House Repuglicans display a virulent form of mass insanity reminiscent of the Salem witch trials.
3
Your pandering to fear and ignorance, GOP, and dwelling way behind the
curve of social modernity, have taken Congress to this dangerous low point.
Your party deserves the disarray; your country does not.
curve of social modernity, have taken Congress to this dangerous low point.
Your party deserves the disarray; your country does not.
11
Being caught in a lie like most of the right wing nuts in the Republican House maybe they all should resign from congress.
3
All I can think is, you all made your bed. Now you get to lay in it. If Tea Party wants an ultraconservative in the Speaker's job, now's their chance. Let them run it, see how they do. When the inevitable happens, maybe they'll finally shut up and let the grown-ups lead.
4
The fear of failure and the fear of rejection were stronger than the desire to serve in McCarthy. This is a weak man humiliated by his own unconsciousness and his blunder in revealing to the world that the Republicans were stealing and misappropriating taxpayer funds to conduct their bogus Bhengazi witch hunt to hurt Hillary Clinton. The Republican party is now so corrupt and dysfunctional Americans need to seriously consider if the Republicans are even a viable political party anymore. Instead they are an impotent, fractured group of cliques and extremists that do not have the best interests of Americans in m
7
I suspect many of us are getting a lesson in Government #101 including myself, while sadly other voters pay even less attention. By manipulating voting districts and yes - and increasing anger from the far right who don't get the idea of idea of compromise the majorities will be ill served and we are on the door step of chaos. The majorities see us falling into total dysfunction and feel powerless as a minority of voters & elected officials burn the halls.
Economics #101 is that wall street, financial markets, & business don't like uncertainty & I fear what could be next for our economy. The small minority that wants a government shut down and no compromise need to take their own class in government & learn that governing/leading means give & take (compromise) and no - we are not a "Christian Nation" but a country built on a separation of church & state. My hope is that moderate republicans would join with democrats to lead us through this, but I suspect that is fantasy. With so much anger & unwillingness to govern (compromise) and giving voice to people who want government shutdown or rewriting the constitution I can't see how this is good for our U.S. of A.
Economics #101 is that wall street, financial markets, & business don't like uncertainty & I fear what could be next for our economy. The small minority that wants a government shut down and no compromise need to take their own class in government & learn that governing/leading means give & take (compromise) and no - we are not a "Christian Nation" but a country built on a separation of church & state. My hope is that moderate republicans would join with democrats to lead us through this, but I suspect that is fantasy. With so much anger & unwillingness to govern (compromise) and giving voice to people who want government shutdown or rewriting the constitution I can't see how this is good for our U.S. of A.
7
The GOP as we knew it has been dead for a while, and its inability to select a Speaker makes it official. We have in reality a three-party coalition government: Democrat, Republican, and Tea Party. The Democrats and the Republicans know how to run the government, and the Tea Party wants to nearly shut it down. The Republicans have aligned with the Tea Party so they can maintain parity with, even an edge over, the Democrats, but that is dragging down the Republicans, and the country with it, to the Tea Party's level. We need the true Republicans to align themselves with the Democrats in order to take the government back from the nihilistic far right. The Democrats needs to make this palatable for moderate Republicans, rather than being gleeful about "Republican disarray" and figuring out how to enhance Democratic power over the Republican+Tea Party "enemy." If moderates unite by interest rather than by party label, we'll get back on the right course. That's something to pray for, as our future likely depends on it.
3
Such a shame that an essentially dim but harmless (for the GOP) man should have to fall on his sword for speaking the truth.
Remember when Alan Greenspan let slip his comment about the invasion of Iraq being all about oil, and everyone jumping on him and telling him to shut up? Because the one thing empire can't stand to hear about itself is the truth.
And in the same manner Mr McCarthy has let slip what everyone, GOP and Democrat alike, know to be the truth, that the Benghafraud committee is just a get-Hillary-and-distract-Obama-with-nonsense vehicle, part of the GOP's ongoing campaign to defy the democratic will of US voters.
But because the US is howling at the full moon of its' imperial moment, the truth has been packed away in a trunk to await saner times and more responsible people..
Remember when Alan Greenspan let slip his comment about the invasion of Iraq being all about oil, and everyone jumping on him and telling him to shut up? Because the one thing empire can't stand to hear about itself is the truth.
And in the same manner Mr McCarthy has let slip what everyone, GOP and Democrat alike, know to be the truth, that the Benghafraud committee is just a get-Hillary-and-distract-Obama-with-nonsense vehicle, part of the GOP's ongoing campaign to defy the democratic will of US voters.
But because the US is howling at the full moon of its' imperial moment, the truth has been packed away in a trunk to await saner times and more responsible people..
3
"“K Street has got to be really nervous around here,” Representative Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, the leader of the House Tea Party Caucus, said"
^ only the lobbyists who are not anti-abortion, pro gun, and pro rich, is what he really means.
^ only the lobbyists who are not anti-abortion, pro gun, and pro rich, is what he really means.
3
The GOP has become truly pathetic. It is astonishing that there are so many completely unqualified individuals in high positions. McCarthy would have been an even greater divider than Boehner. If the GOP wants to lose the next election, vote in Paul Ryan. The only jobs he has ever had are in government. His proposed budget is so anti women, anti aged, anti black, anti gay, anti disabled one has to question if any of the Republicans have actually read it. It completely lacks Cause and Effect analysis on numerous proposed cuts. Many of the so called cuts would actually increase the deficit. It is not that difficult to find the errors and miscalculations.
2
This is an indictment of our public education system, which does not inculcate young citizens with the algorithms necessary to maintain a democracy. We have become a nation of cheering crowds, analogous to the spectators in a Roman colosseum: no effort is spent seeking a middle ground--all is winning or losing. If we want to recover the democratic republic envisioned by our forefathers, we must replace our obsession with varsity sports and wealth with a rational, ethical ideal of seeking middle ground. Only in war is winning more important than mutually satisfactory compromise, and if all politics is war, then we are doomed. America will become history's short bus careening to anarchy and oblivion.
4
McCarthy didn't quit; he got rejected by his own party. He was thrown out of the contest.
His dumb comments about Benghazi killed his chances.
His dumb comments about Benghazi killed his chances.
Representative Jeff Fortenberry, Republican of Nebraska, said, “The next reaction was, ‘Let me sit down and process this while eating lunch at the same time ..."
Who knew Republicans could think and eat at the same time? That's a real shock!
Who knew Republicans could think and eat at the same time? That's a real shock!
6
So what did McCarthy do that he does not want to be outed for? He is a public servant paid by his voters. Did he have affairs with women or boys? It's not just the far right opposition that would stop him from seeking more power. It's something that he doesn't want out in public view or he'll lose his seat.
Where are the American people in all this? Does anyone notice they're here? Is anyone interested in them?
The Republican Party is a carcinogen destroying our country and we must remove the cancerous cells.
The Republican Party is a carcinogen destroying our country and we must remove the cancerous cells.
4
The House has been "in chaos" for years. One member less wanting to preside over the chaos means nothing. Obviously a slow news day yesterday.
2
The real question is:
Did the Republican Party destroy itself or did the Tea Party do it?
Did the Republican Party destroy itself or did the Tea Party do it?
5
There is clearly a breakdown in the way our lawmakers are elected - gerrymandering, too much money in politics, and lack of truth in advertising and even the news media.
However, the congress is a reflection of the electorate. These yahoos are in Congress because they were put there by people who are even nuttier than they are.
Maybe we should have let the south secede - the rest of us would be far better off today.
However, the congress is a reflection of the electorate. These yahoos are in Congress because they were put there by people who are even nuttier than they are.
Maybe we should have let the south secede - the rest of us would be far better off today.
7
Oh, please spare me the drama! He withdrew because he didn't have the votes. All you are seeing is a party having a good old-fashioned leadership fight and trying to work out its direction. This isn't "chaos". Its just democracy. Once the new leader is voted in, nobody will remember this.
among the criticism of rep. mccarthy is the difficulty he has speaking coherently, a major failing for someone in the speaker's chair. a number of tv prorams, including stephen colbert's, made fun of his garbled syntax wednesday night. it wasn't going to get any better.
1
Have to laugh at Wyoming Rep Cynthia M Lummis saying "Nothing good ever happens in a crisis" –then why do the Republicants keep manufacturing them?
9
Thanks very much Mr.McCarthy, your comment on Bebghazi was brilliant. You have further devided the house which will not stand.
1
Please, politically moderate people of the north, of California or even from Canada, emigrate to the southern areas of The United States, we need your calming balm!
3
I know isn't an official requirement but I still think it is better to have a speaker of the house whose mother tongue is English. Mr. McCarthy did the right thing.
2
The Tea Party activists would rewrite Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech as follows:
"A house divided against itself cannot stand---YIPEE!";
"I believe this government cannot endure, permanently---WONDERFUL!";
"It will become all one thing or all the other---better yet we will simply shut e'r down."
What could be more stronger than slavery to divide a nation? 40 plus Congressional Tea Party Activists? I think Jefferson Davis and Robert E Lee would sniff at these GOP extremists and declare them to be amateurs solely bent on the puffery of their egos all at the expense of democracy. Instead of whining, these TP activists should try to win on the strength of their ideas, not the volume of their hysteria.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand---YIPEE!";
"I believe this government cannot endure, permanently---WONDERFUL!";
"It will become all one thing or all the other---better yet we will simply shut e'r down."
What could be more stronger than slavery to divide a nation? 40 plus Congressional Tea Party Activists? I think Jefferson Davis and Robert E Lee would sniff at these GOP extremists and declare them to be amateurs solely bent on the puffery of their egos all at the expense of democracy. Instead of whining, these TP activists should try to win on the strength of their ideas, not the volume of their hysteria.
3
"House chaos causes McCarthy withdrawal" is how the headline should read. Your headline has the cause and effect backward.
1
"We have to end this. We look absolutely crazy." You are crazy.
5
Donald Trump
Tater Cheney
Newt Gingrich
Dennis Hastert
Tom DeLay
Sarah Palin (half a term suits her)
Tater Cheney
Newt Gingrich
Dennis Hastert
Tom DeLay
Sarah Palin (half a term suits her)
1
Love the fact that McCarthy put the lie to the Republican Benghazi investigating committee. Your taxpayer dollars paying for dirty campaign tricks against the opposition candidate. Is this democracy? No it is American-Russia. Putin's Republicans rule America.
2
Maybe ask Donald Trump if he wants to do it...?
(No, seriously!)
(No, seriously!)
Grand Old Party - Born 1854 Ripon WI Died 2015 Washington DC.
2
This is the Republican party – conservatives!
Apologies, but there are are no comments allowed in the related
"House, and a Republican Party, Divided Against Itself By CARL HULSE, which is really telling
"The move by Mr. McCarthy, a Californian who is the House majority leader, echoed the events of December 1998, when another Republican speaker-in-waiting, Representative Robert L. Livingston of Louisiana, was forced to withdraw his name for the job because of a sexual scandal. Republicans scrambled to find a consensus pick for the job, and J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois was plucked from almost nowhere to become the head of the House."
Dennis Hastert, former speaker, accused of sexual misconduct (against a former student) and “financial transactions” (read hush money paid to the student to keep quiet).
Family Values all the way.
Apologies, but there are are no comments allowed in the related
"House, and a Republican Party, Divided Against Itself By CARL HULSE, which is really telling
"The move by Mr. McCarthy, a Californian who is the House majority leader, echoed the events of December 1998, when another Republican speaker-in-waiting, Representative Robert L. Livingston of Louisiana, was forced to withdraw his name for the job because of a sexual scandal. Republicans scrambled to find a consensus pick for the job, and J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois was plucked from almost nowhere to become the head of the House."
Dennis Hastert, former speaker, accused of sexual misconduct (against a former student) and “financial transactions” (read hush money paid to the student to keep quiet).
Family Values all the way.
6
Representative Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, the leader of the House Tea Party Caucus, said, “And the American people out there are probably saying, ‘Wait a minute, there might be some real change in Washington.’ ”
No, Representative Huelskamp, what your caucus is showing the people is paralysis and the true bankruptcy of the Tea Party movement. Your only platform is to say 'No'. You have no plans to govern. Saying you're only against what the Other Guy is for is not a valid approach to governance.
The Republicans in Congress are a circular firing squad.
No, Representative Huelskamp, what your caucus is showing the people is paralysis and the true bankruptcy of the Tea Party movement. Your only platform is to say 'No'. You have no plans to govern. Saying you're only against what the Other Guy is for is not a valid approach to governance.
The Republicans in Congress are a circular firing squad.
7
Makes sense. Herding cats is not a rewarding job.
1
Kevin McCarthy may not be the sharpest pencil in the desk, but he can count noses. He’s said to have removed himself from the fight for the speakership because he would have had no choice but to empower Nancy Pelosi to provide Democratic votes, ands Mrs. Pelosi really should be kept from any serious power until someone tosses water on her and she melts. If indeed these were the choices, then he did the right thing.
But I’m not so sure it was that dire. He would only have needed a handful of Democratic votes to get to 218, those votes are going to be necessary by ANY speaker to move the House forward, and we may as well identify them and create a workable coalition NOW. It doesn’t need to be Pelosi’s agenda, but the fragmented needs and desires of those handful who have little ambition for House leadership roles because they lack seniority or are too close to retirement. This could have been done; and perhaps should have been done because the alternatives aren’t good.
Paul Ryan now really needs to man up. HE can form that coalition and move the House forward.
But I’m not so sure it was that dire. He would only have needed a handful of Democratic votes to get to 218, those votes are going to be necessary by ANY speaker to move the House forward, and we may as well identify them and create a workable coalition NOW. It doesn’t need to be Pelosi’s agenda, but the fragmented needs and desires of those handful who have little ambition for House leadership roles because they lack seniority or are too close to retirement. This could have been done; and perhaps should have been done because the alternatives aren’t good.
Paul Ryan now really needs to man up. HE can form that coalition and move the House forward.
No. Tim Huelskamp, the American people are NOT saying ‘Wait a minute, there might be some real change in Washington.’ ” They're asking themselves : Why are these close-minded ignorant self-righteous legislators ignoring the needs of the whole country whom they say they work for and the VERY vocal (and majority) populace who say your agenda stinks. Get with it. Minority rule? NO!
6
"Nothing good ever happens in a crisis.” Then why does your party continually manufacture them?
6
Uh, NYT, even the fishwrap of the capitol is reporting the Huffington Post story that McCarthy has been canoodling with another representative.
2
The media speculates on everything that you know isn't true. EX: Biden may run for president. Please. Yet the media never speculated that McCarthy would drop out, which was so clear that he'd have too.
A pox on the GOP House.
A pox on the GOP House.
4
What a surprise, Clinton is loved by NYT readers. Still, she watched as four Americans died and did nothing. And Obama went fund-raising.
Republicans ain't the problem, here. It's the truth--"Damn spot". Queen Dowager, despite all the little munchkins who support her, can't seem to rub it out.
So sad, a tragedy, isn't it?
Republicans ain't the problem, here. It's the truth--"Damn spot". Queen Dowager, despite all the little munchkins who support her, can't seem to rub it out.
So sad, a tragedy, isn't it?
1
"“I have spent more time trying to talk [Paul Ryan] into running than I did my wife into marrying me,” Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina said. “Twenty six years later, she’s still with me. I am just asking Paul for 14 months.”"
I wouldn't put up with, Mrs. Gowdy...
I wouldn't put up with, Mrs. Gowdy...
That flap over Clinton's email is also just another Swiftboat attempt by the GOP....Maybe McCarthy should just confess to this one too as he heads for the door.
3
Where does it say in the Constitution, that, there can only be two competing political parties?
The, present, political mayhem currently ensuing in Washington, D.C., can be easily traced to the cancer currently festering within the Republican Party: a "Conservatoma", for want of a better term. If the cancer were to be removed, reasonable folks could really make "AMERICA GREAT AGAIN" (Hmm, where did I hear that before?),then,there would be a third political party that could align itself with any of the other established political parties on issues that they deem important like tax breaks for the very rich and cutting healthcare and food stamps for the very poor.
I can recall when the former Democratic political faction, "Dixiecrats" deserted their historic political party and became "Republocrats", err, Conservatives, bringing their brand of 18th Century disintelligence into the present political fray. In the process, introducing us to the real meaning of the word, "Duh."
The, present, political mayhem currently ensuing in Washington, D.C., can be easily traced to the cancer currently festering within the Republican Party: a "Conservatoma", for want of a better term. If the cancer were to be removed, reasonable folks could really make "AMERICA GREAT AGAIN" (Hmm, where did I hear that before?),then,there would be a third political party that could align itself with any of the other established political parties on issues that they deem important like tax breaks for the very rich and cutting healthcare and food stamps for the very poor.
I can recall when the former Democratic political faction, "Dixiecrats" deserted their historic political party and became "Republocrats", err, Conservatives, bringing their brand of 18th Century disintelligence into the present political fray. In the process, introducing us to the real meaning of the word, "Duh."
4
How can these fools legislate if they can't agree on a single thing.
Fun question to consider: Somebody name the last piece of legislation passed by Republicans that helped the average person. How many decades do you have to think back to find one? Anyone...?
Fun question to consider: Somebody name the last piece of legislation passed by Republicans that helped the average person. How many decades do you have to think back to find one? Anyone...?
9
Maureen Dowd had an awesome, hilarious op-ed on last Sunday when she got into John Boehner's head and the thoughts going on in his head about the State of the Republican Party. That was so astute. The weakness of Kevin McCarthy and his foolish Benghazi statement, the rabidness of those on the extreme right and the tragic farce the G.O.P. has become. Now that drama is now baldly in the open. John Boehner is enjoying this show with a glass of Merlot and so are the Democrats. I hope though, they start moving and strike when the iron is hot.
Sorry state of our affairs for our country though. There are so many looming deadlines - like the debt ceiling, spending bill.....resulting in chaos here and all over the world.
Sorry state of our affairs for our country though. There are so many looming deadlines - like the debt ceiling, spending bill.....resulting in chaos here and all over the world.
4
Wow, what a surprise. Ostracized for telling the truth. He should have know better
2
"Kevin McCarthy Drops Out of House Speaker Race, Creating G.O.P. Chaos"
Gotta wonder why anyone would want that job anyway - it more like being a marriage counselor or preschool matron.
Gotta wonder why anyone would want that job anyway - it more like being a marriage counselor or preschool matron.
1
Well, the guys in ISIS think the Taliban aren't conservative enough. Paradoxically, the more alike people are, the more bitter the quarrelling.
3
Kind of reminds me of Robert Peel's Conservative government and his Tea Pea Caucus joining to form a new right wing Whig government under John Russell. Peel wanted to feed the starving Irish which did not go over too well with those on the deranged side right. After Russell the crazies disappeared for a while as two of Peel's members Disraeli and Gladstone set a new tone with moderate centrist Conservatives and moderate centrist Liberals.
Obviously the Whigs have risen from the dead to take over the zombie congress.
Obviously the Whigs have risen from the dead to take over the zombie congress.
5
“Our conference is going to have to do a lot of soul searching.”
Talk about a needle in a haystack! The search for a soul among these characters could take a long, long time.
Talk about a needle in a haystack! The search for a soul among these characters could take a long, long time.
8
It is clear that only the US voters can fix the “republican problem in Congress.”
November 2016 is the soonest that “chaos" can end.
Mr. President and Democratic members of Congress: please, in your public appearances, take every chance to single out the practical considerations that rational voters can use when selecting new members of Congress in what you consider our country’s “swing districts and states."
November 2016 is the soonest that “chaos" can end.
Mr. President and Democratic members of Congress: please, in your public appearances, take every chance to single out the practical considerations that rational voters can use when selecting new members of Congress in what you consider our country’s “swing districts and states."
3
Ed: "Anarchists. Fascists. Authoritarian. Totalitarian. Dictatorial. Despotic. Undemocratic. Illiberal."
Carnac the Magnificent: "Terms synonymous with the GOP."
Carnac the Magnificent: "Terms synonymous with the GOP."
5
re the headline: "creating" GOP chaos? As opposed to how nice & orderly things were before?
7
Doesn't this free John Boehner to be the wheeler-dealer he's always wanted to be? Unfortunately, he has always had to knuckle under to the Tea Party.
Well, I can't think of anyone who has more job security. Nobody who wants his job is able to get it. He's resigned, and they won't let him leave.
If he really wants to be a statesman, now is the time. Find 40 conservative Democrats to caucus with and throw the Tea Party knuckleheads under the bus.
He's not going to try to pass anything he's not in favor of, but I'm betting there's more common ground between Mr. Boehner and the Democrats then there is between him and the Tea Party.
Govern, Mr. Boehner. What have you got to lose?
Well, I can't think of anyone who has more job security. Nobody who wants his job is able to get it. He's resigned, and they won't let him leave.
If he really wants to be a statesman, now is the time. Find 40 conservative Democrats to caucus with and throw the Tea Party knuckleheads under the bus.
He's not going to try to pass anything he's not in favor of, but I'm betting there's more common ground between Mr. Boehner and the Democrats then there is between him and the Tea Party.
Govern, Mr. Boehner. What have you got to lose?
7
"Mr. McCarthy said, “I’m not the one to unify the party.”
No kidding...NOBODY can unify that hodgepodge of opposing ideologies.
It is, and has been for quit some time, so bloody obvious that the Cruz/Rubio "Republicans" support and promote a wholly separate and distinctly different ideology driving completely different agenda from the Boehner/McCarthy "mainstream" Republican ideology and agenda that for them to share a party name boarders on political perversion.
Since the conservatives have shown themselves too cowardly to stand alone, it's up to the Republicans and their leadership to finally display courage and fortitude as did their Whig forefathers in creating the Republican Party in the first place and split-up that disjointed and chaotic organization!
No kidding...NOBODY can unify that hodgepodge of opposing ideologies.
It is, and has been for quit some time, so bloody obvious that the Cruz/Rubio "Republicans" support and promote a wholly separate and distinctly different ideology driving completely different agenda from the Boehner/McCarthy "mainstream" Republican ideology and agenda that for them to share a party name boarders on political perversion.
Since the conservatives have shown themselves too cowardly to stand alone, it's up to the Republicans and their leadership to finally display courage and fortitude as did their Whig forefathers in creating the Republican Party in the first place and split-up that disjointed and chaotic organization!
2
Looks like the slightly more reasonable house Republicans really need to cooperate with Democrats now...
6
This is a classic "be careful what you wish for (Boehner quitting), you may get it". With the Republican caucus held hostage by the extreme right wing, gridlock and obstructionism will now be even worse.
2
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
2
Credit this CoupCoup d'état to Ted Cruz. As he slipstreams Trump, he has continued to incite the Freedom Revolutionaries in the House.
3
Once again, the GOP proves they are good at getting elected by hook or crook, but are horrible at governing. They can tell you what they're against but have no clue what to do about our problems. When this party collapses, they won't be missed.
36
When the real history of the party of right is written the one factor that seems to be danced around by everyone is that Obama killed the party of the right. The hatred of Obama by the right gave birth to the Tea Party. Riding the Tea Party coat tails the right regained the majority in both houses. In gaining the majority the right sold its soul to the extreme right. The right has created a monster that I doubt if anyone can slay. The party of Lincoln tore apart because of the election of the first Black President. It’s kind of poetic this self-inflected wound.
56
But the GOP has a lot of new faces. The Democrats had Obama, nothing but Obama.
Since the House Speaker does not have to be a member of the House (in theory), one obvious additional Candidate is Donald Trump.
Not only does that push him out of the 2016 Presidential race, it would give him a chance to learn how the US Government cannot be "run like a corporation"
Not only does that push him out of the 2016 Presidential race, it would give him a chance to learn how the US Government cannot be "run like a corporation"
4
Is this what Grover Norquist envisioned when he talked about government small enough to drown in a bathtub? Is this really what these lunatics want?
37
This time, they have no Democrats to blame. President Obama cannot be a scapegoat when the majority party fails abjectly at even administrative tasks like this.
33
Kevin McCarthy was undone by his own words after just a few days in the spotlight. He is not, in the words of my late, dear father, a tree full of owls.
18
It's time for the House members to vote on expulsions for those Tea Party members who want to or have tried to shut the Government down. It can be done under acts that are viewed as "perceived disloyalty to the United States," according to the House Rules.
27
America! For the sake of our nation and our future, Wake Up!!
The GOTP is not a real political party anymore. They're not about Government, America, Democracy, the People's needs, and absolutely not about compromise or making decent Law. They're a fringe, grossly radical, very dangerous ideological force.
They have gone from demonizing the President, to demonizing the entire Center and Left, to demonizing even the Right, *ANYONE on the Right* who disagrees with them. They are the direct successors to the most unreal, unhinged political movements this country has ever seen: the John Birch Society, which has an odd, warlike, Messianic, Bible (Book of Revelations) view of the world. They not only believe in the End Of Days, they are actively courting it, which means religiously based WWIII, with us as one of the central players. There are only two words for this: Treason and Insanity.
The GOP harnessed themselves to major Power Brokers, like the Koch Brothers and their think tanks, heedless of the weird, toxic baggage they brought with them. Over time, their views became central views, then majority views, then exclusive views. Now, they only allowed position - to the point where extreme radicals of just several years ago are no longer purely radical, or rigidly uncompromising enough. Lockstep purity is all that's now allowed.
What about Plurality, Democracy, Compromise, and People who just want a future for their kids? Our needs are not included here. This is not America!
The GOTP is not a real political party anymore. They're not about Government, America, Democracy, the People's needs, and absolutely not about compromise or making decent Law. They're a fringe, grossly radical, very dangerous ideological force.
They have gone from demonizing the President, to demonizing the entire Center and Left, to demonizing even the Right, *ANYONE on the Right* who disagrees with them. They are the direct successors to the most unreal, unhinged political movements this country has ever seen: the John Birch Society, which has an odd, warlike, Messianic, Bible (Book of Revelations) view of the world. They not only believe in the End Of Days, they are actively courting it, which means religiously based WWIII, with us as one of the central players. There are only two words for this: Treason and Insanity.
The GOP harnessed themselves to major Power Brokers, like the Koch Brothers and their think tanks, heedless of the weird, toxic baggage they brought with them. Over time, their views became central views, then majority views, then exclusive views. Now, they only allowed position - to the point where extreme radicals of just several years ago are no longer purely radical, or rigidly uncompromising enough. Lockstep purity is all that's now allowed.
What about Plurality, Democracy, Compromise, and People who just want a future for their kids? Our needs are not included here. This is not America!
43
Looks like big money has broken the two party system into a three party one, the Republicans, the Democrats and the Freedom Caucus. Other countries have more than two parties. Looks like we need to face it.
8
If we're not careful with this talk about electing someone not a member of the House, we'll end up with speaker of the house Ted Nugent, third in line for the presidency. His views are exactly in line with those of the Freedom Caucus. Of course, what does that say about the Freedom Caucus? Wango tango, baby.
