House of Representatives 5: The Clown Caucus is Throwing Their Toys Out of The Playpen

[Ozlsn]

12 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

But key members of that group have more recently been skeptical of the plan because it lacks spending cuts.

Let's start with their salaries and healthcare.

[GreyhoundFan]

The house GQP has descended to pre-kindergarten behavior. "An ugly scene highlights House GOP’s descent into childish infighting"

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Three weeks ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declared as he was elevated to that role, “This conference that you see — this House Republican majority — is united.”

On Tuesday, Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) featured in an angry and allegedly physical altercation — for the second time this year. The scene played out even as their fellow House Republicans continued to hurl childish insults at one another.

The event added to the evidence that the House GOP, despite its efforts to right the ship following McCarthy’s ouster, continues to devolve into a level of juvenile infighting rarely seen in modern American politics.

NPR’s Claudia Grisales reported Tuesday morning that she witnessed McCarthy shoving Burchett, one of eight Republicans who voted to oust him last month and whom McCarthy has criticized strongly since then. She said it caused Burchett to “lunge” forward.

The Washington Post’s Marianna Sotomayor reported that Burchett asked McCarthy, “Why did you walk behind me and elbow me in the back?” McCarthy denied it and, as Burchett followed him yelling, said, “Oh, my god.” Burchett then slowed his steps so he was no longer directly behind McCarthy and called McCarthy “pathetic.”

Grisales reported that Burchett also told McCarthy, “You need security, Kevin!”

Burchett later told CNN it was a “clean shot to the kidneys” and that he was still in pain. He compared McCarthy to a child who would throw a rock and then “hide behind his mama’s skirt.” McCarthy later told reporters he didn’t shove Burchett or intentionally contact him: "If I kidney-punched someone, they would be on the ground.” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has filed an ethics complaint against McCarthy over the alleged altercation.

Remarkably, Burchett and McCarthy were also present during a physical altercation earlier this year on the House floor.

Burchett was between McCarthy and Gaetz as they argued over Gaetz’s refusal to vote for McCarthy’s bid for speaker. Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.) ultimately showed up, leaning over Burchett in Gaetz’s direction, and had to be physically restrained. McCarthy walked away from the scene.

Tuesday’s flap between McCarthy and Burchett is particularly remarkable, given it was allowed to take place in the presence of reporters. But the bad blood has been developing for weeks, and McCarthy gives the appearance of being out for revenge.

After McCarthy’s ouster, Burchett suggested that the congressman had belittled his Christian faith while seeking his vote — an accusation McCarthy flatly rejected. McCarthy in that post-ouster news conference and a CNN interview that aired over the weekend continued to suggest Burchett and the other seven who voted to oust him were unprincipled and just out for attention. Burchett told CNN in response that McCarthy was “bitter.”

But this is merely the latest example of a House GOP riven with dissension and often looking more like high school than a decorous and deliberative legislative chamber:

• Shortly before that scene played out Tuesday morning, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) “lacks the maturity and the experience to understand” her effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Greene responded on X by saying that Issa “lacks...” and then posting emojis of various types of balls.
• Greene recently called Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) “vaping groping Lauren,” alluding to Boebert being caught doing both in a public theater. Her office this summer also confirmed that she called Boebert a “little b----” on the House floor.
• Greene has also called former colleagues in the House Freedom Caucus (from which she was ousted) “Colonel Sanders” and a “CNN wannabe.”
• One of those members Greene insulted, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), recently cited Greene’s “feckless” censure resolution against Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), calling it “deeply flawed.” Greene had used the same f-word while publicly listing the Republicans who voted against the resolution.
• Roy later told Greene to “go chase so-called Jewish space lasers if she wants to spend time on that sort of thing” — a reference to one of Greene’s wild conspiracy theories.
• Boebert has also dug at Greene for this.
• Indicted Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) recently cited the arrest of Rep. Steve Womack’s (R-Ark.) son before apologizing.
• McCarthy in the CNN interview this past weekend left open the possibility of expelling Gaetz and suggested Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) doesn’t deserve reelection.
• Former congressman and now-Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a McCarthy ally, recently made suggestive comments about Gaetz, who was investigated in a sex-trafficking probe but was not charged.
• Both McCarthy and Rep. Jason T. Smith (R-Mo.) have accused Gaetz of constantly lying.
• Gaetz, in turn, made suggestive comments about Smith’s personal life.

