Elephant Innards - Granite Grok

Elephant Innards

You can’t put to fine a point on this.  There is a movement in the transverse colon of the GOP caucus that is looking to undermine the promise of Gene Chandler. The promise?  That the Republican Caucus vote unanimously for Bill O’Brien as speaker on Organization day.  I Do not know who is stirring that pot, but as Tim points out here, it would not take much to figure it out.  A roll call vote for speaker would require these representatives to embrace their votes of principle in the cleansing light of day.

One has to wonder if they have the "guts" to do it.

Spleen venting in private is one thing.  But ignoring the wishes of the establishment, old guard speaker candidate, who called for unity on the House Speaker vote, peels another layer off the onion.  It reveals the next cadre of candidates whose motivations appear strictly political.  It begs questions about the veracity of the request and the ability of Mr. Chandler to herd his own cats toward an end he has publicly stated is desirable–the election of William O’Brien as House speaker.

To contradict that wish would be politically damaging.

Any migration of Republicans away from a vote for "Speaker O’Brien" might say more about Gene Chandler than it does Bill.  It might mean that Gene was either insincere in his request for unity–and I am on the record both commending him and taking him at his word for that stance–or it demonstrates his inability to control even those who would have chosen him as their House Speaker.

You can do the math. 

The old guard may be crumbling under the stress and splintering amongst themselves.  It is only a matter of time, a few years perhaps, before the rebirth of the New Republican party in New Hampshire is complete and these warhorses of old are thanked for their service and put out to pasture

And in truth, we more or less know who they are…but a roll call vote would make it that much easier to find out who has the stones to break Chandlers call, and who does not.

 

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