13
The split in the Republican Party is between those who want to retain Constitutional Democracy - the governing system this Country was founded to embody - and those who want to 'move on' through anarchy toward some sort of totalitarian 'system', a system where our politicians and Supreme Court share offices with business, the military and 'our' church. I voted Republican fairly consistently until 2008. No more.
20
“K Street has got to be really nervous around here,” said Representative Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, the leader of the House Tea Party Caucus, referring to Washington’s lobbyist corridor. “And the American people out there are probably saying, ‘Wait a minute, there might be some real change in Washington.’ ”
Oh my god. These people are completely delusional.
Message to Tim: 92% of the American people want stronger gun controls. We are worried for our lives.
We couldn't care less about the middle-school antics of a bunch or crazy roghtwing nuts who couldn't govern their way out of a wet paper bag.
Oh my god. These people are completely delusional.
Message to Tim: 92% of the American people want stronger gun controls. We are worried for our lives.
We couldn't care less about the middle-school antics of a bunch or crazy roghtwing nuts who couldn't govern their way out of a wet paper bag.
44
So, I read:
"Representative Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, the leader of the House Tea Party Caucus, said, . . .“And the American people out there are probably saying, ‘Wait a minute, there might be some real change in Washington.’ ”
Yes, there might be and probably for the worse. This is especially disheartening since things are already going so poorly.
"Representative Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, the leader of the House Tea Party Caucus, said, . . .“And the American people out there are probably saying, ‘Wait a minute, there might be some real change in Washington.’ ”
Yes, there might be and probably for the worse. This is especially disheartening since things are already going so poorly.
24
still waiting for the GOP to transform from the obstructionist minority in both houses of congress into the majority party with an agenda. So far they can't pass a bill, can't put together a budget and can't even agree on who their leadership is.
Take a long hard look America, at yourselves. YOU elected these people.
Take a long hard look America, at yourselves. YOU elected these people.
17
I voted Democratic. My Congressional Representative is a Democrat. I am so tired of the idea that we all deserve these Yahoos because some ultra-religious, ideologically "pure" types have been elected from gerrymandered districts in Kansas or Utah or even Bakersfield, California. (Central California has it share of right-wingnuts.) Everyone does not have a say in all districts. Please Calverasgrande, drop this inaccurate trope. America is a mishmash of different people and as such has no eyes to "take a long hard look," only millions of eyes looking in different directions. The people who elected these 40 or 50 Tea Partiers should take the long, hard look. Unfortunately, I think they like these far-right warrior types.
13
@ Barbara --
I agree with you completely that we are not all responsible for the Tea Party, the Freedom Caucus, or the rest of the Yahoos who seem to have wrested control of our country through decades of careful gerrymandering and Goebbels-like appeals to fear and insecurity.
But I take exception to your describing them as "warrior types". The word "warrior" has an ancient and heroic connotation that is the antithesis of "Yahoo". Rather, this obstructionist minority is composed of fanatics, zealots, and militants whose passionate efforts to tear this country apart combine political and religious extremism with a regressive social agenda.
I agree with you completely that we are not all responsible for the Tea Party, the Freedom Caucus, or the rest of the Yahoos who seem to have wrested control of our country through decades of careful gerrymandering and Goebbels-like appeals to fear and insecurity.
But I take exception to your describing them as "warrior types". The word "warrior" has an ancient and heroic connotation that is the antithesis of "Yahoo". Rather, this obstructionist minority is composed of fanatics, zealots, and militants whose passionate efforts to tear this country apart combine political and religious extremism with a regressive social agenda.
2
The Republicans want to be the majority party but they prove yet again that they are utterly incompetent to do as somple a thing as organize themselves.
Watch carefully.
Decide for youdelf whether they deserve your vote if they cannot do the nation's business.
Watch carefully.
Decide for youdelf whether they deserve your vote if they cannot do the nation's business.
15
I've never bought into the idea that "things will have to get bad before they can get better", so I'm not looking forward to the train wreck awaiting us just down the tracks...
Things will get bad before they get worse.
Things will get bad before they get worse.
11
The Dems scare me as much as the Republicans do. Both parties are owned by the corporations and failing US badly. I pray Bernie gets a chance to right our ship of state.
7
This will either clean the garbage out of the GOP, or the GOP will be swallowed by the garbage. In the grand scheme of things, it seems so predictable with all the gerrymandering shenanigans and lies of the GOP. Who would donate a plug nickel to them now?
16
Where are the heroes?
Is there no Republican leader willing to stand up the far right, discard the Hastert Rule, compromise with moderate Democrats, if necessary, and find a way to put the Country before the Party or their own narrow minded caucus. When did compromise become a dirty word and why have we as a nation allowed such a small minority to assume such outsized influence?
Is there no Republican leader willing to stand up the far right, discard the Hastert Rule, compromise with moderate Democrats, if necessary, and find a way to put the Country before the Party or their own narrow minded caucus. When did compromise become a dirty word and why have we as a nation allowed such a small minority to assume such outsized influence?
34
I didn't think it would be possible in the next several election cycles, but somehow I can see control of the House slipping back to the Dems, not in 2016, but maybe by 2020, just in time to draw Congressional districts, if the grown-ups ( are there any left?) in the GOP don't re-establish control by the 2016 elections. Can you imagine another 3 years of this sort of crazy by about 30 or 40 ideologues, maybe a few more after 2016, and how this will eventually play with Americans who are tired of obstruction, tired of trying to shut down the government, tired of crumbling infrastructure? You can only impede progress, with a small "p" for so long, and these jokers trying to "kill the beast" are also killing our exceptional democracy.
I'm sure tired of all of this GOP ridiculousness.
I'm sure tired of all of this GOP ridiculousness.
35
This change will have to run it's course. This party will either reform or perish. No middle ground. The BASE knows it. The leadership has a little more learning to do. Let me make this clear for those who struggle for comprehension. If the party collapses because it cannot/will not reform. The BASE does not care. We're not going anywhere. The Rinos are going away. This will in no way affect the base support of their chosen presidential candidate whoever that turns out to be. Now whether the party survives as something called Republicans, or it arises with a new identity; that's cosmetic. The rest will be taken care of by the electorate.
5
The ultra cons say they want to move the country forward to the Econ of Hoover, the society of Jim Crow and the foreign policy of W.
27
If the Democrats can't fill this power vacumn we are I real trouble.
8
How's that gerrymandered Congressional map working out for us?
34
They're not legislators, they're extremists who happen to have lied their way into office, since they certainly have no intention of abiding by the oath of their office. Ultimately their end game is beyond taxation without representation--it is government without representation. We've fought wars, and our own revolution, for less than what these men can and will do.
18
As Ben Carson said, if you see a Representative holding our government hostage, you rush them. That is the sophistication one gets by having experienced the streets.
8
Each Republican member of the House is doing what will get them reelected. That it produces a bad outcome for the country is therefore the voters's fault.
12
But the voters at fault are the ones who elect these particular troublemakers. Many people voted for others. Why are they to blame? "The voters," in their districts may be to blame. I blame non-voters more. Those who did not step up and support the opposition or even bother to pay attention to the issues. Many people hear slogans that sound catchy, mean little, and vote for the candidate who says them. And others, I have met some of them, say voting does not matter. They are wrong.
3
Paul Ryan is likely terrified that both his party and our nation will all too soon discover just how inept he is at managing more then 3 meals a day and occasional visits to his seat in Congress. "Speaker? Me?!?" A late-starter at heart and a slacker by reputation, Ryan has all the smarts of Dan Quayle and conversational aptitude of McCarthy. Why they would ask him is truly worrisome. With those traits, can you imagine the qualities of the rest of the flock?
22
Those "qualities" have been on display now for several years. It just doesn't seem to matter to the majority of voters in their districts. It should matter to them, and fast. But it probably won't.
But Paul Ryan is the GOP Economic Guru. He is the smartest one of that group who knows how to run an economy. Cripes, he ran as VP candidate and..and...as you say...Paul Ryan is running scared. A pathetic sight!
Lord Paul Ryan the great "thinker" "policy wonk" will save the day.
7
Well, with the help of his Granddad's Social Security checks.
1
"If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve.
Instead, I'll remain Chairman of the Money Committee, I mean, the Committee on Ways and Means."
Has anyone ever been more transparent about wanting to connect up with the money people so as to line his own nest rather than serve his country by serving his party?
Yes, it's a tendentious minority, but it IS a minority. No one seems to be willing to be a Big Man and stand up to them.
Instead, I'll remain Chairman of the Money Committee, I mean, the Committee on Ways and Means."
Has anyone ever been more transparent about wanting to connect up with the money people so as to line his own nest rather than serve his country by serving his party?
Yes, it's a tendentious minority, but it IS a minority. No one seems to be willing to be a Big Man and stand up to them.
3
I think Ryan wants to feather his own nest while de-feathering everyone else's. I don't trust him. Being organized and getting things done sounds very nice and apparently Ryan fits that bill. It is the THINGS he has done and wants to do that I find wanting. If GOP House members are unable to enact their agenda, I say GOOD.
5
Here you will see over 1000 comments by people who are happy and often giddy just because Republicans encountered an organizational glitch in the House. Almost all denounce or laugh at GOP, emphasizing that it isn't fit to govern.
Doesn't this prove rather conclusively that NYT is a newspaper for and by the democrats? Without any pretense of covering boths sides of the political spectrum? It's the readers who define the paper, and not necessarily the editors; although we know they are leaning heavily for the dems anyway.
However, one still can extract a little lesson from all this: the dems and liberals are running scared this election cycle. They don't have a good candidate this time, and majority disapproves Obama's administration. And regardless of comments, most know that the current situation among Republicans will pass, and the party will be even more united than before Boehner announced his resignation. That possibility is rather likely, and doesn't please the left wing either. Thus the avalanche of negative comments.
Doesn't this prove rather conclusively that NYT is a newspaper for and by the democrats? Without any pretense of covering boths sides of the political spectrum? It's the readers who define the paper, and not necessarily the editors; although we know they are leaning heavily for the dems anyway.
However, one still can extract a little lesson from all this: the dems and liberals are running scared this election cycle. They don't have a good candidate this time, and majority disapproves Obama's administration. And regardless of comments, most know that the current situation among Republicans will pass, and the party will be even more united than before Boehner announced his resignation. That possibility is rather likely, and doesn't please the left wing either. Thus the avalanche of negative comments.
1
The NY Times is not the only paper writing about this turn of events with concern. Take a look around. Believing that the Republicans will be "even more united" flies in the face of the last 4+ years of governance. Take a look at the Presidential candidates currently fielded by the Republican party. They are far from united, either.
3
Nice try at deflecting. The discussion is not about the NYT, but about the Republican Party. "The party will be even more united than before Boehner announced his resignation" - ??? Is that how they show unity? Is that how you show sanity?
rimantas- You do not speak for this liberal Democrat, and I presume many others.
3
This is getting to the point of being absurd. What are we paying these people (well and long, given pensions) for? There is no governing getting done and nothing is happening to move the country forward. I can't help but thinking of the novel, "Lord of the Flies." The pre-teens are in charge and it's not going to end well.
15
Perhaps we should be careful what we wish for. If the GOP in Congress really gets it together they want to give more tax cuts to the rich, cut Social Security, repeal the ACA, increase military spending, default on our debts, and defund science research, to name just a few of their plans (who needs all those studies of diseases and global climate change . . . just pray),
2
I think the American electorate earnestly yearns for a more socialist-minded government but have no idea how to get it because they are thwarted at every turn by the likes of the GOP.
14
While it's good theater, the rest of the country is waiting for our government to get its act together. The holdup is the fact that the republican party can't wrangle 40 radicals who for some reason have control of the party. Why? Boehner's difficulties give the impression that the whole party is ultra conservative, but it's just 40? And Boehner can't deal with them, and no one else wants to?
Nancy Pelosi wouldn't stand for this nonsense.
Nancy Pelosi wouldn't stand for this nonsense.
20
Perhaps out of the 435 members of congress, the adults could get together from both sides of the aisle and pick a leader who could turn the House into a working branch of the government again at least until the next election. Is that too much for the American people to hope for - it is certainly the least we deserve.
24
The mis-labeled Freedom Caucus appears to believe in nullification, secession, government shut-downs, and not much else.
Kevin McCarthy, the Benghazi truther, appears to be incompetent, as in Palinesque.
Kevin McCarthy, the Benghazi truther, appears to be incompetent, as in Palinesque.
20
I know I'm supposed to want a viable second major party in American politics, but forgive me if I say I'm gleeful at this inevitable meltdown by Congressional Republicans. A wide-eyed, drooling set of hypocritical fanatics, particularly since Newt Gingrich told his troops in 1994 that they should act like Neanderthals and "win" at any cost. It almost enough to make a progressive yearn for the good old days of Bob Dole.
13
Who is going to get 218 votes without the Democrats?
11
Two words - Renee Ellmers.
The hypocrisy is too much for the GOP to stomach. It would get out - it has gotten out. Game over.
The hypocrisy is too much for the GOP to stomach. It would get out - it has gotten out. Game over.
7
This gives continued credence to the narrative of extremist elements in power throughout the GOP. That will hurt them in 2016.
10
Republicans might as well throw in the towel and start from scratch. With McCarthy withdrawing they are imploding and will most likely give in to the right of their party. It's a train wreck that will cause the government to shut down. It's egregious enough that Trump and Carson are at the top of the polls. Political suicide.
12
The Congressional Tea Party activists, decry the rights of the minority becoming law, in this instance, gay marriage, yet they are flummoxed that their minority extremist views do not become the law of the land.
Nevertheless, when the Tea Party agenda fails time and time again because they lack votes necessary to pass their wacky ideas, they rant about having policies "shoved down their throats." How absurd.
These Tea Party activists are a disservice to the public's best interests. Irregardless of where you are on the political spectrum, the laws have been passed solely by compromise or majority vote, not minority rule. Instead of trying to win via shutdowns, and confrontations, the Tea Party needs to win more elections, not usurp them. These extremists are solely pandering to the purse strings of the Koch brothers and Fox News programming.
Nevertheless, when the Tea Party agenda fails time and time again because they lack votes necessary to pass their wacky ideas, they rant about having policies "shoved down their throats." How absurd.
These Tea Party activists are a disservice to the public's best interests. Irregardless of where you are on the political spectrum, the laws have been passed solely by compromise or majority vote, not minority rule. Instead of trying to win via shutdowns, and confrontations, the Tea Party needs to win more elections, not usurp them. These extremists are solely pandering to the purse strings of the Koch brothers and Fox News programming.
22
This is good news. It would've been depressing to have a Speaker who couldn't speak English.
13
Or very funny!
1
The sane people just need to get together and elect Nancy.
15
The only thing that can stop a bad legislator with a vote is a good legislator with a vote.
17
As if the GOP's game-playing with the country's credit rating -- government shutdowns and showdowns solely for the sake of obstructionism -- weren't clear enough evidence that the Republican Party cannot govern ... here's proof.
10
It's time to put the Tea party away.
11
Why don't these extreme reactionaries who want to shut the gov't down over any/every thing form their own party? Why are the Repubs putting up with this? Gerrymandering's unintended consequences are proving dangerous to the republic, and I say that as one who thinks DC is corrupt and a mess but the answer isn't to just shut it down.
Cheney endorsed McCarthy---like he's the grand sage of the party? Didn't work. Roll Dick back into his bunker, not even House Repubs want to hear from him (or a Bush).
The Republican 'brand' may be beyond repair.
Cheney endorsed McCarthy---like he's the grand sage of the party? Didn't work. Roll Dick back into his bunker, not even House Repubs want to hear from him (or a Bush).
The Republican 'brand' may be beyond repair.
22
No politician should stay in office more than 2 terms. Anything more than that, it's power and greed.
2
Then the lobbyists would have even more input and power than they already have...
2
It's taken longer than one might have thought possible, but "stupid" finally overtook the House Republicans. You've got, what, 40 people of the Heulskamp stripe who seem to believe that their brand of "change" actually appeals to a majority of people outside their own very red districts, somehow happy over the fact that they are making the entire Republican Party look the mismanaged party of "no" that it is.
If there was such a thing as a moderate Republican membership, it would have been the time for them to form an alliance with Democrats and elect a reasonabl speaker who could work with both parties, taking away the Tea Party's nefarious veto power in the process. But it won't happen.
If there was such a thing as a moderate Republican membership, it would have been the time for them to form an alliance with Democrats and elect a reasonabl speaker who could work with both parties, taking away the Tea Party's nefarious veto power in the process. But it won't happen.
20
The GOP cannot handle the responsibilities it gained in elections (with gerrymandered districts...) This is what happens when you send inexperienced people to DC: chaos. We cannot trust them to govern in the best interest of the country.
24
As noted in other comments, this chaos is partly the result of gerrymandering a number of districts in favor of ideologically pure reactionaries. Coupled with their acute case of epistemic closure, they think they are more righteously powerful than anyone. Consequently, they see no need to ever compromise on anything, including their own leadership.
23
After a life at sea, I've seen this exact republican party crisis before: No one knows why, but when a ship at sea is sinking, the rats go mad and tear each other apart.
23
Finally, an analogy one can trust.
1
'A House divided'....back in the day the South and the Southern Economic Plan divided the country, now it's down to the U.S. House of Representatives. Sounds like the South and the Southern Economic Plan are running out of time and space. And they've got Senator Cruz, who is over in the Senate where he is despised and has absolutely no power or leverage, leading the House (?).
5
The bottom line is that Republicans are, one way or the other, bad people. The badness comes in the form of ignorance, bigotry, greed, arrogance, dishonesty, and a host of other negative characteristics.
16
Perhaps it is time for the Republican House to revisit the words of their greatest icon and become a functioning part of the government to which they were elected. "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
11
The greatest Republican icon said, "...government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." President Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address 1980
Yet another Reagan legacy...
Yet another Reagan legacy...
2
Whatever intelligent Republicans may be left should take this moment and switch their party allegiance.
17
The speaker doesn't even a have to be a member of Congress. So let's think outside the box, here. There must be some former diplomats out there who could be coaxed out of retirement.
2
McCarthy did the right thing. We don't need Boehner-lite .. it has taken this many years in our glacial system for turning popular will into action (this is a good thing) for the tea party reforms to begin being felt at the top levels of Congress. The George W. Bush era is finally behind us and those Republicans who were repelled by W's statism and values of security over freedom can come home. (NY Times readers won't believe it but it was Tea Partiers who provided the edge to elect President Obama, hoping vainly for something different. Instead of course we got both the increase in the nanny/SJW state we don't trust but expected AND an unexpected stunning empowerment of the NSA/TSA/drone killing/SWAT team/Patriot Act philosophy of providing security by reducing liberty. The only chance for recovering the respect for individual sovereignty that made our nation unique at its founding is to reform at least one of the major Parties from within. Perhaps McCarthy is dimly aware of this.
1
He's been lambasted in the media for his idiocy and bad judgement.
He has spoken 30 sentences in the past week and 25 of them have
been disastrous.
That's why he quit.
He knew he would be nothing but a perpetual laughing stock.
He has spoken 30 sentences in the past week and 25 of them have
been disastrous.
That's why he quit.
He knew he would be nothing but a perpetual laughing stock.
1
Carbona, why doesn't the Tea Party start their own party? They obviously are not Republicans.
1
The Tea Party doesn't have popular support.
It's weird that you would suggest otherwise.
It's weird that you would suggest otherwise.
2
Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers have created the monster that just might ultimately destroy them. And a big bonus is that it might take down Wall Street and K street at the same time. It will be satisfying to see the big boys take a dose of the same austerity medicine that they have been doling out to the middle class for the last 35 years.
23
It's pretty astounding to me that any of the Republicans would want Kevin McCarthy to be speaker. I am truly amazed that he got elected in the first place. His opponent must have really been something. Honestly he seems downright stupid. How come it's only Rachael Maddow I have heard talk about this guys grammar. Hillary's " untrustable ". I don't watch Ms Maddow much but a friend told me she's been showing all the crazy words and sentences McCarthy comes up with. Very scary that this man is a Representative of Congress.
The Republican party may be over, a thing of the past. Very confused and mixed up. And for all the talk Trump is still the leading candidate and may very well get the nomination. That pretty much says it all right there.
The Republican party may be over, a thing of the past. Very confused and mixed up. And for all the talk Trump is still the leading candidate and may very well get the nomination. That pretty much says it all right there.
19
Could journalists please stop referring to them as "hard-line conservatives" and name them what they are: radicals and extremists? There's nothing conservative about this lunatic fringe.
47
Can't we, the American people, hold an election for Speaker? It is 3rd in line for the presidency after all. I say we vote for Nancy and be done with it.
13
Since 2014 the president has been kicking butt and taking names, and what have Republicans been doing with their big win?
The Republicans have gerrymandered the House into irrelevance, and proven once again that they are unfit to govern.
The Republicans have gerrymandered the House into irrelevance, and proven once again that they are unfit to govern.
24
The Republicans sowed the seeds of their own destruction when they established all those gerrymandered electoral districts. In doing so, they ensured that the successful candidates for these districts would be foaming-at-the-mouth right-wingnuts. Now those political extremists are paralyzing their own party, and there seems to be no way out but redistricting to reflect fairness and justice in the electoral system. Of course, this is something they just will not do. You could not dream up a tighter Catch-22, a noose which will slowly choke the GOP as a viable entity. The tragedy is that it may also choke the nation as well.
16
Less than ten percent of the house, 40 members, are telling the rest of the country that their constituents are demanding this chaos. An absolute lack of understanding that this is a republic of checks and balances. They seem to think that the goverment began the day thery were elected. They are truly not worthy of the insitution in which they serve.
19
What does not seem to be addressed here, is what the Republican carnage does to the stock market. Those of us who have done our best to invest wisely and prepare for our later years are undone by this political fire storm that rocks the market with disastrous results to our savings. Government shut down? Market tanks! How in the name of faith, can we prepare and secure our future when the political clowns are circling the drain? The repercussions of the inability of the Republicans to reign in these outliers is, for me, near treason. The abdication of upholding the rules of the law and how the government works to send these Tea bags to the Woodshed is beyond words.
22
Here's a suggestion: Since the entire House elects a Speaker, how about Democrats put country above politics and offer to join with moderate Republicans to elect a GOP candidate both parties can work with. Republicans maintain House control; Democrats act maturely and responsibly which will likely yield future dividends; the country sees a move toward ending the bitter partisan politics that's divided us for years; and the ultra conservatives, who only seem interested in destroying the Government to change it, are unable to hold their party hostage any longer and are relegated to outlier status. It’s a bold move, but looks like a perfect time to do it. Sounds like win-win to me. Could happen.
9
Good idea in principle but it seems there are no GOP grown ups left.
3
I think it is up to the moderate Republicans to propose a deal to the Democrats. That is, if you can find any moderate Republicans.
2
How's this. The GOP needs a Renaissance. They need one badly. But as with all 'renaissances' a 'body' must first die in order to be 'reborn.' This GOP has to first 'die.' I'm afraid that it is the only way out for them.
Good riddance. He was just another mealy-mouthed sock puppet for the plutocrats and crony capitalists, and marginally (at best) different than Boehner. It would just be more of the same, which cannot be tolerated any further.
And I **strongly** disagree with McCarthy's idiotic comments on Benghazi. For me, Benghazi is about reining in a government that screws up catastrophically, then blatantly and insultingly lies at length to cover it up. Call me old fashioned, but when our embassy (which is by all international agreements viewed as the territory of the occupants) is burned, our diplomats brutally murdered, and the whole country turned over to a bunch of 7th century beheaders, then *somebody* needs to be held accountable. It is completely unacceptable, regardless of which party is in power.
The next task is to make sure Chaffetz (Boehner's dim thug, whom he used for the legislative equivalent of 'swimming with the fishes') never sees the light of day in terms of becoming Speaker....
And I **strongly** disagree with McCarthy's idiotic comments on Benghazi. For me, Benghazi is about reining in a government that screws up catastrophically, then blatantly and insultingly lies at length to cover it up. Call me old fashioned, but when our embassy (which is by all international agreements viewed as the territory of the occupants) is burned, our diplomats brutally murdered, and the whole country turned over to a bunch of 7th century beheaders, then *somebody* needs to be held accountable. It is completely unacceptable, regardless of which party is in power.
The next task is to make sure Chaffetz (Boehner's dim thug, whom he used for the legislative equivalent of 'swimming with the fishes') never sees the light of day in terms of becoming Speaker....
1
"For me, Benghazi is about reining in a government that screws up catastrophically"
By wasting taxpayer money on 8 investigations that have found nothing?
Rein in government by wasting money?
By wasting taxpayer money on 8 investigations that have found nothing?
Rein in government by wasting money?
3
Then surely you support a war crimes trial for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield and the gang. Right?
1
This is a festival of schadenfreude and it would be the best thing ever if it wasn't so frightening. The know-nothing's are taking over the asylum.
12
Ah, yes, schadenfreude! Very sweet taken in limited doses.
The House GOP in disarray? Again? Still? Say it ain't so, Joe!
8
I cannot tell a lie.
It IS so!
It IS so!
From Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein": " I beheld the wretch — the miserable monster whom I had created."
The GOP is reaping the whirlwind of the Tea Party and the conservative so-called "Freedom Caucus". They have created a monster they cannot control.
The GOP is reaping the whirlwind of the Tea Party and the conservative so-called "Freedom Caucus". They have created a monster they cannot control.
30
Talk about an unbridled sense of entitlement! The "Freedom" (sarcasm) 40 seem to think that their 40 votes are more important than any other 40 votes. They feel that they should get their way--without compromise--even though they have only 40 votes and can't elect someone without help. And, they are going to yell and scream and hold their breath until their faces turn blue and they will even try to break the nations credit rating if they don't get their waaayyy .... WAAAYYY .... WAAAHHH!
I got news for all of you Angry White Men. Your 40 votes do not count more than any one else 40 votes. You can scream and cry and nash your teeth all you want.
I got news for all of you Angry White Men. Your 40 votes do not count more than any one else 40 votes. You can scream and cry and nash your teeth all you want.
35
How has all this gerrymandering over the last many years.....helped create a situation like this?
9
Thank you Kevin and thank you Rachel!!!
5
Peter King of NY (R) says, "We look absolutely crazy.”
Yeah. Actually, most of us think it's more than a look.
Yeah. Actually, most of us think it's more than a look.
66
And when Peter King says you're crazy, well...you're pretty much crazy.
Didn't Boehner just announce YESTERDAY (Wed.) that this vote won't take place until he leaves congress - Oct. 30th ??
1
No, the "real" (final) vote was to take place then. Today was a vote within the GOP conference only. A bit like a test vote, one supposes.
And of course no vote took place at all, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Halloween brings....
And of course no vote took place at all, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Halloween brings....
