ChiGoose

It took 15 tries, but Kevin McCarthy was elected Speaker with the support of 49.6% of the members of Congress. I’m sure such a talented and strong leader as himself will have no problem keeping his supporters together to do work for the good of the American people…

So just his soul then?

Well, that should do it. McCarthy poised to win it on the 15th ballot. Wonder what he gave up to get over the line

After 14 attempts, McCarthy fails again.

Hochul seems to be doing the Lori Lightfoot play of alienating every possible constituency. Doesn’t seem like a bright move, but I guess I’m just not a politician. Kinda interesting to watch from out here in Chicago.

I’d love to end the two party system but you don’t do it with term limits. You do it by ending FPTP plurality elections

I know I’m in the minority on Congress term limits, the majority is just wrong. Another “feel good” policy that fails basic root cause analysis and ignores negative externalities in favor of a simplistic and flawed narrative. It wouldn’t change much other than incentivizing legislators to spend more time setting up their post-Congress private sector windfalls through selling out the American people. An even bigger revolving door of corruption than we have today. If we want to stop electing #######s, then we should change the way we do elections to disincentive electing #######s. Anything else is a distraction or worse.

Congressional term limits are an absolutely terrible idea. unless you think the biggest problem with Congress is that lobbyists don’t have enough power and there’s too little corruption

Aside from the rule being bad, Hastert was a sexual predator of minors. So if they want to keep it, they should at least change the name…

What are you even talking about? I’m just saying that with a one member threshold to call a vote for speaker, it just takes one of 435 members of the House to decide their ego or career will benefit from publicly denouncing McCarthy and calling for a vote. Do you think all members of the House are so noble that not a single one would do this?

Even if it’s not a Dem, there are 20 Republicans who don’t want McCarthy. What’s to stop Gaetz or anyone else from calling a vote for speaker the minute it’s politically convenient?

I don’t know how you operate a house of Congress with a one member vote to vacate. Does it have to come from the speakers caucus or can any Dem force a vote every hour?

Most politicians have big egos, sure. And many are narcissists in the traditional sense. But no, I don’t believe that most politicians are this mentally ill.

Trump clearly suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder He’s basically the perfect case study. Once you know that, basically all of his decision-making makes sense. It‘s not about anything other than him, and how much people grovel to him and praise him. That’s literally all that matters.

False

A good leader would have wrapped this up in caucus prior to the first day of the new congress. Or else, have had a plan to actually gain votes during the balloting. McCarthy is weak and is publicly demonstrating that weakness to everyone. This is the first time in 100 years that we've needed multiple ballots because most Speakers tend to be able to lead. McCarthy is a follower. It's not utter chaos yet, but it's certainly not some testament to anything other than McCarthy's weakness.

Now I can't figure it out. Is bipartisanship and negotiating a good thing or a bad thing?

There’s a wide range between “in lockstep” and “utter chaos devoid of serious leadership” and the GOP is currently closer to the latter than the middle.

Haha, I have a whole list: 1. Instant Run-Off or Approval Voting: eliminate first past the post voting that leads to a two party system, polarization, and negative partisanship. 2. Eliminate gerrymandering nationwide 3. Multi-member districts: Each district sends more than one member to the House. Decrease geographic polarization 4. Campaign finance reform: severely restrict corporate funding and PACs in elections 5. Expand the House: The House grew as the country grew for the entire history of the US until 1929. It was supposed to be made up of members of the community, one for every 30,000 people. Now it’s elitists who represent almost 800,000 people each. For most Americans, they have the same relationship as their senators Actions like those would hopefully destroy the Democratic and Republican parties while returning power to the people instead of the corporate elite.

We need serious electoral reform to fix this. No idea how we could pull it off though

I’m not sure how he gets over the top but I also don’t know who a viable alternative would be. Jordan? Scalise? This could go on for quite some time.

I’ll give McCarthy credit for something: he has done a great job of uniting the country… in laughing at McCarthy.

It’ll be tough for him to find the time since he’s attending his mom’s latest funeral

A strong leader would work across the caucus to inspire confidence and earn votes. Say what you will about Pelosi, she managed to get compromises with DemSocs and Blue Dogs. When they put a piece of legislation on the floor, nobody was getting everything they wanted but everyone felt they had been heard and their concerns were met. Confusing that with a party just being in lock step following the leader is as weird as looking at what’s happening with the House GOP caucus and thinking it’s because of competent democracy.