Poetic Justice
Buck Banks | Sep. 22, 2023
Kevin McCarthy is a sad spineless clown,
Who’s letting the wingnuts kick him around.
The House right-wingers
Are just performative whingers
Who’re pushing the country toward a government shutdown.

Verbatim
“This is not conservative Republicanism. This is stupidity. The idea that we’re going to shut the government down when we don’t control the Senate, we don’t control the White House. These people can’t define a win. They don’t know how to take yes for an answer. It’s a clown show. You keep running lunatics. You’re going to be in this position.”
— Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), on CNN.
“Interviews with nearly two dozen lobbyists, political consultants and lawmakers revealed that DeSantis’ struggles as a presidential candidate have already eroded his influence in Florida. There is a widespread expectation that his candidacy will end in failure. His standing at home may depend on how long he slogs forward in the presidential campaign — and how he will manage his exit from the race if he eventually drops out.”
— Politico
“Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate. I am not the president’s lawyer. I will add I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people.We will not be intimidated. We will do our jobs free from outside influence. And we will not back down from defending our democracy.”
— Attorney General Merrick Garland, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee/Inquisition.
“We always get the blame. Name one time that we’ve shut the government down and we haven’t got the blame.”
— Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID), a senior appropriator, told Katherine Tully-McManus and Adam Cancryn of Politico.
“Mmmkay! And I’m 110lbs and a virgin ?! I’m not a scale or a doctor but I have spent some time beneath 215lb men and Tiny was not one of them.”
— Stormy Daniels, referring to Donald Trump’s claim at his arrest last week that he weighs just 215 pounds.
Numerati
8%
A new Insider Advantage poll in New Hampshire finds Donald Trump leading the GOP primary field with 42%, followed by Nikki Haley at 14%, Chris Christie at 10%, Ron DeSantis at 8%, Vivek Ramaswamy at 5%, Tim Scott at 5% and Doug Burgum at 4%.
$2.2 million
Rock and roll legend Eric Clapton raised $2.2 million for Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., at a recent campaign event, Fox News reports.
42 million
“Almost 42 million Americans – over one-eighth of the US population – are estimated to have lived within one mile of a mass shooting since 2014,” CNN reports.
$7.1 million
“Donald Trump has turned his Georgia mugshot into a record-breaking fundraising haul,” Politico reports. “The former president has raised $7.1 million since he was booked at an Atlanta jail Thursday evening… On Friday alone, Trump raised $4.18 million, making it the single-highest 24-hour period of his campaign to date.”
$61.1 million
The Florida Legislature (which last year passed a “Constitutional Carry” gun law) is spending millions of dollars beefing up security at the Capitol Complex with expensive bulletproof windows while also making it easier for people to carry weapons into those state buildings. The Legislature approved a $61.6 million window replacement project as part of a larger renovation of the Capitol, reports the Orlando Sentinel.