Re: New Thread

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New York Times Pitchbot:


Jim Jordan's detractors say his involvement with a sex abuse scandal at Ohio State should disqualify the Congressman from holding GOP leadership positions. His supporters say he could be a fine Speaker in the mold of Dennis Hastert.


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 10- 6-23 9:00 AM
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It seems like this may actually occasion more attention to his notorious past. As long as he was just another House member (albeit chairman of a major committee), seemed like MSM was happy to pretend it never knew, while Dems would mostly ignore him, focusing more on leadership. But I've seen a lot more discussion coming from both electeds and non-MS M. And at some point, that kind of thing starts to percolate through. If he actually gets the Speakership, there will be a lot of profiles, and some will be tonguebaths, but some will flatly state the facts.

It's not going to drive him from office, but if it becomes a default part of his profile, it will kneecap him quite helpfully, while tainting the caucus that voted for him.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 10- 6-23 9:06 AM
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Josh Marshall agrees with 2.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 10- 6-23 9:13 AM
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Gaetz has been a big Gym booster for some time. McCarthy stalwarts obviously detest him, given talk about expelling him from the House. Gym has about 5 or 6 votes to spare in Speaker contest when it hits House floor. I don't see anything in his political history that indicates he has the chops to thread this needle. Though he does have the Republican tradition of legislators being willing to go along with whatever shit show their leaders work up. The few who weren't willing are gone from Congress.


Posted by: No Longer Middle Aged Man | Link to this comment | 10- 6-23 12:31 PM
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2,4: That's interesting - that's the same pattern that happened to the Democrats in Tennessee, when they had to members expelled back in April for decorum/acknowledging gun violence protesters. Reporters started paying attention and noticed that the Republican Speaker Sexton didn't seem to live in his district anymore...


Posted by: Mooseking | Link to this comment | 10- 6-23 2:53 PM
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And not just coverage, you might also see more actual investigation. It's more worth it for the NYTimes or WaPo to really nail down the story that Jordan knew if he's speaker than if he's just some representative.


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 10- 6-23 3:10 PM
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5: That created a bunch of noise but ultimately didn't go anywhere, right? Sexton is still the Speaker.


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 10- 6-23 4:40 PM
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I am super skeptical that Jim Jordan has the skills one needs to be speaker, even without having to lead a tiny and divided majority. Scalise probably does and I suspect most of their caucus knows this.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10- 7-23 1:29 PM
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That sounds right, but I'm also skeptical that they can stop themselves from electing the worst possible leader.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10- 7-23 3:05 PM
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I agree with 8 and 9. All to many members of Republican caucus, and even more of their followers, use 'what does the NYT-reading crowd most hate' as their guide for what to do. It's amazingly stupid, and yet . . .


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 10- 7-23 3:34 PM
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It's like watching Columbo and realizing that even though the guy knows all he has to do to get away with murder is leave the room and let his lawyer handle the police, but that's the one thing he can't do.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10- 7-23 4:24 PM
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Anyway, this is a narrative and it is a narrative written by fuckheads. There was no chance that, after insisting on a rule where a single Republican House member could call for a new vote on the Speaker, that one of them would not do so. It's not even some Chekhov's gun bullshit. It's Clemenza's gun planted behind the toilet and used for exactly what it was supposed to be used for.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10- 7-23 7:23 PM
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Anyway, 11 and 12 aren't exactly in agreement, but what are you going to do?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10- 7-23 7:25 PM
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"There was no chance that, after insisting on a rule where a single Republican House member could call for a new vote on the Speaker, that one of them would not do so."

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention were well aware of what a single-member veto had done to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but modern Republicans are not. Or maybe they are; after all, one of the Commonwealth's closing acts was to elect a Russian candidate as sovereign.


Posted by: Doug | Link to this comment | 10- 8-23 12:03 AM
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||
peep, how are your mom & family holding up?
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Posted by: lurid keyaki | Link to this comment | 10- 8-23 2:36 PM
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15: thanks for asking! My mom's ok. My young cousins that were visiting Israel from the US- I think they got to Israel a day before the attack - managed to get on a plane out of Israel today.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 10- 8-23 3:17 PM
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Glad to hear it peep. I wonder how Awl's doing.


Posted by: Barry Freed | Link to this comment | 10- 8-23 9:54 PM
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The Heliand author transforms the salt analogy of the gospel from one of discipleship as having a 'taste-improvement' role for the world, to a medical one ... as a (painful) antiseptic for improving the condition of wounds. The disciples are thus given a much more active (if more abrasive) role in the Heliand
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Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 10- 8-23 10:12 PM
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A Danish regulation from as late as 1688 specifies that slain wolves should be hanged on the gallows like other thieves
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Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 10- 9-23 4:27 AM
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There were reports of insanity and blood drinking on this march as well.
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Posted by: Mossy Character | Link to this comment | 10- 9-23 6:09 AM
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18: don't put salt in your wounds! There is an actual figure of speech making it clear that that's a bad thing!


Posted by: Ajay | Link to this comment | 10- 9-23 6:15 AM
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"Of course I was rubbing salt in your wounds, I was trying to help!"


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 10- 9-23 12:39 PM
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Early medieval medical theory was not that great, really.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 10- 9-23 12:41 PM
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Late medieval and early modern too, honestly. Actually effective medical care is a very recent development.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 10- 9-23 12:42 PM
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Don't put hydrogen peroxide in your wounds either.


Posted by: Ajay | Link to this comment | 10- 9-23 12:49 PM
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25 No, you should drink it to kill the China virus


Posted by: Opinionated Donald J. Trump | Link to this comment | 10- 9-23 1:11 PM
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