GOP discord in the House
The GOP margin is tiny, and a small portion of the conservative wing in the House sees its chance to wring more concessions from would-be Speaker Kevin McCarthy. At least, I hope that’s what’s going on, because no realistic alternative for speaker has emerged.
At any rate, as expected, McCarthy failed to win the speakership on the first ballot. This cannot fail to warm the cockles of the Democrats’ hearts. Furthermore:
A group of five conservatives led by Biggs and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) have publicly stated that they will not support McCarthy under any circumstances and have called on him to stand down to make room for a more viable candidate.
Unless they come up with a truly viable candidate, I hope this is just pressure being applied to McCarthy. Here’s an article listing their supposed demands. And it contains this:
MORE NEWS —
In a private mtg yesterday, GAETZ, BOEBERT, PERRY told McCarthy they wanted their OWN legal entity in House to wage lawsuits.
The group also told McCarthy that they don’t mind if the speaker vote goes to plurality and @RepJeffries is elected bc they’ll fight him. https://t.co/UMSJX0DmFI
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 3, 2023
Now, there’s a fab idea – you think the current speaker candidate is unsufficiently conservative, so you decide to help put an extreme leftist in there instead – along the way, negating the votes of all the people who cast ballots for a Republican majority. I can only hope that’s either an inaccurate report or an idle threat they won’t carry through, because otherwise it’s one of the stupidest and most self-destructive things I’ve heard in a long time, and that’s saying something.
If there had been the expected red wave, I assume that McCarthy would be sailing it to victory at this point. But that’s not what happened, so here we are.
What a self-destructive mess. They want the HFC to be able to sue whoever they want in the name of the full House?That’s ridiculous.
Whether we like it or not, politics is a team sport. 15% of a very narrow majority just does not have the power to dictate terms.
The lame duck omnibus was bad, but just imagine how much worse it would have been if McCarthy, or Jordan for that matter, had to go to Jeffries hat-in-hand and get 20 or so Democrat votes to fund the government or prevent a default. I guarantee those 20 votes would not come cheap. (If they came at all. I suspect Democrats would be happy to have a government shutdown or even default as a political issue for 2024.) These clowns are vindicating McConnell.
I agree with self-destructive, but I think Boebert and others are simply holding a mirror to McCarthy. What I heard about McCarthy’s actions prior to the election, the concept of dealing with a progressive over a “populist” was a preference of his and other DC Republicans, like McConnell. Boebert was one of a few that got poor treatment from McCarthy and owe him nothing.
That said, I’d prefer McCarthy got slapped around and told how little confidence he holds, but still would take McCarthy over Jeffries as Speaker of the House. The GOP on both sides needs to heed the Reagan’s 11th Commandment or rather the corollary that you can have at it in the primaries, but then you fully back the primary winner. If that had happened, we might have had a larger majority, and McCarthy wouldn’t be having problems now.
This is so stupid. We can’t afford to be squabbling over the few scraps we have at this stage. We can worry about those sorts of things once we have both houses and the presidency (assuming that ever happens again at all). Nancy Pelosi is a truly awful person, but she did maintain unity in her party.
The insistence that “regular order” return to House proceedings is reasonable, but demanding a separate entity for the Freedom Caucus to launch separate lawsuits is over the top.
This reporter is at NBC/MSNBC, which puts his reporting into question.
Kate said- “The insistence that “regular order” return to House proceedings is reasonable”
100% right.
“We don’t have the tools yet to battle the swamp. I’m nominating Jim Jordan” – Rep. Chip Roy
Had McCarthy agree to return to regular order?
I thought that was one of the concessions McCarthy had made. If not, he should. But the Freedom Caucus seem to be moving the goal posts. Failing to elect a Republican Speaker, even a squishy one, would be a betrayal of Republican voters across the nation who elected a small majority.
MCDS (McCarthy Derangement Syndrome) is not a smart political move. Elect him, and keep the pressure up. Nineteen voted for Jim Jordan. He doesn’t want the job.
