Does anyone know what happens now? Do the House rules get voted on? Is it by a majority of the full House? Can changes be made to what McCarthy has agreed to before the vote? Can a motion to vacate be put forth by a member of either party? And what happens then? Does it fail if it doesn't get a majority of the full House?
JVL - I always find the articles you present interesting, but the Ted Gioia piece was brilliant. I especially enjoyed the link to his earlier piece on "How Web Platforms Collapse: The Facebook Case Study" (subtitled "Or ten times Mark Zuckerberg jerked me around").
He captures perfectly why the the tech giants think they can treat us like (insert appropriate and acceptable scatological reference here), and reminded me why I long ago dumped Facebook and never dabbled in Twitter, or any of the other social diseases that have been foisted off on us as in our interest.
My cousin just died unexpectedly leaving a wife and a 6 month old. SS survivor benefits are a lifeline because in these days of low mortality among the young, nobody loads up on life insurance, and even if they did, you can't buy enough to set up a widowed spouse to raise a family without some other kind of assistance.
I was widowed when the kids were in middle school. SS was a lifeline--I worked but the extra expenses were covered, and I was able to set up a college fund to make up for what their dad's income would have provided when it was time for them to go to college. I am afraid that they will go after survivor benefits because the population needing them is relatively small, but it is so important.
Kevin seems to have never learned the lesson of having an arsonist in your house: don't let them in, and if you have to, don't offer them a gallon of kerosene too
Jeff, I agree completely. Governing IS the point. But given the lack of GOP concerns about much more than winning, I think Bulwark and similar efforts like The Dispatch, achieve little by endlessly telling us what we already know.
Where else can we expect thoughtful discussion of important policy issues if not from folks like them? Maybe some of the non MAGA types in Congress will use such discussions to better inform themselves. Maybe even the Dems. What’s to lose?
Reflecting on the 15 rounds of votes and what "concessions" the House bench/Freedom Caucus got from Kevin...on the surface some of the things sounded reasonable (e.g. committees with more responsibility for legislation than "tablets" from the Speaker to vote on, i.e. more involvement and transparency to the legislative process), more time (72 hours) to vote on a bill, etc...It would be interesting to get a perspective from some of the Bulwark team on what the concessions were and discussing the pros and cons of them....Even as a center left person the media seems to have portrayed most of the horse trading that Kevin had to do as bad and some is, and some is if "in the wrong hands" (e.g. one person asking for a vote on the Speaker is only bad when abused as that one vote rule has been in effect in the past)..
Anyway, a thoughtful analysis that better informs Bulward readers on the "concessions" and the pros and cons of them would be interesting..
Just had a thought. The rules package has to be passed by a majority. If enough Rs really don't like what Kevin gave away, if they join with Ds to force a vote on individual parts of it, that would eliminate that bomb throwers' power. If I were the Ds, I'd start talking to the few sane Rs there are.
Now that this week’s fiasco is behind us, maybe we Bulwark subscribers should be asking more from our Publishers/editors. Instead of merely criticizing the Congress we have, or at least part of it, how about actual policy recommendations that could help create discussions that might lead to positive changes.
I fear you folks have morphed into the very thing you (and I) hate about our former political party. That being complaining about the situation we are in, while barely scratching the surface of using the intellectual capital you have to suggest specific policy ideas. For example: Immigration reform. Biden is making some policy now. How can it be improved? In the process, maybe you can decide what Bulwark was created to do. Besides just criticize. God knows the GOP offers lots of low hanging fruit here, but if all all wanted was criticism, I’d just watch MSNBC. For free.
Policy vs performance. One could argue that it's been this way for quite some time.
After all, polls have long shown that Americans tend to agree with Republicans in principle but Democrats in practice. Ask about general ideas and attitudes and Republicans are the better fit. Ask about specific policies and the Democrats are more likely offering what people want.
In other words, when Americans are in the mood to party, they cozy up to Republicans and their ingratiating overtures. But when sh*t gets real and things needs to get done, they look to Democrats.
Certainly, you can see this pattern in recent Presidential elections. Our last three Republican presidents were all elected amidst healthy economic conditions, in particular falling unemployment rates; in fact both '88 and '00 were bottom--out years for unemployment, while in '16 it was in free-fall and kept going (until COVID). In contrast, the last three Democrats were elected amidst rising unemployment and economic downturn, even (in '08 and '20) outright calamity.
Not that this matters much for the midterms, which tend to be driven by the President's opposition, thus reinforcing the presidency as our overall pivot point. But if Republicans keep behaving like a complete disaster, they may begin to squander the frivolity subsidy that Americans grant them in Presidential election years.
Thanks for the introduction to Ted Gioia. I was hooked immediately by his clear style and obvious passion for the arts. I subscribed and have already found new music to love from his best of 2022 lists. I really enjoy checking out your recs.
Does anyone know what happens now? Do the House rules get voted on? Is it by a majority of the full House? Can changes be made to what McCarthy has agreed to before the vote? Can a motion to vacate be put forth by a member of either party? And what happens then? Does it fail if it doesn't get a majority of the full House?
Questions. I have so many questions.
