Okay, Now Think This Through …
I know you’re excited that John Boehner is resigning Congress. I know I am.
But I am scared witless over who is going to take his place.
First, it has to be a Republican, so there’s no upside to this.
Second, it could be Louie Gohmert, which might be kinda fun … for a couple of hours.
Third, moderate house Republicans meet in an abandoned phone booth.
Look, if he can escape because he’s sick of dealing with the Tea party, why don’t we have that option?
Right now, there’s speculation that Jeb Henserling (a Texan) will take his place.
When I read that news it reminded me of an old Rolling Stones song.
“I’m gonna walk before they make me run.”
1Possible successor: Kevin McCarthy, the next in line. Assigned to only one committee – Financial Services. 60 members. This committee covers anything with a dollar sign such as capital markets and government sponsored enterprises, financial institutions and consumer credit, housing and insurance, monetary policy and trade, oversight and investigations. This is his 5th term in Congress.
2Well, we know if it is Louis or one of his pointy head idiot brethern; they’ll be trying everyday to set up a church
3on The Mall. And, they’ll be sending the capital police to arrest the President every day they are in session; which isn’t that much. But boy are they annoying the few days that they’re there.
Loony Louie or Zippy the Pinhead-Trey Gowdy
Now there’s a choice.
4I think the straw that broke the camel’s back must have been having to tell his own caucus how to behave when the Pope came. How embarrassing that we have a Majority in the House that simply does not understand basic civility. For a split second, I felt sorry for Boehner for having to deal with these idiots and then I remembered that they were his idiots. He just reminded me that they are, in fact, our idiots.
5This was a “holy crap” moment for me. How unbelievably dysfunctional must the House GOP be to walk away from being two heartbeats from the presidency because you just can’t deal with their crap any more.
I mean, without a scandal. Maybe there’s something about his orange dye usage – rehab coming?
Maybe…maybe dare we hope, he’s going to spend the next 5 weeks doing his job, wrangling non-crazies and joining democrats, and avoiding shutdowns and de-funds and all other manner of nonsense.
6There are a lot of Rs worse than orange man.
7Actually, it doesn’t have to be a republican. It doesn’t even have to be a member of the house.
8Now the extremists will have to appease the moderates to get a majority The shoe is on the other foot.
The home team has gone out to the field and the visiting team is at bat. Swing and a miss!
Or football, the rookie quarterback is up against a veteran defense. He will be lucky to get one first down.
I see this as a really good thing. The crazier the Republicans get the better our chances of taking back the House of Representatives.
Remember Newt’s Contract on America? And the shellacking he took for it?
9Actually, we can feel sorry for Boehner. His problem has been one that, to a lesser degree, is a problem Democratic leaders face, the loss of party discipline. Because of gerrymandered legislative districts and big money, legislators disregard their party leadership, answering only to the local party base and the Plutocratic Investing Money in Politicians (PIMPS) who secure their nominations to safe seats.
10Ya never miss someone til their gone. Being the cork in a pressure cooker is tough job.
11My first thought was that he thought the Pope was getting too much attention and now was a good time to announce.
My second thought is that there are even worse Republicans in the House.
The devil you know…………..
12Obviously, that should be “Plutocrats Investing Money in Politicians.”
13Uncle Dave, Kudos for “Plutocrats Investing Money in Politicians.”
14Uncle Dave, I love PIMPS. Can we borrow it? You do have the copyright?
15The after-Boehner problem: who do backfill the empty slots downline from the Speakership?
16I wonder if Boehner couldn’t face his own hypocrisy any longer after coming face to face with Francis? I remember when he first took the speakership; I wanted to ask him, are you SURE, John? It’s not like the good old days when Tip O’Neill was Speaker- and we can thank that worthless little $hit Tom Delay and his good buddy Gingrich for that.
Uncle Dave: PIMPS is spectacular! Splendid!
17Maybe when Speaker Boehner cried next to the Pope it was tears of release?
Seriously, no (mentally) competent person would want the Speakership if it came to dealing with the “irascible” members or this Congress. OTOH, there is Louie…
18It makes sense to me that he’d step down as Speaker; he’s not going to succeed in defunding Planned Parenthood, and he might not survive the inevitable ensuing challenge.
