Discussion: Pelosi Clears First Hurdle For Speakership

Do not come NEAR me you turncoat motherfkers if you embarrass Ms. Pelosi in front of the entire House for some petty ass sexist crap. Not one dime will come your way. You can either be united and get things done or you can have some grievance against her while insisting the other men in leadership are ā€˜just fineā€™ and itā€™s really NOT because sheā€™s a strong womanā€¦Oh and the fact that not one of YOU want to runā€¦itā€™s just Nancy.

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It was made clear this spring that Republican-lite Dems can be primaried into retirement. Dozens of challenges from the left are likely in 2020.

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ā€œThe deal included tentative agreements to bring any bill that has the support of two thirds of the full House to the floorā€

In other words, these ā€œcentristsā€ plan to act as GOP agents, seeking to bring bills to the House floor that are abominations as far as liberals and most Dems are concerned, but which reach 2/3 by garnering support from most or all of the GOPers.

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Iā€™m hoping the 32 (plus 3) got their ā€œnoā€ vote out of their system so they can tell their constituents they opposed Pelosi, then fall in line for the next vote. Because you simply canā€™t vote for McCarthy.

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Pelosi promised to call a vote on any item that 40 reps support.

40 out of 438. Less than 10%. This is exactly the kind of subtle but powerful change that Charles Koch has been pursuing: innocuous tweaks to the rules that empower small minorities to ignore and even paralyze the will of the majority.

If youā€™re a billionaire, it costs nothing to maintain a stable of ~40 bad-faith agents in the House, who will gladly initiate the first and least-jarring step in every one of your attacks on democracy.

EDIT: Iā€™m not suggesting that Pelosi is working for Koch. Iā€™m suggesting that the holdouts are doing Kochā€™s work by pushing to grant power to a minority that is greater than the power of the majority. The frog wonā€™t know itā€™s in trouble until the water reaches a boil.

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Three things: Not any item but any amendment; and not any 40 but at least 20 from each of the two parties; and if there was a ā€œpromise,ā€ how it would work has not yet been made clear.

Otherwise I agree with what you wrote, though I might go further than you did in some respects.

For what itā€™s worth, Jim McGovern, incoming Chair of House Rules, did say the following just now:

The concern is always that well-intentioned [reforms] could be weaponized by people who are not interested in having this House be productive, and we want to avoid that.

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I call bullshit on this whole deal. There is a Reason that we had the blue wave! NO fucking bluedogs throwing away everything we worked so hard for!

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I am sure ā€œNancyā€™sā€ employers are happy:

ā€œInserting ourselves into internal House Politics is not something we would normally do. But if we lose Nancy, and the new Leader can only raise half the funding, the Republicans will not reduce their funding and we will be back to the structural disadvantage that prevailed for many years.ā€

ā€œBut if we lose Nancyā€¦ā€ because she is the hired help, after all. Canā€™t lose her!

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Who are the 32/3?

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Exactly. Even though when this struggle first started all the news stories were claiming that it was an establishment vs. far left fight. Calling them Republican agents is perfect. Those dogs are not even close to blue.

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Sorry if this is a dumb question, but does Pelosi need a majority on the floor to become Speaker, or just more votes than McCarthy?

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She needs a majority of the votes cast.

Fun Fact: The Speaker of the House does not even have to be a House Member!

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A majority of votes cast for someone, IIRC. So ā€œpresentā€ or abstentions, according to what Iā€™ve read, reduce the total number of votes needed.

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She needs a majority of all votes cast (not counting ā€œpresentā€ and so forth).

For example, if 400 members are taken ill and cannot cast a vote, and only 35 actual votes are cast, sheā€™d need 18 of those.

Or if 30 members vote ā€œpresentā€ and only 405 actual votes are cast, sheā€™d need 203 of those.

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Great. So Pelosi can actually lose between 17 and 32 34 votes, depending on how many vote ā€œpresent.ā€

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People vent about all sorts of things during Democratic caucus meetings. Ok. Seth Moulton and Tim Ryan have had their 15 minutes of fame. If they donā€™t come through out on the floor, I assume they will get crap committee assignments and no chair positions. And if they donā€™t quit the conservadem shit theyā€™ll get primaried in 2020.

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A year ago, I might have been dreaming of unicorns and thought that it would be best if Pelosi didnā€™t become Speaker if the House flipped. Well, I flipped completely, because lardass and his scumbag contingent in Congress need their goddamn asses whipped. Pelosi is a masterful pol and tactician and she knows how to control her caucus. Thatā€™s what we need right now. Idealism doesnā€™t stand a chance if we donā€™t have a skilled driver at the wheel. I am fully confident that Pelosi knows where the landmines are on the other side and on her own. Letā€™s send her all the best wishes we can as she slays the dragon.

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Pelosi is indeed rich and you never let up about it. But what you donā€™t know is that there 29 members of Congress, 18 of them Republicans, who are richer. This includes Mark Warner D-VA whoā€™s worth $200M. So if you could STFU weā€™d appreciate it.

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The upstart Kathleen Rice is also part of this out over their skis dreamforce.

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