David "Dances with Rove" Gregory chose to blame Democrats for Republicans' inability to govern while rolling out his usual tired schtick on CNN early this morning.
"The world is on fire," Gregory declared. "And we can't seem to come to an agreement on a leader. It's a real problem. I mean at the end of the week here with all this chaos among Republicans but much graver circumstances around the world."
What "we" is he talking about? Democrats currently have the most votes for a Speaker, with Hakeem Jeffries earning 212 votes. WE don't have a problem. REPUBLICANS do. But unfortunately for viewers and the country writ large, Gregory was not finished.
"I actually have my eye on Democrats. How long are Democrats going to stand by in the world of identity politics, and zero-sum politics, and not be part of any solution?" he wondered. AND HE WAS SERIOUS!
We are now over a week into the House Republicans' Speaker Debacle, a situation of their own making. Because there are a handful of flamethrowers who have no business holding elected office, instead choosing to violate their oath of office on a daily basis, the House of Representatives has no Speaker in the middle of new and ongoing international crises.
Republicans did that. Not Democrats. But David goes on to blame "Washington" because of course he does. He just cannot bring himself to ever put responsibility where it belongs.
There is a way out, as Joan Walsh points out in her latest for The Nation. "The next speaker will have to be elected with Democratic votes, perhaps just a handful of moderate defectors.," she writes. "If a GOP candidate gave Democrats some concessions—bigger roles on committees, a way to avert a government shutdown in November, calling off or at least slow-walking the bogus Joe Biden impeachment inquiry—maybe they’d win more than a handful of Democratic votes, but they’d almost certainly lose even more Republicans."
What a brilliant solution! And, by the way, there is another solution that works too: A handful of Republicans can join Democrats and vote for Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker. Yes, they'd be primaried and probably lose, but they'd at least be true to their oath of office.
Either way, the choice is the Republicans' to make. Democrats aren't divided; Republicans are.
