Pouring Water Next To The Fire

A friend of the blog emails:

Explain to me how adding more bureaucrats terrified of offending a DFL constituency will prevent fraud committed by a DFL constituency protected by the bureaucracy

I don’t think the governor or his staff read this space, so I will try to explain it.

It will work, because we are moving forward together as One Minnesota. with equity and reproductive rights for Minnesotans of all genders.

I may have the details wrong, but that’s what I remember from the campaign.

78 thoughts on “Pouring Water Next To The Fire

  1. From Alphanews:
    Minnesota Democrats support notorious election denier for U.S. House speaker

    . . .
    All four of Minnesota’s Democratic members of the U.S. House cast their votes for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries Tuesday in the unresolved race for speaker.
    Jeffries is a notorious election denier who called the 2016 election “rigged” and repeatedly described former President Donald Trump as a “fake” and “illegitimate” president.
    In fact, Breitbart published a list of 100 examples of Jeffries questioning the integrity of America’s elections.
    “The real hoax is likely your so-called election victory,” Jeffries said in response to a tweet from the former president.
    “Climate Change is NOT a hoax. But 45’s election may have been,” he said.
    In May 2019, Jeffries claimed President Trump was “artificially” placed in the White House with the help of the Russian government.
    . . .

    https://alphanews.org/minnesota-democrats-support-notorious-election-denier-for-u-s-house-speaker/

  2. It is very easy to sensationalize and criticize vehemently everything you are not in charge of. The real test comes when like the Republicans you are suddenly in charge and reality dawns. The extremists carry on as before — disrupting their own people as well as everyone else.

  3. Democrats should nominate a moderate Republican Never Trumper whose not currently serving the House, such as Liz Cheney or a David Jolly. Then watch the GOP really get thrown into chaos.

  4. Republicans should nominate a Dem border hawk like Henry Cuellar, just to watch the Dems really get thrown into chaos.

  5. The Economist article on the relationship between McCarthy and the Intransigent 20 indicates these people on a personal political level have an intense dislike for McCarthy’s insider-driven, power-focused rule by expediency that supports an incumbency-protection racket that is conservative in name only.

    Strategically, this may be the first chapter in a Long March towards California-style irrelevancy by the national Republican party as it digs in on 40% of the vote built around a hard-core cultural conservative bloc of 20-25% of the voters. When a political party gets beyond hailing distance of a 51% majority, it loses overall electoral potency because it cannot credibly challenge for national power. In today’s House, the Republicans having gained potential power cannot organize to credibly rule.

    If the Republicans do organize under McCarthy, are House Republicans now beholden to Trump and will they be identified in the public’s eyes as Trump’s Republican House and not the Republicans’ House. Lots of lose-lose lurking in the corridors here.

  6. McCarthy’s Bid to Become House Speaker Fails for a Fifth Time:
    https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/kevin-mccarthy-house-speaker-vote-santos

    5 votes and counting …… all from a candidate and a Republican party that does not believe in elections! Out of control clown car hurling towards a dumpster fire.

    This Congress is going to be a wild ride. Even if McCarthy finally is speaker (or anyone else, the GOP leadership will be hopelessly compromised, because:
    • It has promised to lower the threshold for a motion to vacate [the chair/speakership] to just 5 members. A motion to vacate leads, essentially, to a vote on the speaker remaining speaker, where he/she has to get a majority of the House, exactly what’s happening now;
    • Even more than the 19 self aggrandizing yahoos who are voting against McCarthy will vote against essential, must pass legislation, like budgets, the debt ceiling, etc. that the Republican leadership will have to negotiate and compromise on;
    • Bill where the government is say shut down, for weeks, or they US Treasury can’t pay interest when due (the dreaded default), or some issue in Ukraine, or…
    •That means that these bills will have to pass with Democratic votes;
    • But that will result in an almost instant motion to vacate – and to use a cliché, deja vu all over again! With the Republican members who voted “nay” leading the charge.
    • So this will likely repeat, every few months until November 2024.
    • And the Republicans just abolished the Congressional Ethics Office
    • And the House usually has 5-9 “casualties” in a 2 year Congress, i.e., deaths, resignations, going to jail — with a 2-1 ration Republican-Democrat. And given the dubious ethics of many new house members (and current) the jail figure may rise. So the Republican majority will likely shrink … they can lose only five and they lose the House — did I mention abolishing the Congressional Ethics Office…

  7. the 19 self aggrandizing yahoos

    How are they the self aggrandizing? Do you even know what it means?

  8. The battle between neocons and right wing reps is the very best use of Congress in several decades.

    Nothing will get done that further harms us.

  9. Emery is trying to analyze GOP internal politics, now?
    Gawd this is funny.

  10. If McCarthy was incumbent this would be over — his problem is that he has no power until he is elected.
    Pelosi’s “iron grip” on her caucus was effective in quashing internal dissent, but it also meant that members had to vote in ways that their constituents did not approve. This contributed to her losing congress to the GOP three times while she was speaker of the house.

  11. So this is what a ‘Red wave’ owning the libs looks like, eh?

    With the Tea Party, Trump, and now the defenestration of McCarthy, the third Republican leader in a row representing a broad majority of the caucus to be upended by its obstreperous fundamentalists, the country now knows where the minority is anchored. Way to the right.

    But where and what is the majority? It has been shifting center-wards and disdaining activist visions from either end of the spectrum. It seems comfortable with radical centrism that contends with basic big problems.

