October 25, 2023

"Amid the impasse, [Kevin] McCarthy is floating a plan that would reinstall him as speaker and make Jordan, a conservative Trump ally, the assistant speaker..."

"... according to three sources familiar with McCarthy’s pitch. Asked why the idea — which lacks key details, like how it would be enacted and whether it could even gain enough traction to happen — was being floated now, a GOP lawmaker replied: 'We’re desperate.'... A source briefed on the idea likened it to the Speaker Nancy Pelosi/Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark arrangement that the Democrats had. 'Kevin speaker, Jordan assistant speaker,' the source said. Two GOP lawmakers described McCarthy as having melted down in conference meetings [Tuesday] because, they said, he is losing his ability to handpick a new speaker...."

50 comments:

rehajm said...

JFC, they still don't get it, do they? How they'd pick McCarthy as speaker instead of assistant I wonder? No matter, they will win in the end and that's the problem...

RideSpaceMountain said...

"Assistant Speaker"

Damning with faint praise?

Butkus51 said...

I gave up fiction long ago. But I recently read Death of Ivan Ilyich.

Good timing.

TreeJoe said...

At what point does the GOP recognize that they:

- Have a failed house leadership and broken party unity
- Have a failed former president who lost his effort to overturn a corrupt election, empowered health dictators to hurt the country and economy, and lost every one of his closest advisors who have now turned against him - and this is their leading candidate
- Have Republican Governors/former governors who are almost universally bad Presidential candidates struggling

In other words, they are so busy kicking democrats that they fail to see they are a failed party. Or are just ignoring it.

rehajm said...

We’re desperate.

The only reason for this desperation is the fear the trillions in slushy omnibus CR spending could dry up or come with provisions too specific on how it needs to to be spent or- heaven forbid, someone may be held accountable for some indefensible approvals...

Kai Akker said...

"White House weighs in...."

Republicans everywhere are grateful for the assist of this wisdom from the "Biden" administration.

Gusty Winds said...

Bad idea. Just like the proposed Reagan / Ford 1980 co-Presidency which failed at the GOP Convention.

Although that led to the Bush dynasty which was a disaster for America.

Kai Akker said...

--- At what point does the GOP recognize that they:
- Have a failed house leadership and broken party unity [TreeJoe]

TreeJoe, isn't that what they're trying to rectify?

We may be seeing the birth pangs of an improved Republican Party. For the failed prior leadership to be stymied is a good thing. A new face sure cannot hurt. If it's Mike Johnson's face, it could be a big improvement.

Aggie said...

It's kind of funny, watching the Democrats struggle to contain their glee as all this transpires. They keep hammering away at how desperate the situation is, no leadership, no decisions, all these dire needs clamoring for attention, running out of money with no approvals, the government might shutdown, why it's a disaster !

And through all of this, nobody with a microphone in hand asks the Democrat, 'if getting these things done is so important, and you need to have a speaker to do anything, how come all of you Democrats keep voting against the candidates, every single one, every single time?

I guess the work of the House is not nearly so important as the work of Democratic partisanship - right?

Maynard said...

"Assistant Speaker" sounds like a position that isn't worth a warm bucket of spit.

Gusty Winds said...

Blogger TreeJoe said...
At what point does the GOP recognize that they:

- Have a failed house leadership and broken party unity
- Have a failed former president who lost his effort to overturn a corrupt election, empowered health dictators to hurt the country and economy, and lost every one of his closest advisors who have now turned against him - and this is their leading candidate
- Have Republican Governors/former governors who are almost universally bad Presidential candidates struggling

In other words, they are so busy kicking democrats that they fail to see they are a failed party. Or are just ignoring it.


The GOPe is a broken party. Good. We broke them. That was the entire point of the GOP base going with Trump in 2016, and still supporting Trump today. The MAGA wing is rightfully trying to end the old GOP. No more war mongering. No more pissing away working class tax money. Border control for the safety of Americans and migrants. Take on, and try to defeat our lying Justice Dept, FBI, and CIA corruption etc...

The Bush, Cheney, Romney, Paul Ryan GOP need to be ushered out and replaced.

This is a good fight. Who gives a shit if there is no weak RINO speaker for a few weeks or a month? What, they can't piss away America Tax money for a little bit? Good for Matt Gaetz and the Freedom Caucus. The House of Representatives has turned into nothing more than and insider stock trading club. Pelosi and her hammered husband made that VERY apparent.

