AZ Congressional Delegation

House descends into chaos over vote switching to support discrimination against LGBT community

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Your Tea-Publican Congress at work . . . haters gotta hate. The Hill reports Chaos in House after GOP votes down LGBT measure:

The House floor devolved into chaos and shouting on Thursday as a measure to ensure protections for members of the LGBT community narrowly failed to pass after Republican leaders urged their members to change their votes.

Initially, it appeared Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s (D-N.Y.) amendment had passed, as 217 “yes” votes piled up over 206 “no” votes when the clock ran out. The measure needed 213 votes to pass.

But it eventually failed on a 212-213 vote after a number of Republican lawmakers changed their votes from “yes” to “no” after the clock had expired.

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Roll Call Vote 226: Arizona Congressional delegation voting “yes”: Gallego, Grijalva, Kirkpatrick, McSally, Sinema; voting “no”: Franks, Gosar, Schweikert; Not voting: Salmon.

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The TanMan unchained, rips the GOP

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The TanMan, former Speaker of the House John Boehner, had a few choice words to say about the GOP now that he is no longer an elected official seeking political office. Vox.com reports,  John Boehner just confirmed everything liberals suspected about the Republican Party:

House Leader John Boehner Holds Press Briefing At The CapitolSpeaking at Stanford University, former House Speaker John Boehner went the full Bulworth.

“You can call me boner, beaner, jackass, happy to answer to almost anything,” he said.

Boehner called Ted Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh,” and said, “I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.” He admitted he would vote for Donald Trump, if it came to it, but not for Cruz.

He repeatedly called the House Freedom Caucus — the loose group of anti-establishment conservatives who are thought to have forced him out of the speakership — “knuckleheads” and “goofballs.” [This includes most of Arizona’s GOP congressional delegation.]

“I love all these knuckleheads talking about the party of Reagan,” Boehner continued. “[Reagan] would be the most moderate Republican elected today.”

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No, your new heartthrob John Kasich is not a moderate!

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What inevitably turns up in my feed whenever I mention Kasich

If there’s one thing some liberals are big saps for, it’s the idea of forging kumbaya friendships with certain Republicans. They’re like nerdy high school kids pathetically grateful that the jocks and cheerleaders are letting them sit at their table for lunch. It’s very annoying but is an ongoing thing that will never go away so long as there are liberals yearning for whatever approbation they can get from people who scorn them. Arizona liberals are especially bad with this, since the political climate here is so demoralizing for Democrats. The hunger for “reasonable” Republicans is so strong that they’ll ascribe such characteristics to guys like Jeff Flake, mistaking his mild-manneredness for moderation, when the truth is that the now-junior Senator of Arizona holds a lot of horrifically right wing positions.

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Matt Salmon announces his retirement from Congress: Let the political battle royal begin

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By Craig McDermott, crossposted from Random Musings

On Thursday, Congressman Matt Salmon announced that he will not be seeking reelection to Congress in 2016.

This wasn’t a sudden move – senior Salmon staffers have been looking for, and finding, soft landing spots for  weeks now, and his announcement was followed quickly by an endorsement of Andy Biggs, president of the Arizona State Senate, to be his replacement.

While the Biggs endorsement was (presumably) an attempt to preempt a primary battle for the safe R seat, there are a number of Rs looking at the race, or at least being speculated about for the race.

From AZCentral.com, written by Rebekah L. Sanders –

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The GOP embraces ‘Trumpism,’ the new American fascism

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Donald Trump rolled over his GOP competitors in the Nevada Caucus on Tuesday for his third consecutive win.

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This sets up “Super Tuesday” aka the “SEC Primary” on Tuesday, March 1.

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According to the RealClearPolitics averaging of state polls, Donald Trump currently leads in Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, and Vermont. Ted “Calgary” Cruz has a narrow lead in his home state of Texas, and in Arkansas. The caucuses in Alaska, Colorado. and North Dakota do not have any recent polling.

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