  12. ^^Poor, partisan analysis by Emery, as usual.
    Last Friday, before voting started in the house, Emery wrote this:
    “The Dems constantly eat their own while the Republicans will do anything to stay in power.”
    http://www.shotinthedark.info/wp/?p=84154&cpage=1#comment-242896
    Today we learn from Emery that GOP is hopelessly fractured.
    This is gibberish: “. . . the country now knows where the minority is anchored. Way to the right.”
    I literally can’t tell what this means. The minority of any party is always ideologically more extreme, that’s why we call them the “minority.” For example, the Democrat house is too far left for the American people, which is why they are now the minority, QED.

  13. There’s a reason that the mid-terms were a disaster for the Republicans. Their constant focus on grievance and nonsense. I mean the Santos guy for flips sake, the monetization of their elected position via tweeter, all among other things turns off all but the unthinking base of their support.

    If the freedom caucus had their way they’d be able to change the speaker every time the wind blows and this small group of people could shutdown government at will. That of course is their aim and it may be what their supporters want and it may be a good way to generate revenue but it is not what the vast majority of people who sent their representatives to Washington want.

    The red wave didn’t materialize for a reason and it wasn’t because the Republicans were focused on issues and solutions. It was because the Republicans focused on grievance, obstruction and, they were inevitably associated with SCOTUS’s ruling on abortion. These are not the issues that the vast majority of voters are interested in. If the Republicans can’t find a way of connecting with the majority of the American people rather than their unwavering base — their influence and relevance will continue to diminish.

  14. Emery on January 5, 2023 at 8:57 am said:
    There’s a reason that the mid-terms were a disaster for the Republicans.

    The GOP flipped 23 seats in the house to gain a nine seat majority.
    So at this point in Emery’s comment he has already begun to spout nonsense.

  15. Yes, Blade, you have to wonder how someone can read something that he agrees with & simply ignore all opposing evidence.
    The idea that the GOP suffered losses due to the SC overturning Roe V Wade is something that may be true in some cases and may be the opposite of true in others.
    In Wisconsin, which has far stricter antiabortion laws than MN, nothing changed.

  16. The Brexit vote Emery mentions is the vote that he predicted would fail.
    So much for A) Emery’s skills at political prediction and B) Emery’s respect for the will of the people. At least Trump says he believes he actually won in 2020, Emery loses a vote and curses the voters.

  17. Who would have thought that a party that is essentially a grievance-filled wrecking ball to “the system” would not be able to function within “the system”? I am shocked.

    Seems governing is not quite the same as riling up people’s anger on Twitter, is it?

    This is going to be a great year for popcorn futures….

  18. It’s interesting seeing the actual terms of the negotiations between the McCarthy backers and the holdouts.
    Every congress of the house of reps makes up its rules from whole cloth. Pelosi was able to impose rules that gave her outsized powers. The dissenters in the GOP want McCarthy to give up many of those powers, so the negotiations are about, for example, how many house members it would take to force a vote for a new speaker.
    I think the dissenters are right for wanting to hold McCarthy’s feet to the fire. McCarthy is a DC insider (tho he did endorse Trump in 2016). McCarthy’s district is in the industrial/ag valley of central California, and Cali is a deep blue state. It is right to worry that McCarthy may be influenced by Democrats.

  19. The irony will be lost on Emery, but if the GOP had gained thirty or forty seats in the mid terms, the ruling GOP house caucus would likely be more “business as usual” than what we will have.
    OTOH, we know how much Democrats love the idea of democracy and the rule of 50%+1 over the 50% -1, so I am certain that they will welcome being told what to do by the new house GOP majority.

  20. Woolly shares a link from alpha news
    “Minnesota Democrats support notorious election denier for U.S. House speaker”

    You should carefully read the article you linked to. And to retain a scintilla of credibility, you should hope no one else reads it.

    These obstreperous Republican who tried to turn national elections into chaos for personal gains. Now the same chaos has turned inwards on the internal democratic process with the same techniques of misinformation at play. Live by the sword …

  21. Emery, I am usually the one to at least passively defend you here.

    But good Lord, could we get some blue cheese dressing with the word salad?

  22. @ MBerg — The billionaires have lost control over the little people…

    New House Democratic Leader Defends Calling Trump ‘Illegitimate’ President
    “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called Jeffries an “election denier,” a term typically used to describe Trump and allies who refuse to accept his loss in 2020.
    Jeffries said that he voted to certify Trump’s 2016 win, attended his inauguration and worked with his administration on issues like a treaty with Mexico and criminal justice reform.”
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-04/hakeem-jeffries-weighs-in-on-election-denier-label-trump-attack-on-constitution

  23. Jeffries did not say any of the quotes attributed to him were false.
    And you’ve opened up a can of worm salad.
    -Jeffries called Trump an illegitimate president. Was he lying?
    -Other Democrat congressmen did not vote to certify Trump’s 2016 election victory. Are they election deniers?
    You really have to think these through before you go mouthing off, Emery.

  24. “could we get some blue cheese dressing with the word salad?”

    Sure…he could go plagiarise something. But out of his own vacuous head? Lol…no.

  25. • If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it. ~ W. C. Fields.

    This situation might actually force moderate republicans to work with Democrats to pass legislation. In reality, the Republicans do not have a majority in the House.

    Especially when you have no platform. The only idea Republicans had was overturning Roe v Wade, which wasn’t legislation. That and stopping anything the Democrats might try to do.

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