He Doesn't Have the Votes

 

So, maybe someone out there felt a bit of momentum for McCarthy when the Phantom of Mar-a-Lago dipped his oar in to endorse his speakership. Whoever felt that, felt wrong, because Lauren Boebert summed up the problems as follows:

"Let’s stop with the campaign smears and tactics to get people to turn against us — even having my favorite president call us and tell us we need to knock this off," Boebert said on the House floor Wednesday. "I think it actually needs to be reversed; the president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that, sir, you do not have the votes, and it’s time to withdraw."

Now, Trump isn't still the president obviously, but he's also demonstrably not the boss of the Freedom Caucus.  He's the leader of the Trumpiest people in the GOP--as long as they agree with him. That's a very interesting thing to know.  Trump is a figurehead, but not a respected one. He can be defied.

Anyway, McCarthy got one favorable vote today: the vote to adjourn after three votes went against him, and he wasted everyone's time to decide to put a pin in it and circle back at eight o'clock eastern standard just to decide that the definition of crazy is doing the same thing multiple times and expecting different results. 

To open up the floor to getting his nose rubbed in it starting noon Thursday? Is this a fetish he has? 

Is someone going to offer up Scalise? Wilder still--is someone going to offer up Stefaniak? I don't know, but as long as the vote is for McCarthy, it looks like you have at least 20 hard noes, who have all committed to doing this shit for not days, but weeks. They don't care about governance because that isn't what they are here for. They are all reality show people who came on to tell the world they are not here to make friends, talk to the hand, the face isn't listening, and other blather. 

There's a real metaphor in the removal of the House metal detectors, and in the plan to gut House ethics. It's oppositional defiance disorder as a governing principle. These are mavericks who don't want anyone to be the boss of them. They probably have shutting down the government for kicks on the list of shit they want to do once they have "won" whatever it is they think they are winning. They might block raising the debt limit because some of these stunads don't even know what that is--and don't have a real problem with it ushering in a recession if they think they can blame Biden for it, anyway. 

There is also some criticism of the Democrats for uniformly voting for Hakeem Jeffries because don't they even want to bail the GOP out from the problem that its wholly and totally a GOP joint? And who the hell is Kat Cammack?  She needs to know it doesn't take alcohol to be inebriated by the fumes of Republican fail. And if anyone is making Republicans look bad, it isn't the Dems, they are just holding up a mirror. 

GTFO. Either the Republican party can figure out their own shit, or they are admitting they aren't grown enough to govern, Full stop. It isn't the Democrats' problem to bail them out. They want to settle this shit? Find a half dozen honest Republicans who will vote for Jeffries. He's been winning these plurality votes. Do you need a bigger hint about who is organized and ready? 

It doesn't get Republicans what they want, but what they would actually do if in charge is impeach Biden for bullshit, waste time investigating a laptop, probably shut down the government at least once if not fuck up the debt ceiling thing, and just be useless signifying pests. 

It's totally true that McCarthy doesn't have the votes, but the GOP doesn't deserve a consensus GOP leader because they suck. If Justin Amash wants to show up and pretend he could get the votes, great: he needs to dress for the job he wants and put on some big red shoes, because this is a clown show and he want the job of head clown. Same as any other supposed GOP savior candidate: who are you and why are you special? If you aren't even Kevin McCarthy? Who has been here. Even if haplessly.