Now they want the Pros from Dover

Well. At least one powerful House Republican is seeing the writing on the wall:

A powerful Republican is looking to Democrats to help resolve his party’s impasse over naming a speaker of the House.

Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, emerged from a contentious closed-door meeting of House Republicans to tell reporters that Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries should spell out what concessions he would require to help the GOP elect a speaker.

“They put us in this ditch along with eight traitors,” Rogers said, referring to hardline GOP dissidents who toppled Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week. “We’re still the majority party, we’re willing to work with them, but they gotta tell us what they need.”

Ignore the dig that the current circus is the fault of Democrats. It's not. It's no one's fault but Kevin McCarthy's, and the deal he made with MAGA terrorists to win his precious gavel which allowed just one of them to move a motion to vacate the chair. If McCarthy had at any point dealt fairly with House Democrats, he would still be Speaker. If McCarthy, at the start of the session, had reached out to Democrats to sideline his mentally ill members, he'd still be Speaker. But he didn't. He was what he had always been: a political opportunist and moral coward. 

Let us instead focus on the tell.

Contrary to what Rogers says, the GOP is not the majority party. Why? Because it can't agree on anything, much less a Speaker. Nancy Pelosi had the same five-seat majority in the previous Congress and was able to move through the biggest raft of progressive legislation since the days of LBJ. No one mounted a coup. She didn't have to give special concessions to the likes of the Squad. Why? Because Pelosi and the Democrats were not and are not feckless arsonists. They were elected to serve their constituents and make their lives better. Republicans are elected to do anything but actually govern. They have no idea how to govern. All they know how to do is to appear on Fox News or Newsmax and continue to act like the minority party and wallow in petty grievance. The Republican Party is unfit to govern because it has no desire to govern. It wants power without the responsibility.

But Rogers' call is rather interesting. He knows the GOP won't be able to get itself out of this morass. He knows the party is completely divided and at each other's throats. He knows the only way out of the impasse is by talking to Democrats and to see what it would take to get their support. If Kevin McCarthy had done this on voting round ten, again, he would still be Speaker. 

So what should Democrats ask in return for their support. This is a good place to start:

A few ideas:

1) Fund the government for two full years, consistent with the agreement Biden reached with the GOP negotiator earlier this year.

2) An Israel aid package, combined with legislation funding Ukraine aid for 2 years.

3) Permanent repeal of the debt ceiling. https://t.co/mchF0vmfvX

— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) October 12, 2023

Of course, I would love for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to be elected Speaker. But that won't happen. However, the ideas Ian Millhiser proposes are a good start. Focus on good policy outcomes as the price for Democratic votes. Get deliverables on paper and a Speaker can be elected. But what Republicans must realize from all this is that they, again, are not a majority. A majority doesn't need to go hat in hand to the minority party. 

Democrats have a chance to twist in the knife while also saving the government. What Republicans must realize is that they are impotent without some sort of coalition agreement. How much power Republicans have should be dependent on how many votes they can bring to elect the Speaker. If the Democrats back a consensus candidate in a solid bloc and the Republicans splinter, that should bring repercussions. 

Do I think any of this will happen? Well, it never has in two centuries of American political history. But neither had the unseating of a Speaker. The Democrats are united, and the GOP is dysfunctional. It's time for the Pros from Dover to clean house.

Postscript

You cannot make this up:

SCALISE pulls out of speakership race — says some folks need to look in the mirror and decide if they are going to get back on track

— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) October 12, 2023

Is this why Mike Rogers made his plea? The weekend should be interesting.

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