While many weeks have passed and many speakership candidacies have flared and been just as quickly snuffed out, the House is stuck in the same limbo it’s been in since this Congress gaveled in last January.
Magic Mike is about to find out that the two concepts are not mutually exclusive.
New face, same issues. I loathe these zealots.
banking on his newness and general honeymoon glow to help him avoid the same fate.
The graveyards are full of indispensable men. We’ll miss you MJ.
Every time I see MJ’s pic I’m struck by his strong resemblance to Santos…
Is it the utter evil hiding behind the smile?
New boss, same as the old boss - The Who “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
Hard not to keep looking for a logic in what extremists do particularly when they claim to be following some political ideology with policy preferences attached but that logic will mislead because the only ideology at play is power and it acknowledges no policies other than those that maintain and increase it.
Breaking McCarthy was a dominance display, not attacking Johnson means the same because that display made it clear it could happen again. If the display is crude or brutal it is because those doing it are; the political meat-axe as opposed to the boardroom stiletto.
“The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics.” ― Bertrand Russell
YES, to the question.
What I believe Johnson is trying to do is divide into half the budget so that the half Repugs like can be passed while the half they don’t like can be stalled.
The Poo-Flinging Flank got their wish: gummint paralysis!
The difference is that Kevin McCarthy promised everything to everybody all the time to keep them on board in the moment, then sold them all out when it turned out he didn’t have the votes after all, so nobody could trust him.
Mike Johnson might not be beholden to the Freedom KauKus Krazies, but he’s definitely one of them. If he doesn’t make promises he can’t keep to them, they might be inclined to keep him around so they can keep on posturing with dumb and ineffectual messaging votes.
A change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that’s all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain’t changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war
Seems like so many in the fascist caucus are dancing like nobody’s looking.
Or, more likely, they’re dancing like only their fellow cult members are looking.
But we’re all looking at you, fascists, and we’ll remember come November.
Responsible governance is fundamental to most, but unbelievably hard for cultists.
Who knew?
(narrarator – they all knew, from the start)
I could not disagree more with the comparison of McCarthy with Johnsons.
First off, People are overlooking the primary and highly significant difference between Kevin McCarthy and Mike Johnson.
Everyone in Washington knew that if McCarthy made his most solemn promise while starting to pour syrup on his breakfast pancakes, he would have broken it repeatedly before the syrup actually hit the flapjacks. Johnson will at least wait until his second cup of coffee before revealing that everything he said was a lie.
The other difference is as one of the “Freedom Kaukus Krazies”, unlike McCarthy, he is in the room with them plotting strategy. Therefore what he is doing has already been approved by his fellow travelers.
Johnson cannot take an honest open interview least he is exposed for being a religious crazy among other issues that would scare over half America. But the biggest difference between McCarthy and Johnson is that McCarthy tried to manage the “Krazies” where as Johnson tries to govern with them. Therefore he will not make or break any promises to them without their assent.
I’m sure you could if you just try hard enough.
I am impressed with one thing, though. That is some inspiring dedication to the football metaphor. I mean, when it’s fourth and long and your triple back has your option call tucked into his athletic supporter is no time to punt to the tight end, amirite?
I am with our host here, Johnson is going to make a deal with the Dems, and will be given a pass for this time around by the Shutdown Kaucus. Which of course it’s going to feel like rubbing salt on McCarthy’s sore ass.
“I don’t like kicking the can down the road,” he added, “but give him 45 days.”
The fact that this ploy …budgetary brinksmanship… is used repeatedly belies the bullshit that these folks expouse in their intentional disruption of a functioning government. They’ll blame the disruption and consequences on Biden and the gravely ill MSM and devil may care idiots in DC will carry on as America takes a colossal hit.
