Greta Brawner, C-Span, interviewed Democratic strategist Stuart Rosenberg today. Brawner referenced a Republican viewer's comment in a segment of her show earlier today who said that Democrats had made a mistake in the motion to vacate vote; that the effect was to give the Republican Taliban what it wanted all along: to shut down the government until a new Speaker is chosen. It is true that no new legislation can be moved until the new Speaker is chosen; it is true that the Taliban wants a government shutdown. Mullah Trumpie urged them to shut down. It is also true that even if a new Speaker is chosen expeditiously, the soonest it can happen (and therefore the unlikeliest) is Tuesday. And it is true that there is another government funding deadline of November 17. Therefore, if there is not a new Republican Speaker in place a reasonable time before November 17, the government will shut down. The Republican caller predicted that it would be "months" before a new Speaker was chosen. That is not remotely what I, who knows nothing, understand the likely time frame to be, but neither is it going to be October 10. I at least do not know how much time is reasonable for Congress to get their House in order and prevent a Nov. 17 shutdown. 

Rosenberg countered this scenario that it is the Republicans' job to get their House in order. It is. But there is no law or rule that prevents the opposition party, here the Democrats, from helping to prevent a shutdown by helping to elect a Speaker. It is, as former Speaker Pelosi texted the day the motion to vacate passed, a "tradition" that it not; that "at this time" there was no need to buck that tradition. Rosenberg countered the implication that Democrats should have negotiated with McCarthy that McCarthy never even approached them to negotiate. That is true. 

And it is true that the Republican called to Greta Brawner's show is not the only or even a prominent voice in this. The Republican congressman from Louisiana, Graves, has accused Baby Gaetz of having been "schooled" by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez into giving her what she wanted, Kevin McCarthy's scalp. 

This all has me helpless from thinking of Portland "Trail Blazers" general manager Joe Cronin and Adam Silver conspiring to screw the Miami "Heat" in the Damian Lillard trade, we (Dems, the "Heat") are damned whatever we do and don't do.

For both the "Heat" and Dems, the unpleasantness of late September/early October is water that has passed under the bridge and down the river. Both own their futures 100%. The Democrats co-own the speakership of the House of Representatives with the Republicans 49%-51%, 212-221. Republicans can elect a Speaker on their own! They need 217 votes, can elect a new Speaker with a Taliban-4. But they cannot elect a new Speaker with a Taliban-5+. 51% of the blame for the, in effect, government shutdown that we are in now is Republican. Fifty-one percent blame for a formal government shutdown on Nov. 17 will be Republican. But the effective shutdown and the formal shutdown shuts down almost half, 49%, of everything Democrats want. Neither party can let that happen, but the Republicans will let it happen. The Democrats will not let the government shut down; they will negotiate with the Republicans and compromise on a Speaker if necessary.