(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The GOP Bench is Shallow [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-18 The term deep bench is thrown around by political parties as if the manager will step up in the ninth inning and say, ‘Mighty Casey, you’re in.’ The so-called deep bench of the Republican party was narrowed to two candidates for Speaker of the House, Steve Scalise (R-LA), who once described himself as David Duke without the baggage, and Jim Jordan (R-OH), who led the House Congressional charge to overturn the election and foment insurrection. With the second failed vote of Jim Jordan for Speaker in as many days, the chaos continues amidst a war in Ukraine and Israel. Jordan maintained his stance on the election being rigged with his silence when CNN’s Manu Raju asked if he would concede to Ken Buck’s (R-CO) wish to agree that President Biden won publicly. Jordan, who answered every question up to that point as reporters scurried after him down the hallway of Congress, was markedly silent—on the question of Biden’s victory—as he greeted someone on the elevator and disappeared from view when the doors shut. We have heard wide-eyed, open-mouthed pronouncements of ‘politics’ or the process being ‘messy’ when Republicans are asked why they cannot elect a Speaker. So, looking over the precipice and facing round after round of votes to select the next Speaker of the House, Republicans are looking down the bench and seeing Bob Uecker (just a bit outside) and not Willie Mays (say hey). The lack of a deep bench extends to the GOP’s presidential candidates. Republicans, known for their messaging, are floundering, looking to either be Donald Trump’s running mate, setting themselves up as 2028 candidates, martyrdom, or a job at Fox News. Chris Christie, who set himself up as the anti-Trump and repeatedly critiqued Mr. Trump for denying the 2020 election results, seemed ambivalent about Jim Jordan this morning. Jordan, a vociferous advocate of the Big [election] Lie, has apparently neutered Christie’s objections, although he was Trump’s chief election lie lieutenant in Congress. “[But] here’s one of the things I learned when I was governor the hard way. People who want to be the executive don’t get involved in the legislative leadership races because you always lose,” Christie told Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski, who pressed Christie to answer whether he supported Jordan. Aside from ducking an easy question for the sake of politics, the straight-talking Christie swung and missed badly. The very slick and polished Vivek Ramaswamy had his veneer peeled away at a town hall meeting: x YouTube Video Fortunately, the empty suit is wearing thin, and an extensive vocabulary is not enough to hide the fact the wannabe emperor has no clothes. Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson removed himself from the bench once he fell under the weight of decency. The GOP is at the plate looking for a fastball, but when served up a curve, they have no answer but to get angry and scream at the umpire. Everything from moving the voting age to 25 and changing the Constitution has been on deck. A team looking for a cleanup hitter and hoping to make the GOP all-star team must remember in Mudville, the Mighty Casey struck out. Vote Against Guns [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/18/2200198/-The-GOP-Bench-is-Shallow?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/