Vox Populi, our weekly live chat about the week’s events begins tonight at 7:00 pm PDT. At Vox, everyone is elected Speaker, just the opposite of the Republican House. Hope to see you (but probably not Kevin McCarthy) here!

AdLib 7 days ago

Hey PPO! How are things?

AdLib 7 days ago

I don’t know if I mentioned it but I’m running for House Speaker.

AdLib 7 days ago

Evening slm! What’s up your way?

AdLib 7 days ago

slm – My job experience is being scared, not knowing how to words speak and hating America. Do I win?

AdLib 7 days ago

Hey Beatlex!

AdLib 7 days ago

PPO – Can I have Boehner’s Giant Compensating-For-Something gavel?

AdLib 7 days ago

So who thinks Paul Ryan will say yes?

AdLib 7 days ago

PPO – Kevin McCathy is jealous of how you put a word.

AdLib 7 days ago

Too bad McCarthy is out, I would have loved writing a whole article using the band of speaking he aren’t harming.

AdLib 7 days ago

glenn – I think PPO is right, that’s like a fire chief being endorsed by an arsonist, the Baggers will double down against Ryan now.

AdLib 7 days ago

Beatlex – Well, he could put a sentence together, it just wouldn’t make any sense or have the right grammar or verbs.

AdLib 7 days ago

slm – Someone had to make that joke! Well done!

AdLib 7 days ago

PPO – Hi escribacat!

AdLib 7 days ago

WHoops, was writing to PPO when escribacat came in!

AdLib 7 days ago

PPO – The Comedy Gods taketh away with McCarthy not becoming Speaker.

AdLib 7 days ago

What do folks here think is going to happen with the Repubs finding or not finding a Speaker?

AdLib 7 days ago

escrib – There’s a lot of pressure on Ryan but if he becomes Speaker, he will destroy his dream of running for higher office. He might sacrifice himself but he might not.

AdLib 7 days ago

PPO – The gems would never have stopped coming from McCarthy.

AdLib 7 days ago

escrib – Ryan wants to run for President, maybe Governor first. If he is destroyed as he will be if he becomes Speaker, those dreams are over.

AdLib 7 days ago

escrib – Whoever becomes Speaker will have their head in the noose of the Tea Party and if the Speaker doesn’t shutdown government and refuse to raise the debt ceiling, in the quest of shutting down Obamacare and Planned Parenthood, they will pull the rope and force him out of the Speaker chair as they did Boehner. That will taint Ryan as a loser and failure with the core Repubs against him, he could never run for President after that.

AdLib 7 days ago

PPO – Maybe Trump could also make him our nation’s poet laureate?

AdLib 7 days ago

slm –

AdLib 7 days ago

My bet, which could very well be wrong, is that Ryan doesn’t agree to be Speaker and Boehner continues for some time to come. Maybe after a while of failure and chaos they settle for someone to take the job? But he’ll be a patsy for the Tea Party.

AdLib 7 days ago

glenn – The thing is, saying “if Repubs were smart” is like saying “if my mother was a magic carpet”. You’re right of course, the Repubs only have an interest in political power, not helping the country so they wouldn’t work with Dems. Also, they would be too afraid of being primaried by those Tea Partiers (and their supportes like The Kochs) if they did such a thing.

AdLib 7 days ago

Hasn’t this completely exposed the GOP? After 7 years of just trying to stop Obama from accomplishing everything Obama has wanted to do or reverse any progress he made, they have power only to fight over who is pure enough to hold it. They have no vision or concern for America or its governing.

AdLib 7 days ago

slm – Please tell your kitty ++ for me!

AdLib 7 days ago

glenn – Those are great points and make the case for why Dems should FINALLY run on a national platform. They should all run against the madness of Republicans being in power and even if a Repub is popular locally, make the case against them that electing them will keep Repubs in power.

AdLib 7 days ago

Beatlex – In keeping with the Biblical theme, no, Ryan is the fatted calf.

AdLib 7 days ago

glenn – Unfortunately, this is the way it has to be. Just as happened in the 60’s with Goldwater, the self-righteous RW extremists are by nature blind to how far out of the mainstream they are. They live in a bubble, surrounded by extremists like themselves and think most Americans think like them. So, when they finally move from being the exploited saps of the GOP to the angry core calling the shots, they finally get to hold power and display how horrible they are to the entire nation. I think it is a strong possibility that Repubs get beaten hugely in 2016.

AdLib 7 days ago

PPO – Sorry, this isn’t the time to talk about gun control though. We have to wait until all the shootings stop then give it another year just to be sure, then another year to be doubly sure then try to remember what we were waiting for.

