Former Pennsylvania Republican congressman Charlie Dent is letting it be known that for the House to get in order they need to reach over the aisle with an olive branch. "The House Republican Conference is deeply fractured," he said during an appearance on MSNBC's "Alex Wagner Tonight."
Or they can vote for Jeffries. Why is it every single time that the Dems have to compromise?
Why is it every single time that the Dems have to compromise?
Because every single time, they do.
A compromise would be a "Blue Dog" Democrat elected.
There are less than 5 in the Blue Dog caucus.
That's why it might work.
There are seven
No, a Republican compromise would be to vote for a Democrat other than Jeffries. Just as Democrats might compromise by voting for (or, more likely, abstaining from) a Republican other than Jordan or McCarthy.
Frankly, in terms of party-building the latter would cause fewer headaches for Democrats. After all, no Speaker will have the votes to pass Democratic legislation through this House, so why would a Democrat bother to take the gavel? They would be continually frustrated and up as a punching bag in the 2024 election.
Realistically, the best strategy for Democrats is to support a Republican Speaker who will avoid a government shutdown and who is not an election denier (i.e. won't try to overturn the 2024 election). So McHenry or Emmer are probably the best choices. Let them take the blame for the inevitable further GOP infighting and/or inaction in the House, thus setting up Democrats for outright control in 2024.
This must be a different "Republican compromise" from the usual, which is "you give us everything that we want and we'll stop fucking everything up for a few weeks."
That is the compromise.
At this point it better be the biggest olive branch ever and with absolute guarantees, no b/s of trust me I'm your colleague I would never go back on my word. Republicans have lost any good faith and deserve to be treated as liars and cheats so any deal needs to be iron clad
I mean, it's not like they'd honor an iron clad deal.
If there's one thing the Republicans have made abundantly clear over the last decade it's that they have zero integrity. Not personally as individuals; not collectively as a party. It'd almost be weird if they suddenly started keeping their word now.
You're right, they have no rules so I hope Democrats don't make any deal with Republicans
I'd be okay with a deal if it involved a Democratic speaker.
I will go to my grave trusting no one with R next to their name. 30 years ago I didn't feel that way. 20 years ago I didn't feel that way. 10 years ago I didn't feel that way. Since then they have proven I should have.
It would require larger gestures than I can ever conceive them making for me to trust any R with power ever again. 100% I will die of old age before it could possibly happen.
And I always voted in the major elections, but I'm not missing anything, no matter how small, down to the tiniest local election, ever again, so I can cast my vote against whatever Republican is running.
Samesies. Born into a strong Republican family, grew up republican, voted mostly republican across the board until around 2012 and the run up to 2016. The party I thought I knew, was stripped bare before my eyes and exposed as unprincipled clowns that stand for nothing at all, have no policy or platform and are actively working against most Americans.
52 here and god damned do you speak to me. I now vote D all the way down to dog catcher, no exceptions, and there never will be again. I won't live long enough.
And don't start me on 01/06. I will never forget. I will never forgive.
One of us, one of us!
Maybe I have different friends than some of the rest of Gen X (which I say because I've seen articles that would tend to contradict what I'm about to suggest) but I feel generationally we've always had a sense that it wouldn't be a great idea to peek behind the curtain - maybe because most of us were raised on morals and norms our boomer parents learned in the 50s, but grew up in a time where many of those "values" were being openly rejected and the world was rapidly changing.
Looking at my friends, my wife, me - once getting that peek, at whatever time in our lives we got it - we flipped immediately to "wow the system truly is shit" in a way I've not seen much of from folks older than us. I had friends who got that message in their teens - took me a bit longer, but I'm here now.
Metaphorically, I'm ready to see this shit burned down. Let the Republicans continue to implode, let the far right show their asses over and over and over so people can no longer pretend that element was effectively eliminated in the 60s.
Hell, let corporatist boomer Dems show their asses a bit more before they finally retire and age out of our legislative bodies, so we start seeing more like Fetterman, Abrams etc. (Not you Bernie Dear, you are the boomer that needs to live forever and keep getting elected so you can show them the way.)
I want to see policies that are designed to help the lower and middle class, that don't treat the poor or incarcerated like subhumans, and empower us all to better our lives. I want politicians who recognize that doing so makes the entire country stronger and better. Dems may never give us that, but Republicans absolutely never will. It's clear they are the party of racism, sexism, corporate welfare, and regression.
Sorry for my screed. It's early in the day and it just wanted to come out.