Michael K said...

Matt Gaetz did the "Otter" routine. "You fucked up, flounder. You trusted us."

Rich said...

One idea being floated is Mike Johnson as Speaker with Lauren Boebert as Assistant Speaker to give Johnson a hand…..

Mark said...

Yes, NBC was tweeting this out three hours AFTER the GOP picked Johnson.

Rich said...

What a great idea! Elect two losers to the chair. Sort of a Hershel Walker as Sheriff approach. I'm old enough to remember the last time Jim Jordan served as an Assistant. Didn't work out too well…..

Humperdink said...

Chaos in the House of Representatives? I'm good.

donald said...

There is nothing bad about those monsters not spending money we don’t have. Period.

Temujin said...

Idiocy.

Mark said...

All you people raging against an NBC news story that was obsolete the minute it was published. (shakes head)

mikee said...

Tree joe: At what point will the Democrats realize the Republican opposition, as failed as it is, is chosen by half the population of the country not because of some innate attractiveness in the clown-car antics of the Republicans, but because of opposition to the admittedly well organized three ring clusterfuck of the well organized Democrats?

gadfly said...

God help all GOP conservatives! Two MAGA election deniers and coup planners at the same time, both demonstrably incapable of running the House.

Get on with the floor vote for Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) for Speaker. We can only hope that he is not a Freedom Caucus mentally deranged wingnut and that he has a mind of his own.

Wince said...

At first I thought they were suggesting Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen as co-speakers.

Inga said...

The moderate Republicans could vote for Hakeem Jeffries in protest. Make more history!

n.n said...

Or, perhaps, Mike Johnson. Don't steer, NBC.

n.n said...

No rush. Get it right. Congressional choices matter.

Narayanan said...

Does Assistant speak in lower octave

Howard said...

Welcome to the sausage factory, people. It's bring your children to work day.

Rocco said...

"... and make Jordan, a conservative Trump ally, the Assistant Speaker..."

He should hold out for Assistant to the Traveling Secretary for the New York Yankees.

Rocco said...

Incitatus for Speaker!

Yancey Ward said...

I have suspected for the last few days that revoting on McCarthy was the goal all along.

Joe Smith said...

All that idiot (McCarthy) had/has to do was keep his promises.

That's it.

- Any member can call for a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair

- A McCarthy-aligned super-PAC (the Congressional Leadership Fund) agreed to not spend in open Republican primaries in safe seats

- The House will hold votes on key conservative bills, including a balanced budget amendment, congressional term limits, and border security

- Efforts to raise the nation’s debt ceiling must be paired with spending cuts

- Move 12 appropriations bills individually, instead of passing separate bills to fund government operations

- More Freedom Caucus representation on committees, including the influential House Rules Committee

- Cap discretionary spending at fiscal year 2022 levels, which would amount to lower levels for defense and domestic programs

- 72 hours to review bills before they come to floor

- Give members the ability to offer more amendments on the House floor

- Create an investigative committee to probe the “weaponization” of the federal government

- Restore the Holman rule, which can be used to reduce the salary of government officials

Source: 'Mother Jones' of all places : )

Mr Wibble said...

McCarthy was always an idiot. I knew he would be a failure early on, when he extended an invitation to Biden to give the SOTU speech. After Pelosi's stunt, McCarthy could have easily won points with the base by announcing that in response the GOP would not permit Biden to give his address before Congress. It would have embarrassed Biden, and made McCarthy look like his own man. But, he didn't, because he doesn't have the creativity to see the power of the role, and he wanted the pomp and ceremony that comes with the job.

Maynard said...

Despite the ramblings of the MSM and the usual suspects here, this is not chaos.

Chaos is when Congress passes spending bills that they have not read.

Brian said...

Looks like Matt Gaetz properly identified how weak McCarthy is.

wendybar said...

What Gusty Winds said @ 9:06 AM

Joe Smith said...

'God help all GOP conservatives! Two MAGA election deniers and coup planners at the same time, both demonstrably incapable of running the House.'

Everyone knows that he who possesses a podium is ruler of the nation /s

You really aren't very bright.

Joe Smith said...

