The Real timschochet

The first sentence.

Not that anybody is going to care at this point but it seems really unlikely to me that Israel would deliberately bomb a hospital. Could I see them screwing up and them attempting to blame Islamic Jihad? Sure. Could I see Hamas and other Palestinian extremists not caring who did it and blaming Israel no matter what? Absolutely. Who knows? War is bloody and terrible. American bombs fell on hospitals in Afghanistan, Iraq, North Vietnam, etc. The larger point is that, IMO, Israel’s retaliation against Gaza is not good for Israel. This is exactly what Hamas wanted.

No idea why you chose to reference me since I haven’t commented on the hospital, partly because I don’t know who is responsible, partly because I’ve tried to refrain from posting in this thread because it’s been so ugly. But I am curious: where exactly are you reading that the hospital wasn’t hit and that there may have been only a dozen or so deaths? That certainly would be news, contradicting not just the mainstream media which you so much despise but ALL of the media. Here is Reuters conforming that the hospital was hit amd hundreds are dead as a result: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-hospital-blast-what-we-know-about-explosion-2023-10-18/

Hey you’re welcome.

Another vote coming tomorrow. But the Jordan folks seem far less confident tonight than they were last night when I started this thread. The thing is, if there is a plan B I don’t know what it is. There are enough conservative votes to prevent a moderate. There appears to be enough moderate votes to prevent a conservative. (I use the terms “conservative” and “moderate” here in their most current sense and not in what those terms traditionally have meant.) There’s also been speculation about a bipartisan candidate but frankly I don’t see how that’s possible. The two parties are about as far apart as they’ve ever been. So what now?

Actually I think both items are correct. Gaetz wanted single issue voting but he also had a personal enmity against McCarthy. However since Gaetz is not a stupid man and must therefore know that single issue voting will never happen no matter who is speaker, it’s reasonable to assume that, of the two items, personal enmity was more important.

As an American I disagree.

Now they’re talking about Jordan having to make deals like McCarthy did. Except McCarthy had to make deals with the hardliners. Jordan has to make deals with the moderates.

5 votes already against. So the first vote failed.

If you’re a Republican congressman voting for Jordan right now because you like him, believe in his policies and leadership, that’s fine and more power to you. But if you’re voting for him because you’re terrified of the MAGA base primarying you, shame on you. You’re the problem.

I’m pretty sure that the wrestlers came forward long ago, when Jordan ran for office. It was a local story then. Now, since Jordan aspires to be one of the most powerful people in our government, it’s a national story. No serendipity about it.

This is almost the exact opposite of the truth. He was able to assess Trump’s weaknesses, and he was greatly helped by Trump’s fawning subservience. But before and after Trump Putin completely failed in assessing Obama, Clinton, the German leadership, and most of all Joe Biden. Biden is the main reason NATO is now strengthened and Russia is isolated. Putin badly misjudged Biden’s strength, leadership and moral character.

Even more ironic that Zelensky must be the first Jewish Nazi in history- oh waitaminnut maybe he is the second after George Soros. I get so confused by this stuff.

Looks like there may be multiple votes just as in January. But most pundits seem to believe that Jordan will become Speaker more out of exhaustion than anything else. Even Republicans who don’t like Jordan know that SOMEBODY has got to be Speaker. Who knows? From my perspective there’s very little to like about the guy. But I’m always willing to be pleasantly surprised. Right now the Senate is pushing through a bill that gives aid to Israel, funds the military, spends more on border security, and gives aid to Ukraine. Quite obviously the idea here is to offer 3 items that the hardliners are in favor of in order to get the 4th one in there. Jordan’s first test will be whether he agrees to this or blows it up.

Yes I have thought that for some time. These are the same folks who supported MAGA candidates in primaries with the hope they would lose general elections without being concerned about the damage that was doing to the Republican Party and thus the nation. A lot of them are jerks and I don’t trust them at all. As a liberal I prefer their positions to those of conservatives, but that doesn’t make them good people.

I think the House Dems should have voted for McCarthy. I wrote that here. But as far as deserving stuff sorry I don’t really think like that, if Jordan is bad for the country it won’t be the politicians who will suffer.

I didn’t think I was being rude in the OP. Sorry if you fell otherwise. Normal is whatever a majority believes, if the majority of the country is now anti-woke (no way of knowing how true this is) then that is the normal position.

No. I don’t like it. I’m committed to helping Ukraine and that may not continue, Also I don’t live for scoring points against those who I disagree with,

OK? What did I get wrong? And will you be happy if Jordan wins as expected?

Maybe. Except that I wrote MAGA AND modern day conservatives. I believe that most of those who post here are one or the other or both. Wouldn’t you agree? (I would include modern libertarians as modern conservatives since, although they still disagree on social issues, they’re in general agreement about illegal immigration and nationalism , whereas old school libertarians had very different positions on these issues.)