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January 06, 2023 09:33 AM UTC

Kevin McCarthy's Speaker Bid: The 15th Time's A Charm

  • 69 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #9: After 15 rounds of voting, Kevin McCarthy will barely become the next Speaker of the House with the final six “Never Kevins” including Rep. Lauren Boebert voting “present.”

—–

UPDATE #8: The U.S. House floor erupts in chaos as the 14th vote for Speaker comes down to two intransigent members, one of which is Colorado’s Rep. Lauren Boebert:

Just wow. Stay tuned.

—–

UPDATE #7: In the 14th round of balloting, Rep. Lauren Boebert waves the white flag and votes “present.”

—–

UPDATE #6: The House of Representatives adjourns until 8:00 pm (MST).

—–

UPDATE #5: Via The Washington Post, Colorado Republican Rep-elect Ken Buck finds himself in a rare position of being useful:

 

Via The Washington Post

 

Buck returned to Colorado on Thursday for what his office has called a “non-emergency planned medical procedure.”

 

—–

UPDATE #4: Lucky Vote #13 will fail as Rep. Lauren Boebert obstinately votes with Rep. Matt Gaetz for Rep. Jim Jordan.

 

—–

UPDATE #3: Kentucky Republican Rep-elect James Comer formally nominates Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker, so we’re off and running with Round 13.

 

—–

UPDATE #2: Kevin McCarthy will lose the twelfth ballot for Speaker, though by a smaller margin as last night’s dealmaking appears to have flipped some members of the “Never Kevin” coalition.

McCarthy finishes Round 12 with 214 votes, marking the first time that he has gained votes in successive rounds.

 

—–

UPDATE: As the twelfth round of balloting gets underway, Rep. Matt “Giggity” Gaetz returns to Rep. Jim “Gym” Jordan of Ohio for his next Speaker nomination. Rep. Lauren Boebert renominates Rep. “Alt-Kevin” Hern.

 

—–

 

MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle nonverbally speaks for all of us. Day Four of Kevin McCarthy’s showdown with the monsters he helped create gavels in at 10:00AM Mountain:

 

 

Updates will follow. It’s the only game in town.

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69 thoughts on “Kevin McCarthy’s Speaker Bid: The 15th Time’s A Charm”

  1. Don't forget on this anniversary of 1/6 attack on our constitution my Congresswoman Boebert and the other 19-20 flamethrowers also assisted in and supported the Big Lie to the point of overthrowing the will of the People. 

  3. In her shrill and immortal words, "Madam speaker, I have constituents outside this building right now. I promised my voters to be their voice." Followed by tweeting out what was going on with Pelosi during the insurrection.

    1. Is it just me, or does anyone else see Calamity Jane following Beavis around like she is a puppy?

      It is hard to find a screen shot of one that does not include the other. 

      I wonder if Jayson is watching?

      1. I posted this on Wednesday, the 4th:  "Is it just my imagination or are Boebert and Matt Gaetz awfully close.  He seems to hover around her…..Isn't she too old for him?"

        Evidently Boebert left high school in her senior year to have a baby.  She never got to go to the Prom.  Maybe Gaetz has promised her  they can be king and queen of the Prom???

        2.  Twenty years ago /- we had a very popular bumper sticker around here.   Silt Happens.  It was a Gem. Might have to encourage a second edition.

  4. It seems to me they have it ass backwards electing a Speaker, then getting sworn in. I think they should be sworn in first so they are voting for Speaker as the sitting Reps of the new Congress?

    How do they have standing to vote not sworn in?

    How does it work in the state house here?

      1. The Republican and Democratic conferences in the US House met to select, too.  But the Constitutional office of Speaker isn't "formal" until there's a majority of the whole House. 

        Kevin "won" the conference nomination by something like 188 to 31.  He's been working on that 31 since then … and is still "only" 4 votes short of winning. 

      2. They can't select the speaker in a party caucus. According to Section 10 in the Colorado state constitution that position is selected by all members of the house, not just the majority party.

        So when the new house meets for the first time, do they swear in the members and then elect the speaker? Or do the reps-elect elect the speaker and then swear in the members?

    2. In the US House, "members-elect" are called to vote for a leader of the WHOLE House.  Their status comes from the certificates of election from the election officials of the various states & territories.

      When they have selected a Speaker, he swears in the whole group and then they proceed to pass rules, vote on other officers of the whole House (chaplain, sergeant at arms, clerk, and exec who overseas administration (I forget the title), and can begin doing business on legislation.

