The Goat Pen

… Don’t believe the happy talk that this was a healthy display of deliberative democracy. This was a power play. A group of backbenchers saw an opportunity to exploit the narrow GOP margin of five seats to put themselves in positions of power that they hadn’t earned through seniority or influence with colleagues.

… The biggest potential problem for Mr. McCarthy is his agreement to let any single Member of the majority party move to “vacate the chair” for what is essentially a no-confidence vote on his Speakership. The claim is that this is no big deal and was merely the status quo before Nancy Pelosi had Democrats vote to change the rule.

But this makes Mr. McCarthy hostage to anyone who wants to cause trouble, or grandstand to fund-raise. It is likely to be used less in practice than as a threat to extort policy or other concessions on legislation. Once upon a time in Congress no individual Member or even small group would dare to do this. But that was before our current age of performative politics and the triumph of the individual political “brand.”

All of this—and other details that we’ll no doubt discover in the coming days—will complicate the ability of the GOP to govern.

With a Democratic White House and Senate, the only leverage House Republicans have is the ability to deliver 218 votes. The gang of 20 this week has demonstrated that the tail of one House faction can wag the majority. Don’t be surprised if others do the same.

a healthy display of deliberative democracy

Can't remember the last time that even happened.

"The roster of Republican speakers since the 90s hasn't exactly brought honor and credit to the Grand Old Party, to put it mildly. First was Newt Gingrich, a toad of a man who in 1995 led the first GOP House majority in 40 years to its first government shutdown in a budget dispute with President Clinton that (badly) backfired on Republicans, led the attempt to impeach Clinton while he had violated numerous ethical rules and had extramarital affairs on his first two wives, including discussing divorce with his first wife in the hospital right after she had surgery for cancer, and telling an aide that "She's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of the President. And besides, she has cancer." He married his mistress, then cheated on her with his third wife. He was forced to resign as Speaker in disgrace after the failure to remove Clinton from office and the GOP's poor showing in the 1998 midterm elections. He now appears on Fox and other right-wing media and writes books where he still talks about defending Christianity and Western Civilization from godless liberals, despite his checkered and hypocritical (to put it mildly) past. His Wikipedia article states that "Political scientists have credited Gingrich with playing a key role in undermining democratic norms in the United States and hastening political polarization and partisanship."

Gingrich's assumed replacement was Louisiana Congressman Bob Livingston, who despite being the unanimous GOP candidate for Speaker, made the surprise announcement in December 1998 that he would not take the office after all when it was revealed that, while publicly supporting President Clinton's impeachment and condemning his affair with Monica Lewinsky, he had had multiple (as many as four) extramarital affairs as as Congressman.

The Republican who finally became Gingrich's successor was Illinois GOP Congressman Dennis Hastert, who served as Speaker from 1999 to 2007. To quote from his Wikipedia article "In May 2015, Hastert was indicted on federal charges of structuring bank withdrawals to evade bank reporting requirements and making false statements to federal investigators. Federal prosecutors said that the funds withdrawn by Hastert were used as hush money to conceal his past sexual misconduct. In October 2015, Hastert entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors. Under the agreement, Hastert pleaded guilty to the structuring charge (a felony); the charge of making false statements was dropped. In court submissions filed in April 2016, federal prosecutors alleged that Hastert had molested at least four boys as young as 14 years of age during his time as a high school wrestling coach. At a sentencing hearing, Hastert admitted that he had sexually abused boys whom he had coached. Referring to Hastert as a "serial child molester", a federal judge imposed a sentence of 15 months in prison, two years' supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Hastert was imprisoned in 2016 and was released 13 months later. He became the highest-ranking elected official in U.S. history to serve a prison sentence."

John Boehner was the next GOP sacrificial lamb as House Speaker, serving from 2011 to 2015 before finally quitting as Speaker due to constant attacks and challenges to his authority from Tea Party members whom he despised. Politico said that Boehner "came into power on the momentum of the 2010 tea party wave. But it was that movement that gave him constant problems. He clashed with social conservatives over the debt limit, government funding, Obamacare", while the Washington Post noted that (largely due to opposition from the Tea Party members within the GOP) "Boehner never landed the really big deal he craved. Not the $4 trillion tax-and-entitlement deal he reached for in 2011, not the repackaged version a year later and not the immigration overhaul he sought in 2014." He especially loathed Senator Ted Cruz, whom he called "Lucifer in the Flesh."