I like regular order too. It’s overdue. But we’re talking about 19 votes out of 435. If there are really only 19 votes for regular order, it isn’t going to happen. If a majority of the GOP caucus is for regular order, then what, exactly, are these 19 trying to accomplish?
The only silver lining here is that 2024 is going to be about the respective nominees and this stunt is likely to be forgotten.
How much of this is a reaction to the backstabbing by McConnell?
This is war between the Globalist/Wall St wing and the Nationalist/Populist wing.
Brian E – If this is populism v. globalist/Wall St., the globalist/Wall St. wing has it, 203 – 19.
I’m afraid this is more about ego and playing to the base.
Brian E:
Not really. It is a war between the globalist/WallSt wing, the in-between wing, and a small fraction of the Nationalist/Populist wing. Many of the most stalwart members of that latter wing recognize the destructive nature of what’s happening and are refusing to go along.
How much of this is a reaction to the backstabbing by McConnell?
The miasma emanating from McConnell and about 45% of the Senate Republican caucus is sufficient to generate a critical mass of resentment. As for McCarthy, he stripped Steve King of all his committee assignments for no good reason. Make him squirm and get some concessions out of him (e.g. no one can be placed under a disciplinary interdict except by a vote of the whole caucus and open seats on committees are distributed by lot).
There are 435 Representatives in the House so the Speaker has to get 218 votes to win a majority, correct?
There are 212 Democrats and 222 Republicans. No matter how foolish or politically absurd this posturing is; is there any likelihood 6 Republicans will vote for Jeffries or another Democrat?
This is McCarthy’s first test. He has to flip 15 of the 19, so it’s OK if Biggs, Gaetz and 2 others do not vote for him. Or the Republicans have to find a different candidate all but 4 of them can agree on.
I agree it’s a bad look, but it seems even the stupid party can’t botch this one.
Rufus, if I were Jeffries, I’d find 15 Democrats who aren’t going to be primaried and have them vote for McCarthy. That would more or less cripple the GOP caucus.
That would more or less cripple the GOP caucus.
It won’t.
Neo, I agree that a majority of the Freedom Caucus is voting for McCarthy.
I’m not sure how destructive this is. I doubt anyone in 2024 will remember this squabble.
The House has been denied the power of the purse (all spending bills have traditionally originated from the House) by the Senate.
Biden administration has made it clear they’re going to ignore/stonewall any investigations by the House. Anything they do uncover/prove will be ignored by the MSM.
Some of this may indeed be just a grudge match/settling scores,
But let’s not kid ourselves. No significant legislation that the House might possibly pass will go anywhere.
Domestic energy production? Nope
Immigration? Not a chance
Spending restraint? Isn’t the 2023 deficit estimated at $1 trillion?
Art Deco, Ryan is discredited because he had to go buy Democrats’ votes to keep the government open. What do you think will happen if McCarthy is the Republican who needed Democrats’ votes to become Speaker? There would be huge pressure on the Freedom Caucus in particular to buck him at every opportunity. And the GOP caucus is going to have to swallow a bunch of really bad bills this Congress with the Senate and WH held by progressives.
If you want to see failure theater, wait until a Republican who owes the Speaker’s gavel to Democrats has to go buy Democratic votes to, say, raise the debt ceiling. The lame duck omnibus will look like a deal in comparison.
Bauxite, I didn’t believe it then and I don’t buy it now– that any spending bill would likely be worse in the future than now. That’s just trying to rationalize stabbing the House in the back.
And that includes debt ceiling.
It’s time for McCarthy to consider a compromise candidate.
Seems a little asymmetrical to have a Speaker of the House that is willing to make concessions for Democrat votes on spending bills, but unwilling to make concessions for Republican votes for his leadership position. Isn’t he supposed to be a consensus builder? A unifier? A leader?
