Which allowed the GOP controlled house to elect a much more fashy religious zealot who will be waaaaay worse for the country?

Am I missing something here? How is this not the biggest "own goal" they have pulled in recent memory? Now we get to listen to endless whining by liberal media outlets about how evil the new anti-daddy of the week is?

  • Infamousblt [any]
    ·
    8 months ago

    Democrats aren't even pretending to be controlled opposition anymore. They've become the party of unironic accelerationism

    • NewLeaf
      hexagon
      ·
      8 months ago

      I really don't understand how libs can't see this. At least people are waking up to the realities in the Israel/Gaza genocide.

  • 420blazeit69 [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    Hard to call it an own goal when this isn't going to change any policy. The same batshit they proposed before will be proposed again, and it'll be shot down unless it's the type of batshit Democrats agree with (see: Ukraine). Just as before.

    We'll have to see how it plays out, but extensive, public infighting is rarely good for organizations. Seems defensible to sign off on your opponents' desire to go at each other's throats.

    We also have to consider the counterfactual, where we'd be ripping Democrats for helping keep whoever the hell was speaker before in power. If you're criticizing this and you'd criticize that, too, your position is not very coherent.

    • NewLeaf
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      My position is they should have let McCarthy stay in. Nobody liked him, and nobody wanted to work with him. Since the government is deadlocked anyway, I'd rather just leave it that way as a way to stop republican progress.

      Of course, that's all predicated on the notion that the Dems and Republicans aren't playing for the same team. Which they are.

      It's like when people were like "why is trump golfing all the time?"

      Like, do you want him to show up for work and make everything worse?

      It's "harm reduction" like the Dems like to pretend they're into, by means of not speeding up fascism. Instead they hit the No2 button in the fascism mobile

      • 420blazeit69 [he/him]
        ·
        8 months ago

        I don't think many people want to work with the new speaker, either. He's like the fifth choice, right?

        And if the goal was to keep them from doing anything, they got nothing done while the whole leadership crisis sorted itself out.

  • Deadend [he/him]
    ·
    8 months ago

    It’s the limits of a 2 party system and the dumb house system.

    • NewLeaf
      hexagon
      ·
      8 months ago

      Yeah, but isn't their whole thing "harm reduction"? If you have a feckless enemy, wouldn't it make more sense to leave them in place instead of rolling the dice on the next fascist?

      • Deadend [he/him]
        ·
        8 months ago

        They only care about harm reduction when it’s a statement.

        But there is no reason for the Dems to ever say Yes to any Republican rep.

  • CrushKillDestroySwag
    ·
    8 months ago

    I think the idea from the Dems is that they don't care who the speaker is, they're just voting to cause as much chaos in the House as possible. Republicans fighting amongst themselves makes the whole party look like a clown show, which plays into the Dems' message of "we're the competent ones".

    • NewLeaf
      hexagon
      ·
      8 months ago

      That's just as bad of a strategy as the pied piper strategy they employ in a lot of elections. I don't see how elevating the worst shitheads is ever a good idea, no matter how sure they are that they will win. It's playing with fire. And the rhetoric also hurts people they supposedly stand up for

  • krolden@lemmy.ml
    ·
    8 months ago

    What were the vote numbers? Don't the republicans have a majority and wanted him out anyway since he helped pass the spending bill or whatever they do every two years to keep the government functioning

    • NewLeaf
      hexagon
      ·
      8 months ago

      208 D

      8 R

      • krolden@lemmy.ml
        ·
        8 months ago

        Lmao wow. Make a deal with him to keep the government from shutting down and then vote to remove him.

        Such a farce

        • Evilphd666 [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          8 months ago

          But but but campaign season! I got like 5 money begs from the dems with oooga booga scary new speaker give money now if you want to prove your loyalty. maybe-later-honey

        • NewLeaf
          hexagon
          ·
          8 months ago

          I feel like nobody's talking about it. They all moved onto how the new guy (that they basically facilitated getting in) is the new super double trumputler with arsenic sauce.

          It's easy to just ignore getting owned when you can just scare your base with the new boogyman

  • RonPaulyShore [none/use name]
    ·
    8 months ago

    Now we get to listen to endless whining by liberal media outlets about how evil the new anti-daddy of the week is?

    Huh? There will be no change in policy, and now Dems get another chance to highlight just how freakish the Republicans are. Easy dem win here.

    • NewLeaf
      hexagon
      ·
      8 months ago

      ...but they caused this to happen! If McCarthy was still in, it would just be more deadlocked nothingness. Now, we have a Christian zealot spotting off at the mouth about all sorts of anti LGBTQ people far more than McCarthy would have.

  • Teapot [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    Dems voting for McCarthy wouldn't have helped. It would have poisoned the well for much of the Rs and he would have been voted out in a subsequent vote. The only thing that could have worked was to sit it out and hope he wins with only R votes. It was surprising that he didn't win the vote