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cuddlemonkey said:

I never argued for it. I said I was hoping like hell. I knew it wasn't going to happen because that sort of thing will never happen in this country, in this climate.



I don't have any specific examples, but there should be plenty that are far less impactful than giving any single member the ability to bring the house to a grinding halt by calling for a motion to vacate.



I mean... no? It's on plain display 24/7. Me quietly hoping against all odds for a major curveball isn't naivety, it's wishful thinking. If you want to discuss naivety and politics, you are barking up the wrong tree.



Exactly my damn point. He gave in to fanatics. That's a terrible idea.

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They were willing to wait him out as long as it took and the longer he tries to wear them out, the longer the House Speaker nomination charade soap-opera goes on. Who wins there? And then the work of House doesn’t get discussed, at all.

I agree it was a terrible idea, but you’re kind “moralizing from the sidelines” if you really and truly believe that in the same sort of predicament, a lot of once ideas that seemed terrible all of a sudden seem possible.

I’m not barking up the wrong tree, I’m describing in very harsh, realistic terms what one has to do to make a name for themselves in D.C. instead of making me think it all so easy and you wouldn’t be forced to compromise or sell out your integrity if that’s the price to be paid for reaching the heights of power. Either that or you don’t really rise to much of importance like old La. Congressman “Dollar Bill” Jefferson.

coldseat said:

Jeffries would have had no problem passing a debt ceiling increase if he had the majority and was Speaker. The "radicals" on the left aren't nearly as willing to burn everything down as the true ones on the right are.

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Except that’s not the situation he would’ve faced if he were elected SOTH in January 2023. He would had to deal with same “rigged, insane hand” McCarthy’s had to face the past 5 months.

Totally different scenarios.

Saintman2884 said:

They were willing to wait him out as long as it took and the longer he tries to wear them out, the longer the House Speaker nomination charade soap-opera goes on. Who wins there? And then the work of House doesn’t get discussed, at all.

I agree it was a terrible idea, but you’re kind “moralizing from the sidelines” if you really and truly believe that in the same sort of predicament, a lot of once ideas that seemed terrible all of a sudden seem possible.

I’m not barking up the wrong tree, I’m describing in very harsh, realistic terms what one has to do to make a name for themselves in D.C. instead of making me think it all so easy and you wouldn’t be forced to compromise or sell out your integrity if that’s the price to be paid for reaching the heights of power. Either that or you don’t really rise to much of importance like old La. Congressman “Dollar Bill” Jefferson.

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Congratulations, you win. You fail to understand my argument or anything I am saying, but you doggedly talk past everything I say to get your points out whether they have any basis in what I have said or even in reality.

Saintman2884 said:

They can discuss it, sure. But, if in the future if a Republican president is in a similar battle with a Democratic-controlled Congress, and some hardline House Dems object to how maybe this ——— R president is spending on wrong things included in deficit spending, forget discussing it, he’ll point to Biden using the 14th Amendment to arbitrarily raise it despite their approval, as a precedent.

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Just for clarification…the president (be they R, D, or independent) can’t spend on the wrong things. The president can ask for funding, but only congress can actually allocate funds.

That’s another thing I get frustrated with the right for saying…”How can we have a money problem if Biden keeps giving billions to Ukraine?” Biden didn’t..congress did:

cuddlemonkey said:

Congratulations, you win. You fail to understand my argument or anything I am saying, but you doggedly talk past everything I say to get your points out whether they have any basis in what I have said or even in reality.

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Actually, I do understand your arguments, it’s just doesn’t correspond to the nasty reality that represents DC insider politics and how unhinged it’s become. Is me pointing that out mean that I’m not basing my arguments in reality. I can’t simply wish that away no matter I try or how you try to characterize me.

FullMonte said:

Just for clarification…the president (be they R, D, or independent) can’t spend on the wrong things. The president can ask for funding, but only congress can actually allocate funds.

