oblong

It's simply a game of chicken between the FC and McCarthy. Whoever flinches is wounded. FC doesn't care if nothing goes further. They can blame McCarthy and look like heroes to their voters. They win even if the country loses. If McCarthy or the GOP flinches then the nation knows the FC owns them.

I'm fine with the org not putting lipstick on a pig. We don't need a press conference with Fernando Vina and Jason Johnson circa 2004 telling us things will get better. Those are the types of things available to him at this point so why bother? Last year they did the big splash with Baez and now everyone wants him gone. Do fans learn nothing?

Right. One is an actual policy. The other is just showmanship and fake investigations. Policy can be negotiated and parceled out bit by bit.

Maybe his carrot is some bogus investigation they can play with as a toy. It would be something stupid but they can use to fundraise and give the Kirks something to chew on.

In case you don’t know Sen Patty Murray is now 2nd in line to the presidency. It’s Joe followed by two broads. Imagine that. In this day and age.

Scalise is now talking and somehow blaming Democrats.

The bots are out of control. I responded to a tweet last week, nothing special. It got over 10K impressions.

Michael's tweet thread shows some famous last minute politcal drama.... here's Leslie Stahl saying "Bush!" over and over... this was at Joe Louis Arena when the idea to name Ford as VP candidate fell through.

but wouldn't that still stick it to them by making them have a weak speaker? Then he can deal with them. If I were them I would argue that I am doing my job but the other side is a shit show and we have to get going. Until there's a speaker then nothing happens. Having a weak GOP majority in some ways is better for Dems going into '24. Nothing will get done and they have the power so they take the blame.

I don't know. I don't know how any of them can win enough of the flanks.

Nixon secretly sabotaged the peace talks in Oct of '68, having a spy indicate to the South that he would give them a better deal. He was afraid a peace agreement would tip the election to Humphrey. That planted the seeds later on for watergate. His fear in the Pentagon Papers thing was the discovery of that Johnson knew he did that. It was great theater. Nixon knew Johnson had his plane bugged. Johnson knew he knew he had his plane bugged. Nixon knew Johnson knew he caused the talks to fail. Two guys with no morals playing chicken. Of course after the election LBJ got on his hands and knees in the bedroom and showed Nixon his taping system, telling him he'd want something like that so that the academics don't get to write the damn history.

I think Jordan will eventually get it.

the votes as of now are non binding.... they can change their mind. But that would also be chaos and why would any defectors participate? They haven't changed the rules yet where a plurality of votes is the only requirement have they?

Wonder if any of these votes are symbolic and on ballot 2 they revert to Comrade McKarthy? Is that lady going to have to do this all day and night?

What's with all of the qualifiers with the vote... just say a name. We don't need a preamble.

up to 4. He has to run the table.

I was a senior in HS when Desert Storm broke out and my birthday is in October so until fall of 1991 I had no risk or fear of being drafted.

So until we get a speaker.... then every member is "member-elect". We effectively have no House of Representatives until a Speaker of the House who can get things moving.

People like Gaetz attain more value being the outlier rather than 1 of 222. As long as he's electable in his district he doesn't need to care about anything else.

Boomer is defined as 1946-1964.... I think that's too broad as it's a cultural distinction. I see a difference between people who will be 77 this year and those who will be 59. Especially since those who will be 77 could have been retired for 25 years already due to workplace changes that took place in the 70s and 80's regarding pensions. I mean... Tommy Lee Jones and Marisa Tomei are both boomers?

His whiny voice and demeanor is not intimidating in the least. He is not a heavy presence. Doesn't command leadership or a presence. He looks small.

I'm here for it.... it's going to be fun to watch.

Justin Amash has thrown his hat into the ring. What's the downside for democrats in that scenario? Anyone who speaks to a "return to normalcy" should consider it.

My son is 22 and has a serious girlfriend. While we are not pleased with an apparent lack of direction we do see some qualities. She comes from an immigrant family. Their native language is not English. She works multiple jobs. The biggest thing I liked was their aversion to credit cards. She said their family thinks they are evil. Everything is cash. He calls it “the immigrant hustle” She totaled her car on Christmas. She handled everything. All my son had to do is pick her up. Stuff like that goes a long way for me. You don’t need to be rich to have “a lot” of money. I wish I had the “money” Gene. I don’t get worked up over a few bucks here or there. I’m fortunate to afford it I guess. But I don’t stress about it. I do the full match at work. 25% of my income goes into a fund. It increases 1% a year and another next year when I turn 50. It’s a target fund. I figure they do the hard work. Set it and forget it.