I wish I could take more pleasure in the circular firing squad formed by House Republicans, but the stakes are too high. They plan to take the government hostage again. You’d think they’d tire of this routine but it’s how they roll. They’re like Wile E. Coyote, trying the same stunt over and over again even though it backfires every time.
KMac and his allies aren’t happy with the ironically named Freedom Caucus. One of KMac’s closest allies is Baton Rouge Congressman Garret Graves. He worked for Bobby Jindal, so he’s used to being a passenger on a sinking ship.
Graves issued a challenge to House lunatics:
“I don’t think the speaker is even remotely concerned about some of the theatrics going on right now,” he said. “As a matter of fact … I drafted a motion to vacate for the speaker as well. I’ve got it sitting on my desk right now. And I said, ‘Look, if you’re going to keep hanging this over [his] head and playing these games, let’s just do it now, let’s get it over with. Get your little games over with and then we’ll get back to the things that actually matter.’”
Two weeks ago, KMac cussed out his colleagues but he hasn’t acted. As always, KMac speaks loudly and carries a tiny stick. Plus, the Kaiser of Chaos is cheering on the lunatic fringe. He thinks a government shutdown will save his ass from prosecution. As always, he’s wrong but KMac is in such a weak position that he has to listen to Trump, Matt Gaetz, and Chip Roy. The latter was an aide to Ted Cruz, the Senate’s leading proponent of hostage taking.
“The Senate moved forward Tuesday night on a bipartisan short-term plan to avert a government shutdown in four days, setting up an expected clash with the Republican-led House, which is focused instead on long-term funding bills.
The Senate deal cleared its first procedural hurdle Tuesday night, passing 77-19. If adopted, it would fund the government for six weeks with additional money for Ukraine and domestic disaster relief. Without additional funding, the government will shut down Sunday.
But the bill, which still needs to clear a final vote in the Senate, faces an uncertain future in the House. Thus far unable to find consensus on a stopgap bill in his razor-thin majority, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has focused his conference’s efforts on passing a bundle of long-term appropriations bills. Hampered for two weeks by hard-liners with myriad demands tied to both short- and long-term funding, House Republicans cheered when they finally approved a procedural move Tuesday night to start debate on a package of long-term funding bills that would not avert a government shutdown.”
How fucked up is that? They’re cheering the chance to debate a bill. In a word: pitiful.
Repeat after me: Don’t Call Them Conservatives.
A shutdown by this weekend appears likely. It’s what happens when the fire brigade is made up of arsonists.
I originally planned to call this post KMac’s House Of Chaos, which is a marginally more original title. I changed my mind when this popped up mid-search:
“As he assumes the office of Speaker of the House, more elements of Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s biography will become familiar to the nation at large. But there’s one fact that might be surprising even to members of the California Republican’s district. McCarthy says he provided inspiration for a famously controversial—some might even say ruthless and villainous—TV character by allowing the actor who portrayed that character to follow him around for research during the show’s development.
To prepare for his role as conniving House majority whip Frank Underwood in the Netflix series House of Cards, Kevin Spacey shadowed McCarthy before the series’ debut in 2013, the real-life politician told People magazine the next year. McCarthy said that as part of that research, Spacey was particularly interested in how McCarthy brought recalcitrant members of his caucus into line—essentially, how he twisted their arms into voting along party lines.
“I told him I say to members, ‘You vote your district, you vote your conscience, you just don’t surprise me.’ And he stole that line for the show,” McCarthy told People. In the otherwise light-and-fluffy piece, McCarthy said he only learned “things not to do” from Spacey’s character.”
What happened, Kev? Now that you’re Speaker, they’re always surprising you. It’s what happens when MAGA maggots infect the people’s house with their manifest madness.
Back to House Of Cards. I dig the original British series, but never cottoned to the Spacey version. I’m not crazy about KMac’s version either. His house of cards is on the verge of collapse. I’d applaud BUT too many people will get hurt as a result of KMac’s weakness.
The last word goes to Richard and Linda Thompson followed by Robert Plant: