Chaos in Congress

[N.E. Brigand]

In a meeting with the GOP caucus tonight, Kevin McCarthy said that Democrats offered him a deal that would have kept him as Speaker but he rejected it.

[N.E. Brigand]

In a meeting with the GOP caucus tonight, Kevin McCarthy said that Democrats offered him a deal that would have kept him as Speaker but he rejected it.

This is notable because some prominent Republican online are complaining that McCarthy lost his Speakership because Democrats wouldn't support him.

Edited to add an example. And another. And, I would argue, still another. That last one is former Vice President Mike Pence, speaking as he learned the news in the middle of an event, so this talking point about how he's upset that "a handful of Republicans would partner with all the Democrats ... to oust the Speaker of the House" must have been developed in advance of today's outcome. Democrats didn't vote any different than they did ten months ago! Were they unfairly blocking McCarthy then? Were Republicans unfairly denying Hakeem Jeffries the Speakership then? What happened today was a war between Republicans.

[N.E. Brigand]

Matt Yglesias is unfortunately right about this:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

There is already talk of making Trump Speaker.

ETA: of course, the talk is coming from Hannity, but still.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Another candidate!

[Frelga]

I've seen worse agendas, to be fair.

Someone mentioned Taylor Swift, with about the same seriousness. But if she could somehow be persuaded to do it, she would a) win and b) do a better job than the rest of these... unserious people.

[Impenitent]

Another candidate!

Agree with Frelga; and some way to limit bribes/donations.

[Frelga]

This historic day may be remembered in the future as a key milestone in the breakdown of democracy in the United States.

Right now, though, it's kind of hilarious.

Screenshot_20231003-191447.png (220.17 KiB) Viewed 1681 times

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Sadly, I think this is highly likely to be the result.

[Sunsilver]

Re: Q-Anon Shaman's suggestions:
Mandatory drug testing...oh, now THAT certainly would be interesting!
I could get behind some of those suggestions. I don't see age and term limits as a bad thing. And definitely, fines and expulsion for insider trading!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This encapsulates the difference between the two parties.

[N.E. Brigand]

Rep. Steny Hoyer has also been ordered to move out of his "hideaway" office. It's not clear that Rep. McHenry actually has the authority to do this, but whatever.

Here's an interesting analysis of Democrats' reasoning in declining to support Kevin McCarthy yesterday.

[N.E. Brigand]

There is already talk of making Trump Speaker.

ETA: of course, the talk is coming from Hannity, but still.

The rules package passed by Republicans at the start of this Congressional term says that any member of House Leadership "shall step aside if indicted for a felony for which a sentence of two or more years imprisonment may be imposed." That would rule out Donald Trump. I'm not sure if it would also rule out Jake Chansley. He was indicted for a felony which I believe had a potential sentence of more than two years, but he was sentenced to less than that, and also I don't know if the House Republicans's rules would still consider him now to be "indicted."

Of course, one thing that made Democrats mad was that Kevin McCarthy violated another of the rules. Republicans had demanded that all bills be publicly available for 72 hours' consideration prior to a vote. Then on Saturday, Democrats had to fight to get even two hours to consider the spending bill before the vote. (And then when they voted for it anyway and many Republicans did not, McCarthy publicly blamed Democrats for nearly shutting down the government.)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Seth Abramson seems to think that the current Majority Leader, Steve Scalise, is a lock to be the next speaker, based on the fact that both McCarthy and Gaetz apparently have indicated that they would accept him. He certainly watches these things more closely than I do, but I am not convinced, and not just because Scalise has recently been diagnosed with a form of blood cancer (Scalise says that it is under control). We'll see!

That Aaron Fritschner thread was a really good read.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm just going to post this without comment.

[N.E. Brigand]

Here's the tl;dr version:

It's clear that Menendez is corrupt, but not necessarily as clear how he is corrupt.

Yesterday it emerged that one of the gifts that Nadine Arslanian (then Sen. Menendez's fiancee) received in 2018 was a $60,000 Mercedes...

...to replace the car that Arslanian had been driving when she struck and killed a man. This accident went unreported at the time. That story suggests the police knew who Arslanian was and didn't properly investigate what happened.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here is body cam footage following the accident, so I'm not sure I understand the statement that the accident went unreported at the time (I guess you mean that it was not reported by the media?) In any event, I have seen no basis to support the conclusion that she was not responsible for causing the accident was incorrect, though perhaps there is some basis to conclude that that I have not seen.

[N.E. Brigand]

Sorry, yes, I should have been more clear: I meant there was no media coverage at the time about Sen. Menendez's fiancé having stuck and killed a man named Richard Koop. The Times article to which I linked is titled "Inside the Menendez Indictment: A Mercedes and a Secretive Fatal Crash" with this subtitle: "A 2018 fatal car crash in Bogota, N.J., drew no media attention and resulted in no charges. The driver was the soon-to-be wife of Senator Robert Menendez." After noting that the police quickly determined that Arslanian was not at fault, the article says the incident "was not reported for years, leaving witnesses and Mr. Koop's family to wonder if the fatal collision was deliberately kept quiet." As for whether it was properly investigated, the article starts out with some flashy general descriptions implying that it might not have been:

One witness at the scene said in an interview that officers appeared to know who Ms. Menendez was and treated her with striking deference. Police recordings captured the voice of a man who identifies himself as a retired police officer from a nearby department. He can be heard saying he came to the scene as “a favor” to a friend whose wife knew Ms. Menendez.

The police reports indicate she was never tested for drugs or alcohol, and was allowed to leave the scene, not long before [the struck man] was declared dead at a nearby hospital. Three days later, police investigators were sent to local bars to get more information on where Mr. Koop ‌had been in the hours before his death.

But further into the article, there are some indications that the law itself privileges drivers who kill people over the pedestrians whom they kill when it comes to drug and alcohol testing and the presumption of innocence, so it's not entirely unreasonable that the police, in accordance with the law, quickly determined that Arslanian was not at fault for killing Koop, who was revealed by post-mortem toxicology screening to have recently used alcohol and marijuana. Because Arslanian was alive, she could and did say at one point that she wouldn't answer further questions without a lawyer -- as is her right. Because he was dead, Koop was no longer able to exercise his rights. There's an important lesson in there: if you're going to be involved in a fatal automobile accident, be sure to be the one who lives through it!

It's the bizarre twist that one of the bribes Menendez and Arslanian allegedly took was a car to replace the one damaged in this accident that makes this newsworthy.

[N.E. Brigand]

Sen. Menendez is up for reelection next year. A new poll of New Jersey Democrats finds he'd place third in a primary against two likely opponents.

He'd get just 5% of the vote against them.

His net favorability rating is more than 100 points worse than his opponents'!