1
It is truly tragic, a majority party unable to govern itself unable to govern at all. The proverbial tail wagging the dog. Many rational people understand why this is so destructive, but we are not the one electing these irrational leaders. That will probably not change. It will get much uglier before it gets better
4
I'm going to say "I told you so" -- in a NYT comment the day after Rep Boehner announced his impending resignation, I wrote that the House Republicans would be too fractious to produce the 218 votes need to elect a new speaker by themselves, which would result in a coalition of establishment Republicans and moderate Democrats electing a semi-moderate Republican as speaker and functioning like a European parliament. Looks like we're getting there. That said, I have to point out that if this was truly wartime and we all (figuratively) were under the gun, no one would attempt the kind of foolishness exhibited by certain Republican members. In turn, their behavior shows that they don't really believe that Pres Obama has stupidly and treacherously sold us out to foreign Muslim terrorists (or whatever) while destroying our defenses and put us all in imminent danger. If they actually believed that, they couldn't afford to behave as they do. It almost makes me miss the Cold War, when the prospect of imminent vaporization by Soviet H bombs engendered a higher degree of seriousness in Congress.
6
Very true.
I'm not sure what the good Pope did when he spoke to congress, but in behalf of the American people, please come back your Holiness.
5
I believe it was Gore Vidal who observed that there are no real political parties, only factions.
2
Jesus Christ, himself, would turn down the position of Speaker of the US House of Representatives. He couldn't unify the majority Republicans, and they would crucify him again in the end.
7
Oh, no. Without GOP House leadership, who will shut down government and hold hearings that are just politically motivated witch hunts?
22
At least the GOP offers us up a choice among those who do not want to govern, those who don't know how and and those who never have.
8
Planned chaos. They are all doing this on purpose. I'd say vote them all out before they can do more damage but I think it's too late. Our so-called President didn't meet recently with all the world's Communist leaders for nothing. Something is going down soon and I think it is this country.
That is what the nooz wants you to think.
I'm old enough to remember the democrats in the early 80's ... a very wise man advised the republicans not to get complacent when in 1984 the Democrats were in disarray and people talked of the parties "demise for a generation"
It is out of the rubble and chaos that parties cleanse themselves of that what they must ... McCarthy's demise puts this bottom closer.
Just as the democrats came out of the "lost party of a generation" in 8 short years to elect Bill Clinton so to will the Republicans refresh themselves and win again.
Democrats should not be smiling .....
It is out of the rubble and chaos that parties cleanse themselves of that what they must ... McCarthy's demise puts this bottom closer.
Just as the democrats came out of the "lost party of a generation" in 8 short years to elect Bill Clinton so to will the Republicans refresh themselves and win again.
Democrats should not be smiling .....
1
Val in Brooklyn, NY to Cab in NY, Yes. That's painfully funny and true.
To GT in NJ, rest assured this is one Dem who is definitely not smiling. After reading this article and the two links that Bassey Etim (spelled correctly?), the Community Editor, was kind enough to attach (thanks), my stomach is turning. One question: What do we do now?
Submitted: 10-8-15, 9:25 p.m. EST
To GT in NJ, rest assured this is one Dem who is definitely not smiling. After reading this article and the two links that Bassey Etim (spelled correctly?), the Community Editor, was kind enough to attach (thanks), my stomach is turning. One question: What do we do now?
Submitted: 10-8-15, 9:25 p.m. EST
1
If the GOP's current chaos does lead to their resurrection--hopefully as a saner more pragmatic party--I would, as an Independent, gladly welcome it. If, on the other hand, Republicans galvanize to create a more extreme and regressive party (echoing the character of its fractious Freedom Caucus), then I must hope for the GOP's subsequent and swift death. Having a political party that merely obstructs and dismantles any form of progress benefit no one.
2
Pardon us....we can't help it...
I'm sorry but the man could hardly utter consecutive coherent sentences.
But perhaps he would have been a fitting leader for today's brand of Republican. A cabal of defiant know nothings hellbent on obstruction and dysfunction, using the canard of hatred of government as cover for their ineptitude and contempt for the American people they claim to serve.
But perhaps he would have been a fitting leader for today's brand of Republican. A cabal of defiant know nothings hellbent on obstruction and dysfunction, using the canard of hatred of government as cover for their ineptitude and contempt for the American people they claim to serve.
18
"Adding to the GOP Chaos" Yeah, I guess to a newspaper that fanatically supports a political party where every candidate, every leader, is decided by sleazy pressure behind closed doors, an actual election has to seem foreign.
But it is a wonderfully creative campaign advertisement. Unfortunately, the incendiary terms are presented as "news". Keep it up -- by election day, even the densest voter will understand this ain't the place for facts.
But it is a wonderfully creative campaign advertisement. Unfortunately, the incendiary terms are presented as "news". Keep it up -- by election day, even the densest voter will understand this ain't the place for facts.
It's not GOP chaos? Do you mean they are doing this on purpose?
How in the world are they going to blame the President for this.
I am certain they will find a way.
Speaker of the House is the most important job, most powerful job in Washington, The President is more Visible, just ask LBJ he was both.
The Republicans can't find any one to even take the job let alone be a good Speaker, "Tip" O'Neil, LBJ and the other great Speakers must be rolling over in their graves. This flat out proves the Republican Party in it's current form, has no interest or ability to govern. No one wants the job, they might have to give it to Nancy, she'd take it, and she'd know how to isolate 40 members, Democrats have to do that all the time.
I am certain they will find a way.
Speaker of the House is the most important job, most powerful job in Washington, The President is more Visible, just ask LBJ he was both.
The Republicans can't find any one to even take the job let alone be a good Speaker, "Tip" O'Neil, LBJ and the other great Speakers must be rolling over in their graves. This flat out proves the Republican Party in it's current form, has no interest or ability to govern. No one wants the job, they might have to give it to Nancy, she'd take it, and she'd know how to isolate 40 members, Democrats have to do that all the time.
16
The Republican party is a utter mess . They absolutely have no right being in the next election. Its almost like the party is a quagmire just like Iraq was. No one see's I to I and they all hate each other. A recipe for disaster.
9
There are two main differences between House Republicans and a kindergarten class. One is adult supervision. The other is that kindergartners know how to play well with others.
16
If they'd really like to change Washington, there wouldn't be a Democratic and a Republican candidate chosen by their caucuses, there would be candidates seeking the office. They'd keep voting until some dropped out and someone got 218 votes. In the Constitution they all claim so to love, does it say anything about caucuses putting up candidates? I have written this before, and I'll write it again: the job is Speaker of the House of Representatives, it is not Speaker of the Republican Caucus. That's why there's a Majority and Minority Leader for each party, explicitly described as a party leader. To pass a bill you don't need 218 Republican votes, you need 218 votes. You can't have a revolution and no revolution at the same time, or else George III would still have been king of the United States in 1787. Unfortunately, the Republicans in Congress don't know what they want.
9
The two party system, combined with excessive partisanship on the part of politicians and the public, is the bane of our democracy at the present time. The parties are failing us. They stink. The Republicans, interested in destroying the federal govt. and pushing all of us into separate corners hating each other, stink the most.
Now is the time for the "moderates", which is to say those who aren't absolutist radicals, to re-take control of the US Congress. This involves, gulp, compromise and working with the Democrats to elect a consensus Speaker who has the business of the American people at heart, the whole business broadly defined, not just the partisan objectives of Republicans. If this opportunity is missed, it might not come again for decades.
Now is the time for the "moderates", which is to say those who aren't absolutist radicals, to re-take control of the US Congress. This involves, gulp, compromise and working with the Democrats to elect a consensus Speaker who has the business of the American people at heart, the whole business broadly defined, not just the partisan objectives of Republicans. If this opportunity is missed, it might not come again for decades.
1
The simple answer to this is for the Republican leadership to repeal, or denounce, the Hastert Rule. This is the only thing that gives this small, radical minority, made up of Tea Party activists, the power to hold up our government for ransom. There is no law that states that only bills that have a 'majority of the majority' support should go to the floor for a vote.
This whole predicament is the result of Republican idiocy. They are victims of their own making. They've convinced a group of radical right-wingers that being uncompromising is a how to be tough, and so, they've got a minority that won't compromise on anything, even though that is the foundation of our government.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I'd tell then to throw the Hastert Rule out. It'll allow for moderate government to proceed. Plus, it'll teach the Tea Party that to win any argument they need to convince the electorate of their position, not just throw a tantrum.
This whole predicament is the result of Republican idiocy. They are victims of their own making. They've convinced a group of radical right-wingers that being uncompromising is a how to be tough, and so, they've got a minority that won't compromise on anything, even though that is the foundation of our government.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I'd tell then to throw the Hastert Rule out. It'll allow for moderate government to proceed. Plus, it'll teach the Tea Party that to win any argument they need to convince the electorate of their position, not just throw a tantrum.
15
Val in Brooklyn, NY.
After a while, all I can do is laugh, even though it's really not funny. And to think our taxes are paying for this, including McCarthy's exploiting Benghazi just to derail Hillary Clinton's campaign. Wow!
A book discussion group started at our library. It being the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, we're reading it and Through the Looking Glass ... . Aside from the tea party (Carroll's, not the Rethugs), the Mad Hatter and the rabbit hole, I think of the Red Queen in The Looking Glass, running faster and faster with Alice. Alice is exhausted, breathless and giddy when they finally stop--and that they've gone absolutely nowhere.
I'd say this is a perfect analogy for our ridiculous government, this ridiculous excuse for Congress and even more ridiculous House--except I have far too much reverence for the eternal genius of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.
Submitted: 10-8-15, 8:37 p.m. EST
After a while, all I can do is laugh, even though it's really not funny. And to think our taxes are paying for this, including McCarthy's exploiting Benghazi just to derail Hillary Clinton's campaign. Wow!
A book discussion group started at our library. It being the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, we're reading it and Through the Looking Glass ... . Aside from the tea party (Carroll's, not the Rethugs), the Mad Hatter and the rabbit hole, I think of the Red Queen in The Looking Glass, running faster and faster with Alice. Alice is exhausted, breathless and giddy when they finally stop--and that they've gone absolutely nowhere.
I'd say this is a perfect analogy for our ridiculous government, this ridiculous excuse for Congress and even more ridiculous House--except I have far too much reverence for the eternal genius of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.
Submitted: 10-8-15, 8:37 p.m. EST
3
Reading this made me realize something I had never thought about before. For all the distance in ideology between traditional republicans and democrats, we had a system that ultimately worked. The republicans, backed by big corporate interests, could be counted on to care about the stock market and our economy, even if they didn't care about the poor and the struggling or the environment. The democrats were counted on for that.
The tea party doesn't care about any of this. They don't care about any of the important issues that affect people. All they care about is their ideology of xenophobia and less governance.
Sane republicans cannot govern with them. What does that tell us?
The tea party doesn't care about any of this. They don't care about any of the important issues that affect people. All they care about is their ideology of xenophobia and less governance.
Sane republicans cannot govern with them. What does that tell us?
16
...but now what's gonna happen to the Benghazi investigation, or the de-fund Planned Parenthood committee...???
13
Bravo!!
Wow... that's just a another example of what has become a broken system of government, 40 hard line republicans are going to decide the next speaker.
7
There's a scene in Monty Python's Life of Brian where two rival anti-(Roman) government factions square off and begin to fight each other in the tunnels beneath Caesar's palace. Some Roman legionnaires on patrol happen to stumble upon this mindless fighting, watch it for a bit, then shake their heads in disgust and disbelief.
The Democrats must feel a lot like those legionnaires right about now.
The Democrats must feel a lot like those legionnaires right about now.
11
Just too precious.
5
If a renowned horse's patootey like Mr. McCarthy is still not awful enough for the members, the party is in even worse shape than we thought.
7
Worst. Party. Ever.
21
How can you tell when the GOP is "in disarray"? I was a dyed-in-the-wool Republican for many years, until I watched as Reagan acted his was through eight years as a President. Then I realized that "disarray" was a normal state for the Republicans. The Repubs need lots more excitement, I say! Bring on "the Donald"!
6
If Tim Huelscamp thinks that the majority of American people are jubilant right now in anticipation of change due to his band of crazies making it impossible to govern, well, he is crazy. This is a perfect example of politicians who represent maybe 10% of the electorate running things for the other 90%.
23
Once upon a time, America was an impregnable fortress, and these navel-gazing shenanigans could be an amusing, if slightly embarrassing, distraction.
But the rest of the world is rising fast, and we will be crushed if we don't get our act together. It's one thing to hate strong government. It's another to bring comfort to our enemies by actively pursuing the destruction of our economy and body politic.
But the rest of the world is rising fast, and we will be crushed if we don't get our act together. It's one thing to hate strong government. It's another to bring comfort to our enemies by actively pursuing the destruction of our economy and body politic.
10
Ever mindful of the role played by the Speaker in the larger Constitutional scheme of things, let us bow our heads and together implore the Almighty to bestow upon Joe Biden and his successor long and healthy lives.
4
The Republicans have won. According to them the government is the problem and they have gerrymandered their way to control of the House of Representatives and made it non-functional. Wasn't that the plan all along?
13
This is still a free nation and these guys were freely elected.
I don't blame our representatives for being who they have always claimed themselves to be and I don't blame the men and women, as whacked as many of us may consider them to be, who elected them to Congress. At least they both participated in our democracy.
I blame the US voter who stays on the couch. The same US voter who lauds these comments or at least agrees with their sentiment but fails to cast a vote in the off year.
This is still a participatory democracy even if the majority choose not to participate.
We voted them in and we can vote them out, but we have to vote.
It is often quoted, but Pogo said it best. "We have met the enemy and he is us."
I don't blame our representatives for being who they have always claimed themselves to be and I don't blame the men and women, as whacked as many of us may consider them to be, who elected them to Congress. At least they both participated in our democracy.
I blame the US voter who stays on the couch. The same US voter who lauds these comments or at least agrees with their sentiment but fails to cast a vote in the off year.
This is still a participatory democracy even if the majority choose not to participate.
We voted them in and we can vote them out, but we have to vote.
It is often quoted, but Pogo said it best. "We have met the enemy and he is us."
12
Let's just step up to the plate and admit it: the Republican Party is defunct.
In a desperate move to retain enough seats in the Senate and the House, the Republican Party made the decision a long time ago to spread their umbrella wide enough to cover the truly disruptive, ignorant elements in American society. I'll not mince words: Wingnuts. Of all persuasions. Climate deniers, gun nuts, anti-government anarchists, racists, religious zealots conspiring to make their beliefs Federal law, whatever.
Surprise, surprise. These contingents are wingnuts that only value their own aberrant beliefs and will flush the United States down the drain to gratify their own personal causes. The reaction of the more seasoned and reasoned Republicans: cower on the sidelines and refuse to assume positions of responsibility. This is one sad group of people across the entire width of their self-elected party name of: Republicans.
In a desperate move to retain enough seats in the Senate and the House, the Republican Party made the decision a long time ago to spread their umbrella wide enough to cover the truly disruptive, ignorant elements in American society. I'll not mince words: Wingnuts. Of all persuasions. Climate deniers, gun nuts, anti-government anarchists, racists, religious zealots conspiring to make their beliefs Federal law, whatever.
Surprise, surprise. These contingents are wingnuts that only value their own aberrant beliefs and will flush the United States down the drain to gratify their own personal causes. The reaction of the more seasoned and reasoned Republicans: cower on the sidelines and refuse to assume positions of responsibility. This is one sad group of people across the entire width of their self-elected party name of: Republicans.
19
matthewobrien wrote: "Let's just step up to the plate and admit it: the Republican Party is defunct."
Would that this were true. They are still in charge in Wisconsin and wrecking its historically clean transparent government, the educational system, the civil service, and the environment, to name a few things they've trashed.
Would that this were true. They are still in charge in Wisconsin and wrecking its historically clean transparent government, the educational system, the civil service, and the environment, to name a few things they've trashed.
6
Henri Poincaire, the famous French scientist and mathematician, said, 'Science progresses, funeral by funeral.' evidently, so does common sense But as healthcare joins medicare, food stamps, un-employment compensation, social security, the FDIC and soon to be measures to end consumer ripoffs and every sort of unethical capitalism, those who have opposed these measures will be seen to be lacking in common sense. For this reason, Henri and I expect to see the members of the Geriatric Old Party toddle off to oblivion with no one to replace them.
6
It would be an absolute disaster for America if a Tea Party or so-called "Freedom Caucus"backed extreme right-wing candidate becomes the next Speaker. Since Pelosi has no chance (let's be honest), I think, for the sake of this country, the House Democrats should declare they would support any Republican candidate who would allow a floor vote on funding the government and raising the debt ceiling until next election. Both of these measures would pass with at least 300 votes on the floor. Let's not give these 50-60 hard right lunatics the satisfaction of wrecking America's fiscal credibility.
10
My other thought is that someone has something on McCarthy which forced him out. I don't think any of these guys (and they're all middle-aged white males) would have given up such a powerful post without some real dirt on him.
13
Arian you hit the nail on the head! I too think there is some dirty laundry hidden somewhere. Hope an investigative reporter digs it up and quick.
1
If I were a moderate Republican I would be hammering to split my party.
Toss the Tea Party from the GOP.
Get their un-American, uncompromising blood off your hands.
Let them float on their own.
Then at least there's a possibility that moderate Independents will decide the GOP is a party worth returning to.
That 40 people can bring this great nation to a halt, soiling our full faith and credit is an undemocratic travesty.
Staying the current course & outside of a few fanatics driving today, the GOP will completely lose your audience.
Toss the Tea Party from the GOP.
Get their un-American, uncompromising blood off your hands.
Let them float on their own.
Then at least there's a possibility that moderate Independents will decide the GOP is a party worth returning to.
That 40 people can bring this great nation to a halt, soiling our full faith and credit is an undemocratic travesty.
Staying the current course & outside of a few fanatics driving today, the GOP will completely lose your audience.
12
This is the party that claims it can govern this country better? Better than what I must ask..
18
It's a mess but as a Democrat I am dismayed that Nancy Pelosi seems to have made a political decision to let the Republicans wallow in their own mess instead of taking the opportunity to act in the bests interests of the country and lend support to a moderate Republican and in return get an agreement to debate issues critical to Americans .
Such as Immigration reform, minimum wage, tax reform, infrastructure program as a start.
It is a chance fo the Democrats to show mature ,constructive leadership to get things done for the Country this will contrast strongly with the Republicans disarray and stand the democrats in good stead in 2016
Such as Immigration reform, minimum wage, tax reform, infrastructure program as a start.
It is a chance fo the Democrats to show mature ,constructive leadership to get things done for the Country this will contrast strongly with the Republicans disarray and stand the democrats in good stead in 2016
7
Pelosi is waiting either to be drafted or to support the doomed modern R who supports country over caucus. How about it Joe Donelly? Maybe Mitch Daniels? Anyone love their country more than their party?
I would really appreciate the next person who purports to speak for God or about which of our States, God likes best, if that person would please videotape the burning bush and provide the data.
15
It seems that Union forces did not completely defeat the Confederacy 150 years ago.
16
The Union forces did completely defeat the Confederacy. The problem is that the Confederacy never got over it, and has been refighting the war under one guise or another ever since.
1
Definition of circular firing squad!
Unfortunately, we've got a country to run here. If the Republicans split, it may be time to revive the Know Nothing Party name. This is what comes of electing people whose claim to fame is their pride in ignorance.
Unfortunately, we've got a country to run here. If the Republicans split, it may be time to revive the Know Nothing Party name. This is what comes of electing people whose claim to fame is their pride in ignorance.
21
This is why republicans are hell-bent on getting power to the states individually, where their gerrymandering and appeal to regional prejudices can give them their ways--at least until it's clear even to the densest republican citizens that they bring disaster whenever they have free reign.
21
The crazies have definitely taken over the GOP with an entire circus running for President with a pompous buffoon leading in the polls and now the house is taken over by far right wing extremists.
Pass the popcorn and peanuts.
Pass the popcorn and peanuts.
16
Couldn't they have waited til the Series is over?
Why are they in disarray? I thought that's what the radical faction of the GOP want? There are after all still two more candidates?
2
If Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, the leader of the House Tea Party Caucus, really thinks "the American people out there are probably saying, ‘Wait a minute, there might be some real change in Washington.'" then he is delusional.
The bulk of Americans are thinking there is a serious reality distortion field surrounding a small minority of wingnuts.
It seems very feasible at this point that we'll see a European-style forging of alliances that cut across parties; surely there are enough centrist Democrats who could find common cause with a few of the (relatively) sane Republicans out there.
The challenge will be the courage of the "relatively" centrist Republicans: will they have the guts to tell their constituents back home that the Tea Party emperor has no clothes, and it's time to get Real in America again?
It can't be easy – but then when was being truly patriotic supposed to be easy?
The bulk of Americans are thinking there is a serious reality distortion field surrounding a small minority of wingnuts.
It seems very feasible at this point that we'll see a European-style forging of alliances that cut across parties; surely there are enough centrist Democrats who could find common cause with a few of the (relatively) sane Republicans out there.
The challenge will be the courage of the "relatively" centrist Republicans: will they have the guts to tell their constituents back home that the Tea Party emperor has no clothes, and it's time to get Real in America again?
It can't be easy – but then when was being truly patriotic supposed to be easy?
24
Who are the sane Republicans in the House?
1
"Mr. McCarthy said, “I’m not the one to unify the party.”
Wow, a politician stated the obvious. That type of candor would be refreshing in a new Speaker!
Wow, a politician stated the obvious. That type of candor would be refreshing in a new Speaker!
13
The Republican "Deep Bench" of leadership apparently is not limited to their presidential aspirations. Their bench is so deep it seems they need a submarine to find one.
16
I doubt McCarthy's withdrawal created chaos. It was already chaos.
12
A question:
How do the recalcitrant, reactionary 40 Republicans differ from the 15 or so Republican presidential candidates?
How do the recalcitrant, reactionary 40 Republicans differ from the 15 or so Republican presidential candidates?
17
One group is reactionary to the constituents with the most money to "contribute" and the other group is a bunch of....idealistic, reactionary to the constituents with the most money to "contribute". Do I win a flat tax now?
3
Ever notice how tightly disciplined the Republican spin machine is? My guess is that after he blurted out the truth about the Benghazi investigation, Representative McCarthy was ordered to withdraw from the Speaker's race by whoever owns the iron fist that runs the spin machine. If he wanted to have a future in the Party at all, that is. (Well, worse, but this is a family newspaper.)
10
What is notable is the number of plausible candidates, like Ryan, who don't want any part of the job. These guys are ambitious, right? Why are they being so self-effacing? Because, deep down, they know that the job is impossible. Anyone who becomes Speaker and doesn't do something nuts like embrace national default to score points on Planned Parenthood is going to be branded as part of the hated "Establishment". The mass constituency of conspiracy theorists fueled by talk radio won't have it any other way. These people have chained their political ambitions onto that juggernaut and it's leading us to national disaster. If you want to know the deepest source of "dysfunction" in Washington, look no further. The revolution, they say, devours its own children. I guess that's true even when there's no articulable policy agenda. Robespierre could step up even now. But how long before he feels the rush of wind at the back of his neck?
18
While he's got his wife Judy with him, he can drop out of the House all together to spend more time with his family after he's been 'hiking the Appalachian Trail' and once he's bored his family enough, he can ask forgiveness and run for office all over again. The Republican cycle of sin and redemption.
14
The scary thing is these guys are actually thinking they can govern - and they cannot even govern themselves. How the heck did this circus get elected?
27
The House Republicans are actually showing a little sanity for once. Who would want a job herding rabid, distemper stricken alley cats?
11
The GOP House members now look like bunch of clowns. These kids can not govern. If Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Marco, Fiorina or Donald Trump get in White House, the country will be in disarray.
20
they do not look like it - they are.
4
House Republicans may have considered the ethics complaint filed by Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida against McCarthy alleging he violated federal law and House rules by using official funds appropriated to the Benghazi Committee to pay political or campaign-related expenses.
18
Since the early GW Bush years the Tea Party (aka the Me Party) has been pushing for change; however they do not have, or have ever had, a plan with specifics - relying on platitudes (build a fence, the Bible says, big business over big government,corporations are people, boots-on-the-ground, Obamacare is unconstitutional etc. etc.) Over the long haul, no plan becomes chaos (think Greece).
11
A weak man said what he meant, and upset justice.
Weaker men have taken this to mean that the just is unjust.
Kevin McCarthy is not Sam Rayburn.
Today he is nothing.
But the cause of the named committee is not diminished.
That McCarthy is out to lunch is not in question.
That the work of the committee is vital is not in question.
Weaker men have taken this to mean that the just is unjust.
Kevin McCarthy is not Sam Rayburn.
Today he is nothing.
But the cause of the named committee is not diminished.
That McCarthy is out to lunch is not in question.
That the work of the committee is vital is not in question.
1
Sam Rayburn once said "It is now my sole purpose here to help enact such wise and just laws that our common country will by virtue of these laws be a happier and a more prosperous country. I have always dreamed of a country which I believe this should be and will be, and that is one in which the citizenship is an educated and patriotic people, not swayed by passion and prejudice, and a country that shall know no East, no West, no North, no South, but inhabited by a people liberty loving, patriotic, happy, and prosperous, with its lawmakers having no other purpose than to write such just laws. .. '
The GOP is a mess, however the Congress needs to work and get some real stuff done besides defunding Planned Parenthood. While I love seeing the crazy seep out of the conservatives I don't want the government to come to a screeching halt.
12
Defunding Planned Parenthood is the only thing they can agree on- debasing women.
1
Republicans had already destroyed any chance of winning the Presidency.
Today just added to their woes. Not unexpected at all!
Today just added to their woes. Not unexpected at all!
17
The radical right in the house is eerily reminiscent of the "Reign of Terror" after the French Revolution, killing off members for insufficient ideological purity.
25
I think Robespierre has all ready been nominated.
I'm just amazed that the long-time coalition between the wealth elite's politician cronies and the racist/"religious" whackos held together as long as it did.
20
These people are idiots. They are too stupid to tie their own shoes. We have to stop kidding around, trying to be all objective and stuff. They hate the government and they freeload off it like the parasites they are. They do not deserve to be in office. They have gerrymandered themselves into invulnerability and they will be the death of this nation unless all those "Republican" voters who care about this country stop voting for them like Pavlov's dog, salivating whenever they ring the Obamacare Bengazi bell. And go ahead, NY Times, and don't publish this, but you know perfectly well it is the truth.
47
Yep. The Congressmen have no clothes. And when I say "clothes" I mean: common-sense, character, or competence.
Voters across the country: we can't go one like this. Please, we need to bridge our differences enough to remember what goals we share, and elect politicians who are grown ups.
Hey New York Times, why not run a series of articles on the things that 80% of Americans agree on?
Voters across the country: we can't go one like this. Please, we need to bridge our differences enough to remember what goals we share, and elect politicians who are grown ups.
Hey New York Times, why not run a series of articles on the things that 80% of Americans agree on?
Bravo. Well said.
"The Constitution does not require that the Speaker be an elected House Representative, though all Speakers have been an elected Member of Congress."
Since the Constitution does not require that the Speaker be a member of the House, how about Bill Clinton. Now that would be more fun than a barrel of monkeys!
Since the Constitution does not require that the Speaker be a member of the House, how about Bill Clinton. Now that would be more fun than a barrel of monkeys!
