Tag Archives: U.S. House

Last night Rachel Maddow noted that John Boehner’s crocodile tears are often for both sides of the same issue. “I’m against that!” he sobbed! “I’m FOR that (same thing I cried about being against)!” he sobbed.

“This guy, I’m sorry, he’s gonna be Speaker of the House, and he’s not gonna invite me to his Christmas party, but this guy has an emotional problem that every time he talks about anything that’s not ‘raise taxes’ he cries. If this were a woman, if you saw Nancy Pelosi, who’s been villified, and I’m not taking sides, if …

When the GOP takes over the House next month. Rep. Steve King plans to launch a “test vote” on the repeal of health care reform. The GOP has no chance of a repeal with Obama in office, but is looking towards January 2013 as their first chance to yank health insurance out of the hands of America’s poor.

Former Republican House majority leader and one-time Dancing With The Stars contestant Tom Delay has been convicted of multiple counts of money laundering. Delay was found guilty of funneling almost $200,000 to the campaigns of GOP House and Senate candidates. “I still maintain that I am innocent,” DeLay told reporters. “The criminalization of politics undermines our very system. I’m very …

“From the standpoint of the Democratic Party, she did a great job of ramming their agenda down the throats of the House of Representatives. But in so doing, she has alienated a good bit of the American people, including those independent voters. I thought it was rather humorous that for weeks and weeks, there was a big sign outside the …

But 43 Democrats voted against her. Officials said that Ms. Pelosi defeated Representative Heath Shuler of North Carolina in an internal party vote, 150 to 43. Mr. Shuler acknowledged before the vote that he had no chance to win, but he wanted to give disgruntled Democrats a chance to register their opposition to Ms. Pelosi’s leadership just the same. Earlier …

And this guy wants to be the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. How terrifying is that?

According to Politico, outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated during a conference call today that she is planning for a vote on ENDA during the lame duck session. Politico’s Ben Smith characterizes ENDA as an “easy lift” compared to other LGBT rights legislation. That’s probably true in the House as a high percentage of Democrats have signed on as co-sponsors. …

“Next year there’s no chance of anything happening. There’s zero chance. We got five Republican votes out of 179 to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ The Republicans have become much more anti-gay in their voting patterns. There is zero chance of anything good happening with Republicans in control of the House.” – Rep. Barney Frank, telling the Washington Blade that …

In an editorial published today, the New York Times says that House Democrats would be better served by a Minority Leader other than Nancy Pelosi. Ms. Pelosi announced on Friday that she would seek the post of House minority leader. That job is not a good match for her abilities in maneuvering legislation and trading votes, since Democrats will no …

There was some question as to whether Pelosi would run for House Minority Leader and since Tuesday night a couple of House Democrats have gone as far as declaring they’d oppose her. Over on Twitter, teabaggers are claiming to be ecstatic over this news, so Pelosi can continue “dragging the Democrats down.”

A few races are still too close to call.

Providence Mayor David Cicilline tonight became the nation’s fourth openly gay member of the U.S. House, joining Rep. Tammy Baldwin (WI), Rep. Barney Frank (MA), and Rep. Jared Polis (CO). LGBT history made in Rhode Island!

And my favorite voice in the U.S. House is silenced. Rep. Grayson, you were too smart to survive in American politics. This sucks.

Larger interactive version here. Silver gives the Democrats an 18% chance of holding the House majority. Blue Dog Democrats have downplayed their support of health care reform and distanced themselves from the president, a mistake in my opinion, since many consider it the crowning achievement of the Obama administration so far.