQP base friendships and support on what they can get out of somebody. The loyalty changes on a whim 

[Shrubbery]

Wow, turns out that if you have some dipshits try and win votes for your corrupt party by ignoring all rules of conduct and decorum, they’ll then go and ignore all rules you‘d like them to follow. Who could‘ve guessed?

 

… and now the „honourable“ gentleman from Pennsylvania has managed to drag both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln into this, poor guys must be spinning in their graves …

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[47of74]

A French publication had this to say

Quote

The peaceful transfer of power being the lifeblood of a democracy, the arrival of a Republican majority in the US House of Representatives on January 3 should, in theory, be accompanied by a political platform and policy proposals that compete with those put forward by Democratic President Joe Biden since his election in 2020. With such an agenda, the Republicans should be able to provoke a useful debate before the next presidential election, to be held in November 2024.

However, it is likely that this will not happen. On the eve of a vote that is usually a formality, the Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, was forced to make more concessions to his hard-line faction in order to have a chance of seizing the gavel, the symbol of the speaker of the House. This psychological drama reflects deep internal divisions. As for the stated priority of investigating the alleged business dealings of the president's son, Hunter Biden, this is a narrow-minded desire for revenge after the two indictments against Donald Trump during his term of office. There is no doubt that this is far removed from the concerns of ordinary American citizens.

It is not only the narrow majority that the Republicans have in the House after the disappointing mid-term elections and the disproportionate weight of its most radical wing that is to blame. Above all, the Republican Party is suffering from a severe ideological breakdown, not unlike the British Tories after decades of neoliberal supremacy.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

He’s lost the sixth vote. They’ve adjourned until 8:00pm.

[Howl]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

They’ve adjourned until 8:00pm.

Whoa!  This is getting serious, or more ridiculous, depending on your point of view. 

Imma guess Qevin will be taken to the woodshed and screamed at until he understands that there's a snowball's chance in hell that he'll be Speaker.  

Also, sixth ballot: Jeffries 212 votes, McCarthy 201 votes. 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by Howl

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

He’s lost the sixth vote. They’ve adjourned until 8:00pm.

Are Congress critter changing votes or is it the same count each time?

[Xan]

3 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

Are Congress critter changing votes or is it the same count each time?

It started out on the first ballot at 203 for McCarthy and 19 votes for someone else.  Second ballot was 203 for McCarthy and 19 for Jim Jordan.  Third ballot was 202 for McCarthy and 20 for Jordan.  Fourth ballot and fifth ballot were 201 for McCarthy, 20 for Donalds, and I voting present.  Sixth ballot was the same -- 201 for McCarthy, 20 for Donalds, and 1 voting present.

McCarthy is every so slightly losing votes.  The crazy contingent keeps changing who they are willing to vote for as speaker.  Since Trump came out supporting McCarthy, he's lost votes.

[onekidanddone]

3 minutes ago, Xan said:

Since Trump came out supporting McCarthy, he's lost votes.

This surprises me. I would have thought the GQP caucus would follow their leader 

[Xan]

1 minute ago, onekidanddone said:

This surprises me. I would have thought the GQP caucus would follow their leader 

Yeah.  Me too.  Even Boebert isn't following Dear Leader anymore.  He put out a statement on Truth Social that he thought Donalds was a great person and took credit for his success.  "I have always supported Byron Donalds, have consistently Endorsed him for Congress and, in fact, feel that I was a primary reason he entered politics in the first place."  He went on to say that Donalds had a bright future but it wasn't his "day" now.

Oh, Donny -- when you've lost Bobo you're in trouble.

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[Howl]

Rep. Ted Lieu throwing shade on the Republicans by arriving with a paper bag of popcorn is peak 2023 trolling and it's only Jan. 4. 

Also, when the House Clerk called for a general voice vote on reconvening at 8 pm, the Nays* obviously had it I thought, projecting notes of anguish at the thought of coming back as well as undertones of "Oh, hell no, f**k no."

But the House Clerk called it for the Ayes and nobody demanded an individual voice vote.

We'll be watching Wednesday night police procedurals: FBI, FBI Really Really Bad Guys!, FBI Across the Pond and so on.  I'll check Twitter in the morning. 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Howl

[libgirl2]

31 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

 

And the laughing continues on..... 

[onekidanddone]

47 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

 

Tell Kat we will laugh at them anyway 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[Destiny]

No vote tonight. This is fucking ridiculous.