Tennessee Democrats Mount a Coup

This is a riot! The GOP finally won a slim majority in the Tennessee State Legislature and were looking forward to having one of their own control the State House Gavel as Speaker of the House for the first time in forty years. BUT ... lo and behold, the Tennessee Democratic Legislators pulled a crafty quick one and made their own nomination of a GOP State Congressional Legislator to be Speaker of the House. The end result: All 49 Tennessee Democrats voted for this renegade GOP nomination against the GOP's chosen candidate. 49 Tennessee Republicans voted for the chosen party guy. And the tiebreaker vote was cast by the renegage GOP legislator for himself, instead of for the party's chosen one, thus putting himself in position as House Speaker. And get this ... to show his appreciation to his Democratic supporters, and to exemplify his bi-partisan credentials, he then returned the favor and voted for a Democrat as Speaker Pro-Tem, thus ensuring her election! So, what should have been a GOP takeover of the Tennessee State House of Representatives ended up as a peaceful Democratic Coup! You gotta love it! Here's a YouTube clip of a news report of the session. It's friggin' priceless:



Needless to say, that renegade GOP legislator is toast within the party. But, heck, he probably was another one of those GOPers "with the resume of a Democrat" anyway!

[H/T: Andrew Sullivan]