Politics Without Consequences

While Joe Biden is gaining momentum, House Republicans can’t even agree to the rules of their own game.

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Rep. Jim Jordan speaks during a press conference at the Capitol in Washington, D.C, on October 20, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/ Getty Images)

Man, oh man, am I tired of writing about the divisions within the Republican Party. It’s like being a South Florida weatherman in August: “Hot and muggy again today with a chance for a storm to roll through this afternoon …”

And yet, here we are again, sweating through our guayaberas.

As of this writing, Ohio Republican Jim Jordan has just been voted off of Speaker Designate Island by his fellow Republicans. Having now failed with three candidates for speaker of the House—a body their own party controls—Republicans opted to take the weekend to think things over. 

Until there is a speaker, Congress can’t do even that small number of services its members typically are willing to provide. This isn’t just the waffle iron being broken at the Hampton Inn breakfast nook. They don’t even have the bin of moist hard-boiled eggs.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    “In a three-way contest with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running as an independent, Biden opens up a 7-point lead over Trump. 44% of registered voters support Biden. 37% back Trump, and 16% are for Kennedy.” ”

    Good news

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  2. Russell J

    “Among those he’s approached are Steve Schmidt…” - things are already headed south for Dean Phillips.

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  3. Nordic_man

    The thing is the consequences for dysfunction aren’t evenly split politically. Voters don’t care nearly as much when republicans throw bombs. Hell they basically vote for them to be the party of dysfunction. The same can’t be said of th Democratic Party which continues to be able to police itself reasonably even when it’s flanks overstep

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      Dan Baldwin

      I'm not so sure about "reasonably" (I am speaking about my own party after all), but yeah, with you on the policing itself :-b

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      1. Nordic_man

        I just threw that in there because you can of course find times where they fail, but he’ll remember when the governor of New Mexico (or was it Arizona) banned guns and even the progressive left told him to back off?

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          Dan Baldwin

          Yup, which was the right thing to do.
          I'm being a little silly and sarcastic, as I have had it up to my eyebrows with the supposed moral superiority of the Progressives to my political left.

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          1. Nordic_man

            Yuuup, or worse, the ones who spew all the right shoboliths but never follow through who yell at others who actually do more but say less

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  4. Tommaj60

    “I’m tired of writing about Republicans….” Chris count me among any who, as you, are tired too. I would gladly read anything you write that isn’t about the Clown Car Party ( no offense Shriners).

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    Abridge683

    Speaking of California - where I've lived a vast majority of my life and which I love:

    We drove through the Sierra few weeks ago. The foothills and the Sierra counties are GOP strongholds. In the past there have been MANY Trump signs and quite a few Anti-Biden signs. This year: NOTHING. Not a single sign supporting any presidential candidate. It was . . . refreshing.

    Are people worn out? Has Trump passion declined? Even the anti-Biden group has gone silent.

    I wonder what it means.

    On the other hand the Sierra was glorious, filled with autumn color in the high country.

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    1. Hikingguy

      Love the west slope in spring when the redbud is in bloom. Amazing.

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  6. Avatar photo
    BillAZ

    RE: mailbag question on leadership

    Chris gets it right that more often than not for politicians and pundits it is ""There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader."; Tucker Carlson "respecting the audience" is a stark example. Even Boehner failed the test when he remarked on his reluctance to swat back on all the Birtherism talk that it was not his "... job to tell the American people what to think.".

    And Chris is spot-on when he pushes back on the notion that either Limbaugh or Ailes were in any way an antidote to Trump. Indeed, they greased the skids for Trump with the past imprimatur of Republican Presidents and the inducement of profits.

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  7. Avatar photo
    The Bell Tower

    I don’t really agree with this. Certainly I find congressman Eddie Munster and his Adam Sandler sunglasses completely detestable. His silly vote - with all the absurd Democrats in their ridiculous caucus - is responsible for this.

