The opening line of this Huffington Post piece makes it blunt:
If Paul Ryan can't save the GOP, could Democrats?
One has to wonder. And if Paul Ryan decides to pass on a job he clearly doesn't want, despite the pitiful groveling and begging of Republicans across the board, the GOP may have no choice but to take drastic options. And the chatter on one option is growing in GOP ranks:
And that has some Republicans looking to Democrats. There are 435 members of the House, and 188 belong to the minority party. Democrats get to vote for speaker, too.
The most vocal of those Republicans has been Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), who pointed to centrist Republicans having to depend on Democratic votes recently to pass government funding, when only 91 Republicans were willing to vote to keep the government open.
A similar coalition has formed to back reauthorization of the expired Export-Import Bank.
”In order to pass any bill around this place, everybody knows we need to assemble a bipartisan coalition,” Dent told reporters after McCarthy bailed out. “I suspect at some point, if we can't get 218 Republicans to vote for a speaker candidate, we'll have to assemble a bipartisan coalition to elect a speaker."
No, it's been no surprise to hear that coming from Dent, who seems to be the go-to House Republican when reporters need a quote from someone saying, "Those Freedom Caucus folks be crazy!" But the chatter is not just coming from him now.
We have to do whatever it takes to elect a speaker," said Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.).
And now, even Republicans who don't even like the idea much are speaking it aloud.
It’s not that lawmakers on King's side of the aisle would prefer forming what amounts to an American version of a coalition government. But even those who think it’s a bad idea admit it could happen.
"I hope not. I hope not,” said Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), though she allowed it may be possible for Republicans to reach across the aisle for a leader if their own process becomes intractably mired in infighting. ”It depends how long it takes,” she said.
And here's some comical wishful thinking from Rep. Dave Reichert:
”My hope is we don’t get to that point,” said Reichert. “We have smart people in this conference that recognize we need to be leaders in this world.”
Care to point out those smart people, Dave? Because I don't see any.
But what do Democrats think of this?
Ironically, Democrats expressed more confidence than some Republicans that the Grand Old Party would pick its own new leader. But they did it with a twinkle in their eyes.
“When they act in their caucus and they elect a speaker on the floor, we'll talk about how we'll work together,” said Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "Hopefully, Republicans will come to terms as to who their recommendation will be for speaker. But that's really up to them."
I can almost hear here trying to stifle the chuckle. And you got to love this from Steny Hoyer:
"We Democrats are unified in that we will certainly accept their support of the next speaker -- Nancy Pelosi,” Hoyer said. “It goes both ways."
Heh. Hey, if Republicans get desperate enough, who knows?
Invest in popcorn futures, folks. You'll be richer than Midas.