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The Next Speaker of the House Is...... [1]

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Date: 2023-10-03  

So, McCarthy has had his 9 months of fame. So maybe the Republicans do support abortion at nine months after all. Well at least he will always be able to refer to himself as a former Speaker of the House.

We have another looming shutdown in 42 days and counting. My understanding is that no legislative business can be done without a Speaker. I am not sure about how long the Speaker pro-tempore can hold that position.

Now what are the options for selecting a future speaker.

1. Republicans nominate someone to the left of the MAGA insurgents. That is not going to fly. If McCarthy could not get those 5-10 Republicans to vote for him then anyone to his left will not get any of their votes.

2. They can pick someone to the right of McCarthy which are basically the MAGA insurgents themselves. I cannot see them getting much support from their colleagues in swing / moderate districts who will be up for election in 12 months.

3. McCarthy has already said he will not run so he is not an option for a second bite at the apple.

4. The Democrats can and will nominate Jeffries, but he will get zero Republican votes, so he is not a viable option.

5. One Republican has already said he would nominate the former guy who is now on trial or pending trial 4 more times. He will probably be too tied up to be Speaker although the one thing he loves to do is speak.

So, who does that leave?

I have a suggestion based on the fact you do not have to be a current representative to serve as Speaker. The Republicans want a conservative who has good conservative policy credentials. The Dems want someone with progressive credentials but more than that they want someone who is not going to blindly follow the former guy or carry out his agenda. Someone who will disband the fiasco called the Biden Impeachment Inquiry. Someone who will not let the government default. Someone who will stand up for the Constitution and their oath of office.

I think that either Adam Kinzinger or Liz Cheney could draw a coalition of Democrats and Republicans to get enough votes to be speaker. Yes, they would be conservative but they are both constitutionalists and neither of them is batshit crazy. I do not agree with them on most if not all policy issues but since we are not going to get a speaker Jeffries or any other Democrat this seems like the best the Dems can do to restore some usual order and sanity to the chamber. Maybe a coalition of 180 or so Democrats and 35 or so Republicans can work in electing a new Speaker.

I am not sure that either of them would want the position, but I believe that they both would want to see government work in a responsible manner.

The old expression used to be that politics make strange bedfellows. Let’s see if a Speaker KInzinger or Speaker Cheney can deliver a functional House of Representatives. Neither would give a rats ass about appeasing the MAGA crowd. If not we are probably going to wind up with one of the crazy MAGA Republicans who would probably make McCarthy look like a moderate.

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