As of the publication of this post the House of Representatives has been without a Speaker for 13 days and roughly 17 hours. Later today, the House will convene to vote on Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan’s candidacy. Last night, Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie told NBC News that he thought Jordan had a 50-50 chance. Stay tuned.
On a recent episode of The Bulwark Podcast, conservative pundit and former U.S. Naval War College professor Tom Nichols said:
The fact that you and I are living in a world where it is at least notionally possible that Jim Jordan would become the speaker of the people’s house and in line to the presidency of the United States is so utterly fantastic, not because Jim Jordan is some, transdimensional warlock. But because he’s an idiot…. These Frankensteins were never supposed to get off the table.”
Speaking of The Bulwark, Jill Lawrence calls a Jim Jordan speakership “an absurd and dangerous choice.”
Jordan needs 217 of the 221 House Republicans to back him today. As of last night, NBC News reported that he was within 5 to 10 GOP votes away from victory.
House Democrats are united behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. But some of them might be open to voting for a moderate Republican. In one of the more unusual moments of this entire House debacle, California Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman “floated the idea of President George W. Bush becoming the next Speaker of the House.
Here is Brittany Lewis at Forbes:
On Forbes Newsroom, California Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman floated the idea of former President George W. Bush becoming the next Speaker of the House.
“He could come back,” Sherman said. “Obviously, I’m not a real fan of how the Iraq War went, but I would think that any reasonable Republican would be somebody that Democrats could work with — if it was part of a system where you didn’t have five of the most extreme Republicans blocking important legislation and saying, ‘If you bring that to the floor for a vote, we’ll knock you out of your Speakership.’”
Sherman said that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the GOP conference’s choice, would be “among one of the worst Speakers that we could have,” though Jordan would be politically useful for Democrats due to being a “disaster.”
Sherman also floated the name Mitt Romney as the future Speaker.
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