It was somebody from Oklahoma who moved to adjourn. One person loudly voted Nay, that might have been McCarthy. No way to know since it’s done in voice vote only.
I heard somebody on TV say it’s customary for the putative Speaker to move in a day or so ahead of time. Of course, we haven’t had this situation where there weren’t enough votes for 100 years. He should have known he didn’t have the votes and should have waited. One of the most important duties of a Speaker is to count votes and know where the votes are and are not. And to persuade folks to get on board. How does this man have so little awareness of his political situation? It boggles the mind.
He read Art of the Deal??? Like saying the only way you can lose is because the other guy cheats.
You can give up all hope of them actually governing, it will be a never ending
show filled with pointless legislation targeting the national threat that is socialist groomers!He played a case of judicial or Congressional hardball and yes, it was partisan and deliberate but I could certainly see former or past Dem House Speakers like Tip O'Neal or even Pelosi doing this, as an extreme last-resort if their opponents in Congress wanted a pitched, nasty fight to push some SCOTUS justice they believed in. It never came to that over the course of their respective careers, but I could see them doing it. Being House Speaker demands a certain type of ruthlessness to make sure your party votes the way you want them too, on mostly all issues. Tip O'Neil had the cantankerous, confrontational, edgy demeanor to do something similar.
Sometimes, a Speaker's job isn't just to simply persuade holdouts they should get on board, its to occasionally force or coerce them by threatening to withhold or not give enough investiture money to their districts in passing the next budgets or holding confidential, potentially damaging information against them--a form of blackmail. Its not too uncommon and different from what we saw in the Netflix series House of Cards. Persuade? Sure, but a good, effective House Speaker knows when to get their hands dirty when situation requires it and even good ones, from O'Neil, Pelosi, or Hyde knew this all too well.
What you are saying is undoubtedly true, but I was referring to him withholding a vote on Garland for most of a year during Obama’s second term. That was unprecedented and slimy in the extreme. And I really don’t see other leaders being willing to do that. He can pretend he’s a traditionalist, but he’s really not. He’s as power-hungry as any MAGA.
I could see O'Neal doing that, if pushed to the ultimate limit of his patience in terms of judicial hardball and ruthlessness. He had the confrontational, caustic personality and demeanor to do something like that. Pelosi? She might threaten or suggest the possibility of manufacturing a stunt similar to McConnell's but ultimately wouldn't ever pull the trigger.
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