Freedom over facism, Governing over gaslighting

My Sunday movie was today instead of tomorrow. I went to the Detroit Film Theater to see the movie EO directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, who is a big deal in Polish film. This film won the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and will be Poland’s submission in the Best International Feature Film category for the 2023 Oscars. The title character is a donkey. Much of the movie is the donkey observing human behavior. At the opening EO is part of a small circus and well loved by the woman who cares for him and is in the ring with him. But animal rights people assume circus life must be cruel and force the closure of the circus and EO is sold. The circus woman visits him at the farm where he was taken and her departure prompts him to strike out on his own. He’s on his own road trip. There are moment of kindness and moments of brutality – the humans to each other as well as to the donkey. There are also moments of kindness. A lot is not well explained – the donkey doesn’t understand such explanations. And there are a few scenes, such as a woman confronting her gambling stepson, that got me to wonder why they were in the movie – EO wouldn’t have seen them and they don’t make much difference to his future. Overall, I enjoyed this very different kind of cinema. That whole Kevin McCarthy thing for Speaker is over. Before I get to the conclusion... Yesterday morning Laura Clawson of Daily Kos wrote about the lead up to the daytime votes:

Bear in mind that the job of speaker of the House involves getting legislation through Congress—knowing how many votes you have and which votes you can get by offering which new provisions. McCarthy is showing, vote after vote, that he is ridiculously unqualified for the job he is trying to get. This isn’t just any show of weakness. It’s a show of weakness tailored to the moment, and his weakness is further highlighted by the fact that he’s attempting to follow in the footsteps of one of the best vote-counting, vote-managing speakers ever.

Yesterday McCarthy lost votes 12 and 13, though his position improved. As I wrote yesterday the House went into evening session. Joan McCarter of Kos liveblogged the 14th vote. As part of it she wrote that the Republicans are...

Pretending like this is democracy, and “debate.” And that what they’re doing—handing over the House of Representatives to the insurrectionists on the 2nd anniversary of Jan. 6—is part of the great American tradition. And that Kevin McCarthy “allowed” this greatness to happen, rather than having been beaten into submission by the maniacs.

As part of the 14th vote several of the holdouts voted “present.” That changed the number of votes needed for victory. Rep. Matt Gaetz delayed his vote to the end and then was one who voted “present,” which left McCarthy one vote short. Rep. Mike Rogers has to be restrained from attacking Gaetz. McCarter mentioned it. Mark Sumner of Kos provided a bit more detail. Violence in the House must be a January 6 thing. So on to the 15th vote. McCarter liveblogged that one too. On this one Gaetz also voted “present,” though the math has changed (I don’t know how) and this is enough for McCarthy to win. Celebration even as Gaetz has demonstrated how much he owns McCarthy. Democrat Rep. Katie Porter, a definite progressive, is seen on the floor reading the book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck – yeah, that’s a real title of a book. The vote on rules for the next two years will be Monday. Members really will have a chance to read it ahead of time. The proposed rules will have a big influence on whether democracy survives. In a pundit roundup Greg Dworkin of Kos had a few interesting quotes. One is from a tweet by Sarah Ferris:

Talks still underway but we're told conservatives will have 3 seats on Rules Committee This is big because Rs can only lose 2 on Rules - meaning HFC [House Freedom Caucus] types can tank Part of rationale- Rs would rather have a fight in committee than on floor

That means Republicans can break away and vote against a Republican bill, defeating it. The Rules Committee decides what goes to the House floor and how it is to be debated. This is a devastating blow to McCarthy’s power. Dworkin quoted tweets by Aaron Fritschner:

A bill passes committees of jurisdiction, say Ways and Means for tax and health sections of the Inflation Reduction Act, and then Rules writes the final draft that comes up on the House Floor. It can and often does completely rewrite the bill *if the Rules Cmte members vote to* ... It's hard to imagine a worse outcome for the Republicans in Biden districts than this. These right wing loons who just held the Speaker vote hostage for four days and counting will have absolute power to force them to cast votes on stuff that could wreck their reelection chances But way more importantly, it's a huge blow to governance. The Omnibus bill that is currently funding the government through September came to the floor via the Rules Committee. The increase of the debt limit that prevented a debt default last year came to the Floor through Rules

Dworkin quoted a tweet by Chad Pergram:

Gaetz: If my colleagues get what they want from McCarthey, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus will actually be more important than the Speaker of the House in determining the legislation that reaches the floor, how amendments are processed and how spending occurs going forward.

So, yeah, expect a government shutdown and either a debt default or big cuts to Medicare and Social Security. And if America survives that we’ll vote the maniacs out of office a year later. Sometime in there Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies gave a speech on the ABCs of Democracy. Reports are it is a great one. Here’s a bit of the text:

(House Democrats will always put…) American values over autocracy, Benevolence over bigotry, the Constitution over the cult, Democracy over demagogues, Economic opportunity over extremism, Freedom over facism, Governing over gaslighting, Hopefulness over hatred...