JVL - I always find the articles you present interesting, but the Ted Gioia piece was brilliant. I especially enjoyed the link to his earlier piece on "How Web Platforms Collapse: The Facebook Case Study" (subtitled "Or ten times Mark Zuckerberg jerked me around").
He captures perfectly why the the tech giants think they can treat us like (insert appropriate and acceptable scatological reference here), and reminded me why I long ago dumped Facebook and never dabbled in Twitter, or any of the other social diseases that have been foisted off on us as in our interest.
Thank you!!!
> A (part of the) electorate that is deeply invested in performance....
What is the incentive for voters to be disconnected from reality?
Always find at least article in the Triad terrific.
My cousin just died unexpectedly leaving a wife and a 6 month old. SS survivor benefits are a lifeline because in these days of low mortality among the young, nobody loads up on life insurance, and even if they did, you can't buy enough to set up a widowed spouse to raise a family without some other kind of assistance.
I was widowed when the kids were in middle school. SS was a lifeline--I worked but the extra expenses were covered, and I was able to set up a college fund to make up for what their dad's income would have provided when it was time for them to go to college. I am afraid that they will go after survivor benefits because the population needing them is relatively small, but it is so important.
Kevin seems to have never learned the lesson of having an arsonist in your house: don't let them in, and if you have to, don't offer them a gallon of kerosene too
Jeff, I agree completely. Governing IS the point. But given the lack of GOP concerns about much more than winning, I think Bulwark and similar efforts like The Dispatch, achieve little by endlessly telling us what we already know.
Where else can we expect thoughtful discussion of important policy issues if not from folks like them? Maybe some of the non MAGA types in Congress will use such discussions to better inform themselves. Maybe even the Dems. What’s to lose?
Reflecting on the 15 rounds of votes and what "concessions" the House bench/Freedom Caucus got from Kevin...on the surface some of the things sounded reasonable (e.g. committees with more responsibility for legislation than "tablets" from the Speaker to vote on, i.e. more involvement and transparency to the legislative process), more time (72 hours) to vote on a bill, etc...It would be interesting to get a perspective from some of the Bulwark team on what the concessions were and discussing the pros and cons of them....Even as a center left person the media seems to have portrayed most of the horse trading that Kevin had to do as bad and some is, and some is if "in the wrong hands" (e.g. one person asking for a vote on the Speaker is only bad when abused as that one vote rule has been in effect in the past)..
Anyway, a thoughtful analysis that better informs Bulward readers on the "concessions" and the pros and cons of them would be interesting..
thanks for all the entire Bulwark team does..
You suggest in your opening that, in order to become Speaker, Mr. McCarthy had to betray his principles. Are you able to identify any that he held?
Just had a thought. The rules package has to be passed by a majority. If enough Rs really don't like what Kevin gave away, if they join with Ds to force a vote on individual parts of it, that would eliminate that bomb throwers' power. If I were the Ds, I'd start talking to the few sane Rs there are.
True enough. But how does it help?
Yes. But in addition, anti-CRT, abortion bans, gay rights bans, etc. were ballot losers.
Now that this week’s fiasco is behind us, maybe we Bulwark subscribers should be asking more from our Publishers/editors. Instead of merely criticizing the Congress we have, or at least part of it, how about actual policy recommendations that could help create discussions that might lead to positive changes.
I fear you folks have morphed into the very thing you (and I) hate about our former political party. That being complaining about the situation we are in, while barely scratching the surface of using the intellectual capital you have to suggest specific policy ideas. For example: Immigration reform. Biden is making some policy now. How can it be improved? In the process, maybe you can decide what Bulwark was created to do. Besides just criticize. God knows the GOP offers lots of low hanging fruit here, but if all all wanted was criticism, I’d just watch MSNBC. For free.
Policy vs performance. One could argue that it's been this way for quite some time.
After all, polls have long shown that Americans tend to agree with Republicans in principle but Democrats in practice. Ask about general ideas and attitudes and Republicans are the better fit. Ask about specific policies and the Democrats are more likely offering what people want.
In other words, when Americans are in the mood to party, they cozy up to Republicans and their ingratiating overtures. But when sh*t gets real and things needs to get done, they look to Democrats.
Certainly, you can see this pattern in recent Presidential elections. Our last three Republican presidents were all elected amidst healthy economic conditions, in particular falling unemployment rates; in fact both '88 and '00 were bottom--out years for unemployment, while in '16 it was in free-fall and kept going (until COVID). In contrast, the last three Democrats were elected amidst rising unemployment and economic downturn, even (in '08 and '20) outright calamity.
Not that this matters much for the midterms, which tend to be driven by the President's opposition, thus reinforcing the presidency as our overall pivot point. But if Republicans keep behaving like a complete disaster, they may begin to squander the frivolity subsidy that Americans grant them in Presidential election years.
I'm not sure on what basis we can say that Mccarthy has principles he betrayed?
Thanks for the introduction to Ted Gioia. I was hooked immediately by his clear style and obvious passion for the arts. I subscribed and have already found new music to love from his best of 2022 lists. I really enjoy checking out your recs.