A little context is important here:
Back in October of 2015, John Boehner rather abruptly retired. There was a bit of a scramble as to the selection of his replacement. McCarthy, already majority leader at that point, was initially the favorite but withdrew for consideration when it was clear the Freedom Caucus would not support him. At the time, the GOP had a large majority and the establishment had much firmer control of the Republican Conference.
Fast forward to today. The GOP’s majority is tiny and the populist element is larger, more vocal and more emboldened. What has McCarthy done in the last seven years to make himself more palatable to this faction? It doesn’t seem like much of anything.
So, I’m more than a little weary of anyone who is surprised by what is happening. While I wish the dissidents were a little better organized, I support their efforts. To the anticipated objection, ‘but the Democrats are so vile, we must be united against them’, I reply: Yes, they are vile. And dangerous. And contemptible. They must be resisted strenuously and uncompromisingly. McCarthy has shown little inclination to do this consistently. Either the dissidents will force him to ultimately stand aside, or accede to their demands, thus making such resistance more likely. Either outcome is welcome.
That said, I’d prefer McCarthy got slapped around and told how little confidence he holds, but still would take McCarthy over Jeffries as Speaker of the House.
Yes and the GOP are unlikely to agree on an alternative.
By the way, Trump was correct to blame the anti-abortion wing for the mid term failure. He was not “shifting left” but pointing out reality. The states will eventually end up with a 15 week law but the mid terms were a price they didn’t have to pay.
So Ackler, a minority faction of the party gets to veto leaders elected by the majority? I’d take that deal.
Well lindsey did put his loafer in his mouth but the rampant and extensive fraud cannot be ignored through the census ranked choice et al the macabre fraud that was the j6 committee
I am beyond disgusted.
As I said earlier, why was McCarthy acceptable when they were wandering in the wilderness; but suddenly is not?
Some of us used to laugh at the Italians and their inability to form a lasting government. The Israelis, and now even the Brits, have demonstrated the problems of Parliamentary systems. We are learning that our system is a (bad) joke when it is in the hands of clowns.
Then we saw his stalwart leadership sarc we see how he thinks his constituency seems to be kiev not which ever southern california town he comes from how he went along with the j6 fraud
One thing people are going to have to get over is a desire for everything to be as neat and orderly and “civil” as it has been for the last several decades. Democracy in its proper and normal state is VERY messy and often unpleasant. That is how it is supposed to work. The pressures of the Cold War restrained democratic behavior and that was followed by unanimous elite consensus that history was over, all the big questions were answered, and everyone just needed to shut up and follow the script.
I saw someone online point out that AOC and “The Squad” always backed down and did whatever Nancy Pelosi wanted. I’m very glad at least part of the Freedom Caucus isn’t following that example. All meaningful change starts with one word, “No.”
Mike
https://nypost.com/2023/01/03/marjorie-taylor-greene-blasts-fellow-gopers-over-mccarthy-negotiations/
Aparently, the 19 were negotiating for committee assignments, and they have confirmed that.
What a bad joke.
Trump better tread a bit more carefully than usual regarding abortion and what caused the red ripple.
Bauxite,
Your analogy is flawed. There’s no ‘veto’ here in the conventional sense. A majority of votes is required to become Speaker. McCarthy doesn’t have it. He’s not ‘entitled’ to their votes just because he won in the Conference vote for leader any more than Pelosi was entitled to the dissident Blue Dogs who voted for Heath Shuler over her twelve years ago.
We are not talking about one person or a group of people refusing to accede to a majority’s will. We’re talking about a candidate who doesn’t have a majority.
Indeed
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1610417339446575104?cxt=HHwWgIC-nbaCrdksAAAA
Akler @ 5:54 has the right of it.
If McCarthy isn’t willing to forcefully fight the dems and in as cunning a manner as possible, he has no business being elected to the speakership. That he reflects the majority of the House Republicans is the real problem.