23
The Republicans, early on should have taken the 'Tea Party' Juniors to the Woodshed, and reminded them that they were in Congress to Govern, not to obstruct. However they didn't have the courage of true Americans, but weaseled and hoped to cover their political akoles by kicking the can down the road. This is the consequence of that mentality. There is good in Republican ideals, and there is good in Democratic ideals. These misguided children need to grow up and earn credibility by way of learning that governing is a compromise, not winner take all poker game where we the people are the losers. Governing requires diplomacy, not forced feeding.
24
In referring to John Boehner's stepping down as Speaker, one of my wise sons-in-law noted "They [the Republicans] eat their dead". How true, and how sad! The current GOP shambles ensures that many of us will never again vote for a Republican.
16
The only thing in disarray today is K Street.
4
Another clear example of anthropocentric climate change... Humans have changed the climate in the congress and we all suffer the consequences. Maybe the temperature has risen a few degrees in the "house" and some auxiliary cooling might be beneficial.
4
One thing largely being left out of this political post-mortem is the corrosive role played by Fox News, which is the de facto Politburo of the Republican Party. The supposed "political correctness" of liberals is nothing compared to the punitive fury of the Murdoch-led Right.
Go back and look at Kevin McCarthy's disastrous interview with Sean Hannity. The news anchor mercilessly bullys McCarthy, clearly expecting him to kow-tow and toe the Fox News line -- and McCarthy obliges, clearly fearful and eager to please. His comments regarding the Bengazi Committee were an attempt to look good to the Fox viewers, a supplication before a powerful, vindictive outside authority.
By grooming a generation of harsh, judgmental, combative true believers, Fox News has gutted the Republican Party, and takes gleeful pride in shaking the foundations of the republic itself. McCarthy's mistake was in trying to join their parade, in choosing negligence over governance. Let us hope his successors show more spine.
Go back and look at Kevin McCarthy's disastrous interview with Sean Hannity. The news anchor mercilessly bullys McCarthy, clearly expecting him to kow-tow and toe the Fox News line -- and McCarthy obliges, clearly fearful and eager to please. His comments regarding the Bengazi Committee were an attempt to look good to the Fox viewers, a supplication before a powerful, vindictive outside authority.
By grooming a generation of harsh, judgmental, combative true believers, Fox News has gutted the Republican Party, and takes gleeful pride in shaking the foundations of the republic itself. McCarthy's mistake was in trying to join their parade, in choosing negligence over governance. Let us hope his successors show more spine.
53
He is just the latest in a very long line of Fox "News" sycophants.
Boy, your last paragraph hit the nail squarely on the head. Here are the issues:
The wars on Christmas, Christians, and the second amendment, religion in the "public square" as long as it's the right religion. Fight against: sharia law, the UN, and BLM. Who cares what happens in Congess as long as these things are given maximum airtime.
The wars on Christmas, Christians, and the second amendment, religion in the "public square" as long as it's the right religion. Fight against: sharia law, the UN, and BLM. Who cares what happens in Congess as long as these things are given maximum airtime.
One has to wonder what motivates the voters who elected these people to begin with. How do they benefit from an institution that is unable to monitor itself?
25
They're "values voters." They don't seem to care about the purpose or government or the greater good. They'll vote for whoever convinces them God loves him the most.
Wow! Not even the Republicans want to Run the GOP.
25
Confusion to the enemy!
5
After seeing Mr. Chaffetz being ripped apart by Cecile Richards it is my hope that he is appointed to the Speakers job. Why is it that so many people are running away from this once coveted job?
10
Good. This guy advocated amnesty for the illegals, anyway. One less traitor in the lot.
You just do not get it, do you...
Ideological purity is ruining your party, and harming the country.
How many millions of times that does that fact have to be stated before it sinks in?
Ideological purity is ruining your party, and harming the country.
How many millions of times that does that fact have to be stated before it sinks in?
1
Minority rule continues.
11
Can't say I blame him. Who'd want to kowtow to the insanity from the extreme right?
16
No wonder Mr. Boehner quit. With followers like these, all the fun of leadership evaporates.
5
Mr. McCarthy again inadvertently revealed a truth about House Republicans in his statement today when he said, "We should put this conference first."
How about putting your country first?
How about putting your country first?
33
All I can think of is the Republican Party looking up in the sky like dinosaurs and seeing the comet hurtling to earth as they know it.
12
Like the scene in Disney's FANTASIA, where the dinosaurs are plodding along and collapsing, one by one.
...which many of them would welcome, thinking the end times are here and they may commence their pilgrimage to heaven.
There is nothing for the Republicans to worry about. This same leaderless chaos got them both the House and Senate in 2014. Apparently running around like chickens with their heads chopped off is not a big deal for the American public.
6
Sad, but true.
It has become more than apparent that the Tea Party needs to be voted out of Congress. Their obstruction over the past six years has morphed into corruption.
12
Maybe the people who vote Republican- and also rely on a Social Security check and Medicare or Medicaid- need to live under a full tilt Tea Party-Congress for 14 months. Electing a pack of ignoramus outsiders bent on destroying Washington to save should have consequences.
21
what about the rest of us?
I saw this coming way back when the Tea Party first formed. The traditional Republicans and the Tea Party really should be 2 separate parties, as they do not have enough in common to be a single party. The only reason they are trying to do is is because if they split, they surrender to the Democrats as there are not enough votes in either the traditional Republican or Tea Party caucus to accomplish anything.
20
Do politicians really believe that voters are so clueless? Are we shocked that Republicans tried to sabotage Hillary Clinton over email nonsense?
No, we are not. The Republican party seems so desperate, the party is in danger of extinction unless it drastically joins the 21st Century.
No, we are not. The Republican party seems so desperate, the party is in danger of extinction unless it drastically joins the 21st Century.
15
Yet yet more proof that the Republican Party is unfit to govern.
10
It is time for the Democrats to get off their pathetic buttocks and unite behind a moderate Republican Speaker.
3
What moderate Republicans?
2
Not yet, actually. Nancy Pelosi is quite canny. She knows that we Democrats (who will ultimately triumph) should stay on our pathetic buttocks a bit longer and allow the crazies to self-destruct.
1
The Speaker is third in line to be president. Oh my!
9
There is only one unifying ideal and goal among the House GOP asnd that is their hatred for the President and their desire to block anything he does. Freedom Caucus is an offshoot of the crazies who get scored the highest by Heritage Action for opposing the president. Concern for the welfare of the avrage American and creating jobs is not even on their list. Disruption of the House and Congress is their goal.
15
Reality check problem with government is we have people in office who placed there by forces who have too much money little no common sense. I suggest getting back to our basics an apply our constitution an the bill rights. Its worked up to know so lets not reinvent the wheel over an over .Funny thing about us humans we can find good an bad an ugly in all of us think god made us this way so we have something in common
1
I welcome the disarray. I'm weary of milquetoast Republicans who can't take a conservative stand on anything. May the "hardliners" as you call them exert their power and shake this fossilized institution up.
2
Many people welcome disarray. I wonder if they have studied any history. Disarray can be most unpleasant. One might discover their own personal lives and those of their families was better when there was a reasonably functional government. One might similarly discover that it was easier to destroy institutions than to reconstitute them to one's liking.
2
Is your definition of a "milquetoast" Republican one who doesn't believe the United States should default on its debt?
1
This could be Boehner playing some masterful chess. Knowing that the right was coming after him, he resigns, effective when the House elects a new speaker. Turns out they can't, so Boehner stays, with some authority he did not have before.
12
Once more the Republicans prove that they are lacking in the ability to even manage a County Animal Shelter.
They have no interest in governing the country except as it will pump money uphill to their major campaign donors,
They have no interest in governing the country except as it will pump money uphill to their major campaign donors,
17
WC Fields had insight. This is a prize thinking people won't seek. Though I don't support Paul Ryan's policies, at least he is deliberative.
2
Look at that map. There are far fewer red dots than other dots. This is like fire ants - most ants are awesome and then fire ants come along and p*ss everybody off. Just remember the good ants have the power if they rise up and grab it.
10
Just as well for the Republicans. McCarthy had been mercilessly lampooned for mentioning his visit to "Hungria" among other things. The late night comedians already had him in their crosshairs- and it wasn't going to get better. He just wasn't up to the job and I think he knew it.
Will 40 hardliners take the country down; default on debts, crash the markets, just to make some political points? Will John Boehner save us all before he goes off to play golf? The Republican party has some real drama on its hands. Can they prove they can really govern? Tune in next week.
Will 40 hardliners take the country down; default on debts, crash the markets, just to make some political points? Will John Boehner save us all before he goes off to play golf? The Republican party has some real drama on its hands. Can they prove they can really govern? Tune in next week.
11
And the show goes on right (and I hate using that particular word) through the election in 2016. Eat yourselves and spit it out. I love this!
4
Odd calculus that assumes the 40 most extreme are the key to electing a speaker. A speaker candidate that has any bipartisan appeal at all would be a more sensible approach for Republican House members. Not to mention for the rest of us.
13
The time has come for the Republicans to expel the extreme minority. It has no future tying itself to a fringe movement. Let the Tea Party stand on itself -- until it collapses in its own rabid filth.
14
The question is, in the most cynical political terms, can the Dems capitalize on this "chaos?" They'e not exactly united themselves.
Ridiculous. We are having a normal primary, and will all rally round the nominee when that person has been duly selected.
6
I am not surprised by the chaos that ensued. Extremist members of the Tea Party preaching conservatism will continue to sabotage anyone they perceive to have any moderate leaning. It is quite funny to see Mr. McCarthy's verbal competence and his conservatism being questioned by members of his party. The mental competence of the saboteurs who continue to derail the political process and not govern should be in question.
10
What we need to realize is that Congress is being led by a coalition government rather than a single majority party. The Republicans forged a marriage of convenience with the Tea Party and others to achieve a majority, but they are no more united than the Conservative-Liberal Democrat ruling coalition was in the UK. Coalition governments are unstable and highly ineffectual. This is a real issue for our country since our legislative processes are designed around a two party system. Regardless of political affiliation, no one should be happy about the current situation.
12
I know the Uk is currently being governed by a a coalition government by the Conservatives and Labor party. I doubt that they are ineffective as the current congress of the USA.
2
John Boehner handed over virtual veto power over legislation by trying to accommodate the radicals in his midst with the "Hastert Rule". (Which became the Hastert/Boehner rule) This was a too clever effort to give his party veto power over anything the president wanted by saying that legislation had to be supported by a majority of Republicans to come up for a House vote. The effect of this spineless act was to give the small minority of 30 to 40 far right House members. and a few others with them, veto power over the American govt. The imposition of this "rule" is the main reason there can't be any consensus decisions in Congress: they don't want consensus, they want an angry, fractured process which, they hope, will turn to their advantage in 2016.
Having deposed Boehner, the radical elements want a lot more. They want to tie the next Speaker's hands, making him captain of a ship without a compass, a sextant or a GPS. They don't want leadership, they embrace chaos in the name of radical changes now or, by causing so many problems, radical changes later when the public finally realizes how wonderful they are (or something).
The solution is to elect a new Speaker with Democrat's support, someone who will ditch the Boehner/Hastert rule, working with the elected president in the time he has in office and tell the Freedom Caucus to go fly a kite.
Having deposed Boehner, the radical elements want a lot more. They want to tie the next Speaker's hands, making him captain of a ship without a compass, a sextant or a GPS. They don't want leadership, they embrace chaos in the name of radical changes now or, by causing so many problems, radical changes later when the public finally realizes how wonderful they are (or something).
The solution is to elect a new Speaker with Democrat's support, someone who will ditch the Boehner/Hastert rule, working with the elected president in the time he has in office and tell the Freedom Caucus to go fly a kite.
38
Rather than having a proxy, sacrificial lamb like Boehner why not these wacko birds elect one of their guy, if they in majority in GOP, so that they can freely follow their agenda. That way voters would know who these people are. That way they would be directly responsible for their actions. If their actions are good , they will reap the benefits and if bad than they would bear the burnt of it. Seems the GOP is divided badly between sets of people who do not see each other with lots of issues. Than you another type of people like Trump who do not have any experience in running government but who openly disparage veterans like John McCain. Not sure what path party of Lincoln is going.
5
Because the damage they inflict will be too great a cost for this nation and its people.
2
Pardon my ignorance, but does the speaker have to be a Republican? Not that any other alternative is likely.
7
Anyone who can get a majority of votes can be Speaker. A Democrat could be elected Speaker if he or she could persuade some Republicans to vote for him or her. That's very unlikely, which is why it isn't mentioned much. McCarthy could be elected Speaker if he could persuade some Democrats to vote for him. But that would effectively be political suicide. But it's possible.
The speaker doesn't have to be elected to Congress or a member of Congress.
1
Smart people with resources are looking at other nations to move to.
22
Someone, someone sane and reasonable needs to ride into Dodge and clear out the outlaws! Except there aren't any clear thinking folks left in the GOP. Maybe a long walk in the political wilderness will unscramble their heads 'cause that's where they're going to be for some time.
15
It's an impossible job. By its nature the job requires compromise, but the Tea Party Caucus just wants to grind everything to a halt. Then what?
9
One of the best signs of the state of the Republican party is McCarthy's statements last week regarding the Benghazi Committee and Hillary Clinton. The reason that whole statement slipped from his mouth, is within their conference, this is standard operating procedure. For them, there is nothing wrong with a congressional select committee merely for political purposes. They have become so nefarious that they no longer have a clear sense of right and wrong. The reason he spouted about this was not so much a slip, because this is how they talk freely among themselves. It was more forgetting to lie to the public.
16
I certainly don't blame him for having some sort of speech impediment, even though the position title is Speaker of the House. What he can't be forgiven for is the Republican mortal sin of telling the truth. What was he thinking?
8
Since the entire Republican view of life seems to be that there is nothing that can't be fixed by having a large male member in a permanent state of arousal, the contest for speaker should be decided by putting them all in a large cage and letting them smash each other's teeth out with their bare fists.
10
You have to wonder if McCarthy is looking past the Speaker's job to loftier aspirations. The Speaker's job is the final job for most people and McCarthy may not see that as the right end to his career. Given how ambitious these types of people are, I would not be surprised to see him run for Governor or Senate in the U.S. He is also smart to step aside and let someone else deal directly with the 40 hard line conservatives who are not open to negotiation with even their own party leadership.
4
LOL! @ McCarthy being elected Governor or Senator of California.
I hope conservatives are having a good time, but what about the rest of us. There are more Americans who don't believe in the conservative doctrine. It's about time Republicans got it. Every time they play their chaotic games, they actually costs Americans millions. Thank you Kansas.
17
McCarthy, in reference to the House Majority the GOP enjoys, said in speaking today, “The one thing I’ve always said to earn this majority, is that we are servants, we should put this conference first.”
Lindsey Graham, after recently being verbally eviscerated by Donald Trump, came back at him in an interview on CNN. He went at Trump on matters of competence, experience and potential damage to the country. He was then asked who he would vote for if Trump won the primary.
He did not hesitate in saying, 'Donald Trump." When asked why, he stated, "Because I have signed a loyalty oath to my party."
Both of the above are clear instances of party over country. Something those in the GOP are getting more and more comfortable stating publicly, even if they do not realize when they are saying it.
What we must take away, is that this is clearly the dynamic within their caucus, and is accepted by them. We should have no doubt they talk feely among themselves in this fashion, and embrace the idea as natural.
Lindsey Graham, after recently being verbally eviscerated by Donald Trump, came back at him in an interview on CNN. He went at Trump on matters of competence, experience and potential damage to the country. He was then asked who he would vote for if Trump won the primary.
He did not hesitate in saying, 'Donald Trump." When asked why, he stated, "Because I have signed a loyalty oath to my party."
Both of the above are clear instances of party over country. Something those in the GOP are getting more and more comfortable stating publicly, even if they do not realize when they are saying it.
What we must take away, is that this is clearly the dynamic within their caucus, and is accepted by them. We should have no doubt they talk feely among themselves in this fashion, and embrace the idea as natural.
21
Earnest's comment was certainly a poor choice of words. We most certainly do not want Congess to "do the same thing again." Our bond rating was downgraded and we wasted millions of dollars on goverment shut down because Republicans really could care less anything other than their own private projects. Let's hope they care about losing elections.
10
This would be funny if all of our retirement funds, home values, local and state economies, school systems and civil services (among other things) did not depend on these buffoons not setting the house on fire.
45
All true, which makes me wonder: "Why is the Federal government so deeply involved in all of these things?" And then I start to understand what the Tea Party is trying, very painfully and clumsily, to do.
The federal government is involved because all those good things rely on stability which good governance provides
4
McCarthy just left the GOP with an either/or choice that they've put off for the past five years. They can continue to appease 40 right-wing representatives from gerrymandered districts who represent at best about 3% of the US population or they can stop the appeasement, nominate a moderate, respected representative who can win with the votes of a majority of Republicans AND a majority of Democrats.
Boehner apparently never accepted the fact that he was elected to serve as Speaker of the House -- a bipartisan chamber -- not as Republican Majority Whip. His legacy is political chaos, a Republican Party that is steadily shrining in size, and, with regard to meaningful legislation passed, an utterly blank page.
Boehner apparently never accepted the fact that he was elected to serve as Speaker of the House -- a bipartisan chamber -- not as Republican Majority Whip. His legacy is political chaos, a Republican Party that is steadily shrining in size, and, with regard to meaningful legislation passed, an utterly blank page.
238
Absolutely true. The 20% "Freedom Caucus" has somehow bewitched the other 80% of House Republicans that they must obey.
when history looks back on this epoch of American history, they surely will be branded fools. While the Democrats are hardly saints. They at least were able to put one foot in front of the other when they had a majority.
(most of the time)
(most of the time)
I guess Kevin McCarthy came to realize that the same die hard, shredding machines that have made it entirely impossible for anything whatsoever to be done in congress would find him, someone who in his own words would "unarticulate", to be as "untrustable" as he deemed Hillary Clinton to be. Then there is the fact that he actually had a job that allowed him to see what the job of Speaker actually entails, a big no no for those who think being completely inexperienced is a plus.
That he inadvertently told the truth about the 10th Benghazi hearings was very interesting, because apart from stating the obvious, he also pointed to the one thing that GOP house members can actually say they have done repeatedly, besides repetitive votes to nowhere and that is spending taxpayer dollars on endless witch hunts that get no results!
That he inadvertently told the truth about the 10th Benghazi hearings was very interesting, because apart from stating the obvious, he also pointed to the one thing that GOP house members can actually say they have done repeatedly, besides repetitive votes to nowhere and that is spending taxpayer dollars on endless witch hunts that get no results!
12
The office is Speaker of The House, not Speaker of The Party. The Party is all they care about.
24
The answer is simple and obvious. Elect a speaker who promises to abandon the Hastert rule. Then both the arch-conservative Republican members and Democrats will be able to get their bills on the floor. We'll see whose legislation is ultimately more successful.
22
Abandoning the Hastert Rule would be political suicide. Anyone who does it risks being "primaried" by the Tea Party.
It seems the case that Republicans in the House are not eager to legislate; it seems their goal is to destroy a functioning system that has worked since 1865.
Jason Chaffetz of Utah said it is their "goal to unite this party and take the fight to the president, the senate and to the American people."
One has to ask, does he really want to take a fight to the American people.
Does he not realize he works for the American people?
Jason Chaffetz of Utah said it is their "goal to unite this party and take the fight to the president, the senate and to the American people."
One has to ask, does he really want to take a fight to the American people.
Does he not realize he works for the American people?
37
In the wake of Rep. McCarthy's departure from the House speaker's race, I've heard this question asked more than once: "Can the Republicans govern?" The question misses the point -- Republicans don't WANT to govern, given that actual governance is both reality-based and requires compromise. Rather, the crazed zealots who now control the Republican Party are obsessed with simply imposing their views on all aspects of American life, no questions asked. The GOPs inability to free itself from the lunacy that is its right wing is quickly pushing the party into a state of complete irrelevance -- not that I mind.
27
The question the right-wing extremists in the House should be required to answer: What makes you think you have any more knowledge, or better ideas, or any more right to enforce their views than any other group in the House?
Mr. McCarthy's removal of himself as a candidate seems unfortunate, as it appears he is surrendering to the far right of the House. It would be supremely ironic, however far-fetched, to see enough Republicans support Ms. Pelosi to re-elect her as Speaker. As distasteful as that might be to many Republicans, even they would have to concede it would be preferable to seeing the extremists on the right see the US default on debt, fail to fund roads, schools, the military, etc.
Mr. McCarthy's removal of himself as a candidate seems unfortunate, as it appears he is surrendering to the far right of the House. It would be supremely ironic, however far-fetched, to see enough Republicans support Ms. Pelosi to re-elect her as Speaker. As distasteful as that might be to many Republicans, even they would have to concede it would be preferable to seeing the extremists on the right see the US default on debt, fail to fund roads, schools, the military, etc.
13
Hilarious, pull up the easy chair, get some popcorn, and watch the GOP comedy show.
20
If it were *just* the Benghazi misstep, I'd laugh because he bared the truth the GOP was trying to cover up. But since we've all witnessed his utter inability to put two words together coherently, I am just sighing with relief that this man will not be in the running for a position that puts him two heartbeats away from the Presidency.
Of course this just means the tantrum-pulling minority with no common sense who were elected by the (foreign-born propagandist) Murdoch-created Tea Party think they can get someone with their own lack of experience and brains.
Of course this just means the tantrum-pulling minority with no common sense who were elected by the (foreign-born propagandist) Murdoch-created Tea Party think they can get someone with their own lack of experience and brains.
16
Most people knew it was a witch hunt when the Benghazi hearings were initiated. Why does someone coming out and saying it suddenly make it real? It's about time to end this facade of governing and trying to work for the benefit of the people of the US, when the Republican reality is party before country and "my way or the highway".
23
Might this mean that a potential new Speaker, in order to get the requisite number of votes, could chose to court Democrats rather than far right Republicans? Could Democrats actually end up having significant influence over who becomes the next Speaker?
12
The Republican party has a clear way out of its hard right crisis inspired by the Nihilistic Caucus of newer members who came into office in 2010 and 2012: throw them off the bus. It is fairly easy, but it would take, you know, things like a modest amount of courage and, ah, leadership. These elements were sorely lacking in the John Boehner era, which, in turn, brought about his demise as Speaker.
First, it only takes a majority of THE WHOLE HOUSE to elect a Speaker. Those who want government to function and those who want some degree of moderation could join with similarly minded Democrats and settle on a consensus figure to be Speaker. Elect that person. Then, tell the Freedom Caucus to come back when they grow up, to come back when they have enough members to constitute real power.
There is no other good choice. The way the Republicans are headed, this time there would be no doubt which party caused the govt. to shutdown or caused the failure of America to pay her debts. The buck stops right here, on the doorstep of those who want, above all else, to appear to be fighting for what they say they believe, even if it results in failure.
America can have consensus govt. and the right wing elements can get some minor victories pending their dream day when they control both Congress and White House. All Republicans would be more successful working collectively than fighting among themselves. If they persist in this course, they can kiss the presidential election goodbye.
First, it only takes a majority of THE WHOLE HOUSE to elect a Speaker. Those who want government to function and those who want some degree of moderation could join with similarly minded Democrats and settle on a consensus figure to be Speaker. Elect that person. Then, tell the Freedom Caucus to come back when they grow up, to come back when they have enough members to constitute real power.
There is no other good choice. The way the Republicans are headed, this time there would be no doubt which party caused the govt. to shutdown or caused the failure of America to pay her debts. The buck stops right here, on the doorstep of those who want, above all else, to appear to be fighting for what they say they believe, even if it results in failure.
America can have consensus govt. and the right wing elements can get some minor victories pending their dream day when they control both Congress and White House. All Republicans would be more successful working collectively than fighting among themselves. If they persist in this course, they can kiss the presidential election goodbye.
14
Firs, congress is important and what they do is important. I'm not saying it is not, so, don't hate me for this - but this presidential election, the Summer of Trump, Clinton's email scandal and now this speaker's election - this is more fun than I've ever had watching politics.
As to the topic itself - it is not that surprising. There are three major parties. They just don't know it.
As to the topic itself - it is not that surprising. There are three major parties. They just don't know it.
6
It would be even more fun if Sarah Palin entered the race.
If the forty ultra conservative members of the House truly believed in democracy, then they would support a candidate of the majority moderate Republican members. Otherwise, they are just a coup with no respect for the House as an institution of Government.
This may actually confirm my belief that the Republicans are trying to destroy the American Government from within.
This may actually confirm my belief that the Republicans are trying to destroy the American Government from within.
23
I do believe that is what the tea party is trying to do - destroy from within. They believe government is the enemy.
18
This is reminiscent of the Republicans trying to take down President Clinton. They lost Gingrich and a few other Republicans during the impeachment vote. Mess with a Clinton at your own peril.
6
Nature or God created us all with minds of our own, therefore each of us will rarely be in total accord with another. And that means there's is no such thing as democracy without compromise. I don't know if the Tea Party is capable of learning that.
8
Time for the foundation of a third party, a Center-Right party. Polls in this country show that Americans are for the most part Center-Right in their basic beliefs and values, yet often with powerful sweeps to the left for a given issue.
The twisted version of itself that the GOP has evolved into is seeing to its own implosion.
The twisted version of itself that the GOP has evolved into is seeing to its own implosion.
3
It depends what you mean by 'center' and what you mean by 'right'.
McCarthy said, “I’m not the one to unify the party.” -- Certainly not. A leader would make a deal with the Democrats to ensure his election as Speaker and show the impolitic radicals who is actually in charge. Think of LBJ and all the twisted (broken?) arms!
13
There is an excellent book about Republicans on the market called the Wrecking Crew. These radicals are political vandals and they have taken dead aim on our constitutional democracy. It is party over country every time. Their rule or ruin approach is designed to allow a small minority to control the fate of the vast majority.
These people cannot govern nor are they fit to do so. This was tried in Europe in the 1920' and 30's and in the 40's left Europe in wreckage. I know what these people are and political correctness stops people from calling these militant radicals what they truly are. They should be wearing brown shirts and armbands to the House.
These people cannot govern nor are they fit to do so. This was tried in Europe in the 1920' and 30's and in the 40's left Europe in wreckage. I know what these people are and political correctness stops people from calling these militant radicals what they truly are. They should be wearing brown shirts and armbands to the House.
39
There's an excellent book about HRC called "Unlikeable". Why do you think Democrats are begging a mourning Joe Biden at 72 to enter the race?
It is truly time for some sort of sensible, bi-partisan House coalition. There have to be enough congressman to make some sort of "Clean Bill Coalition" that defines itself not by a partisan mandate, but by a set of governing principles. The Speaker would become the position most responsible for the smooth functioning of the House, regardless of politics. Bills from both sides would be allowed to hit the floor clean, through a non partisan process overseen by the Speaker. If a small group of ideologues want to push an agenda, let them get the votes and win the argument by convincing the majority of their case. This is ridiculous. I would expect this sort of behavior from fourth graders.
14
I think the bankruptcy of the Republican Party is being abundantly revealed for all to see, both in it's inability to govern itself, and it's unsuitability to govern the nation.