      Welcome to the wonderful world of Parliamentary procedure, as modified and used by the House.

    3. The Speaker of the Colorado House is also elected by the majority of the whole of the House. Of course, we don't have the divisiveness in our legislature to cause this fiasco. Also, the Colorado House has standing rule that say that absent a Speaker others can call sessions to order.

      1. Aren’t the members usually sworn in by a judge or justice before anything else happens in the Colorado legislature? First the oath and then the speaker election?

        I find it hard to believe that only the speaker can swear them in.

        Perhaps they can bring a keg into the well of the House and get Brett Kavanaugh to come over to swear them in.

        1. For the State House, the two times I attended the swearing-in, the Chief Justice of the CO Supreme Court sworn in the Speaker and then the Speaker sworn in the rest of the body.

          I also went to the swearing-in of a vacancy filler and he was sworn in by the Speaker as well.

          1. If it's as you said, then they too elect the Speaker, then are sworn in.

            It is what it is, but I find it weird that the election is first because as they're not sworn in, how do they have standing to vote for the speaker?

            BTW – in Hawaii the rep from HD-1 (on the big island) is speaker pro-tempore to swear in all reps and handle the vote for speaker. So in what I think is the correct order.

  5. Boebert, Gaetz and other Republican idiots: We demand concessions before we ever vote for McCarthy!

    McCarthy: Ok. Here's some concessions.

    Idiots: GOTCHA NERD! We're never voting for anyone ever! USA! USA! USA! 

  6. Matt Gaetz; whatever any of us might think of him; just carved a new asshole on Kevin McCarthy.

    Truly, sleaze does feed on sleaze.

    Bishop of NC just switched to McCarthy./p>

  7. The 20-ish Republicans: We have a vison for our country and the Republican Party and McCarthy isn't the one to implement it.

    Also the 20-ish Republicans: Our vision will be best implemented by Jordan… no wait, Hern.. no wait, Donalds… well actually maybe we meant Jordan? We don't actually know.

  9. The way things are going, it might be important for Ken Buck to show up for the next vote. It looks like he has been MIA for the last 4. Any news on where he is?

    1. Someone briefly mentioned yesterday something about Buck and surgery. Apparently he's getting surgery today. I hope it all goes well!

      From yesterday…

      While his vote has remained consistent, Buck missed the vote in the 9th, 10th and 11th rounds to fly back to Colorado.

      "Congressman Buck returned to Colorado this afternoon for a planned non-emergency medical procedure. He hopes to return to D.C. as soon as possible and get back to work for the American people,” said spokesman Joe Jackson.

      At this point, it is unclear when Buck will make it back to Washington, D.C. to be able to participate in voting once again. However, with his absence, the threshold for electing a new speaker lowers slightly to reach a majority. McCarthy also loses a vote with Buck’s absence. (https://www.denver7.com/news/politics/speaker-of-the-house-position-remains-empty-following-11-rounds-of-voting)

      1. Thanks. Looks like there is a D missing for medical reasons also (Trone). So, by my math, MacCarthy needs 217. He had 213 last vote. So he has to get 4 more. 

  10. I guess an interesting side effect of all of this is lots of people outside of Colorado get to stare blankly at the TV with jaws dropped, wondering how the hell an imbecile like Bobo wound up as a member of Congress…

  11. McCarthy Republicans look like the reasonable ones but then I look into Comer who just nominated McCarthy and it's a great reminder that even the McCarthy Republicans are not reasonable…

    At the top of that agenda is ratcheting up scrutiny of the president’s son Hunter, whose foreign business dealings have been under investigation by the Justice Department since the Obama administration. A House inquiry would likely be spearheaded by James Comer, Republican of Kentucky, who is expected to chair the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Comer has claimed that the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, which was found abandoned in a Delaware repair shop in 2020, revealed evidence of federal crimes committed by the president’s family. (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/opinion/republicans-house-speaker-mccarthy.html)

    1. Would it surprise anyone here if Hunter Biden had committed several felonies? And it's legit to investigate if the DOJ was favoring a president's child.

      Of course, that investigation should start with Trump's brood since they've likely committed felonies too.

      1. Trump's DOJ had 4 years to put something together and explicitly tried to implicate him. The laptop situation is at best murky. Could Hunter Biden have committed felonies? Sure. But the US Attorney in charge is a Trump holdover, explicitly so that no-one could accuse Pres. Biden of interference.

        The horse is not making the satisfying squishy noise; it's pretty well beaten by now.

