It’ll be interesting to see whether the Republicans keep Williams or if they kick him out. The threat was that, if anyone didn’t vote the way the Repubs wanted, he or she was out of the Party. And Robin Smith certainly has made it clear that Wiliams is a traitor and not a real Republican.
But if they kick him out, knowing, as they now know that they can’t trust him to keep his word, do they really have any hope of having committee chairs and other perks?
More importantly, does this show an outer limit to the state Republicans’ “bully your way into governing” strategy?
I mean, and yes, maybe I am pouring salt into wounds, but is there no one in the whole GOP who, when they were talking about making sure Mumpower would be elected Speaker, said “Um, we really dicked Williams over hard in the primary. Are we sure he’ll do what we want?” and when met with answers of “We have his word,” said to them “Um, yes, about that. You know this isn’t a movie, right? No one here is actually John Wayne or Jack Bauer and the word of a man you’ve treated poorly doesn’t actually mean anything.”?
Or did they really believe that a one-person majority was a mandate?
I don’t know.
I will say this, though. If the Democrats who met with us bloggers knew this was in the pipeline and still sat there and pitched to us this tale of woe about how the Party is in disarray and there is no unifying message and how they are just screwed and don’t understand the internet and woe is us so that we would run out and write about how the Democrats are in disarray and they have no unifying message and are just screwed… I’m just saying, if we were played, too, well, then, well played, Democrats, well played.
Tiny Cat Pants 
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Cat, why do you insist that Williams went back on his word? His public pledge was no more than to vote for “a Republican” for Speaker. You can look it up. Call him an ironist if you want to, maybe even a ‘traitor.” But liar? Nah!
Huh, that didn’t occur to me. That’s some interesting food for thought.
I think all the screaming about traitors is interesting. They came to him and sign this or your out. So he signed it under threat.
The Republican leadership basiclly threatened everyone with a big stick to vote the way they wanted. I understand solidarity, and I could understand some repercussions if someone crossed party lines, but why are the republicans allowed to get away with bullying to get the vote for the particular republican they wanted?
Although I will say that if they knew and didn’t tell us, I can’t exactly blame them. I’m a firm believer in the idea that the only way three people can keep a secret is if two of them are dead.
LOL at GoldnI’s last sentence.
I just want to say that after spending most of my life in MO and NY, where there are colorful individual legislators but boring legislatures, I am in awe of the TN state legislature’s ability to entertain.
But how oh how will Rep Kelsey ever get over this…
I’m not sure anyone but the principals involved knew what was afoot. Wasn’t the recess intended to give the leadership a window of time to inform the rank and file Democratic members what was going on?