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Oof! What a kerfuffle! Florida Representative Matt Gaetz has threatened to file a motion to vacate against Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Some Republicans want to expel Matt Gaetz. All of this came to a puss-filled head last weekend during the negotiations to keep the government open this weekend. Those two cretins are an embarrassment to the idea of self-government. They are an embarrassment to Republicans. The only thing worse than being a Republican is being a Democrat. The Democrat Party is both evil and bat shit crazy.
Remember that Republicans hold a very narrow majority in the House. I am not a fan of Kevin McCarthy. At all. He’s a squish who rooms with Pollster Frank Luntz, who always gives bad advice to Republicans. I truly do get the “Never Kevin” types. At the end of 15 votes this Kevin as Speaker is what we have. Negotiating to pass the Continuing Resolution (CR) is a shitty work. Yes, all of the budget bills SHOULD have been ready, but they were not. So, McCarthy did the best he could with the CR. By the by, if you want to read it, it is right here. This new CR funds the government until right before Thanksgiving. You know what that means, don’t you? That means the government shutdown theatrics will be even more dramatic involving Thanksgiving and Christmas. A transgender military child won’t get her bottom surgery doll for Christmas because of the mean old Republicans.
Yes, I do want to go back to 2019 Pre-Pandemic spending. But, Republicans have a narrow margin and we have just as many war hawks as the Democrats have. The Democrats don’t allow for any dissent. The Democrats don’t think, only do as they are told. As the L.A. Times wrote:
The speaker failed to get his party in line and had to rely on Democrats to pass a resolution funding the government for about seven more weeks, which would delay a potential shutdown until Nov. 17.
The House approved the short-term funding Saturday afternoon, 335 to 91, with Democrats overwhelmingly backing the resolution. The Senate approved the resolution late Saturday in an 88-9 vote, and President Biden signed it before midnight, ensuring the federal government would stay open.
Now Matt Gaetz wants to file a Motion to Vacate the Speaker’s role for Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy is not worried about his chances:
Gaetz, who has clashed with McCarthy for months, said he would file a motion that would set up a vote to remove McCarthy as speaker.
“We have a lot of folks in Congress who I think would be very capable to serve as speaker. We need to rebuild trust,” Gaetz told reporters.
McCarthy said on Sunday he expected he would survive the threat to his job.
Gaetz, from Florida, was one of more than a dozen Republicans who repeatedly voted against McCarthy’s bid for speaker in January. McCarthy ultimately seized the gavel after 15 rounds of voting.
No U.S. House speaker has ever been removed from the position that puts the holder second in line in succession for the presidency after the vice president.
Gaetz was angered by McCarthy’s move to pass a short-term funding bill on Saturday with support from opposition Democrats to keep the government fully operating and avoid a shutdown. Gaetz and a group of other hardline House Republicans insist on deep spending cuts that Democrats argue would break a deal brokered earlier this year by President Joe Biden and McCarthy.
Grow up, Gaetz and Company. We want the 2019 spending. But the deal was brokered by those in charge. Come up with a better deal or be in charge, if you are still around. Gaetz wants Kevin out of the Speaker’s role. There are those who want Gaetz expelled from Congress. From the New York Post:
Rep. Matt Gaetz’s GOP colleagues are looking to boot him as the firebrand Florida lawmaker leads a push to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Long peeved by Gaetz — who has targeted GOP leadership and undercut his party repeatedly — some Republicans are champing at the bit to expel the congressman if the House Ethics Committee investigating him finds wrongdoing, Fox News reported Sunday.
“No one can stand him at this point. A smart guy without morals,” one lawmaker told the outlet.
Gaetz, who is rumored to be eyeing a run for Florida governor, brushed aside the threat, posting a “Game of Thrones” meme.
A motion to expel requires a two-thirds vote to go through, meaning Democrats will hypothetically need to come on board, given the 221-to-212 Republican-to-Democrat makeup of the lower chamber.
For the winning take, Lou Dobbs:
On one side you have @mattgaetz calling out McCarthy to his face, out in the open — on the other side you have passive aggressive RINOS whispering to each other about their intentions against Gaetz. How much more pathetic & sleazy could these RINOS get?https://t.co/pHUQF4tVox
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) October 2, 2023
Republicans must learn to govern. We don’t want fascists like the Democrats. We can also do without the goat rodeo of the Republicans.
Featured Collage: DonkeyHotey/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons/DonkeyHotey/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons
Rep. Gaetz bears zero responsibility for this sordid affair. He has NO power over the committees.
Who does? Why, the guy who can tell members “Get your bills marked up and out to the House floor. Or I will find someone who will do that to replace you in that plum committee assignment.” The guy making deals right and left – with Biden and the rest of the Democrat junta.
The name is “McCarthy.”
Joe R. says: My money is on Matt.
If I had to chuck the lot of them, Matt would go last, and he could stay at the end if he helped me chuck the others.
McCarthy’s got to go.
Sims and simps whining about it are all on the other side anyway.
John Shepherd says: I don’t buy this bit of both sidism. Both parties have their clowns. The difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans get rid of their clowns whenever possible. We got rid of Cawthorn and we will get rid of Boebert next primary time. Geatz and Greene are in safe seats so we have to live with them. Don’t get me wrong, while the clowns are in office they are our clowns and a vote is vote. But when possible primary them out office.
In response to the above, Gaerz and Boebert have to go. There is a reason President Trump supported McCarthy and not the Freedom Caucus. Whatever you think of Trump, and I soured on him before his legal troubles, he is a doer whose only use for the clowns is their vote.
GWB says: Why is Gaetz a clown? What has he done against the integrity of the House – the actual integrity, enshrined in their Constitutional duties? What has he done to demean the reputation of the House? Why is he a clown, other than you would prefer to go quietly into chains, rather than fighting the whole way?
I might not like some of his optics. But at least he’s fighting for conservative principles – unlike folks like McCarthy.
[…] Victory Girls […]
GWB says: Grow up, Gaetz and Company.
I won’t use the words that are my first inclination. But that’s why we’re where we are today. Because of “practicality”.
If every battle that didn’t look practical were forfeited, the world would be a much different, uglier place than what it is today.
We have to actually support those fighting against the Behemoth and not just stand back and say, “Ah, well, he’s gonna lose that fight.”
And sometimes you have to fight the losing fight in order to rally the troops for the winning fight later. (Alamo, anyone?)
Gaetz — who has … undercut his party repeatedly
Bulls***. They’ve done that to themselves by being more oriented on process than principle and not fighting for the People and the Constitution. All Gaetz has undercut is the uniparty Progressive agenda.
Republicans must learn to govern.
They first have to learn how to fight for their principles*. If you don’t hold to what used to be actual conservative principles, then I don’t want you governing, no matter which party you claim.
(* They also have to have the right principles. Lowering the budget to a 1% increase instead of a 12% increase is a very marginal gain, and not much of a conservative principle, at all.)
And if you think this will weaken the Republicans in the House, then I have to ask, “What does being ‘strong’ gain us if you vote for what the other party wants 100% of the time?” I’d rather be weak and fighting than strong and just letting our Republic sink into the Swamp, never to be seen or spoken of again.
One person made the point that Gaetz secured McCarthy’s speakership on the basis of several promises. And he has kept very few of them. Especially ones like this, that he had control over from the beginning.
You’re wrong on this one.
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