Have the veal:
https://twitter.com/ColumbiaBugle/status/1610422039516700674?cxt=HHwWhIDTvYCUr9ksAAAA
Miguel:
He represents Bakersfield, CA IIRC. Which is southern CA, although not the same as Los Angeles. But then FL is all the same, right?
Geoffrey:
It seems to me that the real, bigger problem, is the Democrat Congress critters and the Brandon junta.
Silly me, inside baseball and circular firing squads are the real threat?
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
People mix up miami with hialeah with coconuf grove(where they filmed burn notice) until the norridge city council extorted too much.
Does the house gop conference think that or do they seem less agita about that then icky deplorables
Remember scalise wanted to keep the murders of ashley babbit and co by the keystone cops on thd down low they went along with the fraudulent five cops who were ‘killed’ they wanted to silence matt gaetz for that.
The dems by contrast pushed the green new deal with only four votes and a tie in the senate of course they had the warm embrace
Bauxite implied it was greedy congressmen seeking committee assignments, implied in the NY Post article he linked.
Here’s the money quote by Rep. Greene: “During the conference meeting, Greene said, she learned that three members “were demanding positions for themselves, demanding gavel positions, demanding subcommittees, demanding for people to be taken off committees and people to be put on committees. Three, three Republicans out of our 222.””
McCarthy needs 218 out of 222, so there must be more to it than that.
“It seems to me that the real, bigger problem, is the Democrat Congress critters and the Brandon junta.”
Mitch McConnell just GAVE AWAY most of the power the Republican House could have over federal spending for the next nine months. Biden didn’t do it. Pelosi didn’t do it. McConnell did it. And that’s after McConnell and Paul Ryan spent the first two years of Trump’s first term being just SLIGHTLY less obstructionist than the Democrats.
I’m not a big fan of Erick Erickson but I agree with this Tweet of his:
“Cannot stress this enough — it is worth defeating Kevin McCarthy regardless of who gets the Speaker’s Chair. It is a goal in and of itself to defeat the most opportunistic member of the entire Congress from becoming Speaker.”
Mike
The House adjourned after three failed votes to elect McCarthy; members will meet again tomorrow at 12 noon. Details of the three votes here:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/01/house-adjourns-after-kevin-mccarthy-fails-three-times-to-secure-speaker-position/
MBunge:
Are you joking? You agree with this insane comment of Erickson’s: “regardless of who gets the Speaker’s Chair. It is a goal in and of itself to defeat the most opportunistic member of the entire Congress from becoming Speaker.”
He prefers Hakeem Jeffries as speaker? Does he – or you – know anything about Jeffries? If you do and still would prefer him, you are hoping for something many orders of magnitude worse than McCarthy. Should we call you the NeverMcCarthys, very much parallel to the supposed “conservative” NeverTrumpers who preferred Hillary to Trump and Biden to Trump?
What’s more, when did “opportunistic” become a sin? I’m not a McCarthy fan, but I fail to see why anyone would consider him the MOST opportunistic member of a Congress filled with opportunists, or consider opportunism their worst crime.
“Are you joking?”
Neo, Jeffries CANNOT become the Speaker unless Republicans allow it. Period. Stop letting yourself be panicked and manipulated. Again, just to make it clear, JEFFRIES CANNOT BECOME SPEAKER UNLESS REPUBLICANS ALLOW IT.
I don’t believe any of the people opposing McCarthy have threatened to vote for Jeffries. No other Republicans are either, as far as I know. Jeffries could only become Speaker if the House votes to change the rules to allow his election by a plurality instead of a majority. Which means some Republicans would have to vote for that. All the talk of Jeffries somehow becoming Speaker is 99.9999999% bovine excrement being thrown in your face.
If McCarthy doesn’t become Speaker, another Republican will. It could be somebody worse. Who knows? But the next Speaker ain’t going to be Jeffries…unless a bunch of McCarthy-supporting moderate GOPers vote it.
