I think, with huge reservations, that the Democrats should support Steve Scalise for Speaker

[Jayhawker Soule]

Sorry to say it, but until something huge happens, decent, ordinary conservatives in the United States no longer have a voice. And that, right now, looks like it might only get worse.

It can certainly get worse, but the choice in 2024 cannot be more clear. Let's see how people vote.

 

[Wandering Monk]

It can certainly get worse, but the choice in 2024 cannot be more clear. Let's see how people vote.

I think there will be a lot of angry suburban women and members of the LGBTQ communities who will show up who might not have before.

An interesting aside, I live in a suburban county of the Twin Cities. Our county has ALWAYS voted red in the general elections, but the presidential margins of victory have been declining for more than a decade. In fact, the two largest towns in our county went for Biden. As more people move to the suburbs from the cities, they bring their political preferences with them, to the dismay of the MAGATS I am happy to say.

 

[Copernicus]

What???

What color is the sky in your world. Not one Democrat voted for Johnson.

Have you tried analysis? Or even just thinking a little? Works wonders, trust me.

See posts #53 and #55.


The choice between reading your comments and dabbling in haruspicy would be a hard one.

OK, guys, sorry about that. I honestly didn't think any of you would read that tongue in cheek channeling of Republican logic and take it seriously. Obviously, the Democrats would have been crazy to vote for any of those Republican speakers without concessions from Republicans to cede some of their control of the House. They tried, but compromise with Democrats was worse than just letting it all burn down. I thought I was being so absurd that you all would get it, but I was wrong. Again, apologies for the failed attempt to amuse you, but I guess nerves are too raw these days for people to read something like that and not take it seriously.

Democrats are already featuring Mike Johnson in campaign ads to raise funds. Republicans are so embarrassed that they still can't stop blaming Democrats for the mess that they made.

 

[anna.]

OK, guys, sorry about that. I honestly didn't think any of you would read that tongue in cheek channeling of Republican logic and take it seriously. Obviously, the Democrats would have been crazy to vote for any of those Republican speakers without concessions from Republicans to cede some of their control of the House. They tried, but compromise with Democrats was worse than just letting it all burn down. I thought I was being so absurd that you all would get it, but I was wrong. Again, apologies for the failed attempt to amuse you, but I guess nerves are too raw these days for people to read something like that and not take it seriously.

Democrats are already featuring Mike Johnson in campaign ads to raise funds. Republicans are so embarrassed that they still can't stop blaming Democrats for the mess that they made.

Poe's law strikes again.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

OK, guys, sorry about that. I honestly didn't think any of you would read that tongue in cheek channeling of Republican logic and take it seriously.

You should hear the denizens of my ignore list chatting among themselves.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

After Democrats put party before country and refused to vote for any of the many Republicans who reject everything Democrats stand for, Republicans finally had to rise up and elect a Speaker who rejects everything Democrats stand for. They had to do the Democrats' job for them, and Republicans are understandably resentful. I hope the voters remember this unpatriotic behavior from Democrats when the 2024 election takes place. If Mike Johnson screws anything up, remember that it is the Democrats we can blame for it.

My own take, when the Republicans put Johnson up, was that the Democrats could do the whole world a favour by actually re-nominating and voting for Tom Emmer, allowing at least a few moderate Republicans to vote along with them. He would have been a wildly better choice, more centrist, more open to understanding human beings with at least a little empathy. I admit, I was really disappointed when they didn't, because they surely knew that it would never be a Democrat Speaker in that House.

 

[anna.]

My own take, when the Republicans put Johnson up, was that the Democrats could do the whole world a favour by actually re-nominating and voting for Tom Emmer, allowing at least a few moderate Republicans to vote along with them. He would have been a wildly better choice, more centrist, more open to understanding human beings with at least a little empathy. I admit, I was really disappointed when they didn't, because they surely knew that it would never be a Democrat Speaker in that House.

That's a good take. I wish that had happened. The only bright spot is the thought that as TPM put it, "the best way to make someone's quiet extremism widely known" is to make them speaker. When Johnson's extremism is brought outside the MAGA bubble, will the rest of American reject him and his party?

Best Way To Make Someone’s Quiet Extremism Widely Known? Elect Them Speaker

The newly elected Speaker of the House once worked as an attorney for a far-right Christian legal group whose work you are almost certainly familiar with. The Alliance Defending Freedom — where…

talkingpointsmemo.com

 

[Copernicus]

My own take, when the Republicans put Johnson up, was that the Democrats could do the whole world a favour by actually re-nominating and voting for Tom Emmer, allowing at least a few moderate Republicans to vote along with them. He would have been a wildly better choice, more centrist, more open to understanding human beings with at least a little empathy. I admit, I was really disappointed when they didn't, because they surely knew that it would never be a Democrat Speaker in that House.

I think that Emmer would have been a far more effective Speaker for the House, but he was still essentially a slave to the MAGA wing. The real danger with Johnson is that he simply won't be capable of working out a deal to keep the government open. Like many Republicans, he entertains the hope that Democrats can be bullied and blackmailed into endorsing Republican policies rather than seeking some kind of common ground. If not, the next best option is to torpedo the economy and then blame it on Biden in the next election. That kind of tactic has worked before, because the public tends to blame the President's party for what goes wrong, even if the opposition party makes things go wrong. So I just don't see that it matters right now whether Johnson or Emmer is the House leader. Extremist MAGA Republicans will be calling the shots in the House, because moderate Republicans can't win their primaries or general elections without MAGA support. Emmer himself had the option of seeking a deal with Democrats to wrest control from the MAGA wing, and he dared not touch it. It would have been political suicide for him. Don't forget that McCarthy was burned alive for making a deal with Democrats to keep the government open.