From The Marston Chronicles
This may come as a surprise to you but the Speaker does not have to be elected by his or her own party. It is possible to form a bipartisan coalition and elect a Speaker who is more satisfactory to the minority party. That is what happened in Arizona in 1964 in the State House of Representatives. Ever since achieving statehood in 1912 Arizona had been a typical southern state with segregated schools and Democrats in charge all along. As always happens when one party controls a state for too long, corruption was rampant. Republican members of the legislature could not serve on committees or even introduce bills. As more and more people moved to Arizona from Republican areas of the country, the segregated schools were done away with (before the desegregation decision) and Democrats from the urban areas became an endangered species.
The highest priority of most politicians is the get re-elected and these urban Democrats were in a world of hurt. That is when the Republican minority leader went to what today we would call Blue Dog Democrats and proposed a deal. The Republicans would vote for one of these urban Democrats for Speaker in return for the minority Republican leader becoming the majority leader and being given committee assignments and being allowed to introduce bills. Since these Democrats were well aware that their districts were becoming more and more Republican with every passing year they agreed with this proposal. Yes, the Speaker was still a Democrat but one the Republicans could live with since they were all now part of the majority.
There are 48 Democratic Congressmen from districts that McCain-Palin carried in a horrible year for Republicans. What will happen in 2010 to these folks? A lot of them are going to be toast and they know it. Since the Republicans only need to pick up 40 of these 48 seats to regain control of the House even that is a possibility in a good Republican year. So here is how it works, the Republican leaders approach the Blue Dog Democrats and offer to vote for their choice of one of their own for Speaker in exchange for a Republican becoming Majority Leader. Since the House will reorganize itself in January, there will be a new vote for Speaker then. If a PUMA coalition can be formed by then, Pelosi will be out and a more conservative Speaker will be in. What would that do to the Obama legislative agenda? This is the only hope for survival for a lot of the Blue Dog Democrats because they can go back to their districts and say that they are no longer going along with the leftist agenda but have become bipartisan so why elect a Republican in their place?
Do the country a favor and start behaving like Americans instead of Democrats and Republicans and we will love you for it. Are any of you House Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats ready to do that and save your own job in the process? If you do not do this, we will all be stuck for Pelosi as Speaker for years to come. Do we really want to have this San Francisco socialist become President if something happens to Obama and Biden? In case you have forgotten your civics, the Speaker of the House is third in line to become President. Many people are asking how we can do worse than Obama as President and here is your answer.