AdLib 7 days ago

slm – I heard that Ryan’s father and another relative died younger of heart disease, guess that’s why fitness is so important to Ryan…and another reason not to take the Speaker chair.

AdLib 7 days ago

Hey Murph!

AdLib 7 days ago

PPO – It’s funny, all of the public’s emails are not private thanks to the Patriot Act while all these government officials who work for us keep their emails private on their own servers. Something is upsde-down and it’s not a pineapple cake.

AdLib 7 days ago

How about that Ben Carson upstaging Trump with one horrible and offensive comment after another? Do Repubs really think that such disgusting people as Trump and Carson actually can win a GE? The answer, thankfully, is yes!

AdLib 7 days ago

And did you see the obvious scam Latino woman Trump pulled up on stage to scream how much she loved Trump? Trump’s propaganda is so damn obvious, it’s funny. Especially because he and his supporters think it can work!

AdLib 7 days ago

Very clever, PPO!

AdLib 7 days ago

glenn – What gets me is that the Repubs think that since they won so many seats in 2014 after causing a shutdown, that the voters approve of their behavior. Even the MSM rarely points out that it was an off year election with a record low 37% turnout reflecting many Dems not turning out. This overconfidence floods into next year, a Presidential election year when Dems will turn out big time. I really do think the GOP will be spanked hard next year.

AdLib 7 days ago

slm – Trump is a bread mold experiment gone wrong and Carson is a long echo of the passing of gas.

AdLib 7 days ago

Here ya go, slm:

AdLib 7 days ago

glenn – I think it is a real possibility that Trump wins the GOP nom but I expect the establishment Repubs to pull out all the stops to destroy him once the primaries start and try to foist Bush, Kasich and/or Rubio on an unhappy and angry Repub base. You want to see revolt in action, let’s hope for that scenario! The Repubs will blow up!

AdLib 7 days ago

escrib – It’s totally no carb, try a bite!

AdLib 7 days ago

I saw Christie claiming that what’s going on with the Speaker crisis is unimportant and meaningless, no one cares. Hey Christie, you sure you’re not confusing that with your candidacy?

AdLib 7 days ago

So consider this scenario, a Repub Congress led by inexperienced ideologues making the US economy crash due to shutting down government and not raising the debt limit, then inexperienced ideologues trying to win over the majority of voters to become President?

AdLib 7 days ago

escrib – But really, what can the estab GOP do if the majority of their base wants an outsider? If they rig the primaries and caucuses, their base will revolt and not vote in the GE. Trump supporters are not going to vote for Bush, they’ll do their shutdown thing on the GOP itself rather than go along with a rigged, establishment nominee. There is no way out for them.

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – Christie/Shirley surely knows he’s full of BS, it’s what keeps his belt up.

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – Yep, when has a crusade for purity amongst their own members ever failed to make a group more powerful? Repubs find new ways to be so dumb so often.

AdLib 7 days ago

glenn – To anyone who has lived in the real world, Trump is a slimy, lying, greed-driven egotist. To rural Repubs, Trump “is genuine”. Neither side will ever convince the other of their perception.

AdLib 7 days ago

Hey Kes!

AdLib 7 days ago

BTW, we will of course be having a Live Chat this upcoming Tuesday, 10/13, for the first Democratic debate.

AdLib 7 days ago

escrib, yes, it will be streamed: “CNN will offer a live stream of the Democratic Presidential Primary Candidates Debate on Tuesday, October 13, from 8p to 11p ET. All users will be able to watch live CNN TV online and on their mobile devices without logging in. “

AdLib 7 days ago

Kes – My guess is that Ryan won’t accept the role of Speaker. It would destroy his political future and he wants to run for President in the future.

AdLib 7 days ago

Hey KT!

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – I think the Dem debate will be very interesting indeed!

AdLib 7 days ago

The RW media has already been attacking Ryan, calling him RINO Ryan, they’re trying to whip up solid opposition among the Tea Partiers. So funny! And I though Repubs opposed abortions.

AdLib 7 days ago

Escrib – Puppies are a lot of work but they are love embodied.

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – Exactly. It’s just so satisfying to see those Repub cavemen mindlessly going after their own with their clubs. Soon, they may not even be a member of that club.

AdLib 7 days ago

KT – Winston O. Boogie?

AdLib 7 days ago

KT – Dumpster fire indeed!

AdLib 7 days ago

Night slm!

AdLib 7 days ago

Seeya next week, glenn!

AdLib 7 days ago

KT – Oh!!! Yes, it is his birthday! Perfect suggestion!

AdLib 7 days ago

glenn – Right, forgot for a moment! Hope to see you on Tuesday night for the debate chat!

