Wow, this (from National Review's Robert Costa) is amazing:
Cruz to House Conservatives: Oppose BoehnerFirst Cruz told House Republicans to focus on the continuing resolution intended to the government open, rather than waiting for the debt ceiling fight. Boehner and the leadership have wanted to shift the focus to the debt ceiling, but Cruz said "Jump!" and the House crazy caucus said "How high?" -- so Boehner and the leadership failed to win over the caucus.
On a Thursday conference call, a group of House conservatives consulted with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas about how to respond to the leadership's fiscal strategy. Sources who were on the call say Cruz strongly advised them to oppose it, and hours later, Speaker John Boehner’s plan fizzled.
It’s the latest example of Cruz leading the House's right flank.
Then Cruz issued another order:
Later Thursday, Cruz met again with House conservatives at a venue near the Capitol. According to one House member, the bicameral bloc talked deep into the night about the CR and pressuring Boehner. At the top of the agenda: making a one-year delay of Obamacare a requirement for government funding, and to accept nothing less, should the defunding effort unravel. They fear Boehner is resistant to making that an ultimatum, and they discussed ways to force his hand.We know Boehner's hold on the Speaker's job is tenuous -- if we didn't know that before, it's pretty obvious now -- so why not make this leadership change official? After all, right-wingers are enthralled by the notion that the Speaker of the House doesn't actually have to be a member of the House -- here, for instance, is Mark Levin in 2012 arguing that Scott Walker should be Speaker, and here's a RedState blogger, also in 2012, urging the election of Newt Gingrich. (A few days after that was posted, Louis Gohmert actually nominated Gingrich. In the January Speaker election, Colin Powell and outgoing congressman Allen West received votes.)
Leadership sources, for their part, are startled by Cruz's attempt to shape House strategy and work against the speaker. They knew he'd oppose Boehner's playbook, but they didn’t expect him to huddle with conservatives and ask them to ignore it. So, Cruz’s meetings have made him a key House player, but they’ve worsened his already-fraught relationship with the leadership.
So, House Republicans, if it's true (though many people have their doubts) that a Speaker doesn't have to be a member of the House, why not pick a member of the Senate?
Go for it, kids!
Make Senator Ted Cruz the next Speaker of the House!
(Story via Memeorandum.)
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UPDATE: I'm not the only person who's considered this possibility.
Strewth,
ReplyDeleteWhat's next? Steve, the implications of that move frighten the B'nothingness ( Jesus went years ago) out of me.
I'm not one for slippery slide thinking,but given the bizarre convoluted thinking that masquerades s republican/tea party reasoning... why even elect leaders to the Congress at all? After all democracy isn't working the way they want anyway.
This entire situation reminds me of old jokes we threw about in the Navy and Marines (joint command) about fragging your leadership or just tossing them overboard and walking away. All while the senior officers were wondering what in the hell was wrong with us.
ReplyDeleteI should be more exact. There is a point where the people under you are utterly convinced you don't give a shit about them, are incompetent, or are an utter coward, and they start to debate taking things into their own hands for their own survival. At times this joke refers to the sanity of the troops against a fresh out of academy officer who has no idea what he's doing, and at other times it's a unit gone nuts and completely berserk. Senior brass has their own jokes about the NCO's done lost their damn minds. It's a running theme in the military, along with "our civilian leadership has done lost it's fucking mind, AGAIN".
ReplyDeleteThe issue is, once that line is crossed it stops mattering who is or was right. It turns into a mass rush for self preservation with a complete distrust of the people you should be working with. A complete failure not only of trust, but of the chain of command at the entire institution, and that's when really bad things happen. Once that happens, it's not possible to fix the situation without removing all the major actors from the situation. Installing new ones, and restoring a proper chain of command and relationship for all involved.
To bring this to what's going on now... this isn't fixable with the elected Republicans. They need to ditch the leaders they have and the newer people as well. They need fresh blood on both parts and they need it fast. Because both groups seem convinced the other is fucking things into the ground and must be stopped to salvage the party and save them all, that's a an utter breakdown which cannot be fixed. There is enough bad blood and enough egos on the line they can't come to a fix, or even trust each other to come to one.