I’m a little surprised that he’s giving up his Congressional seat altogether, though. I know he’s an emotional guy, but that seems… odd. Maybe he doesn’t want to serve under a Speaker he knows he won’t respect, or maybe he’s just sick of it all.
I’m going to miss the old orange Grinch. Wonder who’ll replace him as Speaker, and who will gain his seat in Congress?
19Marion, it’s to share.
20@Uncle Dave
+1
Consider PIMPS stolen! But with attribution.
I rather look forward to the furball that will be the choice by the majority party for the next Speaker. If Ralph Wiggam is right and negotiation is called for, the true believing T’s fail because they can’t exist without getting their way. Plus they are bereft of that vision thing. Which leaves us where? Don’t know. But I can guarantee I will enjoy watching them squirm. Oh and I’ll enjoy the losers trying to eat the new Speaker because they lost. Dems really if they can should just stfu and watch the show.
21Oh, Uncle Dave, may we use PIMPS elsewhere? Please and Thank you.
22The “House” has proven itself to be utterly incompetent. Those Congress critters have passed nothing without the help of Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic members of the House.
Remember Budget Boy, Paul Ryan? He had nothing. He wandered around displaying blank pages, until Senator Murray wrote a budget for which he took credit.
Budget crunch time is upon them again; once again lying Ryan has nothing. As for the other moronics in the House who have been nipping at Boner’s heels while he nips at his bottle, dysfunctional isn’t a sufficient adjective for their incompetence.
Boehner owes the Democrats, particularly former Speaker Pelosi. Question is: are there enough sane Republicans in the House to meet with Democrats to re-elect Representative Pelosi as their leader.
23I need a scotch. Under the current circumstances (it really pains me to say this), Boehner is probably the relatively sane one in this crew. The politically realistic replacements are mind-boggling.
This added to the mix of looming government shutdown negotiations is probably going to guarantee a shutdown. In that chaos, a bagger or bagger-lite could take the position (3rd in line in presidential succession) side stepping less ‘pure’ conservative candidates.
A ‘moderate’ conservative emerging as a winner depends on a vast number of the House members of all parties to gain perspective, rationality, intelligence, compassion, etc (all those things Pope Francis spoke of yesterday). I wish I believed in miracles but I tend to believe in statistics more.
This is depressing. I need a double scotch.
24I suspect we are going to get someone worse, but that may set off the Law of Unintended Consequences for right-wing Republicans. Their dysfunctionality and refusal to govern will become even more apparent.
I do hope it’s true that Boehner is going to push through a one-year budgeting solution (see below). That would put the next Repub shutdown threat right before the next election.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/26/us/john-boehner-to-resign-from-congress.html
Quote from Source:
“The early reports are discouraging,” Mr. Cruz said. “If it is correct that the speaker, before he resigns, has cut a deal with Nancy Pelosi to fund the Obama administration for the rest of this year, to fund Obamacare, to fund executive amnesty, to fund Planned Parenthood, to fund implementation of this Iran deal and then presumably to land a cushy K Street job after joining with the Democrats to implement all of President Obama’s priorities, that is not the behavior one would expect from a Republican speaker of the House.”
Of course this speculation is coming from Cruz and the NYTimes, so there may not be a grain of truth in it.
25It won’t be Screwy Louie. Wingnut factions may split the vote and allow a Democrat to take over and then he/she could fire every wingnut in sight and replace them with actual feeling,caring humans.
26Representative Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania, said: “The next speaker is going to have a very tough job. The fundamental dynamics don’t change.”
From the mouths of babes-the most revealing description of wingnuts in congress and it is unintentional. Fun,Dumb and Mental-funduhmental.
27I am sure he had grown tired of dealing with his petulant children. He helped bring them into the world, but nothing says you have to like your own children!
28I think Maggie is right. Kevin McCarthy apparently has a lot of people skills. Also, near as I can tell, he is not insane.
Considering some of the alternatives, McCarthy sounds acceptable.
29Firstly – It will NOT be a reasonable person. The scariest person one can consider is the most likely to ascend.
Secondly – Rule out McCarty, Ryan or someone from the north or far west. Think really crazy: hensarling, sessions, barton, some guy/gal from tennesaw, ala-damn-bama, gee-orgia, so car, misterssippi or cruz of tex-ass. Remember the Speaker may be any dud or some dud. Keep an eye on gutherie from kentucky.