This is a faction of American politics that defines itself by what it's AGAINST. The only thing it's FOR is greed--how else can one interpret the quest to benefit from American life while refusing to pay for it?
Their persistent attempts--both on the corporate and individual levels--to shift the tax burden onto the least fortunate, to fight all attempts to pay working people a living wage--this is nothing but an attempt to exploit the system, and the Country is suffering as a result.
It appears that the Republican Party is on the verge of destroying itself, and I say, "Good riddance!"
This is a faction of American politics that defines itself by what it's AGAINST. The only thing it's FOR is greed--how else can one interpret the quest to benefit from American life while refusing to pay for it?
Their persistent attempts--both on the corporate and individual levels--to shift the tax burden onto the least fortunate, to fight all attempts to pay working people a living wage--this is nothing but an attempt to exploit the system, and the Country is suffering as a result.
It appears that the Republican Party is on the verge of destroying itself, and I say, "Good riddance!"
28
Diversity among equals is ALWAYS messy compared to robots ordered about like they were Ms. Pelosi's flying monkeys. An honest group decision by the GOP Caucus will produce better results for the voters and taxpayers.
As Chafetz and Huelscamp said, the Republicans must have a family discussion, which means acknowledging that about 20% are behaving like undisciplined recalcitrant children.
It's long past time for the adults to put these childish members in a corner and finally govern.
It's long past time for the adults to put these childish members in a corner and finally govern.
15
True - they desperately need a family intervention. The people in charge are like binging alcoholics.
3
Your political opponents are especially jealous that YOU have Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, and the guy who worried that Guam was going to tip over.
Kay J, I would take alcoholics over greedy political hacks who benefit from insider trading because it is legal for Congress members like Nancy Pelosi, our richest elected person in Washinton, D.C. right now.
I have said repeatedly that the Republicans have no idea (at least they haven't shown it lately), that they know how to run a country. They have continuously fought President Obama at every turn by just saying, "NO." How is that demonstrating to the American people that they have some valuable and innovated ideas? But the American people who voted for these people must take the blame. They have to be judicious and thoughtful in electing people who are truly interested in growing and developing this country.
15
This is the dream fulfilled for the Koch's, Vandersloot, Schnatter, Friess, Singer, Bob Mercer, Woody Johnson, Braman, Langone, Theil, Ricketts, et. adelson.....
They have created a chaotic dysfunctional Federal government. Desiccated regulatory ability due to sequester cuts. Paying the way for reactionary zealots to throw sand in the legislative gears. Merely waiting for their tax cuts to arrive.
Citizens United bearing fruit.
They have created a chaotic dysfunctional Federal government. Desiccated regulatory ability due to sequester cuts. Paying the way for reactionary zealots to throw sand in the legislative gears. Merely waiting for their tax cuts to arrive.
Citizens United bearing fruit.
53
The chaos the hard liner R's have created can be summed up in a question, "if these guys can't get along with themselves, how can they be expected to govern?"
6
Since Boehner will remain as Speaker for the foreseeable future, perhaps he has figured out how to finally, for the benefit of all of us, to marginalize the Tea Party reps in Congress. The Tea Party is a small minority of the House of Reps, so how do they run things, acting as if they are a majority. Something really wrong with such a "democratic process."
6
It's because the GOP cannot get the majority vote with those 40 members who will not go along.
1
Maybe they will re-election John Boehner. The House seems to resemble a boil rather than anything in the governance arena.
3
To anyone who has ever wondered how the Romans could have been driven to the point of preferring an Emperor to a Senate....
21
It's far too early to celebrate the death of the ultra-right. Yes, the leadership has collapsed. But with the ultra-right minority unified, and the majority fragmented, the ultra-right has a golden opportunity to seize power. That's how Hitler did it.
Political power abhors a vacuum; if the ultra-right is the only faction in the House which is ready, willing, and able to seize power, they will do so.
Political power abhors a vacuum; if the ultra-right is the only faction in the House which is ready, willing, and able to seize power, they will do so.
21
Typical far right pattern: complain about current leadership and current policies, then when they finally having the chance to do something about it---they have nothing!
17
The Republican majority in the house now stands exposed for what it is. A fraud. The 40 to 50 members of the far-right wing members of the house are no more Republicans than Ms. Clinton is. Because their political wants are so out of line with what most voters want, their bills and amendments have no broad support and never become law (which is the reason, ironically, they are re-elected). If these folks actually attain enough power to pass legislation, the Republican Party will accelerate its transition to a minority party.
13
It's not just that Congressman McCarthy told the truth about the Benghazi hearings but that he said that in response to a question about what he and the GOP have actually done for America. Sad when partisanship is treated as an accomplishment.
17
Republicans and see whether there is a moderate Democrat they would support in turn for some deals or concessions. If even a quarter of the Republicans would support a Democrat through the rest of this term essential work could get done and the Republicans could address their family matters in private.
5
So know Mr. McCarthey is not even conservative enough for them? What are they looking for? The world according to to ISIS and BOKO Harem?
24
American politics would be farce if the effect on the rest of us wasn't so tragic.
14
Pete King, Republican of New York. “...... We have to end this. We look absolutely crazy.”.....If it looks like a duck and it acts like a duck - its a duck.
24
There is a scenario in all this where more centrist R's abandon the Hastert Rule and govern for the sake of the country and, in actuality, for the Republican party, which, right now, is really stuck.
I only hope it might come to pass.
I only hope it might come to pass.
6
More likely it will be the election of Chaffetz who will then create the Chaffetz rule: if the 40 or 50 most conservative members of the House Republican caucus won't vote for it, then we don't bring it up. (maybe call it "the elite of the majority" rule instead of "the majority of the majority"?)
I think it's high time we acknowledge that refusing to honor existing federal debts is not conservative. You can't just pick a bunch of positions and arbitrarily label them with "conservative" or "liberal" unless you are willing to totally give up on word meanings. If the word conservative has any meaning, it can't be used to describe a position for reneging on promises to pay. One would be far more accurate to call such a position radical and risky.
Maybe this newspaper should start to call a spade a spade.
Maybe this newspaper should start to call a spade a spade.
22
Will Rogers famously said he belonged to no organized party, he was a Democrat. Several decades later, well, you can see where this is going.
2
The 40 obstructionist Representatives who support Webster the the current chaos as a win. If anything, they are not chastened, but emboldened. The same reckless people who think a government shutdown is constructive, will certainly think that a constitutional crisis is constructive. If the politics of the past 10 years is any indication, this Republican leadership crisis will go from bad to worse.
It affects every American, because government cannot function when it's half-paralyzed. Unfortunately, this is precisely the goal of the tiny minority causing the paralysis.
Meanwhile, American children will continue getting slaughtered by gun violence; the American middle class will continue struggling back from economic disaster; demagogic Republican leaders will blame everything on Mexican immigrants and focus on building border walls.
Republicans are fiddling while Rome burns.
It affects every American, because government cannot function when it's half-paralyzed. Unfortunately, this is precisely the goal of the tiny minority causing the paralysis.
Meanwhile, American children will continue getting slaughtered by gun violence; the American middle class will continue struggling back from economic disaster; demagogic Republican leaders will blame everything on Mexican immigrants and focus on building border walls.
Republicans are fiddling while Rome burns.
31
As soon as Kevin McCarthy's wife appeared with him you knew he was going to withdraw. She was a shield against any potential questions concerning the letter of Congressman Walter Jones. This isn't an issue about morality, no one has the right to judge. It's about Republican optics, and the effect of the certainty of forthcoming leaks which will further smudge the already tainted image of the political party that clearly can't govern.
9
I assume the Tea Party members in the House are celebrating the ugly spectacle unleashed last week and now trumped by today's events, but I see only another example of the failure of those we elect to govern with even a modicum of sanity.
"Leaders?" I say more like spoiled teenagers, who unfortunately have a great deal of power. If this was a family, we would say it was time for an intervention. Not sure how or what that might be in this case, and given the debt ceiling crisis about to face us (not to mention a few other unfinished essential business of the House), we don't have time for this idiocy. Can one impeach 50+ members of the House? Have them committed for a mental evaluation?
Seriously, this is more than chaos in DC. It can rapidly become a national economic crisis also. Watch the stock markets tomorrow!
"Leaders?" I say more like spoiled teenagers, who unfortunately have a great deal of power. If this was a family, we would say it was time for an intervention. Not sure how or what that might be in this case, and given the debt ceiling crisis about to face us (not to mention a few other unfinished essential business of the House), we don't have time for this idiocy. Can one impeach 50+ members of the House? Have them committed for a mental evaluation?
Seriously, this is more than chaos in DC. It can rapidly become a national economic crisis also. Watch the stock markets tomorrow!
11
The only ugly spectacle unleashed last week was the total emptiness of Hillary's and ernie's economic intentions to just keep coming up with more freebies with which to buy votes.
A first-grader could write out economic plans for Democrat candidates because nothing ever has to be paid for. You just get stuff and hand it out along with vote-for-me signs.
A first-grader could write out economic plans for Democrat candidates because nothing ever has to be paid for. You just get stuff and hand it out along with vote-for-me signs.
Alice now knows what it was like to have over 100 Congress members and 40 Senators completely frozen out of all chances to amend or question the enormous Obamacare legislation.
How may would Alice have been had the issue and political balance been the opposite, perhaps on an English-only rule in courts?
Of course those left out thought that their moving leadership AWAY from Pelosi and Reid would change everything - and nothing changed except that a lot more bills were voted on in Jan. anf Feb. 2015.
How may would Alice have been had the issue and political balance been the opposite, perhaps on an English-only rule in courts?
Of course those left out thought that their moving leadership AWAY from Pelosi and Reid would change everything - and nothing changed except that a lot more bills were voted on in Jan. anf Feb. 2015.
I blame the conservative media that has come to create the policy and elect the candidates for the Republican party. It's very helpful for them to have such a strong and all pervasive propaganda arm, but it's run by people who care only about ratings, newspaper sales and web clicks. So there is no push back on matters of policy or facts. It's just fantasy, fantasy, fantasy.
9
The South wins again. The GOP "conservatives" can continue to funnel pork to their Red state districts and then, while arguing for "fiscal responsibility", cut funding to essential projects in the Blue states (who are already, incidentally, paying for nearly everything the the Red states already, from roads to schools).
19
Speaker Boehner said it. Representative McCarthy repeated it. Their goal is to serve the party and not the people of the United States. We have a bicameral congress, Senate and House, to serve the people. The House has betrayed that obligation.
15
I wish there was a moderate Republican (does such a thing exist any more) who had to guts to try and form a center coalition government.
10
I do not understand the source of the uncompromising anger that seems to motivate the Tea Party Republicans. They seem haunted by the fear of ever-growing government, yet the share of U.S. GDP taken by all levels of government and the number of government employees per capita are about the same as it was in the 1960's. Both are well below the OECD average. Some claim it is over-regulation that's the problem, yet rarely do they point to specific regulations they wish repealed. And those they do point to hardly seem to justify the extent of the anger.
12
I'm sure McCarthy's change of heart had nothing to do with the rumors of his infidelity with another representative.
16
Yep. All this handwringing for nothing. The Rs won't learn a thing about governance, because this is just garden variety family values hanky panky.
As a person who is rather left-leaning. I would like to see Bernie Sanders get the Democratic nomination. If he doesn't, however, I'll be happy with the Democratic nominee. Compare that to members of the "Freedom" caucus. They'd like to see Daniel Webster become speaker, if he doesn't, they will say that everybody else in the Republican Party, the congress and whole US population is just un-American. Then they will take up arms against the country. Nothing irrational about these guys.
6
Probably would be tough for the GOP to vote in McCarthy after the news of his affair got out... you know with their platform of respecting the sanctity of marriage and family values and such.
13
I dunno, they had no problem reelecting the likes of David Vitter, and the guy who was on tape pressuring his mistress - also a patient of his - to get an abortion....it's more of a "do as I tell you to do, not as I do" situation.
The day has come. The unholy Reagan Alliance of conservative "Christians" and fiscal "conservatives" has finally crashed. As fore-warned they have smashed onto the unyielding rocks of ideological intransigence. I cannot say that I will be weeping tonight. I thought this would happen after their electoral rout in 08 but the rusted supertanker of corrupt politics continued to sail. When Karl Rove melted down live on Fox News to the derision of a shrill Megan Kelly I thought "Now. This is it." But no. Onward the behemoth plowed the rancid waters, fantastically evading the Scylla and Charybdis of their mutual intolerance. But it took John Boehner falling on his own sword while an impassive Frankenstein looked on. The children are singing; "Hallelujah. Suì suì píng ān. All praise to Allah. Namaste". Let a new day begin. Let peace reign on earth.
13
The easiest way to silence the 40 Tea Party traitors is to drop the Hastert rule. Either they will learn to work with the other Republicans to govern the country or the other Republicans will have to work with some Democrats to obtain the majority they need to govern. Eliminating the Hastert rule will completely emasculate the Tea Party dissenters. They have no power to control the agenda without being able to stall any bill by preventing leadership from getting to 218 Republicans to support a bill.
But the real culprit here is the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling that says money is speech and allows the Koch Brothers to threaten rural House members with voting with the Tea Party lest they support a specially chosen opponent who will have tens of millions of dollars to defeat them.
But the real culprit here is the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling that says money is speech and allows the Koch Brothers to threaten rural House members with voting with the Tea Party lest they support a specially chosen opponent who will have tens of millions of dollars to defeat them.
12
As nutty as American voters can be, we are looking at the results of democracy undermined--a government that is not responsive to the majority of the people. Gerrymandering, money in politics, and one party gone mad leave most of us in the back seat of a car with a drunk behind the wheel.
23
Paul Ryan? Speaker of the House?
Since Boehner announced, I have said continuously Boehner has not been comfortable since Eric Cantor has left - and that the trio, Boehner, Cantor, and Paul Ryan and lack thereof has been very tough for Boehner.
Now he is pleading with Paul Ryan to be Speaker. Guess Boehner has not noticed, Paul Ryan has seemed to distance himself from Boehner. We don't know the reason and maybe won't find out. But as a Wisconsinite, this whole GOP debacle and especially with the potential for Paul Ryan to be Speaker is getting more interesting.
Paul Ryan did not have the backing here in Wisconsin he could have when he was VP candidate. And we must remember - Paul Ryan wanted (and still does now, only expanded) to use vouchers for Medicare.
So folks, if you are still saying "No one is taking MY Medicare away" you should probably hope Paul Ryan says "no" to Boehner. Time will tell.
Since Boehner announced, I have said continuously Boehner has not been comfortable since Eric Cantor has left - and that the trio, Boehner, Cantor, and Paul Ryan and lack thereof has been very tough for Boehner.
Now he is pleading with Paul Ryan to be Speaker. Guess Boehner has not noticed, Paul Ryan has seemed to distance himself from Boehner. We don't know the reason and maybe won't find out. But as a Wisconsinite, this whole GOP debacle and especially with the potential for Paul Ryan to be Speaker is getting more interesting.
Paul Ryan did not have the backing here in Wisconsin he could have when he was VP candidate. And we must remember - Paul Ryan wanted (and still does now, only expanded) to use vouchers for Medicare.
So folks, if you are still saying "No one is taking MY Medicare away" you should probably hope Paul Ryan says "no" to Boehner. Time will tell.
6
This isn't leadership, this is chaos. The most prominent Republican in the country right now - the one person representing the views of the party and making their case the loudest - is Donald Trump.
There has to be something we don't know about McCarthy's past that made him call it quits that abruptly. It isn't because he lost support of the Tea Party caucus. You're telling me you can't whip 30 or 40 votes?
There has to be something we don't know about McCarthy's past that made him call it quits that abruptly. It isn't because he lost support of the Tea Party caucus. You're telling me you can't whip 30 or 40 votes?
8
This seems frightening - if the 'freedom' caucus succeeds in closing down the government which seems highly likely, there don't appear to be any adults that would be willing to even discuss a compromise to resolve any issues.
6
Why shouldn't at least some Democrats be open to voting for a moderate Republican? Isn't the conflict between the Tea Party and responsible government more important right now than the conflict between Democrats and Republicans?
4
And the Republican Party wants the American people to hand the rains of government over to them completely in 2016? It appears that the Republican caucus has allowed a small minority of it's members to hold the institution hostage. Maybe they should disband the party and start over. Seriously, as a citizen wanting, and our country needing, serious people to address our many problems, looking at this really doesn't give me any confidence that our "leaders" are going to accomplish anything in the near future. Having people in office whose main object is to "make a point" is not how problems are addressed and solutions found. Unfortunately the Republican extremist members and their supporters don't seem to grasp this.
7
I am not sure how the election of the Speaker works. Can only the members of the majority party vote? If Democrats can also vote in the Speaker election, then shouldn't a moderate Democrat / independent throw their hat in the ring? At that point, the more mainstream Republicans will have a choice of either giving more power to the ultra right wing or actually have a chance of governing.
2
One has to have 218 votes from the entire House membership. And it doesn't have to be someone who is a member of Congress. It could be me or you.
Pelosi will probably receive the Democratic votes, as she should. Democrats need to hold firm and not vote for any Republican. Let them GOP fight it out, as horrible as it might be for us all. But that is what it is going to take.
Pelosi will probably receive the Democratic votes, as she should. Democrats need to hold firm and not vote for any Republican. Let them GOP fight it out, as horrible as it might be for us all. But that is what it is going to take.
1
Do the Republicans realize that he whole world is watching this political soap opera. Leaders in Russia; China; North Korea among others are seeing for themselves how ineffective the United States has become. Putin and the other leaders must be rubbing their hands, basically saying to themselves that we are going to have them over a barrel soon. Then what? As an American citizen i am afraid to wonder.
4
The GOP house representatives have nobody to blame but themselves. But will they recognize that?
What republicans need to do now is akin to some type of 12-Step Program. Where they admit they have royally messed up, take fearless stock of their behavior, mythology, and sleazy governance, make a searching scrutiny of how their behavior has harmed the country and the Congress and set about rectifying all the mayhem they have caused.
Do I have hope they will actually do this? No.
But in the absence of recognizing that our current national impasse is largely due to republican dirty tricks and fomenting of lies and fabrications within their voting public, this country is in a quandary of epic and existential all proportions.
All Empires have fallen. Usually due to internal factors. I hope there are some grown-ups left in the GOP.
I fear for this nation.
What republicans need to do now is akin to some type of 12-Step Program. Where they admit they have royally messed up, take fearless stock of their behavior, mythology, and sleazy governance, make a searching scrutiny of how their behavior has harmed the country and the Congress and set about rectifying all the mayhem they have caused.
Do I have hope they will actually do this? No.
But in the absence of recognizing that our current national impasse is largely due to republican dirty tricks and fomenting of lies and fabrications within their voting public, this country is in a quandary of epic and existential all proportions.
All Empires have fallen. Usually due to internal factors. I hope there are some grown-ups left in the GOP.
I fear for this nation.
15
I wouldn't argue that the primary purpose of the Benghazi investigation is to discredit Hillary Clinton, but let's all admit that, as far the Republican caucus is concerned, it would be nice to damage the front-running Democrat well-before the 2016 elections. It's funny how brutally politicians are punished for speaking a glimmer of truth.
2
Wow. We're discussing a potential shutdown of the government, congressional members who are anarchists, a potential stock market crash, and you're saying that it's just politics and is a-okay.
3
How about a Democraioc 'Sweep' in all the next elections, local and national? That would (might) even wake up some of the most rigid hold outs on how to govern.
I find it not only embarrassing for the Republicans - as the news states - but also for our country. We look like a bunch of 'know nothings' who only know how to say 'NO, you are wrong but, WE are right.'
I find it not only embarrassing for the Republicans - as the news states - but also for our country. We look like a bunch of 'know nothings' who only know how to say 'NO, you are wrong but, WE are right.'
5
Would be nice except for that little thing called "gerrymandering" that guarantees Republicans winning the elections.
4
This all gets back to gerrymandering doesn't it? Packing the country's Democratic majority into a small number of heavily Democratic urban districts, and missdrawing the remaining districts so as to create slender Republican majorities who nominate and then elect Tea Party "whacko-birds" as John McCain so pithily put it. In any demographically fair apportionment Nancy Pelosi would still be Speaker.
16
So now we see the true colors of the party that revels in calling President Obama weak. Their leadership can't even stand up to their own extremists let alone ISIS, Mr. Putin, Mr. Assad, etc. How can the Republicans ask Americans to trust them with the presidency when they can't even manage 40 members of the House from their own party?
22
It is not widely known that the Whip and Speaker need not be a member of the House. Can they find someone else outside of the House membership who could take the job?
Reference:
"Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states, "The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other Officers." Although the Constitution does not require the Speaker to be a Member of the House, all Speakers have been Members."
Reference:
"Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states, "The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other Officers." Although the Constitution does not require the Speaker to be a Member of the House, all Speakers have been Members."
1
The problem with the GOP House is that their members come from narrowly-drawn, gerrymandered districts; they don't have the "will of the people" behind them, only the voices of the carefully-selected rabble that sent them to Washington. The qualities of the GOP "base" are obvious as they trash our nation with their radical and divisive agenda.
17
I hope the SCOTUS members are paying attention, they are the ones who enabled this.
Maybe the best that could come of this is that Mr. Boehner will remain speaker for a long long time. I've never been a great fan, but he is many heads and shoulders above the alternatives.
1
Sadly, I fear the problem is much deeper than forty house republicans.
A great number of GOP voters today believe that if their demands aren't being met within the confines of the structure of our government that the best way to govern is to throw a stick of dynamite into the process, no matter the consequences.
And one thing that is as sure as the sun rising---if the tea party manages to win this battle in the House, the rest of the GOP will march along in lockstep.
A great number of GOP voters today believe that if their demands aren't being met within the confines of the structure of our government that the best way to govern is to throw a stick of dynamite into the process, no matter the consequences.
And one thing that is as sure as the sun rising---if the tea party manages to win this battle in the House, the rest of the GOP will march along in lockstep.
8
Surely this in-fighting among politicians looking to grab power for themselves is not what the Tea Party had in mind. What an embarrassment.
Whether you want no government, small government or just appropriate government, watching elected official neglect their duties in order to feather thier nests is depressing and an insult to the electorate.
Whether you want no government, small government or just appropriate government, watching elected official neglect their duties in order to feather thier nests is depressing and an insult to the electorate.
3
Oh, yes it is exactly what they had in mind. The tea party wants all of the power!
2
There is an interesting possible path here where the Republicans are unable to elect someone new and Boehner "grudgingly" stays on indefinitely till someone else is elected. This would free him up to partner further with democrats when necessary and effectively marginalize the hard-line republicans and potentially assist the party in nominating a more moderate presidential candidate - improving their chances in the presidential election.
1
This imbroglio appear to be about the dysfunctions of the Republican leadership. The deeper truth is that this is about the simpleton voters, so easily bamboozled by malicious campaign slogans, who put them into office in the first place.
America's willfully ignorant voters are pulling the rest of the country down to their level.
America's willfully ignorant voters are pulling the rest of the country down to their level.
22
Well, it's been a beautiful thing watching the GOP govern with a majority in both the House and the Senate. They have seriously addressed the nation's problems and avoided petty politics. And further enhancing its reputation is the race for the presidency where their current leaders have the combined domestic and foreign policy experience of a stone. Now that one of its representatives has told the truth concerning the true motivation of the Benghazi committee, we can only hope that other representatives will follow Kevin McCarthy's lead. If President Bush was in power he might well tell the GOP leadership: "You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie."
16
I find it incredible that a major party would split apart one year before a Presidential election that could give them complete control of the government, which leads me to believe the media may be making more of this than is warranted. The media has an interest in making things seem worse than they are. The right wing and the radical right wing will compromise and keep the government open, there is too much at stake. The idea that moderates in the party will caucus or make a deal with Dems is the looniest thing I've heard today.
This is much ado about nothing from a know nothing party that would like nothing better then to do nothing until November 2016.
On the other hand, these are the craziest political times I have ever seen. Anything can happen and nothing is predictable.
This is much ado about nothing from a know nothing party that would like nothing better then to do nothing until November 2016.
On the other hand, these are the craziest political times I have ever seen. Anything can happen and nothing is predictable.
In order to govern, those who are elected to govern must wish to do so for the benefit of the common good, not the partisan interests of a single interest, a special interest, or a single constituency. That is the definition of governance, to act in the interest of the common good comprised of many parts operating with many variables, not the intent to rise to power or in service to single interests.
The politics of this, as I am able to view it from a distance, is that those who would lead find that the personal costs of seeking leadership not worth the cost to them of attempting to lead, and unify, a band of malcontent, self indulgent ideologues, most suited to a clerk's position in an inquisition than operating toward a workable government that seeks the best for everyone, to the extent possible.
The politics of this, as I am able to view it from a distance, is that those who would lead find that the personal costs of seeking leadership not worth the cost to them of attempting to lead, and unify, a band of malcontent, self indulgent ideologues, most suited to a clerk's position in an inquisition than operating toward a workable government that seeks the best for everyone, to the extent possible.
7
Checking out the Time's graphic, and counting dots, I figured out that 19 of the 40 Tea Party extremists who have brought our government to a halt, hail from the South (counting Maryland), while four are from three thinly populated states --Idaho, New Mexico and Wyoming. This means that sectional politics -- the white, conservative South - and a few white libertarians out West, are determining the fates of 300 million Americans. If this is not the tail wagging the dog, then I don't know what is.
Right-wing white voters have controlled Congress and the nation for far too long. While gerrymandering makes matters worse, the real problem is that, having determined back in the 1970s that right-wing whites were needed to form a majority that could defeat Democrats, Republicans can not now let such voters go, even though they've formed a voting bloc that is sinking, not merely the G.O.P., but the national ship.
The Republican Party -- including the hedge fund guys who are voting Republican to preserve their tax breaks, even though that means allying themselves with irrational people and policies -- needs to rethink its priorities. No, you are not going to win as many elections without the far right on board, because there are more middle-class Democrats than affluent, reasonable Republicans. You will, however, be able to compromise -- make deals -- and maybe pass a budget, fix the roads, bridges and tunnels, avoid another global meltdown -- the big stuff, in other words.
Right-wing white voters have controlled Congress and the nation for far too long. While gerrymandering makes matters worse, the real problem is that, having determined back in the 1970s that right-wing whites were needed to form a majority that could defeat Democrats, Republicans can not now let such voters go, even though they've formed a voting bloc that is sinking, not merely the G.O.P., but the national ship.
The Republican Party -- including the hedge fund guys who are voting Republican to preserve their tax breaks, even though that means allying themselves with irrational people and policies -- needs to rethink its priorities. No, you are not going to win as many elections without the far right on board, because there are more middle-class Democrats than affluent, reasonable Republicans. You will, however, be able to compromise -- make deals -- and maybe pass a budget, fix the roads, bridges and tunnels, avoid another global meltdown -- the big stuff, in other words.