I don't have a fix for them, and I'm getting a laugh out of this and hoping it works out for my side in the 2014 elections. But this is an organization gone insane, with no real leaders, and massive mistrust all through it's normal chain of command and organization. With no real leadership due to how they raise funds (and Citizens United is biting them in the ass now) they have no supreme authority to answer to. This means no entity can extract the rot and move it to a harmless area, and replace it with unsullied actors who can restore sanity. They're fucked. Fixing this level of cluster fuck takes years even in the best run governmental and private entities, and requires a ball buster who can't be touched. The GOP has no such fixer, and the very things that let them cling to power prevent them from extracting the rot and replacing it with something fresh.
I know how this story ends from working at places where this mix of shit show/cluterfuck went down. The people with institutional knowledge and skills who haven't gone mad flee first, taking what's needed to self correct with them. Once that point of sanity is gone the coming holy war (which will be a blame game) turns the internal fight that much worse. At this point the board intervenes and forces order on the situation by cleaning house of anybody remotely involved in leadership or day to day operations, along with anybody with a history of anything. The other options is the board picks a side and cleans house, which requires not only a full backing of the one side but ruining the other so as to strip all their past actions of even remote credibility. The last option is nobody can regain control and the entire thing just implodes.
Given the lack of leadership, I think we are due for an implosion, it will take time, probably around a decade and a half(talking out my ass but given term limits, and assuming they are like contracts).
I just don't see a hidden Republican Board of Directors with the power to unilaterally remove the bad actors, put back into power people who left, and suck in new talent.
Oh well, it's their own fault.
FYI- I know this is a liberal blog and thus running government like a business talk is bad, because it's not one and shouldn't operate like one. But since Republicans love it, I figure it's OK to point out what a business would do to them and how their lunacy prevents that, so blow/bite/puch/kick/whatever me.
Never mind the tail - the ass is wagging the dog.
ReplyDeleteGeese,
ReplyDeleteFYI clearly you read selective posts, selectively.
Let me be perfectly clear I'm a post structuralist, As near as damn it. (look it up) that means I'm no fan of parties ( political or other wise).
Every right wing party I've been to has been to has been a big yawn or engendered a hang over. You know the ones, you wake up thinking you're dying and half an hour later sorry you hadn't.
This issue is like a country wedding where every one gets drunk, half the gathering is dancing with without their pants(to a different tune than the one being played). The other half, the bridal party (bride included) are trying to punch the shit out of the new in laws
Running a country like a business? Have you any idea how asinine that is? Clearly you don't run a business...what are you going to do with the 'retrenched', 'surplus to requirements' people? Any idea how Drug resistant pandemic start? And last time I checked these diseases also affect the insured self satisfied republicans too.
On a pure human social (human nature) level, perhaps you need to read about what (really) *causes* Revolutions... hint it has nothing to do with higher philosophic notions.
Seriously, I wish Just once a pro Republican any republican could run an argument based on reality and not oozing meaningless hyperbole like 'run the country like a business'.
Fact: If all real businesses was to be run on cash up front opening at 9 am ALL trading world wide would cease by 9.50 am that day.
BUSINESS RUNS ON CREDIT which is based on the PERCEIVED VALUE OF THE ENTERPRISE.
Just in case you missed the subtlety there..... The US isn't going broke any time soon, it's used credit as a portion of it's net worth(debt to asset ratio ) is minuscule by comparison to most corporations.
In truth political parties simply dumb down the reality and sensationalise the circumstances to gain control.(power) from the ignorant (it's called misdirection).
Meanwhile those WITH THE POWER STEAL YOUR DREAMS TO FEATHER THEIR OWN NESTS.
Now back to the real topic; for a party "allegedly" obsessed by the "constitution" (play stars and stripes softly in the background)... face the facts the system is predicated on the leader of the house being ELECTED TO THAT house of Congress".
Each house has separate and different responsibilities.
Oh yes Political parties weren't in the constitution
"On a Thursday conference call, a group of House conservatives..."
ReplyDeleteGolly I wish they were conservatives. They are not. Theodore Roosevelt was a conservative. The current hooligans are certainly not. A more descriptive term would be 'fascists'.