That’s another thing I get frustrated with the right for saying…”How can we have a money problem if Biden keeps giving billions to Ukraine?” Biden didn’t..congress did:

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I think it has more to do with the fact that there’s an Ukraine war going on and that that terrible, atrocious series of events where millions have been displaced, forced to flee, and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, civilians have been killed, tortured, or broken due to Russia’s criminal invasion. I don’t think Republicans are alone in wishing that a lot of this money didn’t have to go to Ukraine and could have been spent here, but we really don’t have much of a choice, do we?

We can’t let Putin just waltz in and forcefully take over and assimilate regions, countries just because, in his warped, ultranationalist perspective, Ukraine doesn’t have a legitimate right to exist as an independent, geopolitical, sovereign state.

Saintman2884 said:

I think it has more to do with the fact that there’s an Ukraine war going on and that that terrible, atrocious series of events where millions have been displaced, forced to flee, and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, civilians have been killed, tortured, or broken due to Russia’s criminal invasion. I don’t think Republicans are alone in wishing that a lot of this money didn’t have to go to Ukraine and could have been spent here, but we really don’t have much of a choice, do we?

We can’t let Putin just waltz in and forcefully take over and assimilate regions, countries just because, in his warped, ultranationalist perspective, Ukraine doesn’t have a legitimate right to exist as an independent, geopolitical, sovereign state.

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No, I agree with that, and I have zero problem with helping Ukraine.

My issue is those on the right accusing "Biden" of giving money to Ukraine, often with veiled accusations that it's some kind of payback for some kind of shady stuff he and his son did there, when the reality is that Congress (and not Biden) approved that money going to Ukraine.

Like this:

Saintman2884 said:

McCarthy doesn’t have the luxury of being able to ignore crazies because unlike Pelosi, he didn’t inherit a House majority with 30-35 seats or more. Otherwise, we’d still be in that macabre political theater of trying to nominate a Speaker and then nothing would really get done. He had to make too many compromising deals to the Freedom Caucus, which gave the them outsized influence over his decision-making. McCarthy didn’t enough of a majority to ignore them so did he really have much of a choice if we’re pontificating from the sidelines like we could have done a better job? As weak and spineless as you think McCarthy is, he’s still far better than having Donalds, MTG, Good, Gaetz, or Boebert as SOTH. We’d be much more forked then now. They’re the real domestic terrorists, McCarthy just didn’t inherit the luxury of being able to ignore them by having a very narrow, House majority and dictating terms the way he’d liked too.

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You are completely wrong about Pelosi’s margin there, the last two years she had an 11 vote cushion. She still managed to get elected Speaker on the first ballot, and shepherded a LOT of legislation through the House during that term.

MT15 said:

You are completely wrong about Pelosi’s margin there, the last two years she had an 11 vote cushion. She still managed to get elected Speaker on the first ballot, and shepherded a LOT of legislation through the House during that term.

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She didn’t have to deal with a nutjob, fanatical extremist fringe on the left comparable to what McCarthy inherited in 2023 with the Freedom Caucus. Those lunatics didn’t have the power or influence to hold up her SOTH nomination for an entire week, either. McCarthy also only has a 222-213 lead, a slim 9-vote majority. The hand he was dealt or inherited was still more perilous than Pelosi’s situation.

AOC and the “Squad” might be difficult to deal with at times, but they’re not the lunatic fringe that would knowingly, vindicatively hold her up to prove a point.

My original point still stands.

Saintman2884 said:

She didn’t have to deal with a nutjob, fanatical extremist fringe on the left comparable to what McCarthy inherited in 2023 with the Freedom Caucus. Those lunatics didn’t have the power or influence to hold up her SOTH nomination for an entire week, either. McCarthy also only has a 222-213 lead, a slim 9-vote majority. The hand he was dealt or inherited was still more perilous than Pelosi’s situation.

AOC and the “Squad” might be difficult to deal with at times, but they’re not the lunatic fringe that would knowingly, vindicatively hold her up to prove a point.

