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Republican lawmakers say they have been targeted by intimidation tactics, including death threats, from allies of Jim Jordan as his bid for the US House of Representatives speakership falters.
As someone pointed out this week, there are no 'moderates' left in the GOP, just bad and worse. That Jordan can get as many votes as he has just confirms that. In a sane world he wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell.
And all the while the only response of GOP politicians & supporters is to blame the Democrats for not supporting one of these nut jobs as speaker. While I never really bought the whole 'personal responsibility' mantra that conservatives have been flogging since forever, at least there was a time when they pretended to live up to it more. Now avoiding responsibility is almost a reflex.
Feel for you guys. We have our own issues here right now, but at least we are functional.
Jim Jordan did not take many questions at this press conference - but he was pointedly asked for his current position on whether or not the 2020 election was stolen.
“I think there were all kinds of problems with the 2020 election, I've been clear about that,” he replied.
At least one lawmaker - Ken Buck of Colorado - has said Jordan’s position as a chief election-denier in the party makes him a poor choice for Speaker, and means Jordan will not get Buck’s vote.
Buck is a fairly conservative lawmaker - but several moderates in the party who are also rejecting Jordan’s bid for Speaker will feel equally uncomfortable with his answer on the election.
For rebuking Jordan, Buck says he has received at least four death threats from Jordan backers and is even being evicted from his office in Colorado because his landlord does not appreciate his position on the Speaker vote.
Buck is just one of the people claiming such an intimidation campaign - another problem Jordan faces as he seeks to convert those opposed to him leading the House.
~BBC
Ken Buck going to be working out of his car for not supporting Jim Jordan
Ken Buck going to be working out of his car for not supporting Jim Jordan
If I was Ken Buck, I'd be entering the Witness Protection Program and "disappearing" into the night.
“He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”
CNN managed to acquire a voicemail left for the wife of an unknown male representative who voted against Jordan:
Your husband's an asshole. You should fucking talk to his stupid ass. We're at war. Israelis being killed. And your dumb husband is acting like a fucking two-year-old? No wonder. He's a fucking war-mongering piece of shit. So listen, you're going to keep getting calls and e-mails. I'm putting all your information over the Internet now. Everybody else is. And you will not be left alone because of your fucking f*ggot husband. Jim Jordan or more conservative or you're going to be fucking molested like you can't ever imagine. And again, non-violently. You won't go to the beauty parlor. You must be a bitch to marry a fucking ugly motherf*cker like that.
There's no threat there...because he said "non-violently". That's like saying "peacefully protest down at the Capitol".
Jordan, for his part, has disclaimed responsibility for this stuff and has announced that his supporters should stop doing it. *wink wink*
“He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”
House GOP abandons Jordan for Speaker after secret ballot loss
The Republican conference on Friday voted to no longer back House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as Speaker.
The secret ballot vote came hours after Jordan’s third failed ballot on the House floor. He had lost GOP support with each successive vote.
Moments later, Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, announced his own candidacy for Speaker. He had floated, but ultimately decided against a run earlier this month.
Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) told reporters he’s seriously considering running for Speaker and is still praying on it.
It marks the latest drama in the more than two-week saga since eight House Republicans joined with Democrats to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Oct. 3.
Jordan was the GOP’s second shot at Speaker replacement. It had first narrowly nominated House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) for the post, but resistance to his candidacy — mostly from Jordan supporters — forced him to withdraw just a day later.
Scalise on Friday said he would not mount another bid for Speaker.
Jordan said he told his colleagues “it was an honor to be their speaker designee. But I felt it was important that we all — we all know an answer to the question, do they want me to continue in that role. And so we put the question to them and they made a decision.”
He also said he told the conference, “that we need to come together and figure out who our Speaker is going to be and I’m going to work as hard as I can to help that individual so that we can go help the American people.”
Jordan’s decision leaves the House in chaos and stuck, even amid a war in Israel and with a looming shutdown deadline.
Republican lawmakers said they would hold a candidate forum on Monday and a secret ballot election for a new Speaker nominee Tuesday. The deadline to declare a candidacy for Speaker is Sunday at noon.
But it’s not clear at this point who could win over 217 Republicans.
“Certainly you have to work hard,” Hern, who voted for Jordan on all three ballots, said. “It’s gonna require 217 and when you look at what they’ve done, you always learn from the previous candidates, what worked and what didn’t work. And again, as I said, the first week when Speaker McCarthy was moved aside, that, you know, we needed to work for unity and unity was only having two candidates in a race.”
“I think our delegation needs to have somebody who wants to work to unite them, brings a different perspective, and that will be what I bring.”
I wonder if I can nominate someone since it now seems like a free for all...
You could nominate a ham sandwich and it would do a better job than the GQP at this point.
“He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”
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