When last we heard from Colorado U.S. Rep. Ken Buck regarding the House speaker vote, he had just cast a protest ballot against Jim Jordan before launching yet another mainstream media tour on CNN, MSNBC and CBS.
Just to clarify, this was a joke.
The office of Speaker is the hardest job in Washington. I wouldn’t wish that on my good friend @GOPMajorityWhip. https://t.co/fXV4bUREFE
— Rep. Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) October 17, 2023
Who knew that House Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota would indeed advance to the final round of the speaker’s race before getting shot down behind the closed doors before advancing to the floor vote.
At issue, more than a dozen members of the conservative Freedom Caucus insist they are trying to dismantle the current power establishment, while the other 200 Republicans don’t want the House to be ruled by a small gang of bomb throwers.
Memo to Republicans: You ARE the power establishment in the House because you have control.
And then there’s Buck, who went radio silent after Emmer became the third speaker candidate to fail since Kevin McCarthy was ousted by a vote in which eight Republicans, including Buck sided with Democrats.
Last we heard Buck was busy cleaning out his Windsor congressional office, from which he was evicted by a landlord fed up with his vote against Jim Jordon for speaker.
Then this happened:
Ken Buck, just last week you opposed Jim Jordan because he’s an election denier. What makes this election denier different? https://t.co/c0ov0vRphg
— Terrance Carroll (@speakercarroll) October 25, 2023
The House has been without a speaker for three weeks.