14
At a moment where it looks more and more like the conflict in the Middle East could get really out of hand (Russian missiles bouncing around in Iran today, and incursions into Turkish airspace apparently) I imagine that the rest of the world is scratching it's head about the competence of the G.O.P. and the U.S. more broadly. These fella are playing with fire and they don't seem to quite understand the stakes.The almost purely ideological issues the Tea Party type of to quibble over may soon seem very small beer indeed.
8
Read some of the Republican comments fan-girling Putin. It's disgusting how they fawn over him and wish our president were that belligerent.
This proves for all to see that the Republican Party can not govern itself much less govern the United States of America.
15
If they need a unifying force why not re-elect Nancy Pelosi as Speaker ?
8
What a multi-car pile-up among the House GOP. Meanwhile, there is a major allegation circulating among the Catholic Press and right-wing community concerning a putative affair between Mr. McCarthy and fellow GOP Representative Renee Ellmers. I find it intriguing that the Times has not referenced this yet, esp. in light of Rep. Walter Jones' explosive letter to House GOP chair Cathy Morris about this very concern. Whatever the reason for McCarthy's withdrawal, Benghazigatelash, Ellmers, or not being completely fanatically committed to the clown car madness of Carson, Cruz and others, it has made 3 things that much more likely:
1) The GOP is going to continue to let the unhinged Right wing 20% of its caucus edge it closer and closer to the cliff of self-immolation. (This was inevitable.)
2) There WILL be a government shutdown just in time for Christmas. (Very bad news short-term)
3) The GOP is increasingly in danger of completely jumping the shark and ensuring a Dem blowout in 2016. (The last one is entirely good news.)
1) The GOP is going to continue to let the unhinged Right wing 20% of its caucus edge it closer and closer to the cliff of self-immolation. (This was inevitable.)
2) There WILL be a government shutdown just in time for Christmas. (Very bad news short-term)
3) The GOP is increasingly in danger of completely jumping the shark and ensuring a Dem blowout in 2016. (The last one is entirely good news.)
5
If this trend continues, we may end up with a parliamentary form of government by default. The two party system is collapsing under the weight of the super pacs and Internet based media. By losing control over its caucus, the GOP can't reach a majority on anything. Only by forming coalitions with Democrats and others can a majority be achieved.
By pushing absolute principled ideology, the Republicans have pushed themselves against the wall. The moderates can either break with Party extremism, compromise and get something done. Or, we haven't seen what gridlock really looks like.
By pushing absolute principled ideology, the Republicans have pushed themselves against the wall. The moderates can either break with Party extremism, compromise and get something done. Or, we haven't seen what gridlock really looks like.
9
How in the name of God is this country possible going to avoid a government shutdown in December? Even if they held both houses and won the presidency, heaven forbid, I still don't think they'd be able to pass anything. They must confront this core group of nutbars because they are absolutely killing this party.
5
Why not a coalition, centrist, speaker? Nominate a moderate, centrist republican (if there are any left) that moderate, centrist, democrats would vote for. Eliminate forever the blackmail tactics of the 40 hard-line anarchists who make up less than ten percent of the house. Surely the remaining ninety percent could govern just fine.
3
I don't think any of them are going to cross the extreme Tea Party caucus in the House, not when Donald Trump and Ben Carson are the would-be standard bearers in the party right now. Can you imagine how badly a Speaker elected with Democratic votes would get shredded day after day?
Too intelligent.
Alas, Congressman McCarthy committed the unpardonable sin of accidentally speaking truth to the public. At long last, Congressman, have you no sense of indecency?
4
Too bad Mr. Boehner is not willing to stick it to the anarchist wing of the party by gathering the 35-40 (?) thoughtful legislators left in the House republican membership and tell them that he is willing to stay as speaker with democratic and their support ONLY to pass bills raising the debt ceiling and passing bills appropriating money for non-controversial and necessary infrastructure work (mass transit, road and bridge repairs, for example). Then he would resign and let the crazies devour each other and prove to the nation that they are incompetent at governing.
4
Their 'conference'? A formal and polite word which doesn't reflect much conferring.Next step will be the 'Freedom Caucus' breaking up into smaller and smaller sub-groups with the end result being singletons.True freedom for all.
2
Not that Providence, RI is a great model for governance at its best, but during the last mayoral election, the Republican candidate voted for the Democrat and asked his constituents to do the same. The alternative, the Independent Cianci, as a convicted felon gave pause for many reasons, not least whether we'd receive federal grant money on anything ever again.
Run, Pelosi, Run.
Run, Pelosi, Run.
3
McCarthy's constituents in Kern and Tulare counties are very conservative voters but they still rely on government programs for their agricultural businesses. The FSA gives subsidies to all farm land owners even if they do not farm the land because of drought. It could be hard to explain that to the fiscal conservatives in the Tea Party and why it is a necessary program. When government drowns in the bathtub so do some of its citizens.
8
Webster has spent nearly 30 years in government.
3 of his biggest contributors were sugar concerns. Pharma, energy and Full Sail, the biggest student loan ripoff ever, round it out.
3 of his biggest contributors were sugar concerns. Pharma, energy and Full Sail, the biggest student loan ripoff ever, round it out.
The interesting thing is that each of these Republican members of Congress fancies him/herself to be a better leader than Obama. However, while Obama failed to make headway in bridging the Republican-Democrat divide, none of these House of Representative geniuses is able to reach across the Republican-Republican divide.
Of course, the divisions in the Republican Party are the Democrats' fault; had Obama not been a Kenyan Muslim Socialist conspiring to impose world government on these sovereign States of America, the Republican Party would not suffer from Obama-derangement Syndrome; had Hilary Clinton not been such an enormously viable candidate for the Presidency, the Republican Party would not have contracted Benghazi-email pox. "Obviously we wouldn't be angry and divided had you liberals not given us something to be angry and divided about!"
Of course, the divisions in the Republican Party are the Democrats' fault; had Obama not been a Kenyan Muslim Socialist conspiring to impose world government on these sovereign States of America, the Republican Party would not suffer from Obama-derangement Syndrome; had Hilary Clinton not been such an enormously viable candidate for the Presidency, the Republican Party would not have contracted Benghazi-email pox. "Obviously we wouldn't be angry and divided had you liberals not given us something to be angry and divided about!"
29
come on.....there must be at least one adulterer or sex abuser available to lead the Republic Party House Party....
2
The disarray in the Republican House is really no different from the disarray among the Republicans running for President. It is similar dysfunction, elevating whatever is craziest.
29
those 40 members of the House are so keen to close down the government, why not start with the House of Representatives. Let's just close up shop until they decide to behave.
It isn't as if they are coming up with any laws anyway.
It isn't as if they are coming up with any laws anyway.
15
Start with their salaries and health care benefits
3
One of the most disturbing things in the article was the fact that the last time this happened was just before the beginning of the Civil War. If we descend into civil war again, it could be much worse this time, because there are no geographic boundaries, only ideological ones.
I fear for my country.
I fear for my country.
20
Don't forget the 300 million guns concentrated among malcontents.
We're witnessing the destruction of a once-great political party. One can only hope that something better will rise up from its ashes.
13
Good riddance! The last great Republican was Abraham Lincoln. Since then, we've had a few mediocre Republicans: Ike, Grant, even Nixon --- before he became paranoid and created the plumbers.
Well, the neo Bolsheviks of the right have stormed the Duma which is the Russian version of our Congress and like the Bolsheviks of old, have brought the government (Kerensky in 1917 Russia) to a halt. The lessons here are multiple. First and foremost-- To have democracy of any form one needs consensus. That is a no-brainer. Tells one something about these anarchists which are the right. At least Lenin knew how to govern. These guys are clueless.
The bad news is that the rest of this year (A.B.---After Boehner) and 2016 is gridlock to the highest degree. We can only hope that McConnell (who is next to go if the right in the Senate has its way) and Boehner and the Democrats can get a budget passed within a month.
The good news is that in November of 2016 the Dems will sweep the Congress and Presidency and Bernie will be President. He IS the only trustworthy candidate.
The bad news is that the rest of this year (A.B.---After Boehner) and 2016 is gridlock to the highest degree. We can only hope that McConnell (who is next to go if the right in the Senate has its way) and Boehner and the Democrats can get a budget passed within a month.
The good news is that in November of 2016 the Dems will sweep the Congress and Presidency and Bernie will be President. He IS the only trustworthy candidate.
22
Data to prove your point? It is all conjecture. Don't you Dems like to use science and math or is it just confined to Repubs?
You were doing pretty well until your last paragraph.
2
I can only imagine who is fueling and funding the poorly disguised power charge by Jason Chaffetz. How destructive to an already damaged Congress this move would be. If you have any collective wisdom please, Congress, muster it now!
1
The Democrats in DC must be salivating as the Republican party continues its inevitable crawl to disintegration. The won't unite. There is no 'family.' Just a wild pack of ideologues who long ago made up their minds and refuse to be confused by something as inconvenient as facts or truth. One can only hope the implosion of the party opens it up to reentering mainstream politics since the US truly needs two functioning parties, not one.
10
There is no question that the Benghazi hearings were politicized by Republicans and Rep. McCarthy was dumb to admit that. There is also no doubt that Hillary Clinton's lies about why she had a private server have damage her big time. You can't fix stupidity (McCarthy) but Hillary should have learned by now that the coverup is usually worse than the underlying error. Having her own private server was/is no big deal. Lying about it is a big deal. We're all told, as children, that honesty is the best policy.
5
There were no laws broken or the multiple investigative committees would have brought charges. Unlike Karl Rove's use of personal email accounts to do political work on the county's time which was highly illegal, but let's forget all that.
1
Hillary Clinton said that the server was already in their home, due to the need for it by the former president and the Clinton Foundation. Consequently it was an obvious server to use. Of course, previous secretaries of state had used their private emails, and Jeb Bush had a private server without all the fake scandal of this witch hunt. But then, 8 previous Benghazi committees found no evidence of wrong doing.
And perhaps a committee supposedly investigating Benghazi at the expense of $5 million from U.S. taxpayers should not be investigating a completely separate issue of non-related emails?
Perhaps this is indeed a completely partisan witch hunt?
And perhaps a committee supposedly investigating Benghazi at the expense of $5 million from U.S. taxpayers should not be investigating a completely separate issue of non-related emails?
Perhaps this is indeed a completely partisan witch hunt?
The Republican Party was forged out of the ashes of the Whig Party, which was unable to stay together because of its factions fundamental disagreements over slavery. How long until the Republicans collapse due to factional disagreements over, well, everything?
16
As with drunkards and drug addicts, the GOP, incapable of governance, as former wannabe Speaker McCarthy so trenchantly observed, may "have to hit rock bottom".
I am sure that there are innumerable AA meetings that the GOP "leadership" of both houses could attend once they've "bottomed out"
I am sure that there are innumerable AA meetings that the GOP "leadership" of both houses could attend once they've "bottomed out"
11
Wow. Talk about divided government, and a divided party. I don't see how this gets better in the next few months. We should all prepare for the Federal government to be shut down sometime after Christmas. Federal employees, make your plans now to squirrel away some money to get you through to, I don't know, March of 2016, at least.
This far-right fiscal obstructionism is just ruining our country. We need to end this at the ballot box, people. If it requires redistricting in the states, let's start now. Twenty more years of this garbage, and we are through as a great nation. The entire world will be in the thrall of a series of huge multi-national corporations by that time. We won't even need a Federal government at the point. The evil plutocrats will have won. Maybe, once the Koch brothers pass on... If only it were that easy.
17
“"It certainly is easy to poke fun at the chaos,'said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary." Irresponsible comment from the official spokesman for the President. Polemics from either side can never be fun. The farce of the GOP now dominated by wing nuts is so bizarre that deliverance from the extant tragedy in that party can best be resolved with by rational moderates in both parties cooperating not only in public policy and operations but in todays Congressional joke, the rational majority of the GOP should welcome Democratic support in the selection of national leadership. Such was indeed the intent of the Founding Fathers and the methodology seems clearly and forcefully articulated by James Madision in Federalist 10.
3
Uh, ya think the Moderate (who are they anyway) will side with Dems to elect a Republican? Why would Dems help them out anyway, for country? Let the Republicans do a little sacrificing first.
They want to stop government to eliminate PP, start with the House.
They want to stop government to eliminate PP, start with the House.
1
The "rational majority"? You're joking right? There are no even remotely rational Republicans. The "rational majority" when faced with the grim reality of 11 mass murders by easily obtained firearms did absolutely nothing to make Americans safer. The US military vigorously background checks and tests potential recruits to ensure a minimum standard of mental health and fitness to handle firearms but not the irrational and immoral Republican congress. In the name of upholding a fundamentalist's errant interpretation of the 2nd amendment, the irrational republicans will ensure that unstable mental cases can easily obtain the weapons of murder for years to come. There is no rationale or reason in this psycho spiritually bankrupt Republican party.
1
Rather unfair of you not to quote him in full, isn't it?
"And it certainly is easy to poke fun at the chaos, BUT the fact is the challenge that is facing the next Republican speaker of the House, regardless of who it is, is the same challenge that John Boehner faced, is the same challenge that Kevin McCarthy would have faced, and that is simply to unite a divided Republican caucus."
I think his actual quote - when one doesn't cut it off mid-sentence - sounds remarkably similar to plenty of sentiments expressed here: there may be a frisson of schadenfreude enjoyed for a moment today, but the reality is that regardless of which Speaker eventually is elected, that individual will still be faced with a daunting task - one that has enormous consequences for everyone, regardless of party.
"And it certainly is easy to poke fun at the chaos, BUT the fact is the challenge that is facing the next Republican speaker of the House, regardless of who it is, is the same challenge that John Boehner faced, is the same challenge that Kevin McCarthy would have faced, and that is simply to unite a divided Republican caucus."
I think his actual quote - when one doesn't cut it off mid-sentence - sounds remarkably similar to plenty of sentiments expressed here: there may be a frisson of schadenfreude enjoyed for a moment today, but the reality is that regardless of which Speaker eventually is elected, that individual will still be faced with a daunting task - one that has enormous consequences for everyone, regardless of party.
Good news. It looks like the GOP controlled House is finally going to get someone to lead them who will do a proper job and not be put into the position because he was next in line. This is a blessing. The Democrats are besides themselves because they know they are in trouble. Most people don't know that one does not have to be a Congressman to be Speaker of the House. I think it is time for Newt Gingrich to come back and show these current guys how it is done.
1
Yeah, he did such a great job and ended on a high note.
1
Yeah we're in real trouble! Especially after McCarthy revealed to the world that the Republicans were stealing taxpayer funds to fund their bogus Bhengazi witch hunt committee to damage Hillary Clinton politically. After 11 mass murders by mentally ill nut cases who obtained weapons legally in accordance with lax Republican gun laws, and after the passive, do nothing republicans failure to act and obstruction of legislation to make Americans safer; I doubt Democrats are worried about anything from the fractious, self destructive Republican idiots.
1
Newt? He was the FIRST one to shut down the government and was the model for the current intractibility. NYChap: I know you are partisan, but that was and would be reckless.
6
What people fail to realize is that the most conservative members of the house have no real interest in governing. They are perfectly willing to destroy this country if their vision of America can't be realized.
Even if politics is the art of compromise, they refuse to compromise for the good of the nation.
The Republicans said that if they controlled the House and the Senate, they would show they could actually govern rather than go from one crisis to another.
With their members in the Senate wanting Sen. McConnell head on a figurative platter, dark days are ahead.
At the end of the day, they would have realized their dream - setting this country back fifty years. The only thing missing from this circus is the ringmaster Donald Trump.
Even if politics is the art of compromise, they refuse to compromise for the good of the nation.
The Republicans said that if they controlled the House and the Senate, they would show they could actually govern rather than go from one crisis to another.
With their members in the Senate wanting Sen. McConnell head on a figurative platter, dark days are ahead.
At the end of the day, they would have realized their dream - setting this country back fifty years. The only thing missing from this circus is the ringmaster Donald Trump.
9
The sooner Americans wake up and realize that this fractured do nothing Republican party has already destroyed the country, the sooner sane Americans will prevail and be able to move this country forward again.
Republicans did their best to say NO to Democrats. They now say NO to their own caucus. Republicans are crumbling the walls of the republic, bringing the rest of the country down with them. The party of No has finally caught up to their own poison.
20
Isn't this perfect..
The party that believes in small government --- er.. non-governance -- has actually succeeded in shrinking it to small enough so that it is strangled and drowned in the bathtub.. or whatever the stubble faced nincompoop said.
They don't believe in government so much so that they can't even govern themselves -- I mean just a bunch of 280 guys. Even third-graders do better in electing their class rep!
14
Time to admit that the Tea Party is not really part of the Republican Party? They just caucus with it? That is, caucus with it sometimes.
16
If your a political wonk and you can read between the lines there is only one reason for today's House surprise. The national media knows the truth and won't speak it. That invalidates them. That's why these "faux journalists aka talking heads" deserve no respect. The political gravaman is the he implicit threat in Congressmen Walter Jones letter released last night.
1
You can only assume something humiliating would have come out if he pursued. Never saw a politician who dropped out because he thought he would not win a lock. We are witnessing the collapse of the Republican Party.
5
If you had watched previous news-clips of McCarthy's speeches containing almost incoherent sentence structure and mispronounced words you would say that this immediate withdrawal was his saving grace .
9
The Benghazi comment is a red herring. I think he finally realized even if he could muster the votes, he would be miserable working as the Speaker.
Think about it. NO Repub in his right mind is going to want this job. I'm surprised Boehner stuck at it for as long as he did but there was always something bland and banal about him that I guess served him well in putting up with the burden.
Only someone a little crazy can be the next Speaker. Should be fun!
Think about it. NO Repub in his right mind is going to want this job. I'm surprised Boehner stuck at it for as long as he did but there was always something bland and banal about him that I guess served him well in putting up with the burden.
Only someone a little crazy can be the next Speaker. Should be fun!
6
Mr. McCarthy's dropping out leaves the Republicans with no clear path forward? I thought they never had a clear path forward.
15
Actually, they favor a clear path backward.
12
So......Paul Ryan didn't hesitant to step forward when the Vice President /President plum seemed to be on offer. He's gone all attentive father to his young children only now that the opportunity to lead through specific rough waters promises to imperil his self serving path to the most powerful office of all down the road. Let it be recorded that when he had a chance to step in and show concrete leadership he punted on behalf of his own skin.
15
This is how political parties die.
If the reactionary know-nothing wing of the Republican Party won't support anyone else, and the more moderate majority won't support a reactionary know-nothing, then the Republican Party can't find 218 votes to elect a Speaker without reaching out to the Democrats.
The Freedom Caucus seems to prefer anarchy to not getting their way, and the question for the Republican Party is whether they would prefer to work with Democrats over destroying the country.
Could be close call...
If the reactionary know-nothing wing of the Republican Party won't support anyone else, and the more moderate majority won't support a reactionary know-nothing, then the Republican Party can't find 218 votes to elect a Speaker without reaching out to the Democrats.
The Freedom Caucus seems to prefer anarchy to not getting their way, and the question for the Republican Party is whether they would prefer to work with Democrats over destroying the country.
Could be close call...
24
In the words of Michael Ray Richardson "The ship be sinking and the sky's the limit"
7
Perhaps a Democrat should seek the speaker's position by forming a coalition consisting of Democratic House members and those few remaining Republican House members not afraid of standing up to conservative hardliners.
9
Good suggestion. I nominate Frank Underwood.
1
Any Republican who would join the Democrats would not win their next election. And that is what most of these people care about most.
1
And exactly who would be those "few remaining House members [who are] not afraid of standing up to conservative hardliners? As far as I can tell, they've all been driven from the party.
Part of the problem is that the mainstream media has been much too polite in its coverage of the Republicans.
"Crazed fanatics now rule both houses of Congress" would have been the factually accurate headline when the Republicans ascended to power. Instead the press has miserably failed by not calling the Republicans the deranged sociopaths they actually are.
"Crazed fanatics now rule both houses of Congress" would have been the factually accurate headline when the Republicans ascended to power. Instead the press has miserably failed by not calling the Republicans the deranged sociopaths they actually are.
28
The mainstream media's treatment of current political events and the state of this nation has very appropriately been likened to what undoubtedly would have been their coverage after the events in Ford's Theater in 1865---"Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think of the performance?"
I'd love to credit the author of this--but don't have the source.
I'd love to credit the author of this--but don't have the source.
1
Wow - the only option is either to cave completely to a small, loud, (stupid) minority, or create common cause with democrats for responsible government. Gee - I wonder what direction the GOP will take?
Do they even remember what responsibility looks like?
Do they even remember what responsibility looks like?
23
Seems like the only way to mollify the far-right wing of the GOP would be to find a way to raise Machiavelli from the dead
6
Machiavelli believed that the most honorable thing a person could do was to found a new political order...not destroy one for selfish reasons. If raised from the dead, he would shake his head and say that not one of them had virtu. He dreamed of a glorious, unified Italy, not a riven mess of self-centerd people.
@Peter
Re "The few "moderate" Republicans remaining should join the Democrats to put Pelosi back in and start making this country's government working again."
Not a bad notion. During the first two years of the Obama administration, Pelosi passed the $850 B stimulus, passed the affordable care act, passed the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, passed the Lily Ledbetter equal pay act, overturned 'Don't Ask Don't Tell', and passed a payroll tax holiday. Not a bad congressional record. Since 2010 the GOP-dominated House has done absolutely nothing except pass lots of anti-abortion measures. The 112th, 113th and now the 114th congress’s, that have endured unceasing obstruction led by Boehner in the House and McConnell in the Senate, are the most shameful, lowest rated and least effective in US history.
Re "The few "moderate" Republicans remaining should join the Democrats to put Pelosi back in and start making this country's government working again."
Not a bad notion. During the first two years of the Obama administration, Pelosi passed the $850 B stimulus, passed the affordable care act, passed the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, passed the Lily Ledbetter equal pay act, overturned 'Don't Ask Don't Tell', and passed a payroll tax holiday. Not a bad congressional record. Since 2010 the GOP-dominated House has done absolutely nothing except pass lots of anti-abortion measures. The 112th, 113th and now the 114th congress’s, that have endured unceasing obstruction led by Boehner in the House and McConnell in the Senate, are the most shameful, lowest rated and least effective in US history.
13
You have to wonder what Karl Rove is feeling right now.
Even Fox News is recognizing how much of a mess they have helped to create.
Even Fox News is recognizing how much of a mess they have helped to create.
14
What is kind of connection do you have with Fox New that would substantiate your claim? Does the enterprise believe that the Republican Party is a mess and if so that it bears any responsibility.
@ F.McB
Are you saying that it is not true or only asking my source?
Are you saying that it is not true or only asking my source?
I suspect that FOX is overjoyed to have such a sensational story unfolding that they can exploit six different ways. TV, radio and cable media are strictly about ratings.
1
The Republican right - or should I say the Republican fascistic right - has come up with a new four letter word beginning with the letter F: FACT.
15
If this were a play on Broadway this would be the greatest fun. But these fellows are supposed to be adults essentially on a world stage. These ultraconservatives are as dangerous as others throughout our planet's history who have dug in, in the delusion they are always and very right. Our democracy is definitely on the other side of the hill of success.
7
Clearly the Republicans do not care one whit about the common good unless you accept the common good as defined by 40 Tea Party members of the House. Ignore their claims to the contrary; the Members of the House of Representatives do not represent the actual people of America. In the last election, Democrats in the House got far more votes than did Republicans. Republicans control the House only because of gerrymandered Districts. They also ignore the fact that President Obama was elected by a very comfortable margin. He legitimately represents the people of the United States.
It is ludicrous that 40 members of the House are in effect resorting to extortion--meaning if they don't get their way, they will close the government. Since the founding of our Country, gerrymandered Districts have been with us and probably always will be part of our imperfect but precious democracy. However, prior to the Tea Party, gerrymandering has not been carried to such an extreme as to begin to pose an existential threat to our democracy. The well being of our Country is at risk and the actual common good has become a quaint notion.
My fellow citizens, we really do need to take our Country back from these angry anti-democratic Tea Party fanatics.
Pass the word!
It is ludicrous that 40 members of the House are in effect resorting to extortion--meaning if they don't get their way, they will close the government. Since the founding of our Country, gerrymandered Districts have been with us and probably always will be part of our imperfect but precious democracy. However, prior to the Tea Party, gerrymandering has not been carried to such an extreme as to begin to pose an existential threat to our democracy. The well being of our Country is at risk and the actual common good has become a quaint notion.
My fellow citizens, we really do need to take our Country back from these angry anti-democratic Tea Party fanatics.
Pass the word!
16
You know what should happen so we are no longer held hostage by the far right? Enough moderate republicans should change their party affiliation to Democrat and flip the majority. That would teach them a lesson and maybe we could get some things done.
11
They cannot. Gerrymandering of dsitricts has them petrified at the thought primary defeat. Yes, petrified. Turned to inert stone. Poor America.
The Republican Party and democracy in America is being torn asunder by maddened political conservative ideologues. Tragically, the party is a perfect reflection of a "base" of Americans who are possessed by an hysterical and irrational political, religious and often times racist rage.
Conservative America's last presidential administration plunged the United States and the people of the Middle East into a political war based on the bloodlust for Saddam Hussein that existed within the George W. Bush White House, in the offices of his vice president, Richard Cheney, and throughout the Department of Defense and State and other federal government offices. Conservative America has now plunged the Republican Party and democratic governance in the United States into yet another crisis condition.
We, the people, will begin to restore our national social sanity when first Republican Party officials, then other Conservative Americans, then all Americans reject the social nightmare that the "Reagan Revolution" has become and return to the democratic social principles of individual rights, social equality, and governments elected by free peoples, spoken of so eloquently in the American Declaration of Independence, in the Preamble to the United States Constitution, and by other masses of people through the centuries.
Conservative America's last presidential administration plunged the United States and the people of the Middle East into a political war based on the bloodlust for Saddam Hussein that existed within the George W. Bush White House, in the offices of his vice president, Richard Cheney, and throughout the Department of Defense and State and other federal government offices. Conservative America has now plunged the Republican Party and democratic governance in the United States into yet another crisis condition.
We, the people, will begin to restore our national social sanity when first Republican Party officials, then other Conservative Americans, then all Americans reject the social nightmare that the "Reagan Revolution" has become and return to the democratic social principles of individual rights, social equality, and governments elected by free peoples, spoken of so eloquently in the American Declaration of Independence, in the Preamble to the United States Constitution, and by other masses of people through the centuries.
12
And the "Conservative" wing-nuts cheered, and chanted, "We won!".
When asked what is is they've "won" the poor deluded gun-toting middle class Conservative mouth-breathers concluded, "We've defeated another liberal RINO!"
Woo-Hoo, I guess.
When asked what is is they've "won" the poor deluded gun-toting middle class Conservative mouth-breathers concluded, "We've defeated another liberal RINO!"
Woo-Hoo, I guess.
11
The new Republican leader should be Arte Johnson of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In."
Reprise his German soldier character, emerging from the brush and pronouncing, "Very interesting…but also very stupid" as it pertains to Republican party politics.
This gaggle has truly become the gang that couldn't shoot straight.
