The vote orchestrated by a group of far-right lawmakers leaves the House without leadership. The speaker was unable to manage a bitter power struggle within the Republican Party.
I’m surprised Dems decided to join in ousting him instead of voting present and letting him stay. But I guess watching GOP flail in another month-long speaker election can only help contrast them.
Democrats didn’t vote to vacate because they like to watch chaos. They simply will not support McCarthy unless he offers something in return. Their vote is a bargaining chip and they aren’t throwing it away.
Especially after he backtracked on the compromise with Biden and then loudly announced he would not concede anything to Dems. The guy went to Home Depot and bought the rope himself. Like, it wasn’t going to end well for him either way, but it isn’t sad. He constructed this situation, he shouldn’t be surprised it blew up in his face.
It’s not a good look and they should have left him in. They are supposed to be the adults who do what’s best for the country, and instead of leaving a guy in place who has shown at least some inclination to break with the nut jobs and do what’s right, they are letting the entire chamber shut down until who knows when and some equivalent or worse republican is stood up in his place.
The Dems have TRIED being the adults, and it hasn’t worked; it’s only gotten the country to where it is now. Might as well sabotage the party and let them wallow in their misery for another couple weeks.
Lol. As an adult myself, I have yet to give up even though my kids have been acting like children for years now. You’re not actually that responsible if it’s only in small bursts when you feel like it.
You absolutely choose to be a member of the House of Representatives and the Democratic Party. Way more so than most parents choose to have kids. It can be shockingly easy to have a kid, but it’s a bit of A Thing to be elected to the House.
Sorry, I hard disagree. Democrats have nothing to gain by and no responsibility for gratuitously voting for McCarthy. Republicans claim they have the majority, and that is how they control the chamber. But in fact, they do not, because an even more extreme right-wing third party is operating in bad faith under the GOP banner.
So the GOP wants the benefits of chamber control (speakership) without the responsibilities (voting majority). To not hold them to a voting majority is to give them a windfall of power without the votes to justify it.
They would have effectively owned him and forced him to act as a proper Speaker and not a political Muppet.
They have no reliable leverage, unfortunately. After this vote, Gaetz and his merry band of misfits may change their mind. Similarly, their only “leverage” would be McCarthy honoring whatever agreement they came to prior to the vote.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !politics@beehaw.org
In-depth political discussion from around the world; if it’s a political happening, you can post it here.
Guidelines for submissions:
Where possible, post the original source of information.
If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.
These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.
I’m surprised Dems decided to join in ousting him instead of voting present and letting him stay. But I guess watching GOP flail in another month-long speaker election can only help contrast them.
Democrats didn’t vote to vacate because they like to watch chaos. They simply will not support McCarthy unless he offers something in return. Their vote is a bargaining chip and they aren’t throwing it away.
Especially after he backtracked on the compromise with Biden and then loudly announced he would not concede anything to Dems. The guy went to Home Depot and bought the rope himself. Like, it wasn’t going to end well for him either way, but it isn’t sad. He constructed this situation, he shouldn’t be surprised it blew up in his face.
It’s not a good look and they should have left him in. They are supposed to be the adults who do what’s best for the country, and instead of leaving a guy in place who has shown at least some inclination to break with the nut jobs and do what’s right, they are letting the entire chamber shut down until who knows when and some equivalent or worse republican is stood up in his place.
The Dems have TRIED being the adults, and it hasn’t worked; it’s only gotten the country to where it is now. Might as well sabotage the party and let them wallow in their misery for another couple weeks.
Lol. As an adult myself, I have yet to give up even though my kids have been acting like children for years now. You’re not actually that responsible if it’s only in small bursts when you feel like it.
That’s… not a very good analogy. You chose to have kids. None of them chose to have evil/idiocy incarnate for coworkers.
You absolutely choose to be a member of the House of Representatives and the Democratic Party. Way more so than most parents choose to have kids. It can be shockingly easy to have a kid, but it’s a bit of A Thing to be elected to the House.
Sorry, I hard disagree. Democrats have nothing to gain by and no responsibility for gratuitously voting for McCarthy. Republicans claim they have the majority, and that is how they control the chamber. But in fact, they do not, because an even more extreme right-wing third party is operating in bad faith under the GOP banner.
So the GOP wants the benefits of chamber control (speakership) without the responsibilities (voting majority). To not hold them to a voting majority is to give them a windfall of power without the votes to justify it.
They would have effectively owned him and forced him to act as a proper Speaker and not a political Muppet.
I can only assume this was offered and McCarthy would rather go down in flames than serve on his knees.
They have no reliable leverage, unfortunately. After this vote, Gaetz and his merry band of misfits may change their mind. Similarly, their only “leverage” would be McCarthy honoring whatever agreement they came to prior to the vote.
Which, as history shows, is a tenuous proposition at best.
Gaetz even had to speak from the Democrat side lol