My original point still stands.

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We will have to agree to disagree. Pelosi did a masterful job of holding her caucus together, IMO. And I am not willing to say that an 11 vote majority is significantly different than a 9 vote majority.

You might consider that Pelosi was more skilled politically than McCarthy, rather than just minimizing her skills. Just a thought.

MT15 said:

We will have to agree to disagree. Pelosi did a masterful job of holding her caucus together, IMO. And I am not willing to say that an 11 vote majority is significantly different than a 9 vote majority.

You might consider that Pelosi was more skilled politically than McCarthy, rather than just minimizing her skills. Just a thought.

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Pelosi’s caucus from 2021-23 isn’t what McCarthy had to deal with getting confirmed House Speaker in January 2023. The Squad, again can be annoying but aren’t going to or less likely to sabotage their SOTH. They’re not legislative, vindictive radicals. They can be reasoned with. MTG, Boebert, Good, Gaetz, uhhh… no. McCarthy also made the crucial, fatal mistake of “assuming” he had the House Speaker nomination wrapped up by believing he could ignore dogged fanatics like Freedom Caucus. You don’t assume when it comes to making huge, potentially significant decisions like that.

I actually agree Pelosi’s a far more skilled legislator. She was elected and served as House Speaker twice. That does take some considerable political skill.

Guess this can go here
================
The company behind Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform has filed a $3.78bn defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post.

The lawsuit, filed by Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (TMTG) in Florida’s Sarasota County, claims that a 13 May article that alleged the company may have committed securities fraud was false and defamatory, and posed an “existential threat”

The article titled “Trust linked to porn-friendly bank could gain a stake in Trump’s Truth Social” alleged that the company had concealed key details about a proposed merger from the Securities and Exchange Commission and shareholders, citing internal documents provided by a whistleblower.

The lawsuit claims the Washington Post had been on a “years-long crusade” to undermine the Trump Media, which was founded in February 2021.

“The clickbait headline of the WaPo Article... immediately grabbed the common mind of readers, falsely insinuating that TMTG was involved in shady business dealings,” the suit claims…….

New YorkCNN —

CNN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chris Licht is out, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Licht, whose one-year tenure at the network has been marked by a series of controversies and missteps, departs after a devastating magazine profile that called into question his ability to lead the network’s staff..........

Optimus Prime said:

New YorkCNN —

CNN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chris Licht is out, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Licht, whose one-year tenure at the network has been marked by a series of controversies and missteps, departs after a devastating magazine profile that called into question his ability to lead the network’s staff..........

CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht is out after a brief and tumultuous tenure | CNN Business

Chris Licht, the embattled chief executive and chairman of CNN, whose brief one-year tenure at the network was stained by a series of severe missteps, departed the company on Wednesday.

www.cnn.com

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It was only a matter of time. There was about to be a mutiny there and that story from The Atlantic definitely sealed his fate.

FullMonte said:

My issue is those on the right accusing "Biden" of giving money to Ukraine, often with veiled accusations that it's some kind of payback for some kind of shady stuff he and his son did there, when the reality is that Congress (and not Biden) approved that money going to Ukraine.

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I have an issue with that as well. There's nothing corrupt with Biden sending the Ukraine money. It's pure conspiracy theory that some on the Right regurgitate.

Echo said:

I have an issue with that as well. There's nothing corrupt with Biden sending the Ukraine money. It's pure conspiracy theory that some on the Right regurgitate.

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But again…”Biden” is not sending them money. Congress had to approve those funds. At most, Biden is disbursing funds that congress told him to.

FullMonte said:

But again…”Biden” is not sending them money. Congress had to approve those funds. At most, Biden is disbursing funds that congress told him to.

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The dumbest part of all of it is that the GOP supports the spending in Congress and then they tell their constituents they don't. Their voters willfully believe what the GOP tells them and ignore their votes. Fascinating.

Fox News continues to do Fox News things...