I hate politics.
What am I saying? I LOVE politics. There’s not much to laugh about these days, but politics is a never-ending source of amusement.
I can say the same for news commentators. (Disclosure: I am not a news commentator.)
Last week, FOX News host Sean Hannity invited my Congresswoman, Representative Lauren Boebert, to sit in the hot seat for a 10-minute “Hannity Hotseat” interview. More like a debate, really. It was pretty obvious that Sean Hannity wanted Rep. Boebert to vote for Kevin McCarthy for House Speaker; and just as obvious that Re. Boebert would never in her life vote for Kevin McCarthy for House Speaker.
The interview (which you can watch below) seemed like a slapstick contest to see how many times Mr. Hannity could interrupt Rep. Boebert, within the 10-minute time frame.
For a person like myself, who hates politics, but likes humor, the interview was funny in the same way it would be oh-so-funny to see Sean Hannity slip on a banana peel.
(My apologies for the annoying ads that YouTube keeps inserting into these videos. I wish they were as amusing as the content.)
Both Mr. Hannity and Rep. Boebert have strong opinions about federal politics, which luckily I do not have. I could care less who becomes Speaker of the House, because I know they are going to amuse me, no matter who it is.
Although, to be honest, Kevin McCarthy could take some lessons in comedic timing. Maybe from Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart. If we could have Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart as Speaker of the House, that would suit me just fine.
Or for President, for that matter. We used to have a really amusing President, once upon a time… but Joe Biden? Does he even know what a punchline is?
At any rate, the fiasco in the House of Representatives has definitely been right up there with the old Saturday Night Live skits, back when they were funny.
But that was a long time ago.
The David S. Pumpkins sketch for example. Was that one as funny as a Sean Hannity interview? The jury is still out.
On January 6, the House of Representatives had voted 14 times to elect a Speaker, without electing anyone.
Excuse me if I find that funny. As I recall, on January 6 a couple of years ago, a lot people were really upset because the whole country had voted — once — and elected the wrong person. They were so angry, they climbed walls and broke doors and windows.
The House voted 14 times without electing anyone, and no one even broke an ashtray.
Republicans had to stay up past midnight to finally elect Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker on the 15th round of voting… thus ending the longest Speaker election in American history since 1859, back in the days when breaking ashtrays was an everyday occurrence. (I had always thought the polls had to close at 7pm.)
Reportedly, Kevin McCarthy was forced to agree to many of his detractors’ demands. Then, before taking over the gavel on Saturday morning, Rep. McCarthy was forced to stand next to the top Democrat, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries… as Jeffries delivered a speech to the gathered House and proposed that the previous House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, “would go down in history as the greatest Speaker of all time.”
As if 15 rounds of voting hadn’t been embarrassing enough. But it was funny to watch, nevertheless.
The frantic negotiations to get McCarthy elected may have been related to the approaching deadline for raising the federal Debt Ceiling, which has proved to be not much of a ceiling at all. More like a staircase. Last session, Congress allocated so much new spending that the $31 trillion limit will be exceeded before summer rolls around. The Debt Staircase was raised three times during Trump’s presidency, and already once during Biden’s.
I was laughing the whole time, because I knew exactly where this was headed. Back when I was married to Darlene, we had a little contest going to see who could jack up the limit on their credit cards the most. Darlene’s strategy was buying a lot of inexpensive little things; I focused on a few really big, expensive things. Sort of a financial version of “The Tortoise and the Hare”.
Darlene won.
The Democrats and Republicans are obviously playing a similar game. I wonder who will win? Ha ha ha.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.