The Morning Briefing: Incoherent Granny Boxwine Reelected As House Speaker

Party of Youth and Diversity Sticks With Octogenarian White Speaker of the House

Happy Monday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. The developmental leap from tadpole to frog has always unnerved me.

Well, here we are launching into the first full week of 2021 and it’s mostly been good so far. Get back to me on Thursday morning and we shall see how that’s going. I sincerely hope that all of you are off to a good start for the year.

I outlined some rather ambitious goals for the year and did them with no regard for the plague. I don’t think that things will be back to normal anytime soon but I don’t want to base my life on that. I’m proceeding with grand goals — or delusions of grandeur — as if this stupid Chinese Bat Flu doesn’t even exist. I highly recommend the approach, even if it merely serves as a temporary distraction.

It may be a new year but we will be kicking it off with one of the things we weren’t lacking much of in 2020: political drama. Wednesday is obviously going to be loaded with it, when Ted Cruz and a group of Republican senators do not go quietly into the election fraud night and instead object to the certification of the Electoral College vote. Grab some popcorn and steel yourselves for endless caterwauling from libs and some Republicans about Cruz and Co. rending the very fabric of the Republic to shreds.

You see, in the topsy-turvy plane we now occupy, anyone trying to make sure that elections are fair is accused of being unpatriotic.

They’re not.

The fun got rolling on Sunday with the vote for Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Party of Youth and Diversity demonstrated its bold vision for the future by sticking with the 80-year-old white lady:

Nancy Pelosi secured another term as Speaker of the House of Representatives on Sunday. This will be the fourth (albeit nonconsecutive) term for the controversial San Francisco Democrat.

“As we go into session today, I do so full of pride to be nominated by our Democratic Caucus to be Speaker of the House,” Pelosi said in a letter released prior to the vote. “I am enormously grateful for the trust that Members have placed in me. I am confident that the Speaker’s election today will show a united Democratic Caucus ready to meet the challenges ahead, and that we are prepared to set our country on a new course, starting with the Electoral College meeting on Wednesday.”

What was most interesting about this was that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her Squad weren’t among the Democrats who didn’t vote for Pelosi. They’ve often been more critical of Granny Boxwine than Republicans. I’m curious as to what Pelosi offered the AOC Ditz Crew in exchange for their support, because there is no way that went down without any backroom deal.

It’s unsettling to think that Pelosi may have paved the way for the bartender and her friends to have a lot more power after she’s gone. She’ll be retiring once this stint as speaker is up anyway, so what does she care?

This election cements Pelosi’s legacy as one of the most powerful speakers of the House in United States history. A lesser politician wouldn’t have survived in leadership after the shellacking the Democrats took in 2010. The standard operating procedure in election blowouts like that is for whoever is the leader of the party in that chamber to get tossed. Pelosi managed to hang on as minority leader for another eight years until she could reclaim the speaker’s gavel.

Whether in the majority or minority, the few times that Pelosi’s leadership was reported to be in danger ended up involving rumors of her political demise that were greatly exaggerated. She always manages to wrangle the votes in the end. If ever there was a time when she was vulnerable, this was probably the shakiest she’s been since the 2010 election. The Democrats over-promised and greatly under-performed last November but Granny’s Teflon coating proved to be thick once again.

Now the ball is in the Republicans’ court. They need to get to work on winning the House back in 2022 and ensure that whatever nightmare is waiting in the wings to emerge in Pelosi’s absence can’t become speaker.

She Fights

21 Democrats wrote a letter to Nancy Pelosi asking her to stop me from being able to carry on Capitol Hill.

I choose to defend my family and my life with all of the force the Constitution provides.

I’m honored that 82 of my colleagues have decided to stand with me. pic.twitter.com/OBkVuAFvv7

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 1, 2021

A Most Glorious Game

"The Queen's Gambit" has driven an unprecedented surge in chess set sales. Here are 13 artist-designed classics: https://t.co/8xceSWo9oS pic.twitter.com/XONnHc1d1h

— Artnet (@artnet) January 3, 2021

Everything Isn’t Awful

This is a new recurring section that I’m adding to our little morning get-together. I think it’s important to look for the good in the world, especially after that toilet-swirl of a year we just had. The goal is to have something to post here every day. We’ll see.

US police officer buys family food instead of arresting them for shoplifting https://t.co/ViyCsBkWTp

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 3, 2021

Smells Like Onion

Man Ashamed Of Himself After Cashier Reads Food Order Back To Him https://t.co/DCxqJCMhcy pic.twitter.com/zTf9LgifL4

— The Onion (@TheOnion) January 2, 2021

The Kruiser Kabana

pic.twitter.com/EDMgffNmdz

— Archillect (@archillect) January 3, 2021

The nudist philatelic group in my neighborhood is getting a little sassy on Nextdoor.

___

Kruiser on Parler
Kruiser on MeWe
Kruiser on Twitter
Kruiser on Facebook
PJ Media Senior Columnist and Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.” His columns appear twice a week.