    However, now we are watching democracy and then complaining about it. This is what divided politics looks like and we knew going into the deal that this is where the Republicans are. Now, they are openly sorting it out - which is exactly what they should be doing. It’s messy, arduous and full of false starts and embarrassing losses. Good. So was the Constitutional Convention. It just wasn’t public, as Jonah would probably point out.

    I keep hearing a bunch of Democrats crying about “the end of democracy” and “dysfunction” in the same breath. Democracy IS dysfunction. That’s a feature, not a bug. And the Democrats voted for this so they can shut up and deal with it.

    What do we really need Congress to be doing right now? I wish they would do nothing for another ten years to be honest - provided that we get no president in the deal. Stirewalt’s complaint is about Republicans not being able to take advantage of Biden’s missteps. That is certainly annoying for Republicans but it isn’t exactly detrimental to democracy. It just means we’re gonna get more Democrats.

    Impatience with legislatures is a distinct feature of tyranny. Obviously I’m not accusing Stirewalt of such a thing but there is a growing instinct towards it in America. The Nazis were tired of all the “small state rubbish” as Hitler called it. The Romans were sick of all the dysfunction in the Senate. Hell, Darth Vader told Padme that if he were in charge, he’d fix all these arguing Senators and make it right.

    It’s fun to ridicule Republicans and Lord knows they deserve it but the reality is, this is the system working as intended. Until Republicans get their crap together, nobody is in charge.

    Good.

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    1. Hikingguy

      "...absurd Democrats in their ridiculous caucus." Usually you make some sense. Not this morning. it is not Democrats who started this dance and it is not Democrats calling the tune. I am proud to be a Democrat. I have no idea what you're proud of. But it can't be that screed you just posted. That was not your best.

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      BillAZ

      No. This is not "the system working as intended". If your idea of government is that it ought to do nothing and be incapable of doing anything then I'm sure this is Heaven but this wasn't what the Framers intended.

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        The Bell Tower

        It can’t move forward without consensus. And it shouldn’t. That is the value that democracy provides and that is what you’re seeing right now. People arguing and disagreeing without murdering each other over it. That is the absolute core of what the founders intended.

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          BillAZ

          Sure. But is that what we're seeing? I don't know that harnessing a political party to an ideology was what they envisioned. I don't know that mustering the grass-roots to deliver death threats to your political opponents was included in their idea of democracy or republicanism. I know that requiring supermajorities in Congress beyond what the Constitution requires wasn't an idea. The filibuster wasn't their idea. None of these are tools for generating consensus.

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          1. Avatar photo
            The Bell Tower

            They certainly would have been familiar with it. John Jay once lamented that he could travel the entire eastern seaboard by the light of his own burning effigy.

            You don’t think the House is designed for building consensus? I’m happy to argue the filibuster but that has zero to do with this. This is the House.

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        2. Hikingguy

          Consensus, is it? The Republicans have the problem. They cannot reach consensus among themselves. It's not Democrats messing them up. They are playing with themselves. Let's see them fix that first.

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            The Bell Tower

            It definitely isn’t Democrats who are solely responsible but they are absolutely complicit because they voted with Gaetz so they have very little room to complain. That certainly does not absolve Republicans.

            I find them all contemptible but at the same time, this is the system forcing them to work together before inflicting policy on the American people.

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  8. Avatar photo
    David Chen

    You couldn't pay me to eat one oyster. But 48... good grief.

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  9. Avatar photo
    Frank Lee

    "Joe Biden is gaining momentum"

    Can stop reading after that comment.

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  10. Hikingguy

    O/T. Andy McCarthy at NR is a hack. It's amazing how he can find a silver lining in two of Trump's moronic minions having just copped a plea. Apparently that just reveals how feeble the case against Trump is. What I want to know is where he buys his copium. It's powerful strong stuff. Great fun to read the comments over there. So many Trump-humping loons!

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