        1. The laptop went through several hands during which it was copied and hacked. They probably aren't even pictures of his own junk.

          In other words, the evidence on the laptop would be inadmissable.

          1. Inadmissible in a criminal case, perhaps, but certainly not inadmissible on Fox News which has evidentiary standards only slightly above that of the National Enquirer.

              2. So…a quick check of the authors of “The Laptop Report” reveals The Marco Polo Research Group as the originators. Who They you may ask?  Preliminary dig reveals only Garrett Ziegler as author tho claiming 5 others (TBD).

                  Garrett Ziegler was an advisor to Peter Navarro and can reasonably be called the poster boy for White Grievance. Called the probe by 1/6 committee “A Bolshevistic anti-white campaign”. So Trumps Mad Dog’s, Mad Dog is the author. How much salt will be required to make this particular journalistic turd palatable is up for debate, but rest assured it will be more than the standard “Grain”.

                 See Wapo story here:

                https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/21/garrett-ziegler-rant-trump-jan-6/

                  1. Naw…I’ll pass. Considering that “ Hunter’s laptop” will be rhe top priority of the GOP Caucus for the next 2 years, I think we can wait to get started on it. 
                    Props for being the Early Troll, though. Nice try.

                    1. It would be better named the #HunterBidenPenisScandal (and Donny, Jr. is insanely jealous). 

  12. With ballot #13 this session of Congress slides in to 5th place for most ballots required to elect a Speaker. 4th place is unlikely given today’s movement – the 1819 Speaker’s election took 22 ballots. But hey, this crop of Republicans could still pull it off.

  13. Colorado Republican Rep-elect Ken Buck finds himself in a rare position of being useful:

    I wasn't going to comment on this but it kept bugging me. We often complain here about how the Republicans have degraded the quality of conversation in the political arena. But then we turn around and write gratuitous crap like this.

    I don't agree with a fair amount of Buck's stances on issues. But the guy puts in the effort. He's a leader on the Republican side on addressing the issues of monopolies. So he is useful.

    It's a cheap shot. And inaccurate.

  14. Even if you add Ken Buck to the 214 “MY Kevin” had on the last ballot, that only brings him to 215.

    Which three of the really hard-boiled nut jobs will crack?

    Of the six remaining hold outs, my guess is that Bimbobert, Gaetz and Good go down with the ship. (Good is a theocratic nut case who replaced the Republican libertarian in a primary.)

    Rosendale will probably crack in they start putting pressure on him. He wants to run for Tester’s senate seat. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a phone call from the Old Crow, Mitch McConnell, asking him to vote for “My Kevin.”

    I don’t know enough about Crane to know whether he will give in.

    Biggs may cave since his buddy, Paul Gasar, already has.

  20. In the last second of voting on the motion to adjourn, McCarthy and Gaetz seem to have come to some kind of agreement and they GOP members are now changing their votes to not adjourn. Looks like a 15th vote will be tonight.

     

    1. This is beyond crazy. There is going to be so much distrust, revenge, loathing, and all around dysfunction among the Republican House members that they'll struggle to do anything.

      We really have reached the point where the revolution is eating its own. Good times!

    1. 5 of the "Not Kevin" crowd have voted "present" which lowers the number of needed votes to 215, assuming everyone else votes one way or the other. We're only halfway thru the Ls.

    1. Actually, Dano, it feels more like we really don’t, even though the mechanisms are functional, this shit ain’t gonna work. 

      Reading through the concessions made by the new Speaker, it is difficult to predict just how crazy this session will be. I am assuming the new rules will allow Democrats to obstruct with the same effectiveness as the MAGA crowd.

      The placing of many of them on important committees may be the most insidious aspect of this further attack on our nation, but the consequences of this internal, institutional, insurrection may surprise everyone.

      This is just the beginning.

      1. "even though the mechanisms are functional, this shit ain’t gonna work."

        If he is lucky, this will work for a couple of weeks. But once they start realizing that he promised things to some which fly in the face of what he promised to others, the motion to vacate will start being filed.

      2. Did you see BoBo’s face when she voted present the first time?  She looked like someone was holding a gun to her head. 
         

        In the end she folded like a cheap suit to the alligators in the swamp. 

  25. One final observation and then I am FINALLY going to bed.

    When the new Speaker was swearing-in the pouther house member, C-SPAN's camera were focuses on Boebert. She raised her hand, but notably did not agree to the oath. Her mouth did not move except to chew her gum.

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