30No snarky comment from me today on this. As much as I thought Boehner was cornered by the Tea Party, the spectre (and that’s the exact word) of who will follow is downright scary.
31What fresh Hell is this?
32Boehner may want to “do a Cantor” — resign, get a posh job lobbying, make a ton of money, retire in Florida. As with all GOPers, it’s always “Follow the money!”
33Jeb Henserling? Maybe by default. Worse yet, the odds favor Kevin McCarthy from those not too secret enclaves of Koch/John Birch Society pockets of California.
If the GOPigs go full bore racist, there’s always that KKK dude, Steve Scalise.
34“Speaker Cruz”
I don’t think there’s anything that could scare me more.
35Maybe the Orange is because his liver finally failed and he needs to get in line for a new one.
36McCarthy is a far right tea party ideologue, from the Central Valley of California, which has the high temperatures and dusty terrain that bakes brain cells, much like my dear native Dallas.
37The GOP “Establishment” embraced this “movement” called the Tea Party.
How ironic is it…. that it has come back to bite them in the butt?
Much as I would like to feel sorry for Boehner… I just can’t
For almost (8) years, the United States House of Representatives has done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to benefit the American people. They held more votes than I can count to stop, or overturn Obamacare. They have held more hearings than I can count on Benghazi. They have done nothing but obstruct the President of the United States.
You reap what you sow.
38Nina beat me to it
39Speaker Cruz – no problem he will just make the House part of his Presidential campaign.
Think of how much money he could “redirect” to his campaign coffers.
Step back and watch, because the next several weeks won’t be pretty. More like piranhas in a feeding frenzy, mindlessly chomping each other to bits. The various Republican/Tea Party factions will be unable to overcome their philosophical (to use the term loosely) differences and nothing but further and even worse chaos is likely to ensue. That will further alienate the public at large. The Republican Party as it has been known in our lifetimes may well obliterate itself in a political supernova by Christmas. All that Democrats need to do is stay the course, stay out of it and remain true to their principles.
40@Nancy,
Ran across a new-to-me nick for them over at DailyKos: “Repidiots”…almost perfect.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/25/1424908/-no-more-boehner
And the best jab yet, a tweet from a ‘David Stroup’:
Dave Stroup @DaveStroup
Developing: House Republicans create job.
9:40 AM – 25 Sep 2015
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/25/1424831/-The-funniest-tweets-so-far-in-response-to-John-Boehner-s-resignation
41Bravo, Uncle Dave! PIMPS is perfect.
42Words of wisdom: ” Be careful what you wish for.” The repugs welcomed the crazies with open arms, the better to hate Obama and Democrats. Except that hate soon was aimed at the party, itself. Umpty Dump’s description of the coming power struggle may well be what helps bring Americans to their senses: a surge of Democrats back to Congress and the White House.
43I fervently pray.
Uhh, yeah. Don’t think Cruz is eligible, since he’s in the Senate. Though the way he likes to go over to the House and try to boss them around, you’d never know.
And what’s this about the Speaker not being required to be a member of the House? Since it’s an electoral body, wouldn’t its leader have to be an elected member? Somebody Constitution-y, please explain.
44Scorpie: “Actually, it doesn’t have to be a republican. It doesn’t even have to be a member of the house.” .. Does that mean that they could appoint Trump or Palin. It might almost be worth it. If we are going to hell it might as well be fun.
45My apologies if this has been answered and we’re all caught up in the approval queue.
It’s at the end of Art. 1, Sec. 2: “The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.” (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html)
Beyond being chosen by the members of the House, the Constitution does not prescribe any qualifications for Speaker of the House. Granted, no Speaker has ever been chosen who was not a member of the House of Representatives, so this has not been tested.
46Uncle Dave, “P.I.M.P.S” is simply the best. Thanks.
Old Fart, “no (mentally) competent person would want the Speakership” and no “no (mentally) competent person [will get] the Speakership.
Bye, bye Boner, bye bye!
47I guess this means the House Republicans will no longer have a ‘boner?’
48So Boehner got voted off the island.
I think it was the island depicted in “Lord of the Flies.”
49Maddow did an expose on McCarthy last night. In office since 2007 – two (2) pieces of legislation – renaming a post office to Buck Owens and renaming a space site to Neil Armstrong –
Yeppers, he is ready to be POTUS – I have a feeling he is incompetent.
50