10-21-2023, 07:29 PM
(10-21-2023, 07:24 PM)CKwi88 Wrote: Are the Republicans, at least in theory, able to elect a speaker and reopen the house without anything from the Democrats?
Yes, they are. Unequivocally. Their inability to come together as the majority and elect one of their members to be speaker, like it has been done for the past 200+ years is what is causing this first and foremost.
Dems have no obligation to capitulate to the GOP.
No, they don't. But history has never seen such a slim majority (although I think Pelosi had the same, and she struggled with herding the Squad and cats, as well). It's not hard to imagine a less experienced/respected member, like Jeffries, in the exact same scenario as McCarthy was.
But there is also no written rule that you HAVE to vote with the party. Although I agree they should be able to come together for a leader, this sort of dysfunction applies to every vote when both parties are adamantly against any sort of bipartisanship.
The Dems have the right to vote for whomever they want. As do Gaetz and those clowns. But BOTH parties own this mess. Truly. Gaetz and the Repub holdouts couldn't pull this off without Dem votes. That's a fact.
The only question is how long Dems will allow this to drag on before deciding important business isn't getting done.
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