Reprise his German soldier character, emerging from the brush and pronouncing, "Very interesting…but also very stupid" as it pertains to Republican party politics.
This gaggle has truly become the gang that couldn't shoot straight.
5
Interesting. Don't be shocked when the money trail from billionaire to Boehner and McCarthy is revealed some day.
5
I wonder what would have happened at the Continental Congress had some of the delegates refused to compromise and the the entire convention collapsed. They think they are helping the people by not compromising or even functioning?
11
That did happen. How do you think blacks came to be counted as only 3/5ths of a person?
1
The Republicans have spent the years since Reagan developing members of Congress who have no interest in actually governing the country. The Tea Party is simply the inevitable outcome of their efforts, and now the chickens have come home to roost: we have a Congress that is literally incapable of governing.
Congratulations, Republican Party! Mission Accomplished!
Congratulations, Republican Party! Mission Accomplished!
16
Oligarch funded Repub machine has spent 35 years methodically gerrymandering congressional districts to the point that they are mutant cancerous tumors on the ogovt of the people. These zombie right wing barbarians at the gate are the visible proof.
The moderate republicans should work with democrats to find a suitable speaker. It's that simple.
9
How about "Mitt" Romney? He was considered qualified and popular enough with republicans to lead the country, he must at least be qualified and popular enough to lead the House of Representatives.
1
I have predicted in previous posts that the Republican Party, founded in 1856, will split into two or more factions before the 2016 election. The evidence for that prediction is accumulating by leaps and bounds.
11
Republicans are looking less and less like an American party and more like a people who want their own separate nation. The extremity of differences seem to be religiously based, In God We Trust versus We The People. The Founders, I was taught in NY schools, made government the protector of religion, not the servant.
14
The Republicans are always is disarray. The only thing those nuts have in common is that the majority are elderly despicable white men.
8
I'm relieved that McCarthy won't be 3rd in line to take over the presidency.
He seems to be as smart as a box of rocks.
His English reminds me of Yogi Berra's, which is a insult to Yogi (RIP, Yogi).
He seems to be as smart as a box of rocks.
His English reminds me of Yogi Berra's, which is a insult to Yogi (RIP, Yogi).
6
This is what happens with tribal warfare, where the tribes are simply interest group factions with no real shared history -- they keep splitting into smaller and smaller factions and express collective and competing demands that cannot be met. Somebody with a temperament of high tempered steel should present two possible outcomes to the so-called Freedom Caucus: (1) you shut up, knuckle down and vote for whatever Republican we put in front of you or (2) 30 of us are going to team up with Ds and elect Nancy Pelosi. Your choice, and if you complain about it, the answer is number 2. Haven't these people ever learned not to negotiate with toddlers?
4
The minute people's 401K's evaporate in the Tea Party's immolation, it will finally be the end of the Republicans as a functional party.
11
I dare say, I wonder what Mitch McConnell is thinking about all of this? He could be in the cross-hairs next (which would be fine with me).
6
To vote for a Republican now amounts to a vote for anarchy -- a very un-American thing to do. The Republican party did this to us so, regardless of your political affiliation, don't vote for Republicans at the next election. The national train must be put back on the tracks and it's clear the Republican politicians are not up to the job. All Americans don't agree with the Democrat's policies, but most Americans can agree that the system is broken and must be fixed. That should be the first priority of all Americans. So again, regardless of your political affiliation, don't vote for Republicans at the next election. Let's get the government working properly again and then worry about the direction it's taking.
16
The GOP has over many decades been the party of Faustian bargains with nihilist splinter groups to remain viable. The Republicans traded their heritage of electing practical conservatives who could govern responsibly for the necessity of embracing social issue bomb throwers. The chickens have come home to roost.
13
Smartest thing the Republican can do is boot out the Tea Party Members - let them form their own little party. Problem solved.
7
Note to David Brooks and 'both siderists' everywhere in the mainstream media, both party's are not in disarray, unable to govern their own not to mention the nation.
11
"he was risking a humiliating defeat". Defeat maybe, but from all appearances McCarthy is humiliation-proof. In all the chaos Boehner should have quietly nominated Nancy Pelosi, then called for unanimous consent and claimed the "aye's have it" (since who could claim otherwise in all the pandemonium), and then adjourned to the golf course/pub.
6
What is being lost in all of this chaos is that the Speaker of the House is the Speaker of the HOUSE. He or she will speak for the entire country. What is also being lost is that the Speaker of the House is third in line to the Presidency. One would hope that the GOP caucus would be mindful of those two facts. If not, it may be worth looking outside the House for its next Speaker.
3
I was indulging in a little bit of schadenfreude until I read this just now. I was taking it for granted that what is bad for Republicans is good for the Democrats, and I have been coping with the puerile antics of the Republican loonies with a little chuckle and a large helping of faith that someday this will blow over and America will at least get back into its habitual dysfunctional equilibrium.
Now I'm worried that the self-destructive behavior has gotten so far out of hand that it is going to permanently damage all our institutions of government, and possibly erode public opinion about government so far further that the results of the coming elections will be completely determined by the nihilists among us. We can't take it for granted that the people who will benefit from this disgusting episode will be more responsible- sometimes people pick the worst of all possible options, just because they are so angry that they become a single issue voter: Who is promising to deal out the maximum amount of pain and retribution to those I'm angry with? Then the nation goes into a death spiral.
I can't help thinking of the rise of Hitler. No, I'm not calling any person in the Republican Party Hitler-esque, nor am I calling the party Nazi-like. I'm just saying that I'm worried that we may be headed in that direction. And then Donald Trump would seem like just another harmless carnival barker again. Shudder.
Now I'm worried that the self-destructive behavior has gotten so far out of hand that it is going to permanently damage all our institutions of government, and possibly erode public opinion about government so far further that the results of the coming elections will be completely determined by the nihilists among us. We can't take it for granted that the people who will benefit from this disgusting episode will be more responsible- sometimes people pick the worst of all possible options, just because they are so angry that they become a single issue voter: Who is promising to deal out the maximum amount of pain and retribution to those I'm angry with? Then the nation goes into a death spiral.
I can't help thinking of the rise of Hitler. No, I'm not calling any person in the Republican Party Hitler-esque, nor am I calling the party Nazi-like. I'm just saying that I'm worried that we may be headed in that direction. And then Donald Trump would seem like just another harmless carnival barker again. Shudder.
6
What is wrong with Nancy Pelosi? The Republicans know she can get things done... And she has a really nice smile of which the Indian prime minister Modi was recently a beneficiary.
3
At least Kevin McCarthy had enough sense to withdraw from the race for the house speakership, the third most important position in US governmental hierarchy. Not only was he inexperienced, but for a would-be speaker he had difficulty putting together a coherent sentence. The GOP now has to contend with a block of about forty terrorists or anarchists, someone called them heretics, who don't have the vaguest idea what the country is about, much less governing it. Their ideal in their own words is the imposition of their minority far right ideology on the rest of the multi-cultural country we live in. In my freshman political science class this was called fascism.
5
He chose himself over his country.
1
So 40 hardline conservatives have more power in the "People's House" than 188 Democrats, because instead of trying to unite the country and voting in a Republican Speaker who can garner Democratic support, the GOP insists on the corrupting, corroding, and destructive Hastert Rule.
11
The Hastert Rule seems to have been about three inches and fourteen years old.
The GOP nationally and the House Republicans particularly are publicly exhibiting their emblematic problem of having promised too much to too many with to divergent views of government. The GOP at the federal and state level have created a political Frankenstein monster and, with reality mirroring classic gothic fiction, the monster Republican leadership created by gerrymandering and propaganda is running amouk.
The "assistants" to this nightmare of political creation do not want the job as "master" responsible for doing the impossible, reconciling what was incompataible in the first place. When the Hon. Mr. Boehner resigned amid the shortsighted joy of ultra conservative House Republicans' glee no one botherred to ask the most important question; If Mr. Boehner is no longer Speaker who is willing and able to replace him? The same depraved indifference to conseqences of the House Republicans ultra conservative wing of the maniacal pursuit of their agenda has crippled Congress at a crucial time.
How can the GOP credible represent to millions of citizens of our Republic their ability to coalesce and lead an increasingly diverse nation of citizens in a dynamic and complex world when they can't provide these same essential attributes to members of their majority in Congress?
Please permit the following biblical antedote;
"If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end."
Book of Mark; Chapter 3 Verse 26-27 RSV
The "assistants" to this nightmare of political creation do not want the job as "master" responsible for doing the impossible, reconciling what was incompataible in the first place. When the Hon. Mr. Boehner resigned amid the shortsighted joy of ultra conservative House Republicans' glee no one botherred to ask the most important question; If Mr. Boehner is no longer Speaker who is willing and able to replace him? The same depraved indifference to conseqences of the House Republicans ultra conservative wing of the maniacal pursuit of their agenda has crippled Congress at a crucial time.
How can the GOP credible represent to millions of citizens of our Republic their ability to coalesce and lead an increasingly diverse nation of citizens in a dynamic and complex world when they can't provide these same essential attributes to members of their majority in Congress?
Please permit the following biblical antedote;
"If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end."
Book of Mark; Chapter 3 Verse 26-27 RSV
3
Newt Gingrich should be asked to step in until the end of December 2017. We know he can do the job and might just take the position if offered. He would be a better choice than Mitt Romney because Newt knows the players and the rules. Of course the Democrats would try to beat him to death but that is to be expected. They do that with everyone.
1
McCarthy, who can't seem to form complete sentences, did us all a favor by dropping out of this race. Ryan is doing himself a favor by not entertaining enticements to a thankless job. Soon, the Republikooks will find a way to blame Obama for this. Don't ask me how, but you read it hear first.
Meanwhile, in a desperate attempt to get a majority, the Republican party has compromised itself over and over by encouraging people's worst impulses, by not correcting the most extreme statements of ordinary citizens and their own members. The party went off the cliff when John McCain chose Sarah Palin. And now, when they desperately need a leader who could take to the airwaves and make some kind of correct, no one can be found. The bar was set too low.
If it wasn't so bad for the country, watching them pay for their past misdeeds would be a pleasure. But if this isn't a wonderful opportunity for Democratic candidates to stand up and explain all of this to the American people, I don't know what is.
Meanwhile, in a desperate attempt to get a majority, the Republican party has compromised itself over and over by encouraging people's worst impulses, by not correcting the most extreme statements of ordinary citizens and their own members. The party went off the cliff when John McCain chose Sarah Palin. And now, when they desperately need a leader who could take to the airwaves and make some kind of correct, no one can be found. The bar was set too low.
If it wasn't so bad for the country, watching them pay for their past misdeeds would be a pleasure. But if this isn't a wonderful opportunity for Democratic candidates to stand up and explain all of this to the American people, I don't know what is.
3
The problem is the people of the country (not those of us who understand what's going on) do not want to hear the truth. The people who elected these yahoos are perfectly fine with this situation....that is until the stock market crashes or they don't receive their social security check or other benefit or government service which they are dependent upon.
1
The best friend the Democrats have is the dysfunctional wing of the House Republicans. Although they may wish to start the whole democracy exercise over, it is not possible politically or realistically. I have voted Republican most of my life but am disheartened and fed up with these guys.
1
The House GOP lacks the discipline to govern themselves, and yet the GOP expects the electorate to entrust them with the governance of our nation? Not so much...
9
My only hope is that the far right wing of the republican party set on torpedoing even the most moderate compromises from moving forward is lighting the fires to its own exorcism. But I sense we are in for a long and painful struggle to rid the once noble GOP of its desperate attempts to cling to their dying mythologies. God knows where we will end up but I hope the ship steers true eventually.
3
What is astonishing is Mr. Webster's call for a principled, member-driven caucus. I was under the misapprehension that the Speaker is supposed to lead the House as a whole, and not just his/her own party, let alone a highly vocal minority within that party. The notion that a successor to Mr. Boehner is going to have to deal constructively with Democrats seems to have gone missing. I bet that Mr. Boehner can't wait to get back to the saloon to which he so often refers --- after dealing with his caucus he could use a good stiff drink.
2
The Republicans in congress are like the dog who chases the car. What to do with it once he catches it!
5
When you consider that the person selected will be second in the line of succession to the office of President, this is a horrific situation. The right-wing extremists causing this disruption aren't just arguing about how to govern. They are arguing about whether you should govern. And one of them could potentially be in the line of succession to the Presidency. I cannot imagine a more dangerous situation for America and the world. I hope that the few decent people left in the GOP will form a coalition with the Democrats to resolve this in a manner that will not lead to disaster. And shame on the voters that voted these lunatics into office.
8
Get ready for a political and Congressional environment reflecting the Red Scare 1950s if they pick Trey Gowdy. The man is high potency poison to democracy...and decency. He and the other braying chickenhawk Darrell Issa make John Boehner look like Mr. Rogers.
9
Extremists, foreign and domestic, certainly seem prone to splitting off into ever more radical factions. Ideological purity tests have that effect.
5
He didn't "suggest that the House committee investigating Benghazi had the political aim of damaging Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign"; he REVEALED it, not that it wasn't obvious from the start.
9
Does anyone remember an '80's movie "Gremlins" where you were not supposed to feed the gremlins after midnight or get them wet... or they would become horrible, uncontrollable, destructive creatures? John Boehner fed the Tea Party constantly after midnight and then got them wet. And, after the destruction got into full swing, quietly stepped out of the mess. Cowardly move, imo.
2
I don't mean to be overly allegorical here but House GOP is sadly reminiscent of Lord of the Flies. I'll leave the reader to decide the cast of characters.
The party's wisest see their fate in that of John Boehner. I wouldn't want to hold the conch or the glasses having already finished the book.
The party's wisest see their fate in that of John Boehner. I wouldn't want to hold the conch or the glasses having already finished the book.
2
Third party? It's getting closer to the moment when "sane" Republicans will have to abandon the "Republican Party" and declare their membership in a new political party. Either that, or force out the "insane" so that they can form the third party. The most feasible and quick option is the first one. To do it should not be too difficult but will require leaders, so, who? Jeb Bush, John Kasich, other mainstream Republicans? Who will step up? Where is John Anderson? Where is TR, for that matter? Why not take up the same "Bull Moose" name for the new party? Sad, but the "Republican" label may be lost forever.
3
Can't help but think of the sinking ship analogy and getting away from certain disaster.
This news is reassuring. Deep division precludes the fall.
Irrational men cannot reach accord. Passionate reactionaries riding the true rebellion of a populous gone bonkers over a treasonous Congress and a Senate without a rudder. Our ship of state has been cut adrift and many express alarm in different ways. We can enjoy the view of a political party showing its hindquarters without remorse. Surely this must mean that a sensible compassionate, visionary Democratic government is in the offing.
Can we NOW that the process of transparency via media expose has proven its worth, acknowledge that the press gave us a big hand revealing McCarthy's admission of conspirator-guilt in the political assault on Hillary after Benghazi.
Thanks, and a tip of the hat to open-ended US journalism. The best and most optimistic we can take from this account is that uttered by Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah State who confessed that he was “absolutely stunned” by the decision.
“Our conference is going to have to do a lot of soul searching,” he said.
I thought, now that ought to be the way of it.
I nominate Jason Chaffetz for the speaker's chair.
This news is reassuring. Deep division precludes the fall.
Irrational men cannot reach accord. Passionate reactionaries riding the true rebellion of a populous gone bonkers over a treasonous Congress and a Senate without a rudder. Our ship of state has been cut adrift and many express alarm in different ways. We can enjoy the view of a political party showing its hindquarters without remorse. Surely this must mean that a sensible compassionate, visionary Democratic government is in the offing.
Can we NOW that the process of transparency via media expose has proven its worth, acknowledge that the press gave us a big hand revealing McCarthy's admission of conspirator-guilt in the political assault on Hillary after Benghazi.
Thanks, and a tip of the hat to open-ended US journalism. The best and most optimistic we can take from this account is that uttered by Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah State who confessed that he was “absolutely stunned” by the decision.
“Our conference is going to have to do a lot of soul searching,” he said.
I thought, now that ought to be the way of it.
I nominate Jason Chaffetz for the speaker's chair.
31
Chaffetz is leading the Benghazi investigation committee ... so he is hardly an honest broker. Make no mistake when he says "soul searching", he wants other Republicans to capitulate to the Tea Party.
1
Only if his soul-searching leads him to abandon his plans to gut social security.
2
You mean Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the committee investigating Planned Parenthood?
When he was questioning the President of Planned Parenthood I saw him present what he said was a Planned Parenthood document that showed their spending on abortion-related services. She pointed out to him that the chart was prepared by an anti-abortion group, and had their name on it.
He's a transparently dishonest person. God help us if he becomes the speaker.
When he was questioning the President of Planned Parenthood I saw him present what he said was a Planned Parenthood document that showed their spending on abortion-related services. She pointed out to him that the chart was prepared by an anti-abortion group, and had their name on it.
He's a transparently dishonest person. God help us if he becomes the speaker.
1
Too many members of the GOP have proven they are incapable of governing and too irresponsible and self-serving to meet a solemn duty - to have someone in place to succeed the President and VIce-President in the event of a tragedy. It is terribly sad that John Boehner, who could have worked across the aisle, was brought to the point where he felt the need to leave. The Tea Party people have gotten what they asked for, and now they will see just how dangerous their blind ideology is to the country. This is scary.
4
I always wondered why people voted for those who wanted to do away with govrnment. Would these same people hire candidates who want to do away with their business? I wouldn't.
5
In any other western world country when a party is not even able to elect is own leader you go to new elections. Really today Americans are not worthy the great political system that they were given by the Founding Fathers. It is really a shame
3
Not such a great system really. The whole electoral college to preserve votes for white landowning males. Really needs a do over.
Darn! I was hoping that we would have our daily McCarthy malaprop to make us smile. Now what are we supposed to do for amusement? Washington is so messed up that we could have used a little diversion. Debt ceiling? Iran? Closing the government down? No laughs there. I guess we'll have to stick to reading the Congressional Record for funny stuff.
3
Mr. Boehner got it; Mr. McCarthy gets it; the readership of this newspaper gets it; and a large majority of the American public gets it. Sadly, the voters who elected this farcical, self-consuming Republican caucus haven't yet shown that they get it.
6
So Mr. McCarthy has been rejected by Republicans for his honesty and transparency. They would like nothing more than to shut down the government.
4
The truth about the Benghazi hearing was actually an admittance of criminal behavior. In fact, it sounds like RICO to me. what does the editorial board here think?
6
It is surely time for real Republicans to take control of their caucus from the 40 or so ultras. The formula is simple. All that is necessary is a bit of resolve and a tad of political courage. The formula is for reasonable Republicans to join with most Democrats to advance needed legislation. There is even a self-evident model.
Prior to the 1960s, ultra-conservative Southern Democrats bottled up nearly all Civil Rights legislation by virtue of their powerful positions based on seniority. This major impediment was overcome by an alliance of less conservative (anti-segregationist) Democrats and Republicans, acting together for an obvious Good.
Prior to the 1960s, ultra-conservative Southern Democrats bottled up nearly all Civil Rights legislation by virtue of their powerful positions based on seniority. This major impediment was overcome by an alliance of less conservative (anti-segregationist) Democrats and Republicans, acting together for an obvious Good.
4
The Congress is elected to do the business of the nation, not to move the agenda of either party, or any wing of either party. That usually means compromise. That the far right does't see the value of compromise and is willing to grind all work to a halt, shows that they misunderstand governance and even democracy. It is time for the Republican Majority to abandon partisanship and find common ground with the Democrats to pass legislation, operate the government and even craft reforms. That requires a Speaker and there are more than enough Democrat and Republican moderates to do that, if the Republicans have the courage to break with their own rigid partisanship.
5
And what is compromise?
Don't even bring up a bill that can pass both the houses, just because one man says he will veto it.
Compromise is two way street. And in negotiations, party who has more leverage gets more. These pseudo-conservative republicans don't compromise. They cave in. How difficult is it to negotiate a favorable deal with Obama. Even Iran won the negotiations with him.
Don't even bring up a bill that can pass both the houses, just because one man says he will veto it.
Compromise is two way street. And in negotiations, party who has more leverage gets more. These pseudo-conservative republicans don't compromise. They cave in. How difficult is it to negotiate a favorable deal with Obama. Even Iran won the negotiations with him.
Hurray!
2
Considering the amount of money this representative has amassed from large donors, I am very satisfied with him stepping away.
I want my government to be loyal to me rather than corporate sponsors.
I encourage all other members in congress to reconsider their "need" to accept large donations.
I want my government to be loyal to me rather than corporate sponsors.
I encourage all other members in congress to reconsider their "need" to accept large donations.
3
I don't quite understand the Republican Party. No one is ever good enough to be a true Republican, except for a revised 2015 version of Ronald Reagan, but not the 1980s version of Ronald Reagan (too liberal).
From the current demand from true Republican supporters, an inspiring Republican must possess a powerful hate for undesirables (you fill in the blank). You must have a strong belief in sending all the wealth and power of this continent to a select few, and you must follow the most extreme version of Christianity (Calvinism?).
From the current demand from true Republican supporters, an inspiring Republican must possess a powerful hate for undesirables (you fill in the blank). You must have a strong belief in sending all the wealth and power of this continent to a select few, and you must follow the most extreme version of Christianity (Calvinism?).
2
Anarchy seems to be the religious affiliation.
So how did that Dick Cheney endorsement worrk for McCarthy? Kind of like buckshot in the face. This all started when Boehner publicly aired his frustration with Ted Cruz who he referred to as a jack-ss in early September. GOP brought this on itself with gerrymandering and the election of ultraconservatives whose allegiance is to groups like Heritage Action that scores them. Their allegiiance to the voters and Constitution is secondary. Tell me one thing they have accomplished to benefit thecountry. Failure to pass a five year infrastructure bill and failure to fund the ex-im bank show they care less about jobs.
3
A House divided against itself has become the status quo. Unfortunately, districts are so gerrymandered that there is no impetus for anyone to change, on either side of the aisle. It's a sad state of affairs.
6
I would prefer the child molester Hastert to McCarthy. At least he was cogent and tried hard not to appear too partisan
2
For the final vote for Speaker of the House, my way-out-of-the-box dream scenario: The Democrats nominate a moderate Republican who is not presently a member of Congress (rather than the minority leader; the Speaker is not actually required to be a member of the House, but it’s never happened before). It would have to be someone widely regarded as thoughtful and fact-based, for working in a bi-partisan manner, and for being outcomes-focused. Maybe someone like Colin Powell (if he would agree)??? Or, someone like him.
If all 188 Democrats got on board, only 30 Republicans would have to add their support for that person to become the next Speaker. This may not be a stretch; perhaps 50 or more would jump in, given the current dynamics within the Republican caucus.
This would potentially be a great outcome for the country at a time when we really want/need Congress to act in a constructive, bi-partisan manner. Yeah, it’s way out there. But, personally, I think it would be super cool to see it happen. Why the heck not?
If all 188 Democrats got on board, only 30 Republicans would have to add their support for that person to become the next Speaker. This may not be a stretch; perhaps 50 or more would jump in, given the current dynamics within the Republican caucus.
This would potentially be a great outcome for the country at a time when we really want/need Congress to act in a constructive, bi-partisan manner. Yeah, it’s way out there. But, personally, I think it would be super cool to see it happen. Why the heck not?
5
There is no point in making clever remarks at the expense of Kevin McCarthy, or in pointing out the obvious about the inability of the Republican Party to choose a Speaker.
What we should all be concerned about are the grave risks to our country posed by a group of neo-Confederate reactionaries in the House who don't support the Constitution, and think we would be better off without any government at all. They are so committed to the vanity of preserving their conception of ideological purity that they would rather see our country founder than compromise in the slightest, even with members of their own party.
The Republican reactionaries in the House are so obsessed with holding hearings to blame Hillary Clinton for what happened in Benghazi three years ago, that they are totally oblivious to the need to support our country's armed forces with adequate funding at a time when Vladimir Putin is putting Russian ground troops and combat aircraft into Syria and making common cause with Iran.
Having convinced themselves that our country's most pressing need and highest priority is to strip Planned Parenthood of even the smallest shred of federal funding, they are willing to place at risk the full faith and credit of the United States, and the viability of U.S. securities markets and the U.S. economy, by holding hostage the funding of the federal government and the extension of the federal debt ceiling in order to pursue that objective.
They must be stopped.
What we should all be concerned about are the grave risks to our country posed by a group of neo-Confederate reactionaries in the House who don't support the Constitution, and think we would be better off without any government at all. They are so committed to the vanity of preserving their conception of ideological purity that they would rather see our country founder than compromise in the slightest, even with members of their own party.
The Republican reactionaries in the House are so obsessed with holding hearings to blame Hillary Clinton for what happened in Benghazi three years ago, that they are totally oblivious to the need to support our country's armed forces with adequate funding at a time when Vladimir Putin is putting Russian ground troops and combat aircraft into Syria and making common cause with Iran.
Having convinced themselves that our country's most pressing need and highest priority is to strip Planned Parenthood of even the smallest shred of federal funding, they are willing to place at risk the full faith and credit of the United States, and the viability of U.S. securities markets and the U.S. economy, by holding hostage the funding of the federal government and the extension of the federal debt ceiling in order to pursue that objective.
They must be stopped.
7
Are the Republicans not even considering for Speaker a person who moderate Democrats would support?!? The hardliners would have less sway if an actual consensus between moderates in the two parties existed. Maybe that approach is a thing of the past.
3
The majority of the GOP and its leaders know full well that the likes of the Freedom Caucus will never be able to govern this nation. Yet they have become so powerful that they can now obstruct the GOP and neuter them politically. What do they do now? Are the folks at FoxNews pleased with themselves? Do they want a second American Civil War? Who is going to tell the minority Freedom Caucus to shut up and go away?
3
The voters. We must accept our responsibility to manage a semblance of stability.
It's way past time for a third party. Let the Tea Party right break off and fend for itself, and return the Republican party to its reasonable, fiscally responsible, more moderate roots. It would likely draw support from the middle right, penetrating all the way into the center left. And that should let Congress get back to the task of governing.
3
LOOSE LIPS SINK CAREERS! McCarthy let the truth slip out and one week later he is out as leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Who let the truth out pays a very large price in the Republican Party or in politics in general. That is why the "looks like the truth" from so-called non-politicians appear so attractive--for now.
Who let the truth out pays a very large price in the Republican Party or in politics in general. That is why the "looks like the truth" from so-called non-politicians appear so attractive--for now.
5
Kevin McCarthy will go down in history and forever be known as the Republican politician who was punished for telling the truth about the motives of his party regarding Hillary Clinton and the Benghazi hearings.
6
These republicans are seriously dangerous to the Republic. They have no interest in the well being or economic health of Americans. Just listen to their comments, all they can talk about is conformance to the far right creed even if it's necessary to destroy the economic credibility of the United States. The saddest thing is that Democrats who neglected to vote in 2014 let these republicans in and these democrats who will be the ones to lose the most.
10
McCarthy would have been terrible, but for the extremist Repubs not terrible enough. Who are we going to get? The way things are going, it can only be a terrible choice with terrible consequences.