But your response illustrates probably our biggest problem. You are an intelligent and educated person who has spent a lot of time thinking and talking about politics. AND YOU ARE UTTERLY INCAPABLE OF EXERCISING EVEN THE SLIGHTEST BRAINPOWER TO QUESTION THE NARRATIVE WHICH YOU ARE BEING SPOONFED.
That is why it takes a wrecking ball like Trump or “unreasonable” folks like the anti-McCarthy group to actually change anything about our status quo. Because people like you let yourselves be manipulated into lining up behind whatever they want you to support.
Mike
MBunge:
What are your shrieking caps about?
What makes you think I don’t know that Jeffries would need GOP votes to get elected speaker in the ordinary manner? I can do simple math, I assure you. But did you do due diligence and actually read my post? Specifically, did you read the tweet I embedded in the post, from Jake Sherman? Go back and read it. In it, he says the GOP members of the House (the ones who apparently have said that they will never vote for McCarthy for speaker) have reportedly done this: “The group also told McCarthy that they don’t mind if the speaker vote goes to plurality and @RepJeffries is elected bc they’ll fight him.” That means that Jeffries can be elected if the vote “goes to plurality” and they don’t mind because they are saying they wouldn’t vote for the bills he introduces once he becomes speaker.
Do you know what they mean by “goes to plurality”? If you don’t know what it means, here’s the explanation:
The article goes on to say that the GOP anti-McCarthyites probably wouldn’t do it to the extent that they would stop McCarthy from getting elected speaker. But my point is that they could if they wanted to, and they could even do it to the degree that the 212 Democrats voting for Jeffries could end up giving Jeffries a plurality of the votes and therefore the speakership. Even though that Hill article I just linked indicates the author thinks they wouldn’t go so far as to elect Jeffries though their “present” votes, the tweet from Jake Sherman I put in the body of my post indicates that someone is supposedly saying that they are willing to do it and to let Jeffries become speaker with a plurality of the votes.
In the post, I went on to add that I don’t know whether that report is true and that ” I can only hope that’s either an inaccurate report or an idle threat they won’t carry through…” But I certainly don’t know what their actual plans are, and neither do you. The point is that there is a mechanism by which it could certainly be done, and they wouldn’t even have to actually vote for Jeffries to do it. And they are reported as saying they are willing to use that mechanism.
So let me uncharacteristically scream back at you, and paraphrase what you screamed at me: YOU ARE UTTERLY INCAPABLE OF EXERCISING EVEN THE SLIGHTEST BRAINPOWER TO QUESTION THE NARRATIVE TO WHICH YOU SEEM DEVOTED.
I’ve been very very patient with you on this blog. Do this again and you will be banned here. It is not a problem if and when you or anyone else question me or disagree with me or even criticize something I said. But these mindless insults need to stop.
Pity we can’t all gather now and then for tea and crumpets.
“Merely” brinksmanship to get McCarthy to withdraw.
What McCarthy will do—as a result of such uncharacteristic-for-Republicans behavior—is open to question.
My hunch (FWIW!!) is that he’ll withdraw “in the interests of the party and/or the country”…
(Republicans sure are good at withdrawing “in the interests of the country”—that’s one of the reasons why Trump was/is(?) so successful)—but then to be fair to Republicans, the Democrats (that “REBEL WITH A CAUSE” criminal entity) are REALLY GOOD at playing chicken “in the interests of…” well, who really knows? (for the love of the “game”?), but they certainly seem to have their own peculiar interests—whatever they are at any particular moment—don’t they?….)
…Nonetheless I certainly wouldn’t want to have to rely on a hunch of mine when the chips fall…and so…Jokers wild!!
I read through the comments on both of today’s Powerline posts about the voting for Speaker.
There was a lot of repetition, but most of the positions staked there have a representative here as well.
One commenter linked a post by Daniel Horowitz that should be considered when evaluating McCarthy’s qualifications for the position, and it goes some way toward explaining the intransigence of his opposition.
