Looks like Gaetz can be bipartisan when it comes to vanity…
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced an amendment to the House rules on Tuesday to allow C-SPAN to independently operate cameras on the House floor during regular proceedings. A handful of Democrats plan to introduce a similar proposal this week.
He did however request they start using wide-angle lenses to fully capture his forehead.
But it wouldn’t give C-SPAN exclusive access.
This is one good thing to come from the speaker fiasco.
Matt Gaetz planning so many stunts to pwn the libs on the House floor.
I wonder if this rule change will grant members to use footage in campaign ads, since I suspect something like that is the basis for Gaetz’s interest here. Or do decisions like that lie outside the control of Congress?
I’m on the fence about this. I agree with Gaetz (! I feel dirty writing those words!!) that the cameras were surprisingly humanizing, and it’s an archaic rule in many ways that isn’t mirrored in most other democracies… but man, some members will take ridiculous advantage of this and everything will become a show. It was humanizing at least in part because the members didn’t realize the cameras were on.
Oh, they knew after the first hour or two.
And yes, I agree with you… both about the humanizing effect of things, and about feeling dirty agreeing w/Gaetz. But, you know, let’s chalk this up to ‘the things that unite us are bigger than the things that divide us’. In this case, it’s a shared appreciation for good camerawork.
He was interviewed on the most recent episode of Pod Save America, and they discussed this issue a bit. It sounds like there’s quite a bit of support for this.
I have to say, I was really impressed by him. Overall he just had a great, positive but realistic attitude and really had a handle on how to talk about things in a way that may actually get through to the public. He’s got messaging chops, that’s for sure. And seemed like a sweet kid who is driven to public service. It’s good to see people like him entering the fray, hopefully he will inspire others like him to do the same.
Until something unfavorable happens on the House floor. It’ll get cancelled faster than one can blink.
IIRC, this started when Newt Gingrich got pissed at CSPAN for showing an empty house chamber while Newt was giving some firebrand speech of whatever it was that got Newt hard back in the day, instead of what has now become de-rigeur----just the speaker at the podium. Newt thought CSPAN was trying to embarrass him.
“I’ve received a lot of feedback from constituents about how interesting it was and that you were able to see in real time how our government is functioning, what alliances are being created, what discussions are being had, what animated moments drive the action,” Gaetz told Fox News Digital.
Is there some way that we can get the C-SPAN cameras to show us what is in the secret three-page addendum to the House GOP’s rules package? Gaetz would support that, too, right?
“I have talked to a handful of colleagues and I have yet to encounter one who didn’t view the broader transparency as a net positive,” Gaetz added. “”It’s interesting to see how our leaders communicate with one another, and it’s humanizing.”
Well, if anyone is in need of being humanized, it’s Matt Gaetz.
But then there will a chance to actually see Gaetz get owned, either by debate or Rogered.
“I’ve received a lot of feedback from constituents about how interesting it was and that you were able to see in real time how our government is functioning,
I don’t think that word means what he thinks it means.
I’m thinking more that he’s going to become an on-camera visual troll, not that anything he says on the floor is going to get picked up. Think along the lines of that dumb gas mask stunt he pulled at the beginning of covid.
I posted two pix in a comment on the MM which showed Jim Jordan coatless of course, and his “posse” walking behind him. What I learned over last week is that Jordan uses going jacketless as a prop. But what he doesn’t realize is that that his posture, he’s mannerism don’t convey authority, or competency, they portray bulling. At least to me he comes off as a bully.
Jordan can get away with the jacketless bullshit in committee meetings, but jackets are required on the floor of the House.
And then we will see how often he is unserious. Just because Gaetz is a performing, doesn’t mean we can’t see that that’s all he has in his bag of tricks.
Yes I know, but still he looks hunched over, early onset of arthritis perhaps.
Teen shtupping R Rep Matt Gaetz
Likes to bait all those that he hates.
Admiring his own guns
Florida’s best never shuns
The spotlight. Let’s see how he rates.