'Chaos is when Congress passes spending bills that they have not read.'

Any time congress is not passing bills, it's usually a good thing.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

The GOPe is a broken party. Good. We broke them. That was the entire point of the GOP base going with Trump in 2016, and still supporting Trump today. The MAGA wing is rightfully trying to end the old GOP. No more war mongering. No more pissing away working class tax money. Border control for the safety of Americans and migrants. Take on, and try to defeat our lying Justice Dept, FBI, and CIA corruption etc...

The Bush, Cheney, Romney, Paul Ryan GOP need to be ushered out and replaced.

This is a good fight. Who gives a shit if there is no weak RINO speaker for a few weeks or a month? What, they can't piss away America Tax money for a little bit? Good for Matt Gaetz and the Freedom Caucus. The House of Representatives has turned into nothing more than and insider stock trading club. Pelosi and her hammered husband made that VERY apparent.


Yes. All true. The Trump support is the Tea Party base that was also hated by the GOPe.

Looks like Matt Gaetz properly identified how weak McCarthy is.

If McCarthy was a strong leader he would have said no when asked to call that vote. Nancy would never have allowed such an emasculating vote. Or even worse, maybe McCarthy took Nancy's word that Democrats would not join in, which is what I think happened because reports were how surprised Kevin was that Nancy stabbed him in the back. To which I resond, "Really?" You were surprised she, leader of the Dangerous Party, didn't keep her pinky swear promise to you when faced with an opportunity to sow chaos amongst the Stupid Party?

The strongest evidence is the retaliation visited upon the former speaker when the smoke was still clearing.

Iman said...

Johnson (R) is new speaker.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Well that mystery ended suddenly. And with a guy more conservative than McCarthy. Good!

gadfly said...

Charlie Sykes writes: "A Coup on His Resume. Meet the new speaker-designate."

As late as Jan. 6, 2021, before that day’s certification of the election — and the insurrection by Trump’s supporters at the US Capitol — [Mike] Johnson tweeted, “We MUST fight for election integrity, the Constitution, and the preservation of our republic! It will be my honor to help lead that fight in the Congress today.”

Attached to that tweet was a statement that he said summarized “our position and the legal analysis that supports it.”
..
This seems worth remembering today: “Trump ally lobbying fellow House Republicans to support Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the election.”

CNN — Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, a close ally of President Donald Trump, sent an email from a personal email account to every House Republican soliciting signatures for an amicus brief in the longshot Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate electoral college votes from Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. (Emphasis added because FFS.)

Drago said...

The Hopelesd gadfly: "Charlie Sykes writes..."

Charlie Sykes!

LOL

Drago said...

Althouse lefties utterly perplexed and dumbfounded that there exists people who will challenge entrenched powers.

Democraticals amazed and confused...and awaiting further direction from their betters on how they should react.

ga6 said...

NBC NYT never believe...

Iman said...

Charlie “Three Wives” Sykes?

Always knew that boy attracted ‘flies.

iowan2 said...

Was this all a ploy by McCarthy and Jordan to get Johnson as speaker?

Johnson appears to be very conservative.

Jim at said...

We can only hope that he is not a Freedom Caucus mentally deranged wingnut and that he has a mind of his own.

We? Why would 'we' give a damn who you want as Speaker?

TaeJohnDo said...

He's already elected, gadfly - you don't need to keep selling him!

Tina Trent said...

Media optics. Speaker fights are frequently contentious. The GOP is more transparent and less able to whip and bribe its factions behind closed doors. Why is that a bad thing, again?

The MSM and commenters here with no historical memory of prior speaker fights apparently don't know anything about Nancy Pelosi's career. That's OK. We all have different knowledge sets, and everyone has an opinion, or an asshole, or believes what they read in the paper, or all three, right?

The new House Speaker is being called extreme in the NYT because of his opposition to gay marriage during Lawrence v. Texas. Name all the Democrat leaders who also opposed gay marriage at tha time, and later. Don't forget Lightbringer and those rubes from Arkansas.

Bonus question: which currently or former president supported gay marriage at the time of the Lawrence decision? Answer: Donald Trump. And, only Donald Trump. Trump is the most consistently gay-rights President in history, a position he has held since long before he ran for office.

Facts. It's just not what the New York Times has for breakfast.

Iman said...

That was a real floater, Kev.