Honestly I can’t think of a single Republican worthy of the position.
Apparently neither can Republicans
What many of you are missing is that the Speaker election is not a one-and-done deal. The Speaker sets the House agenda , but that is subject to a procedural vote every day and whoever votes for a Speaker is expected to support their agenda in those votes. After the Debt Ceiling deal, the Freedom Caucus withheld this support for a few days, and the House was almost as paralyzed as it is now.
So the Democrats would have leverage in whatever deal they put together. They can make the deal extremely simple, such as "We will schedule bills for a vote that have support in a majority of both parties". That will likely cover the military aid and overall budget bills that are coming. And Democrats would have leverage to throw a tantrum if they don't get their way, same as the Freedom Caucus used to. The only difference is that Democrats have legislative goals that go beyond "burn the place down", so will be easier for Republicans to work with than the Freedom Caucus nutters.
Logically, this makes the most sense for a decisions. Politically, I don't think it does. If Democrats come out of this with the speakership, stupid Americans (and republican "news" media) will blame the Democrats for not getting anything done, despite the Republicans still controlling the majority.
Leaving them floundering makes them look weak and incompetent. It is painful in the short term for Americans, but it may be better in the long term as the Republicans fall apart. Let them show their true colors to the American people and then let them decide what happens next.
This won't end up with Jeffries being Speaker, unless five or six Republicans decide to leave the party. As much as Jeffries wants to be Speaker, he wants to do it after getting a Democratic majority, and doesn't want to set the precedent that a minority party member could snag the position.
However, they could set the precedent that when the majority party doesn't have a functional majority, the minority party can help pick a member of the Majority that is more amenable to listening to them now and then.
Unfortunately, this ineptitude will never affect a large portion of their support. House Democrats and Biden are already positioned for blame by far-right media. Ignorant arguments like Democrats helped remove McCarthy or Biden can't get anything done abound.
Simultaneously, some on the far-right are actually happy that the house is dysfunctional because they see it as a way to stop spending increases or block other legislation. It's a very similar position that got Trump elected, where the goal for many was simply disruption, because they've been convinced that the government is constantly working against their interests.
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It doesn't need to. The small amount that are somewhat able to be convinced are the ones to look for
We will schedule bills for a vote that have support in a majority of both parties
This is so obvious and simple that I don't understand why it isn't a sufficient condition to schedule a vote on a bill even when there is no speaker.
they need to reach over the aisle with an olive branch.
The only olive branch they will reach over will be a burning one emitting poisonous fumes.
Fuck 'em.
This is entirely a (foreseeable) mess of their own making. D' sshould let them twist, most of these R' s got elected by saying "All democrats are pedos!"
I guess for each rep it comes down to whether they think the folks in their district will be upset more because they let the government grind to a halt or they colluded with Democrats.
I'm worried that in many districts, voters are so polarized that they would see working across the aisle as heresy. It's the same reason Jordan got 190ish votes publicly, but only 86 in a secret ballot.
Bunch of fucking unprincipled cowards that less than half of the people who voted for him publicly would do so in private. That really paints a picture of a party that has created a monster in their constituents that has clearly gotten out of control. Idiots.
I think it's because many rank-and-file voters form their political opinions by watching TV. TV pundits can spout all sorts of bullshit, and by the time those lies are exposed nobody cares, because they are now on a different set of lies. TV pundits don't have to actually try to get things passed, and it's always easier to tear things down than build them up.
So, Republicans in very red districts have to decide whether to be effective, or be electable. It's hard for them to be both.
"Guess we need to call in the adults to sort this out…"
Compromise is unacceptable to the modern GOP, they want everything or they will destroy the government and damage their own credibility. Like a child flipping over the monopoly board because they're losing.
Their credibility cannot be damaged because it doesn’t exist.
Hopefully dems tell them to fuck themselves.
So… They get to share in the blame for Republicans' self-caused dysfunction, legitimizing Republicans lies that this is at least partially caused by Democrats… All while nominating the others party's Speaker to stymy any legislation to actually help people…
Who wouldn't jump at the chance!?
Look at what happened to members that simply didn't support Jordan. If any of them work with democrats, it has been made clear to them that there will be a tremendous increase in threats of violence, levels of harassment, etc, much of which will target their families. Would you break the government to spare your family that? That's what they are facing. I'm not hopeful for a democratic-republican coalition.
Starting to talk to each other again is not the worst idea. Listening will be much harder.
