Posted on 10/05/2015 3:03:23 PM PDT by Kaslin
The calendar for new House leadership elections has been pushed back, meaning that the scrambling for position, internal sniping and various bits of dirty laundry being aired is going to stretch on for nearly two more months. Originally we expected to see nominations for the new Speaker and the election of the new Majority Leader and GOP Whip taking place this Thursday, but this afternoon John Boehner threw a wrench in those plans and pushed things back to after he’s left the building. (Washington Post)
Outgoing House Speaker John A. Boehner said Monday that lawmakers will elect his replacement on Oct. 29, one day before he is set to leave Congress, and that elections for other members of the House Republican leadership will be delayed until after a new speaker is chosen…
“When I made my announcement last month, I said that I would continue to serve through the month of October. After consulting with my colleagues, I am announcing today that all members of the House of Representatives will vote to elect their next Speaker during a floor vote on October 29th.
“Next Thursday, October 8th, the members of the House Republican Conference will meet to elect our nominee for Speaker. After the new Speaker is elected on October 29th, the members of our Conference will select the rest of their leadership team. The new Speaker will establish the date for these additional leadership elections. This new process will ensure House Republicans have a strong, unified team to lead our conference and focus on the American people’s priorities.”
On some levels this is an entirely understandable move by Boehner. He’s already an unofficial lame duck, having served notice of his departure, but once the nominations are concluded on Thursday he will be truly heading for the back door. That still leaves roughly seven weeks for every move he makes and every comment he utters to be second guessed by those in line to possibly replace him. The Speaker relies on the rest of his leadership team to get things done and if there are new faces in the Majority Leader and Whip seats for the rest of his term it complicates his life even further. They will owe no allegiance to him nor have any need for a good relationship since he’ll soon be on his way home.
This may or may not prove to be good news for the various factions fighting over the top spots. If the elections were held on Thursday, it still isn’t sounding like there was going to be a major shake-up. The Freedom Caucus has been able to create a lot of waves, but nobody we’re hearing from seems to think that the noise adds up to enough actual votes to create a real tidal shift. Given a few more weeks for positioning and some key legislative votes, who knows? Internal elections have swung on smaller issues in the past.
The real question is still whether or not there’s anyone who can build enough of a coalition to wrest the Speaker’s gavel away from Kevin McCarthy. Jason Chaffetz is very popular but he’s also even more of a newcomer to the chamber than McCarthy. Can he actually dredge up enough votes to even stop the current Majority Leader from ascending, say nothing of the 218 he’d need to take the top position? I know there’s a lot of angst in the peanut gallery over it, but I’d be shocked to see it happen.
Either way, we’ve got considerably longer to wait now. Break out the popcorn. The only thing we can be sure of at this point is that it’s unlikely to be any sort of quiet, business as usual progression from here on out.
Must be something else he wants to give the democrats before he leaves ,,, a last get even for all the people who cheered when he announced he was leaving .
They should his f’n a** out of there - now!
We need to not compromise on this. Everyone is quick to compromise but that is the wrong approach. If conservatives pick a dream leader and start pushing and campaigning, now it the time he could win. We need to practice what we have been preaching and FIGHT!
Ya know, Bonehead is such a scum sucker that he just may exist at a level close to Obama at the bottom of your local septic tank.
Die Boehner die. Do your country, the world, and the multiverse a favor.
Do it now.
Once again the GOP lie, to help their Tyrant
as complicitly and with as much allegedly-plausible
deniability as possible.
The GOP are scum, and every day in October 2015
will help criminals, ISIS, al Qaeda, as they use
the IRS to attack their voters, and their power
to coverup EVERYTHING.
Still a dirt bag.
Rub salt in his wounds - draw up articles of impeachment.
Finish opff that process they were starting to get him out then - he deserves no quarter for doing O’s bidding.
House members are expelled, not impeached....
It would take a 2/3 vote of the House only.
Sound and fury amounting to nothing.
Obedience kills. Obedience enslaves. Obedience is not a conservative value.
Get rid of this guy. boehmer is planning to do mischief and he wants his confederates in place to carry out his scheme when he leaves. The Freedom Caucus should bring up its vote tomorrow to delcare the speaker chair vacant.
Boehmer is a parasite that lives in the anus of the dung beetle.
Boehner should be pushed out and made to leave the building, NOW.
The conservatives ‘can’ block a Speaker because the vote is by the whole House. That is leverage.
They can’t block other Leadership votes because those votes are just by the caucus.
So this removes all their leverage.
OH people will always believe in Boehner.
Not this one.
Absolutely. Mark Levin is the one to do it. And all these conservative groups, the people pushing Convention of the States, the Second Amendment People, the anti-Common Core people, Veterans groups, etc. Should ALL get together and DELIVER those articles in Washington DC IN PERSON to the feckless bastards in the Congressional GOP Leadership. This maniac in the White House needs to be impeached before he can totally wreck this country in his last year in office. CLEARLY, he is NOT acting like a”Lame Duck”.
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