Congress has at times devolved into heated scenes, including on the floor. Violence was relatively common in the pre-Civil War era. And some House Republicans have even suggested that the scene in January during the speaker debate was a sign of healthy disagreement.

Whether the American voters who gave Republicans control of the House agree is an increasingly pertinent question.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

The clown caucus...

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Every accusation made by the GQP is basically an admission of guilt. "Comer Comes Unglued as Dem Turns Tables on Deals with His Brother"

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The clown show that is James Comer's House Oversight Committee got heated today when Rep. Jared Moskowitz confronted the Chairman over a loan he made to his brother.

For months, Comer promised that he would unveil one smoking gun after another that would prove that Joe Biden was receiving bribes from foreign entities seeking to influence policy in the US. While his allegations and claims have launched dozens of right-wing conspiracies on social media, the actual hard evidence has been non-existent.

First, we heard that the testimony of former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer was going to be the big blockbuster. However, that was a complete dud, as Rep. Dan Goldman's questioning of Archer revealed more evidence that exonerated Biden rather than implicating him. What was especially telling about it was that Comer didn't even show up for the deposition, signaling that he knew it was going to be a disaster.

Then Comer made a big deal out of the fact that he had discovered a check where Biden's brother Joseph repaid a personal loan made to him when Biden wasn't even in office. Comer implied that there must be some sinister reason behind the payment, and that it was likely a case of "money laundering" where Biden supposedly was getting a kick-back for some unspecified thing he may have done years before, with no proof whatsoever.

Then a story broke by the Daily Beast a few days ago that property records in Kentucky showed that Comer has been doing exactly what he claims Joe Biden has done. The records showed that he set up a shell company to do land swaps with his brother, at one point loaning his brother the exact same amount as the Biden loan - $200,000. However, unlike Biden, Comer was in a position in government with the ability to provide influence for his brother's business deals, unlike Biden who was out of government when his loan was made.

At a committee hearing today, Rep. Moskowitz confronted Comer on the hypocrisy of making accusations about Biden because of a loan to his brother when he was doing the exact same thing. Comer then gave a convoluted explanation about the transactions with his brother and claimed the story was "bullshit." Comer claimed that the money to his brother from his LLC wasn't a loan it was to pay for farm land he inherited from his father. He then pointed at Moskowitz and said that "only dumb, financially illiterate people" would look at what he did and thing there was something illegal about it.

Comer came completely unglued. First he attacked Dan Goldman as "Mr. Trust Fund," (Goldman is a Levi Strauss heir), then he said that Moskowitz, who was wearing a blue suit and light blue tie, of looking "like a smurf." Moskowitz then responded with substance:

"You go on Fox News and say that loans and deals are ways to evade taxes. We don't know if that's what you're doing or not. We don't know. We're supposed to take your word for it ... This seems to have gotten under your skin. I think the American people have lots of questions Mr. Chairman. Perhaps you should sit for a deposition."

Comer then said he would pay for a plane ticket for Moskowitz to travel to KY to investigate his land deals. Moskowitz asked him if he would sit for a deposition about it. Comer said that he would be willing to sit down with the Bidens where they could go over both of their sets of family business transactions together at the same time. Moskowitz responded "that would be great" and that he would hold him to that promise.

 

Here's part of the tantrum:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

So true:

 

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

one can hope!

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I love Rachel’s response.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

The only thing they’ve accomplished is to make themselves look like fucking idiots.

 

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

6 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I love Rachel’s response.

 

That was amazing! Right to the point and saying what I'm thinking but can't seem to articulate well....the bit about "light rail" was HILARIOUS.

[GreyhoundFan]

These people are a bunch of toddlers.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Qevin is an idiot. I wish the voters in his district would vote for someone better. Preferably without an "R" after his or her name.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Not only is Qevin a delusional idiot, he's also lying. TFG wasn't depressed, he was furious because he wasn't declared emperor.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Idiot James Comer has been screaming and crying, saying that Hunter Biden must testify before his committee. Well, Hunter called his bluff. He agreed to testify, but only if the hearing was televised publicly. Comer is now whining about that. Jamie Raskin has a great statement:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Oh yeah, because Comer is such an example of maturity. /s

 

[apple1]

On 11/7/2023 at 12:36 PM, apple1 said:

I don't disagree with this. I also have read all of the FJ postings so far about Johnson, and I appreciate those posts; they shed big-picture light on Johnson in an overall, longer-term way. I understand that Johnson had behind the scenes influence and power, apparently. 