It may also explain some of his support.
https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz-mccarthy-passed-budget-bills-with-dem-support-during-trump-years#toggle-gdpr
Horowitz gives a VERY long list of the battles that McCarthy won on behalf of the Democrats, some of which I remembered, but most of which were not part of the news cycles devoted to Russia! Russia! Russia! and Impeachment.
A topic of some PL comments, which I haven’t seen here (might have just missed them), is that the claims, counter-claims, and threats (by both factions) are what is generally known as “negotiation” — some asks by the Freedom Caucus are bottom-line for any deal and some are throw-aways so McCarthy can save some face when accepting the others; and the Jeffries Ploy is just click-bait.
My two cents.
Several posts at Red State are worth looking at.
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/01/03/tucker-carlson-addresses-the-battle-over-kevin-mccarthy-n682947
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/01/03/kevin-mccarthy-goes-down-in-flames-house-adjourns-without-a-leader-n682889
Here’s the demands from the “(click here to see them)” link.
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/01/03/anti-kevin-mccarthy-republicans-makes-their-demands-and-reveals-how-far-they-are-willing-to-go-n682739
Ackler – What is happening is absolutely a minority veto. The precedent is that any group of Republicans greater than the GOP margin can hold the rest of the party hostage. If a group of 5+ RINOs decide that they don’t want to investigate Biden corruption or a group of 5+ Republicans with Silicon Valley ties decide they want to go easy on big tech, what stops them from doing exactly what these folks are doing? One of the demands of these 19 (that I believe McCarthy agreed to) is that any group of 5 Republicans will be able to present a motion to vacate the chair.
These 19 are sowing the wind. It’s very much like Democrats spending 20+ years undermining the legitimacy of elections and denying Republican victories. They were shocked (shocked!) when Trump ran their playbook in 2020. I guarantee that the MAGA team is going to be just as shocked when other factions of the GOP start using their own tactics against them.
Remember too that this is after the MAGA crowd has spent the last six years telling the rest of us conservatives that we must support their awful candidates or else we’re no better than Democrats. The hypocrisy is unbelievable.
The MAGA crowd needs to ask themselves if they want to be in a coalition or not. You can’t dump on your coalition partners and empower the most extreme elements of the opposition indefinately, and MAGA can’t win elections by itself. The next time you insist that Republicans vote for Trump, or Hershel Walker, or Doug Mastriano . . . after this . . . why should we? Principle for me, but not for thee? How many non-MAGA Republicans do you really expect to take that deal?
I’m a bit cornfused here.
Who actually has been rejecting WHOM?
(AKA, Don’t these sorts of things work in BOTH directions?)
BTW, you forgot to mention Kari Lake…
(Any particular reason?)
The Great Orange Whale attacks the good ship GOPe.
OMB, the problem behind every situation. Attention seeking behavior amongst Congressmen writ large? Nope, it’s Trump.(farce)
Kari Lake, she who disclaimed the support of McCain Republicans, in the state that elected John McCain to the Senate six times and as recently as 2016?!
What a perfect example of dumping on your coalition partners and still expecting them to turn out and vote for you. Kari Lake wouldn’t have needed very many of those McCain Republicans at all to win comfortably despite the shenanigans in Maricopa County.
we must support their awful candidates
I’m afraid our awful candidates are better than your normal candidates. The emblematic GOPe character is Addison Mitchell McConnell, whose 50 years in public sector positions are bereft of accomplishment (other than collecting oodles of cash from business lobbies).
elected John McCain to the Senate
The savior of Obamacare.
The people that want to fix this collapsing republic
They have been stealing arizona since 2017 when they forced sheriff arpiao out then they put synema in, who was an improvemenf over fidel o flake
Bauxite meet Mr. Counterfactual. BTW, The Great Orange Whale is reportedly said to vote for McCarthy. Oopsie.
What schumet enabled
https://nypost.com/2023/01/03/netflix-docuseries-madoff-the-monster-of-wall-street-out-wednesday/
“…this collapsing republic.”