3
The basic problems is that the "Freedom" Caucus on the far right fundamentally does not believe in democracy. They don't have the votes to implement their desired policies, and they won't compromise to gain the votes they need. It's their definition of freedom or none. They want to dictate, not govern. The sooner the rest of the GOP and the country recognizes that, the better.
8
I wonder if there was a more moderate house democratic leader the republicans would find it easier to follow suit. Hilary, Joe and Bernie don't exactly make up a clown car more like a clown tricycle. Is it just me or pulling the country right and left is turning us into a joke. As we seen with the Carolina flood where the North Carolina paid 2m instead of 200K for dam repair than the southern neighbor, one has to stand up and do what's right. Unfortunately the tax payer think most of the their money is being wasted. Maybe if the Dems stopped defining high speed trains as their infrastructure issue people might be safer. People might become interested in these projects if they understood where their money was going. Don't get me wrong I love high speed trains, we're building one in Texas, but a trillion could be used better on other things.
1
The GOP tent is no longer big enough for these warring groups. GOP is no longer a single party. Their sub-groups have chasmic fundamental differences. Time to split the party and let each group stand on its own legs.
4
It's not surprising that anybody that wants to actually run the house like an organization that wants to do the peoples business doesn't want the job.
When faced with a group from your own party that essentially believes that government should be anarchy, and that that shutting down the government "is a good thing" it's not surprising that anybody with a lick of sense would not want the job of leading these people.
When faced with a group from your own party that essentially believes that government should be anarchy, and that that shutting down the government "is a good thing" it's not surprising that anybody with a lick of sense would not want the job of leading these people.
5
Now's the time for House Democrats to identify the moderate Republican able to marshal 30 Republican votes consistently and who will be willing to:
* Put the immigration and gun background check bills up for a vote
* Immediately raise the debt ceiling
* Fund the government and highway bill at appropriate levels
* Shut down witch-hunt committees
* Function like a normal governing body
Basically, some willing to govern as a compromising, common sense, bipartisan leader...who wants the job?
* Put the immigration and gun background check bills up for a vote
* Immediately raise the debt ceiling
* Fund the government and highway bill at appropriate levels
* Shut down witch-hunt committees
* Function like a normal governing body
Basically, some willing to govern as a compromising, common sense, bipartisan leader...who wants the job?
4
Since the Republican Party has renovated itself into an organization based entirely on lies and distortions of fact, they find themselves in a minefield of their own making. What's real? Who knows?? When there is no consensus on facts, there is NO consensus.
5
Boehner, McCarthy, Raul Labrador and 243 other Republican members -- all marching to different drummers. What a parade.
5
This party has been dysfunctional for a long, long time. Now it has devolved into chaos. Hopefully it will implode. The best thing that could happen is if the crazies on the far right went off and formed a third party leaving the GOP to the "adults." Not likely to happen, however.
5
Leaving them in disarray? Disarray is where they started. I shudder to think where this does leave them. Post-apocalyptic nihilism, maybe?
8
As if it hadn't already become abundantly clear, this breakdown in the process of choosing one of their own for Congressional leadership shows just how hopelessly incompetent the Republican Party has become as a partner in national government. I hope a majority of voters are fully awake to this fact when it comes time to choosing the next president.
6
Today's GOP/TeaParty is actually a bunch of authoritarian anarchists. They despise government, yet their candidates eagerly run for office on a platform of lies to earn big bucks in office and even more when they leave.
Back in 1942 this had a name. In Europe, it was collaboration with the occupying power, and the examples of that are Quisling in Norway and Pétain in France. Yet neither these collaborators nor the occupier wanted to destroy order and totally destroy the occupied countries--it would be destroying the goose who lays the golden eggs.
Here, such individuals would have been called seditious, traitorous, or both during World War II, and treated accordingly.
Back in 1942 this had a name. In Europe, it was collaboration with the occupying power, and the examples of that are Quisling in Norway and Pétain in France. Yet neither these collaborators nor the occupier wanted to destroy order and totally destroy the occupied countries--it would be destroying the goose who lays the golden eggs.
Here, such individuals would have been called seditious, traitorous, or both during World War II, and treated accordingly.
4
Right on time, just another event in the Great Conservative Going Out of Business Sale of 2015. I thought the primary race would be enough but this is like pouring gasoline on a fire. Meanwhile the GOP should nominate Nancy Pelosi for speaker. They won't accept her lead day to day anyhow but at least they'll know why.
4
This just shows the hollowness of politicians whose only position on anything is "anti-government". At some point even the members of your own party become the enemy. Foot, meet bullet.
9
If the DNC and its Superpacs can't make hay out of this mess with effective political advertising, there is no hope. They must target districts with Freedom Caucus representation. Gerrymandered-majorities by a minority party are very non-linear, and they are susceptible to disruption.
MOVE ON THIS NOW, DNC!
MOVE ON THIS NOW, DNC!
4
What happened to all the 'leaders' that the Republicans are trying to foist off on the rest of the US? Fora bunch of nay-sayers, they sure don't know how to organize or lead.
2
It's past time to stop characterizing the so-called "House Freedom Caucus" as a group of conservatives, and label them for what they clearly are: anarchists.
8
This is continuing to become a real comedy. Almost tragic. The far right influences in the GOP hold too much power and sway over a lot of people who are more moderate. Where will this all end? When will it end? Will the GOP-TP ever again be a force other than one which can only say "No!" without ever providing an alternative (other than "lower taxes")?
This "silly season" is proving to be the craziest in our countries' history, at least in my lifetime. I am sure many GOP'ers are pining for someone like Ike these days. In Congress, they need someone like Sam Rayburn or Everett Dirksen. The current cabal of GOP-TP politicians in the House and Senate are consumed by their hatred of Obama and any Democrat and embroiled in any "witch hunt" on anyone of importance on the other side. As a life-long Liberal Dem and proud of it, I cannot hold that sentiment for them. We all need to work together on the issues, not just say "No!" and provide no reasonable alternative or enter into an intelligent and meaningful debate.
Lies, innuendos and fear-mongering may work some of the time, but it appears that since this implosion within the GOP-TP ranks and the low political leadership quality of their Presidential candidates, people are beginning to see through their smoke and mirrors tricks.
Let's keep the facts out there for everyone to see. It's a circus which is about to have the elephants tear down the packed tents on a stampede. Enjoy the fracas.
This "silly season" is proving to be the craziest in our countries' history, at least in my lifetime. I am sure many GOP'ers are pining for someone like Ike these days. In Congress, they need someone like Sam Rayburn or Everett Dirksen. The current cabal of GOP-TP politicians in the House and Senate are consumed by their hatred of Obama and any Democrat and embroiled in any "witch hunt" on anyone of importance on the other side. As a life-long Liberal Dem and proud of it, I cannot hold that sentiment for them. We all need to work together on the issues, not just say "No!" and provide no reasonable alternative or enter into an intelligent and meaningful debate.
Lies, innuendos and fear-mongering may work some of the time, but it appears that since this implosion within the GOP-TP ranks and the low political leadership quality of their Presidential candidates, people are beginning to see through their smoke and mirrors tricks.
Let's keep the facts out there for everyone to see. It's a circus which is about to have the elephants tear down the packed tents on a stampede. Enjoy the fracas.
3
All of this never would have happened if Obama had been willing to sit down and work with House Republicans.
3
Satire?
3
That's only what he spent his entire first term doing: extending his hand to get it bitten.
2
Do you mean the leadership which made clear at the start of Mr. Obama's term that their main legislative goal was to make sure he didn't get re-elected? Or the ones who interrupted his speech with a "you lie"? They were never prepared to work with this president.
2
Congressional Republicans will continue to eat their own offspring until no one is left. Ideological bile is no way to run a political party, let alone an entire country. The truth might set the rest of us free but it is toxic among Republicans.
10
The media heads keep talking about this "shocking" news. Seriously? Nothing the Republicans do is shocking anymore.
6
If the Republicans want to be reactionary and try to implement conservative, or even extreme conservative, policies that is their right. What they do not have a right to do is shut down the government to force their policies upon us. They have no right to "leverage" the other branches of government to do as they want because they do not have the votes or hold the presidency. They do not have the right to paralyze the functioning of the government. They need to uphold their oaths to the Constitution and their responsibility to the people of the United States and not just their small percentage of supporters.
4
The G.O.P. bas been in "disarray" for several years; that's why Boehner quit. Pelosi predicted last week that this would happen: i.e., total chaos. Extremists can't forge coalitions; they retreat into their faction and fight. Meanwhile, the nation's business does not get done.
The Democrats have an opportunity to appeal to moderates and independents nation-wide to elect moderate Democrats to replace the so-called moderate Republicans who, like Boehner and McCarthy, are unable or unwilling to cross swords with the Tea Party.
What is really ironic, of course, is that McCarthy -- never the Tea Party's favorite, by the way -- went down because he told the truth about their waste of public funds on the politically-motivated Benghazi operation. The question now ins whether, having been fooled once (shame on the Republicans), voters will allow themselves to be fooled again (shame on the voters).
The Democrats have an opportunity to appeal to moderates and independents nation-wide to elect moderate Democrats to replace the so-called moderate Republicans who, like Boehner and McCarthy, are unable or unwilling to cross swords with the Tea Party.
What is really ironic, of course, is that McCarthy -- never the Tea Party's favorite, by the way -- went down because he told the truth about their waste of public funds on the politically-motivated Benghazi operation. The question now ins whether, having been fooled once (shame on the Republicans), voters will allow themselves to be fooled again (shame on the voters).
351
Never underestimate the stupidity of the American voter.
5
He is a bumbling bafoon. One press conference and he
gives away a key to their repugnant behavior!
He would destroy the party by the time his tenure was up.
Seriously: They could not trust him in this crucial role.
gives away a key to their repugnant behavior!
He would destroy the party by the time his tenure was up.
Seriously: They could not trust him in this crucial role.
1
"A winner never quits and a quitter never wins". Richard Nixon
The house GOP is so fragmented that cooperation is out of the question. None of the candidates for Speaker have parliamentary leadership which is an essential tool to House leadership. The credentials of "conservative" or "Tea Party" do not provide the foundation of effective leadership.
The house GOP is so fragmented that cooperation is out of the question. None of the candidates for Speaker have parliamentary leadership which is an essential tool to House leadership. The credentials of "conservative" or "Tea Party" do not provide the foundation of effective leadership.
1
Is there any way that the 188 Democrats can find 30 Republicans and elect a "moderate" Republican. By moderate, I mean 3 things: 1) Raise the debt limit as needed 3) No Government Shutdowns and 3) No Haster Rule i.e open the vote up on any bill that has chance to be passed by a majority of the House, not just the GOP members.
Is this a pipe dream?
Is this a pipe dream?
5
Imagine one of these guys in the white house. The ship of state with no steersman. "Sail on, Sail on, o ship of state, to the shores of need, past the reefs of greed," indeed.
It doesn't matter, the tiller is not connected to anything in this house anyway.
It doesn't matter, the tiller is not connected to anything in this house anyway.
4
Chaos befits them. They have no idea what they are doing or what they are about.
5
"About 40 of the 247 Republicans in the House of Representatives are affiliated with the House Freedom Caucus." So why can't the 207 sane Republicans simply hold up the federal funding for all projects in the districts of those 40 renegades? Starve them into sticking with their own party.
4
Good. Although McCarthy's resume looks good.... he comes-off as a
careerist "Toadie."
careerist "Toadie."
1
I suspect chaos is the plan, not the unintended result. No Speaker, no way to get needed legislation before the House. Exactly what the "Freedom Caucus" wants: paralysis.
4
This certainly means the speaker will be some flavor of conservative. Not only does this make things more difficult for Rubio and Bush and their open border agenda, it makes things easier for Trump, who may have a reliable 'check' on him that will assuage some hesitant voters.
As much as I hate what the GOP is doing to this country, I must say, I find the rabble-rousing fascinating.
Just as the Founding Fathers hammered out their demands when the nation was being founded, we are now witnessing the birth pangs of 21st-century democracy.
We are a politically-driven nation, even with the grousing by those who would put most of us on a ship and send us into oblivion just for taking up space, but this current flurry of political gamesmanship is what gives the nation its edge.
The process may be annoying at times - as a devout socialist, I am deeply annoyed by conservatives at least once on any given day - but I treasure the cacophony of it all. It shows the nation is still under experimentation, which is a good thing, and I hope it never ends.
Just as the Founding Fathers hammered out their demands when the nation was being founded, we are now witnessing the birth pangs of 21st-century democracy.
We are a politically-driven nation, even with the grousing by those who would put most of us on a ship and send us into oblivion just for taking up space, but this current flurry of political gamesmanship is what gives the nation its edge.
The process may be annoying at times - as a devout socialist, I am deeply annoyed by conservatives at least once on any given day - but I treasure the cacophony of it all. It shows the nation is still under experimentation, which is a good thing, and I hope it never ends.
4
I would really appreciate it if the GOP would end this slow-motion car wreck, this painful descent, and just hit bottom already. Please.
Then, it can come back as something identifiable, useful, and relevant.
Mr. McCarthy knows that now is not that time; that he's young and will get his chance; not to squander it on this embarrassing mess. He has made a good personal decision.
Then, it can come back as something identifiable, useful, and relevant.
Mr. McCarthy knows that now is not that time; that he's young and will get his chance; not to squander it on this embarrassing mess. He has made a good personal decision.
4
Both Hamilton and Madison expressed concerns about political factions that put their own ideologies ahead of what was best for the country. Extreme conservatives - read that Tea Party drones - are willing to destroy the economy and the financial reputation of this country to get their way. It's like if they can paint the room the color they want, they will burn down the house.
6
"Representative David Jolly, Republican of Florida, a member of the far right, which opposed Mr. McCarthy, was asked how the party could unify. “It’s going to take a hard family conversation,” he said"
Sounds like a bunch of 12 year olds who didn't think of the consequences before acting, doesn't it??
Sounds like a bunch of 12 year olds who didn't think of the consequences before acting, doesn't it??
8
Maybe the so called Conservative Republicans are really working for Putin - because they surely don't love the United States of America. Why do I say this? Because its clear there are those who want to bankrupt it into a minor role in our lives and in the world. The last time we tried a weak union, it failed quickly and the Constitution was born. Its curious what the motivation is now since we know what happened last time.
2
If the Times' headcount on the Republicans is correct, then that does not speak well for the party. For based on those numbers it would appear that just 40 facist-minded nay-sayers members hold the other 200 or so Republicans as hostage to their aims. What has happened to the majority of the Grand Old Party?
6
All it takes now is for 30 Republicans to vote for Nancy Pelosi and the House can govern again. With the way Republicans are ripping each other apart, it seems delusional that they can unite. The way it is now, a minority faction of the party won’t be satisfied until they run the country over the cliff and bring us all down with them.
2
"Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of Kansas, echoed the sentiments of many who have been leading the revolt in the party when he said, “We’re looking for a speaker who works with the conservatives, not against us.”
Unfortunate that they are not looking for a speaker who works for the advancement of the country, but it is clear that they are not.
Unfortunate that they are not looking for a speaker who works for the advancement of the country, but it is clear that they are not.
8
Let's concede McCarthy's fatal Republican political blunder: telling the truth about the Hillary Clinton Benghazi witch hunt to score political points for the GOP. It follows, as night the day, that House Republicans concluded that McCarthy lacks the intelligence to be speaker. Republican speakers must possess the capacity to lie or at least be dodgy.
15
I say Hillary "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" Clinton's quiver is full of weapons to hurl at poor Trey Gowdy during the Benghazi Political Takedown hearings. Hillary will rip these poor clowns to shreds. Trey should show up for the hearings wearing a helmet. He will need one.
He doesn't appear to have scored points with any members of the party with whom he identifies. Do you still believe Obama is a peace maker? I conclude prevarication is not the index you seek, simply mental capacity.
It would be helpful for the NYT to inform us on the rules of how the Republican Conference organizes itself and why they continue to allow the Freedom Caucus to caucus with the rest of the Conference. Some analysis and opinion about the calculus on why this has been allowed and whether it should continue would be helpful.
I am not alone in wondering why if the Freedom Caucus members are 40 out of 247 Republicans and they are causing chaos, then why can't the Republican Conference vote to jettison these 40 members from caucusing with the rest of the Republicans in the House. The Times has reported that the Freedom Caucus meets separately, anyway.
Without these 40 members, the Republican Conference can nominate whomever they please. That would still leave them with a majority of 207 members when compared with the Democrat's 188. It's a slimmer margin, but one doubts that the Freedom Caucus will use its 40 votes to place Nancy Pelosi in power when there is a full floor vote for the Speaker. While a 207 member majority might sometimes lead to some Republicans to ocassionally work with Democrats for securing votes on tough legislation, that's what has been happening anyway.
In the end, let the Freedom Caucus be "free" - be free to realize that they are a minority of 40 out of 435 elected members and that they do not represent the majority of Americans and certainly not the majority of Republicans.
I am not alone in wondering why if the Freedom Caucus members are 40 out of 247 Republicans and they are causing chaos, then why can't the Republican Conference vote to jettison these 40 members from caucusing with the rest of the Republicans in the House. The Times has reported that the Freedom Caucus meets separately, anyway.
Without these 40 members, the Republican Conference can nominate whomever they please. That would still leave them with a majority of 207 members when compared with the Democrat's 188. It's a slimmer margin, but one doubts that the Freedom Caucus will use its 40 votes to place Nancy Pelosi in power when there is a full floor vote for the Speaker. While a 207 member majority might sometimes lead to some Republicans to ocassionally work with Democrats for securing votes on tough legislation, that's what has been happening anyway.
In the end, let the Freedom Caucus be "free" - be free to realize that they are a minority of 40 out of 435 elected members and that they do not represent the majority of Americans and certainly not the majority of Republicans.
16
Subtract the 40 and the Republicans have fewer members than the Democrats. Not so difficult to figure out what these 40 get away with their obduracy.
"...leaving the GOP in disarray," says the NYT lede. Ah, the GOP has been in disarray for years. This is only the latest example. Republicans prove daily that those who have contempt for government shouldn't be running it.
11
Wait wait wait I KNOW.....Lets have a vote on repealing Obamacare!!!!!! That should distract the family values voters!
23
Was he able to read his prepared statement without lapsing into pidgin English...?
4
3 guys in the running, one drops out and the speaker stops the election.
2
Does this mean we have to give back our jackets?
Agree with others that the Democratic Party should be all over this. Claim competency where the GOP cannot. Stand up for the average citizen, and not the crazies on either far end of the spectrum. Govern, for a change, and promise to govern wisely moving forward. HUGE OPPORTUNITY here, Democrats. Where are you????
8
The future of the Republican party has been foretold in the rise and fall of Pete Wilson's California Republicans. Ol' Pete rose on a tide of white rage, immigrant bashing and tax cuts. When that tide went out so did the Republicans. Today they got nothing and it looks like that's all they have to look forward to for quite a long time. Enjoy what time you have Tea Partiers, history is about to put a big, old hammer on you.
6
Geez, and to think of all the energy and time that Fox spent on Benghazi and Hillary. Now what? Oh, wait.
3
Sounds to me that the best way for the House to operate under these "unsettled" conditions is to elect Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. Then we'd have a "coalition" management of the business of the House, the hardcore conservatives can rant and rave as much as they'd like, and we'd have a way to move the country's agenda forward.
5
that would certainly get them to unite - against her. It's the only kind of uniting they do successfully.
So nothing gets done for a while longer, other than what Obama can do by Executive order. America is losing ground quickly in a world that is speeding up.
9
This is how it will all work out:
1. The fractured Republican Conference will go through many fruitless rounds of voting for a speaker-nominee
2. This cycle ends when the plurality 'mainstream' agrees no candidate acceptable to the mainstream and the hardliners can be identified
3. The plurality makes the essence of its ongoing secret talks with Democrats public, and announces an accord "only through the end of this Congress," with Democrats pledging to help install a Republican speaker to break the impasse, and seeking no other change in status quo
4. Plurality 'mainstream' Republicans and the Democratic Conference elect a non-hardliner Republican speaker
5. Crises are averted as the debt ceiling is raised, the continuing resolutions renewed and the TPP ratified. Hardliners accuse the new speaker of having struck a 'corrupt bargain' with Democrats
6. Cycle of Republican political retribution begins with the new ruling Republican plurality denying leadership jobs and 2016 campaign funding to the Gang of 40 hardliners.
7. The hardliners and their billionaire sponsors deploy expensive TV smear campaigns against the new mainstream speaker and the speaker's allies.
8. Cowed by the hardliners, the Republican nominee for president joins in condemning the Republican House plurality at the RNC in Cleveland
9. On Election Day 2016, the Democratic nominee wins the presidency in a landslide. The new speaker and the speaker's faction fail to win re-election
1. The fractured Republican Conference will go through many fruitless rounds of voting for a speaker-nominee
2. This cycle ends when the plurality 'mainstream' agrees no candidate acceptable to the mainstream and the hardliners can be identified
3. The plurality makes the essence of its ongoing secret talks with Democrats public, and announces an accord "only through the end of this Congress," with Democrats pledging to help install a Republican speaker to break the impasse, and seeking no other change in status quo
4. Plurality 'mainstream' Republicans and the Democratic Conference elect a non-hardliner Republican speaker
5. Crises are averted as the debt ceiling is raised, the continuing resolutions renewed and the TPP ratified. Hardliners accuse the new speaker of having struck a 'corrupt bargain' with Democrats
6. Cycle of Republican political retribution begins with the new ruling Republican plurality denying leadership jobs and 2016 campaign funding to the Gang of 40 hardliners.
7. The hardliners and their billionaire sponsors deploy expensive TV smear campaigns against the new mainstream speaker and the speaker's allies.
8. Cowed by the hardliners, the Republican nominee for president joins in condemning the Republican House plurality at the RNC in Cleveland
9. On Election Day 2016, the Democratic nominee wins the presidency in a landslide. The new speaker and the speaker's faction fail to win re-election
1
Interesting scenario, but it's equally likely that Mr. Boehner just stays on the job. The hardliners might be able to veto the selection of a replacement, but they don't have enough votes to force him out, since the Democrats would likely abstain or vote against such a motion. Because he doesn't want the job, the hardliners have no leverage on him. He forces through a year-long continuing resolution and debt extension with Democratic votes. Any Koch-led attack on him is likely to fall on deaf ears because Mr. Boehner has no interest in the job anyway--If he wasn't such an emotional guy, I'd think the whole thing was planned, although Mr. McCarthy seems incapable of planning anything.
Again, I note that if there are any real "moderates" in the Republican Party, particularly in the House, who care about their country more than electoral benefit (ha!), they could work something out with the Democrats under which Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker, but the Republicans keep most of the committee chairs and have a equal say in the agenda. The Hastert rule has brought them to this point.
1
Another step towards the end of the Republican Party.
2
He damaged his candidacy by being to candid.
1
The ex-future Speaker spoke too much.
No doubt the GOP believes this is all the fault of we Dems for electing a bi-racial president.....TWICE. Oh wait a minute, a lot of Republicans voted for him also rather than the other choice.
1
The crown prince did'nt want the throne! Can you blame him when the kingdom is in shambles. The more pragmatic the Republican, the more they don't want to be in the hot seat. High regard for each member of the 'Team'?? What team?
The Republicans have become a bunch of lunatics, a disparate group of toxic, raving extremists. If his Benghazi comment was his undoing, then he should consider it a blessing in disguise.It has saved him from being devoured by this pack of wolves. Perhaps his pragmatic Californian conscience refused.
The Republicans have become a bunch of lunatics, a disparate group of toxic, raving extremists. If his Benghazi comment was his undoing, then he should consider it a blessing in disguise.It has saved him from being devoured by this pack of wolves. Perhaps his pragmatic Californian conscience refused.
3
On the one hand, this is a theater of the absurd, befitting a party -- the erstwhile "party of Lincoln" -- that has abandoned responsible governance in favor if mindless obstructionism. On the other hand, the office in question, speaker of the House, is, after the vice president of the United States, next in line for the presidency.
Is it too much for a citizen to ask that presumed grown-ups think of the possible consequences of insisting upon acting like little children?
Is it too much for a citizen to ask that presumed grown-ups think of the possible consequences of insisting upon acting like little children?
7
We are teetering on the edge of a Constitutional cliff because one party has been recklessly wrecking the Congress in an effort to take down a president.
Adults acting like 7th graders.
Meanwhile their presidential candidates are hardly doing anything to bring this country together.
In a country awash with guns. At a time when bigotry and xenophobia are being openly seeded by elected officials and candidates from the same dysfunctional party.
These are ominous signs.
Adults acting like 7th graders.
Meanwhile their presidential candidates are hardly doing anything to bring this country together.
In a country awash with guns. At a time when bigotry and xenophobia are being openly seeded by elected officials and candidates from the same dysfunctional party.
These are ominous signs.
13
Acting like 7th graders? More like feral kindergartners!
1
While the current GOPT House may claim to get its philosophical vision and inspiration from Ayn Rand and "Atlas Shrugged", I have long thought that, in reality, they are best described as having descended into the realm of William Golding's "Lord of the Flies". This latest struggle -- over 'the conch' aka Speakership -- couldn't illustrate it better.
I do wonder when we will have an outside intervention of 'adults' on the scene to restore some sanity to American politics, and how much more chaos the American citizenry will have to endure before that happens.
I do wonder when we will have an outside intervention of 'adults' on the scene to restore some sanity to American politics, and how much more chaos the American citizenry will have to endure before that happens.
3
How's that American Exceptionalism workin' for ya?
9
I read that the person doesnt even have to be a member of Congress - can that be true? In that case, just go to the right wing peanut gallery and throw a dart.
Job Description: It has to be someone unable to think or govern.
Job Description: It has to be someone unable to think or govern.
6
That's correct. When George Nethercutt rant against Tom Foley (and ultimately beat him) the subject was discussed (including openly by the candidates themselves) and it was pretty clear that if Foley were to lose his seat but the Democrats remained in the majority, he would have kept his job as Speaker.
It appears the Tea Party would rather cause another Great Depression and destroy all government programs (their beloved "defense" spending would be collateral damage, ironically enough) in order to finally "beat" President Obama.
If that happens, frankly, the GOP representatives responsible should be tried for treason and shot. The GOP today is a nasty, ugly, reprehensible institution. It should enter the garbage heap of history, sooner rather than later. As a former Republican, I am beyond disgusted by the ignorant, juvenile, unpatriotic mess that party has become.
If that happens, frankly, the GOP representatives responsible should be tried for treason and shot. The GOP today is a nasty, ugly, reprehensible institution. It should enter the garbage heap of history, sooner rather than later. As a former Republican, I am beyond disgusted by the ignorant, juvenile, unpatriotic mess that party has become.
11
The country holds its breath because of a tantrum by 40 members of the House. NYT, please explore the characteristics of the districts that elect these ideologues. Who is electing them and why?
15
Excellent point!
McCarthy made Palin and Bachmann sound articulate.
3
www.newyorkgritty.net