What the Freedom Caucus wants


The head of the Freedom Caucus, one of the nutcase Republican groups in the US House of Representatives that has claimed John Boehner and Kevin McCarthy as victims, has said that they would agree to voting for Paul Ryan for Speaker under certain conditions.

As many Republicans urge Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to make a bid for House speaker, some hardline conservatives say he’s been too willing to compromise — the same complaint that plagued departing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

But Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said Sunday that members would “look favorably” on Ryan for speaker, so long as he agrees to their demands for policy changes within the GOP conference. [My italics-MS]

“I think he’d be a great messenger,” Jordan said on “Fox News Sunday.” “He’ll come in front of our group and talk to us — I think our group would be favorable towards him, but we’re not there yet.”

So what exactly are their demands? Politico has obtained the questionnaire that they are giving to all potential candidates for Speaker. The document seeks guarantees that ‘conservatives’ are given a major role in all aspects of legislation. Since the Republican party is extremely conservative already, it is clear that what the Freedom Caucus means by that word are its own members.

Judd Legum has looked the document and says that “the document effectively makes it impossible for any candidate to both: 1) Get elected speaker, and 2) Not send the entire country (and maybe the world) over a cliff.”

And as I said before, Ryan is an Ayn Rand-worshipping, oligarchy-serving, right wing conservative zealot. And yet Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove are both warning Ryan to think carefully about becoming speaker because they think he is a person who has a chance of becoming president in the future and entering the chamber of horrors that the Speaker’s office has become is likely to kill his chances.

Comments

  1. Pierce R. Butler says

    … he is a person who has a chance of becoming president in the future and entering the chamber of horrors that the Speaker’s office has become is likely to kill his chances.

    Exactly why part of me wants Ryan to become Speaker.

  2. jws1 says

    Since when has a person who has been the veep nominee on the losing ticket ever won the executive in a later election? Being the second name on a losing ticket seems to lead to never, ever being President.

  3. Reginald Selkirk says

    “The Freedom Caucus” -- someone needs to name them and shame them, and explain carefully to their constituents that they voted badly.

  4. Numenaster says

    Politics in the US has been deliberately shoved rightward for several decades now. This is what it looks like when that pendulum begins to swing back. Established methods to gain and wield influence stop working. Established coalitions of interest break up and new ones are formed. The goals that those former coalitions pursued take a back seat while the reorganization takes place. “Getting things done” has to wait until “amassing enough power to get things done” is completed, and nobody knows which of several potential power centers will win the race.

  5. Mano Singham says

    jws1,

    That’s a good observation. I cannot think of a single case but my off-hand knowledge only goes back about 1930.

  6. raven says

    The NoFreedom crazies in the House number at most 50. There are 247 GOP, 435 total.

    With 20% of the GOP and 11% total House votes, the NoFreedoms are demanding the right to rule the USA.

    This doesn’t look like democracy at all. Then again, the christofascists aren’t fans of democracy any way. They don’t want to govern, they want to rule.

    I’d just say no but I’ve been voting no for decades and look where it got us.

  7. raven says

    The easy way out is for the not crazy GOPers to combine with the Democrats. Out of 247 GOP, they would only need 59 coalition votes to make it work.

    There must be 59 less crazy GOP House members. LOL, not in this universe.

    This would mean the end of the GOP but IMO, it deserves it. It might well be splitting apart anyway and this could go on for many years.

  8. Robert,+not+Bob says

    Numenaster, this isn’t the pendulum starting to swing back, it’s the pendulum being shoved so hard it smashes the side of the clock.

  9. alkaloid says

    @jws1, #2

    Since when has a person who has been the veep nominee on the losing ticket ever won the executive in a later election? Being the second name on a losing ticket seems to lead to never, ever being President.

    Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the executive later…after he was a VP losing nominee in 1920.

  10. Numenaster says

    Robert not Bob #8,

    The clock will still be there when the more-conservative side of the electorate purges its craziest members and re-forms itself into a group that can actually do things. But it will take them a few years, I think. I usually underestimate the time needed for these things to work themselves out.

    In 20 years we’ll see it going the other way again. You heard it here first.

  11. Shawn Smith says

    @alkaloid, #9

    @jws1, #2

    Since when has a person who has been the veep nominee on the losing ticket ever won the executive in a later election? Being the second name on a losing ticket seems to lead to never, ever being President.

    Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the executive later…after he was a VP losing nominee in 1920.

    After quickly looking at all the elections back to 1808, it appears FDR is the only one. John Tyler was the running mate to both Hugh White and Willie Mangum in 1836 before he became president after the death of William H. Harrison in 1840, but he was never elected president in his own right. Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur and Gerald Ford succeeded dead or retired presidents but were also never elected. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush were vice presidents who were elected presidents, although Nixon was the only one who was not vice president or president when he won his election.

    Sorry to necro the thread, but this was just bugging me.

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