House Democrats on Tuesday said they do not plan to save Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) when a vote on ousting him from the top spot hits the floor later in the day.
Emerging from a more than two-hour meeting in the Capitol, House Democrats said they will vote to oust McCarthy from the Speakership.
“We are following our leader and we are not saving Kevin McCarthy,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters.
Asked if a decision was made as a caucus not to support McCarthy, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) responded, “yes.”
This news follows McCarthy's statement that he won't give Dems anything to save his Speakership.
I think one of the most important statements McCarthy has said in this entire ordeal is this:
“I’m a Republican. I’m a conservative that wants to get things done. I know we live in – our government’s designed to have compromise, but look, we are in the majority. You don’t surrender,” he said..
This is another example of Republicans saying the quiet part out loud. Again. He blatantly and specifically said that the party knows they're supposed to be compromising, but they just don't want to.
It's sad to say, but this is what politics has become in this country. You're either in the majority or you might as well just stay home. But McCarthy himself has now said that compromise with the minority party isn't a thing, Democrats need to remember this next time they have full control. Fuck even attempting to compromise with Republicans as they've made it clear that they have no intentions of compromising with you when the shoe is on the other foot.
The Democrats need to seize full control in 2024, and when McCarthy isn't in power any more and complains about the Democrat majority, they can just respond by throwing his own words back at him.
Didn't Rep. Katie Porter already throw his words back at him and point out his hypocrisy about starting an impeachment without a floor vote?
Same for McConnell when RBG died and was hastily replaced right before an election when Obama was denied an appointment with nearly a year left in his term. His hypocrisy was similarly called out.
In both cases, they don't care. I'm not saying we shouldn't call it out every time, but we shouldn't expect it to be some kind of "gotcha" moment either. They're completely unfazed by it, and the people who vote them in don't seem to care.
If I had a point when I started typing this out, I've lost it. lol
Having your words thrown back at you is a shaming tactic. They have no shame
Yeah, feels good but doesn't accomplish much. The time would be better spent getting on with the job of governing.
You can't have shame without principles.
Nor do their rabid fanbase.
Oh, I know they don't care. All I'm saying is that every time he complains about the Democrat majority (and he will complain), the Dems can just respond by reading off his own quote, then going back to giving as much of a shit about his opinion as he's showing for theirs.
Don't read his quote. Don't give him any attention. Just act.
Any amount of time you spend on things that are not your priority is a victory for the other side. Don't spend a minute talking about him.
Democrats: "We are here in the House today to vote on…"
McCarthy/GOP (interrupts): "This is not fair. Republicans were not consulted on…"
Democrat speaker (interrupts): "Our government’s designed to have compromise, but look, we are in the majority. You don’t surrender. As I was saying, we are here in the house today to…"
That's it. No time wasted. Shut him down before he finishes his first sentence.
No, just gavel them out of order. You can't legitimately interrupt the person speaking for any reason. That's the purpose of speaking time.
Everyone who cares will know who McCarthy was and what he said. Anyone who doesn't know doesn't care.
Republicans respect the use of power. They don't respect words. If you have the gavel, just use it.
I get the sentiment, but this would probably put off some people who aren't aware of the context. This might even be a trap where they hope those words are thrown back at them because they can use the optics to make it look oppressive rather than it being their own words sent back to them.
Any opportunity that makes them look like a victim, they will grab on to.
They have no sense of public shame was what I gathered as the point of your post. So calling them out doesn't faze them.
It's still good to remind people of the hypocrisy, especially people on the fence.
Constituents have been saying this for decades, but every time one suggests anything left of milquetoast, BuT mUh BoTh SiDeS move-to-the-right-againers complain we’re not compromising. 🤷🏽♀️
The issue is that a simple majority is pointless in US politics a lot of the time if the other party is OK with obstructing government and not compromising. You need a supermajority in both houses and the presidency to really get stuff done if the other party won't play ball due to the asinine filibuster rules. And if you don't have the presidency you need 2/3 in both chambers of congress to overrun the president's veto. Which the Republicans know and count on to keep democratic legislation stymied forever. The only way democrats gets shit done is with incredible concessions even when they are the majority.
But with how modern republicans are trying to fuck it all up and play
hardballstupidball that doesn't seem to be working either. They aren't willing to concede or compromise on anything permanent.Filibuster is only a Senate rule. A simple majority in the House can pass things with little the minority can do.
I think Biden has been able to get them to compromise occasionally, I think that's why he keeps trying. It's a case by case basis, Obviously, McCarthy can't be trusted so he isn't one to compromise with.