In an age of negative partisanship, the best reason to support the Democratic Party is . . . the Republican Party
I think Democrats were probably right to refuse to bail out McCarthy. The main reason is that this will likely prolong the current shitshow being staged by the House Republicans, which will help Democrats in 2024 by reminding voters just how crazy and exhausting the Republicans are. The Republicans can’t do this often enough.
The fact that McCarthy lied is a reason to oppose him, but a less weighty reason – what is the chance that his replacement will lie less than he did? A reasonable case can be made that his lying was mostly situational. Given the position he was in – right wingers threatening to depose him for not defunding large swaths of the government or causing a debt default or a government shutdown – what was he supposed to do? His replacement may be more trustworthy, but if so it will likely be because the Democrats negotiate better procedural protections or the new Speaker successfully resists demands to let the Freedom Caucus end his or her term on a whim.
There is a view that McCarthy embarrassed himself by his oh-so-evident inability to lead his caucus. I dislike the guy, but I’m not really persuaded by this. You can argue he should have refused the Speaker job without more power to operate independently and get support from Democrats on key legislation. We will see if someone else does better negotiating with the Freedom Caucus. But given where he ended up, what’s so embarrassing? Pelosi was obviously going to be a hard act to follow, but for all the drama he avoided a debt default and then a shutdown, both of which would have greatly damaged his party, and very possibly the country.
In any event, good riddance, don’t let the door hit you on the way out . . . and let’s just hope his replacement isn’t worse.
Somewhere in this is Biden’s exit from the Ukraine war.
@Eric,
LOL! I certainly hope not. Biden is not the servile tool of Putin that the modern GOP has become. Of course, Putin at this point is completely supportive of a forever war. The US and its allies must disabuse him of that.
“When Westerners talk about the conflict in Ukraine becoming a “forever war,” they tend to mean it as a bad thing. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, though, it likely is a goal.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/03/opinions/why-putin-wants-a-forever-war-galeotti/index.html
Joel:
I am going to guess you mean Americans grousing about Ukrainians sucking up US dollars in weaponry to fight a war with the Russians.
The 155s (I worked with for a while as did my nephew too) sent over there were on their way to being obsolete the same as fighter jets compared to cardboard drones. Wasn’t pulling the trigger (so to speak) on those massive self-propelled guns. Crypto techs are too valuable.
We are not happy when we do the fighting and aren’t happy when we help others do the fighting. Good to make the Russians pay.
“Somewhere in this is Biden’s exit from the Ukraine war.”
Thank you for this critically important observation.
Thank you!
“Somewhere in this is Biden’s exit from the Ukraine war.”
Somewhere in this “should be” Biden’s exit from the Ukraine war.
Of course, Biden and congressional Democrats at this point are completely supportive of a forever war.
@ltr, how much land should Putting be allowed to steal? Something about the size of Taiwan?
Or Siberia? Russia claims it, but doesn’t “control” it
Jack:
Not much and Putin has not paid enough yet. He is no Napolean leading the troops.
It seems typical that Dems might agnonize about whether they should have supported McCarthy’s attempt to stay Speaker. After not doing so. Why bother?
Well, duh!
Trump for House speaker
Fox News – late yesterday
@Fred,
LOL! I wonder if he can preside and vote via Zoom or Skype from the courtrooms at his various trials. Or maybe he’ll try to use the speakership as an excuse to delay the trial until after the 2024 election!
Well, I am pretty sure that Dem Representatives won’t vote for him to be Speaker.
Right Wingers Push for Alleged Felon to Become New House Speaker
Rolling Stone – Oct 3
FYI, the position of ‘Speaker pro tempore’ while not appearing in the Constitution, does appear here:
Rules of the House of Representatives
There’s a PDF at the link above. It does outline what is currently going on, under ‘Rules of the House of Representatives’, about 5 pages in. Go figure!
What Can Patrick McHenry, the Interim Speaker, Do?
NY Times – Oct 4
I don’t consider myself a Democrat. I am an anti-Republican. This is because I am at my core an anti-authoritarian. The Democratic Party is the only serious tool available to you if you want to do battle with the authoritarians. That doesn’t mean you need to join the party..
I used to feel that way. For many years. I finally decided in 2020 that I had to take a different tack. US Democracy (or is it a Republic) is essentially a two-party deal, like it or not. If you are not in one or the other, you have no voice, really.
I became a Democrat, as a supporter of Joe Biden. I’m still donating monthly to his campaign thru ActBlue. Also donating to the Dem party a lesser amount, the same way. Easy enough to stop such donations when I feel it’s appropriate to do so.
FWIW, ActBlue will take yer donations whether you are in a party or not.
I have an elderly friend who feels the same way about being an ‘anti-Republican’.
He insists that the US has a multi-party system. Libertarians & Greens, not to mention Socialist Workers & Working Families, which my friend would certainly have nothing to do with. (‘Dang Socialists!’) I ask how many seats they have in Congress. He has no answer to that. He’s probably thinking of AOC.
This is a scam, in reality. Unfortunately. The Electoral College System makes it so.
Presidential candidates have to have electoral vote majorities. Having three viable political parties makes such majorites most unlikely. Results then get decided in the House of Representatives. One state, one vote. Even if there weren’t a lopsided GOP majority of congressional delegations dominated by the GOP, this is extremely undemocratic, giving Wyoming or North Dakota, etc just as much of a say as California & NY (or even Texas & Florida.)
My friend says, ‘All ya gotta do is change the Electoral College System.’
Fred:
The House in a Democratic way represents by population for legislation. States like California should have more House Representatives than what they have now. The result is an unbalanced legislation for states with larger populations. The balance for legislation is in the Senate for states with a lesser population. The Electoral College was bastardized so as not to have more Representatives.
I put up a post that disappeared, to the effect that having a multi-party system messes up presidential elections because of the way the Electoral College System works. Until that’s fixed (Constitutional Amendment required), running third-party candidates is a very dangerous idea. That’s a GOP-fall back strategy that will work for them.
Fall-back strategies rarely work, as often as not bullet meet buttock
If the GOP can control enough minority voting next year, they won’t need their decide-it-in-the-House fallback. (Un)fortunately that worked for them in 2016. Somehow a bunch of voters in a few key states chose to vote for 3rd party candidates.
@Fred,
Yes, in a first-past-the-post system such as ours, more than two parties is unstable.
A caveat, I guess. If you insist on being an Anti-Republican, as I was for many years, as long as you commit to voting for Dem candidates (especially for presidential candidates) and not third-party ones, you are doing your part to maintain what passes for democracy in the good ol’ USA. Until the GOP gets over its authoritarian tendencies.
It arguably shouldn’t be this way, but this is the way it has to be.
My elderly friend, unfortunately, refuses to do this, because of those ‘dang socialists’.
Fortunately, MA is so lopsidedly Dem that a few random votes is not going to put us in the GOP column. There’s a poll in the Globe today about attititudes in NH about MA, and how ex-pats moving up north from here are ruining their live-free-or-die GOP sensibilities. They have no GOP senators or representatives any more, although their state officeholders are of the GOP still. They voted for Biden last time out and would be expected to again, even though Trump leads the GOP primary polls by a huge margin.
SW:
Accepted answer . . .
Looks like Trump does not want the Speaker’s job.
Trump Endorses Jim Jordan in Race for House Speaker
NY Times – earlier today
Related?
How Gerontocracy Explains the Matt Gaetz Clown Show
NY Times – Ross Douthat – Oct 4