Paul Ryan succeeded Boehner as Speaker and left Congress after the Democratic House sweep in the 2018 elections. An Ayn Rand disciple who wanted to privatize Medicare and Social Security, he brought millions in pork barrel projects to his home district in Wisconsin despite his public support for balanced budgets and a tight fiscal policy. He failed to oppose President Trump when Trump disagreed with his policy proposals and stated principles. The Washington Post described Ryan's four years as Speaker by stating that he was "leav[ing] behind a legacy of dramatically expanded government spending and immense deficits, a GOP president unchecked, a broken immigration system, and a party that's fast abandoning the free-trade principles that he himself championed." According to the Associated Press, Ryan "achieved one of his career goals: rewriting the tax code"; however, "on his other defining aim — balancing the budget and cutting back benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — Ryan has utterly failed."

not reading that…

hedge, at least cite the source you are quoting when you copy-paste

Very collegial...

I know, I know, CDC, Deep State, fake news, blah blah blah...

I wonder where they got this crazy idea from?

eCat wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 10:03 am the rough estimate now btw, is the average worker should have 11x his/her salary saved for retirement if he retires at 65.

Dead by 76. Fair.

hedge wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 6:16 pm I wonder where they got this crazy idea from?

Taking it from the Latin America Socialist playbook.

I have no problem with them raising the retirement age to say 69...heh..69 and medicare to 67

as long as they also include some pretty stringent laws about worker protections.

You are really oblivious to how all this works. Do you think one will be tied to the other? The Repubs are going to eventually gut SS, Medicare and Medicaid, and also any worker protections. If you support any of it you are just shilling for the billionaires to be able to afford another island each at everyone else's expense.

Tree wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 7:42 pm

I have no problem with them raising the retirement age to say 69...heh..69 and medicare to 67

as long as they also include some pretty stringent laws about worker protections.

You are really oblivious to how all this works. Do you think one will be tied to the other? The Repubs are going to eventually gut SS, Medicare and Medicaid, and also any worker protections. If you support any of it you are just shilling for the billionaires to be able to afford another island each at everyone else's expense.

There is nothing for the republicans to "gut." Nothing. That is just a talking point created by the democrats to keep you ignorant of 6th grade math. What funds social security? All there is, is IOUs. Trillions of dollars of IOUs. We simply borrow from the unborn (those who's moms allow to live) and pay social security and medicare benefits to old people (who didn't save enough) simply because they vote to steal from their grandchildren and unborn great-grandchilden (people they will never meet in life.) And if you calmly and logically explain this to an old person who is taking those payments, those transfers, they just start to cry and continue taking them because DAMNIT somebody OWES THEM for everything they did. That is all it is.

There was a time (not so long ago) when government ONLY borrowed to build something we needed for our future (a dam, a school, a power grid, an interstate highway system) OR we borrowed to fight (and WIN) a war. That was it. That is what we borrowed money for from our unborn. No longer. Now we borrow money from our unborn so our elderly can live at The Villages and go on cruises.

In whatever fantasy world you are in, you think the GOP is trying to "gut" the "lock box" that is social security. But here in the real world, republican's like me have another name for this: Ponzi scheme. You are just okay with it tree because it is the federal government that YOU think has the authority to run one.

Don't gimme that crap. It's just another excuse to take what little the poor and middle class have left. You and eCat are both useful idiots for the super rich.

at least I'm useful

ooooh BURNNNNNNNNNN

Tree wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 9:16 pm Don't gimme that crap. It's just another excuse to take what little the poor and middle class have left. You and eCat are both useful idiots for the super rich.

I didn't give you any crap. I gave you facts. Pure and simple, facts. I know the math. I know the numbers. All you have are talking points.

You are just a kid. Listen to your elders, the ones who have an IQ over 130 but do NOT have TDS.

Sure. And while you're at it you can bond with this pair o' nuts, bitch.

Tree wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:03 am Sure. And while you're at it you can bond with this pair o' nuts, bitch.

You are vulgar. Do you hold your mother's hands with fingers that type those words?

Everything I wrote adds value to your life. You are smarter for having read it. Finally, you are informed. I gave you a better education on government entitlements than you would ever receive from any PhD at any university in the world. And you curse me for it. Are you that brainwashed young man?

Instead of arguing with me, think my points through. If you disagree, explain why. If you CAN'T explain why, then ask yourself why it is that you disagree? If you can't properly identify (even just to yourself) why you disagree, then maybe you will begin to understand how helpful my words were to you? Because if you let yourself listen to me, then you can start un-brainwashing yourself.

It is right and good and just to disagree. That is fine. But part of disagreeing is understand why it is you disagree. Learn to debate and argue. If you can't do that, then you can't think. If you can't think, then your life is going to suck. You will wind up like rat.

Tree wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 12:03 am Sure. And while you're at it you can bond with this pair o' nuts, bitch.

BAHAHAHA!!