Here is the question I still have. What nitty-gritty details behind the scenes caused a complete turnaround in less than a week? A week that completely flipped from expectations of having Jordan or Scalise or Emmer voted next Speaker, to Johnson whose name hadn't even been mentioned in a public way, and who publicly was not much known outside of Louisiana? Something very rotten had to be going on in backrooms. Who had/has what dirt on who, in what way, and what was about to be exposed?

There has to be more than is public right now.

I knew there was more to this, a rotten, backroom story. There was. Per Liz Cheney's just-released book, Johnson led the move to declare the election invalid.

‘Bait and switch’: Liz Cheney book tears into Mike Johnson over pro-Trump January 6 brief | Books | The Guardian

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In a new book Liz Cheney, the anti-Trump Republican accuses Mike Johnson of dishonesty over both the authorship of a supreme court brief in support of Donald Trump’s attempt to overthrow the 2020 election and the document’s contents, saying the US House speaker duped his party with a “bait and switch”.

“As I read the amicus brief – which was poorly written – it became clear Mike was being less than honest,” Cheney writes. “He was playing bait and switch, assuring members that the brief made no claims about specific allegations of [electoral] fraud when, in fact, it was full of such claims.”

Cheney also says Johnson was neither the author of the brief nor a “constitutional law expert”, as he was “telling colleagues he was”. Pro-Trump lawyers actually wrote the document, Cheney writes.

Cheney describes how Johnson, then Republican study committee chair, emailed GOP members on 9 December 2020 to say Trump had “specifically” asked him to request all Republicans in Congress “join on to our brief”.

Johnson, Cheney says, insisted he was not trying to pressure people and simply wanted to show support for Trump, by “affirm[ing] for the court (and our constituents back home) our serious concerns with the integrity of our electoral system” and seeking “careful, timely review”.

“Mike was seriously misleading our members,” Cheney writes. “The brief did assert as facts known to the amici many allegations of fraud and serious wrongdoing by officials in multiple states.”

Johnson, she says, then told Republicans that 105 House members had expressed interest. “Not one of them had seen the brief,” Cheney writes. She also says he added “a new inaccurate claim”, that state officials had been “clearly shown” to have violated the constitution.

“But virtually all those claims had already been heard by the courts and decided against Trump.”

Calling the brief “poorly written”, Cheney says she doubted Johnson’s honesty and asked him who wrote it, as “to assert facts in a federal court without personal knowledge” would “present ethical questions for anyone who is a member of the bar”.

The general counsel to McCarthy, then Republican minority leader, told Cheney that McCarthy would not sign the brief, while McCarthy’s chief of staff also called it “a bait and switch”. McCarthy told her he would not sign on. When the brief was filed, McCarthy had not signed it. But “less than 24 hours later, a revised version … bore the names of 20 additional members. Among them was Kevin McCarthy.

“Mike Johnson blamed a ‘clerical error’ … [which] was also the rationale given to the supreme court for the revised filing. In fact, McCarthy had first chosen not to be on the brief, then changed his mind, likely because of pressure from Trump.”

Sheds a lot of light.

[AnywhereButHere]

https://apple.news/A-7rlgh-YT_eNlNwkwhJ2HA

Kevin McCarthy is removing himself from the playpen. 

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Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the former House speaker who was ousted from his position in October in a revolt by hard-right members, will not seek reelection to his congressional seat and retire from Congress at the end of this month, he announced Wednesday.

“I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways,” McCarthy said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “I know my work is only getting started.”

McCarthy’s retirement will bring to an end a 16-year House career that saw him quickly rise through the ranks of Republican leadership, culminating with his stint as speaker. His ouster marked the first time in history that the House voted to remove its leader, a move that threw the chamber into a period of instability.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, AnywhereButHere said:

https://apple.news/A-7rlgh-YT_eNlNwkwhJ2HA

Kevin McCarthy is removing himself from the playpen. 

 

I have just one thing to say about that;

[GreyhoundFan]

This would be heavenly:

[GreyhoundFan]

I’m not surprised:

[GreyhoundFan]

Comer Pyle is a lying moron:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I love Hakeem:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Comer is a fucking moron:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I can’t stop laughing:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Qevin is a truly sad being.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Jared took a page from John Fetterman's book.