AdLib 7 days ago

I don’t think the Tea Party will ever leave the GOP because starting up a third party is too difficult…though, with the Koch Bros. backing, maybe not as much.

AdLib 7 days ago

Hillary has gotta be loving life right now, McCarthy blew up the Benghazi committee and focus on her email server, the Repubs in the House are eating up all the media attention and she’s changing her position on the TPP (which she helped negotiate) so she has protected her left from attacks in the debate while leaving Biden as the only potential Dem condidate supporting the TPP. A great week for Hillary, like her or not.

AdLib 7 days ago

PPO – Brands are so important in the US, I can’t imagine establishment Repubs or Tea Partiers abandoning the GOP, just battling for control (hopefully for many years to come).

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – Marco Rubio has been bending over backwards to kiss the Koch’s bottoms to get them to finance him. Don’t know if it’s working but he is a Tea Partier.

AdLib 7 days ago

Thanks Murph. Not a big Hillary fan myself but it’s clearly a great week for her.

AdLib 7 days ago

PPO – We’ll see what happens in the debate, Hillary is coasting right now but just standing up on the stage with her as a peer, Bernie could really do well for himself this upcoming week.

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – Rubio is a Tea Party guy though.

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – Not only that, I could imagine Hillary gaining a bit now that McCarthy admitted she was the intended victim of their “hearings”. Sympathy definitely shifted a bit towards her.

AdLib 7 days ago

Kes – I think it’s tough to say but my guess is that McCarthy blowing up the Benghazi committee and the ongoing drag on Hillary might be the turning point for Biden to say he won’t run. Up until that, she was bleeding support. I think that changed things.

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – Good point, Fox certainly celebrated Trump at first but once he became a threat to the establishment Repubs like Jeb! and Scott!, they turned on him. Fox loves the TP when they’re attacking our government and Dems but not so much when they threaten the status quo in the GOP.

AdLib 7 days ago

Beatlex – Yep, that’s the hallmark of the Repubs, naming things the opposite of what they really are.

AdLib 7 days ago

Night Kes!

AdLib 7 days ago

escrib – I think Biden had a window to jump in as long as the Repubs got to continue attacking Hillary’s email server through their Benghazi committee. Now that it’s been neutralized, I don’t see the window as open for Biden and if Hillary got into trouble later on, I think it will be too late for Biden to set up a 50 state candidacy.

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – I think the probable result of the Dem debate is a bump for Bernie. His name recognition is much lower than Hillary’s 100% which accounts for her big national lead IMO. The more national exposure Bernie gets, the better I think his numbers will get. And Hillary is not always great at debates, she can stumble, Bernie can’t really, he’s so on message.

AdLib 7 days ago

Night KT!

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – So is that just a semantics thing? As long as the Tea Party candidates just call themselves the Freedom Caucus or Repubs, they’ll get funding?

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – I think O’Malley will make the most of being in the national spotlight.

AdLib 7 days ago

Have a great day, PPO!

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – Yes, that’s what I was referring to about Biden. The challenge of setting up a national campaign is daunting in any case but if he waits any longer, it’s going to be almost impossible.

AdLib 7 days ago

PPO – Great, the debate is going to be live streamed so you can watch and comment with us!

AdLib 7 days ago

escrib – I do think it will be a very interesting debate. Bernie will have to assert himself and I’ll bet the moderaters will really go after Hillary for her email server, changing her stands on TPP and KeystoneXL, her positions on war, etc. She could really get hammered while Bernie can only have namecalling about him being a “socialist”.

AdLib 7 days ago

escrib – Yep, it is a little surreal but considering that primaries start shortly after the beginning of the year, we are speeding towards the real race.

AdLib 7 days ago

escrib – How’s that? You mean for letting the BLM people take over the mike?

AdLib 7 days ago

escrib – I don’t see what CNN folks could go after him for that, I only saw the RW go after him for not shoving the BLM people away. After that, he worked with them and addressed their issues in his platform.

AdLib 7 days ago

Murph – The TP Repubs do have a strong grass roots financing though so they are a bit insulated from the estab GOP cutting them off. They are an all or nothing group, that’s for sure.

AdLib 7 days ago

Okey dokes, see you on Tuesday Murph!

AdLib 7 days ago

See you on Tuesday, escrib!

AdLib 7 days ago

Would you count Ted Cruz as a TP guy> He raised $12 million this quarter.

AdLib 7 days ago

Cruz claims he is mostly funded by grassroots but he’s such a liar, I recall a billionaire in TX backing him too.

AdLib 7 days ago

Night! Tuesday night should be fun too!

AdLib 7 days ago

Well, that’s a wrap for Vox Populi tonight! Have a great weekend Beatlex!

AdLib 7 days ago