Not sure that the republic is “collapsing” so much as the Democratic Party and its perverse—or deluded—henchman are treating it as a demolition derby. (Transformation Stakes?)
(OTOH, I guess the results, if the Democrats et al. manage to succeed, will be pretty similar…)
McCarthy makes me think of something I heard a long time ago – Those who want and seek power are the ones who least deserve it.
This is actually a strategy that the Dems in Illinois used to oust former IL House Speaker Mike Madigan. Not surprising that Congresswoman Mary Miller, whose husband is IL legislator Chris Miller, is one of the dissenters.
In Illinois after the 2020 election, Madigan needed 60 votes for speaker. 19 members of his caucus held firm for “anyone but him.” There were some legislators in their caucus who came forward, but none got any meaningful votes. It wasn’t until Madigan realized the 19 would never cave, and stepped back from running. A new Speaker candidate emerged, Chris Welch, who holds the gavel today. I’m sure McCarthy has helped the careers of many these last 7 years, and many votes for him are probably weak votes that could flip, but won’t flip, unless McCarthy were to step aside.
Relatedly, Pelosi was the perfect Speaker for the Dems because she is an ideologue and a killer fundraiser. For the Dem big dollar donor and campaign worker base, hard left is what attracts the dollars. So she can happily drive forward a hard left legislative agenda.
The problem that R’s have in Washington DC is that with a few exceptions, their current large-dollar donor class is middle-stability at best. Hard right does NOT donate in large numbers. Hard right doesn’t do the campaign infrastructure work for the most part (sorry, you may think they do, but they really don’t). There also is, whether you like it or not, an institutional advantage the left has for third party organizing and messaging purposes from labor, teachers, academia, media, etc. who are also hard left captured.
As an R speaker, pushing a hard right legislative agenda will, from an institutional swamp R perspective, leave you with neither campaign infrastructure nor dollars. That’s a hard pill to swallow if your goal is to win seats, and I’m sure that a lot of the current hold-their-nose-for-McCarthy votes are wondering where the dollars come from for their next close race if he isn’t the known known who can fundraise.
That doesn’t mean the reformers can get the job done either. But they have to show a plan too for bringing money and organization to the table, and frankly they haven’t been able to move election outcomes in anywhere but hard right districts.
The swing districts in the suburbs is where the longer-term seat fight is, and the Dems crushed it this last time with abortion messaging and ballot harvesting.
Now, I think McCarthy would be a horrible Speaker, mainly because he has positioned himself as a power broker, but hasn’t really done the true infrastructure building work that would build a better majority, hasn’t had a legislative vision he can create and communicate, etc. He had the time to do it these last 7 years, and failed on message.
These guys in DC also really don’t see/believe and target the vote fraud/ballot harvesting at the ground level. We lost massive seat opportunities because of this in Illinois. There were several Congressional seats that should have been vulnerable for a flip this cycle-Casten, Foster, Underwood. Their R opponents got smoked on vote by mail, so the election was over before election day. Dems are hugely organized on this at the national level, but there is no apparatus in DC equipped to meaningfully fight it back, and no apparent desire to start creating an infrastructure to do it, and hesitancy to accept voter integrity is a real issue, because Trump. But there again, that is an infrastructure disadvantage/failure that has to be dealt with.
McCarthy also did not get $$ for campaign organizations early where it could have counted to build the majority, because he didn’t want more MAGA-ites running in those competitive seats– precisely because he wanted to avoid this kind of fight for Speaker after the election.
So if you weren’t able to win voter converts with your messaging; and aren’t building political infrastructure to secure ballots during campaigns; and are investing in campaigns not because they will add seats but because you want votes for you to stay in power, then you should step aside and let someone else do it.
It doesn’t surprise me that the 19 are looking for committee positions — you can drive a lot of messaging based on being in that role. I likewise get why Gaetz wants the ability to go litigate without Speaker approval – the dems use lawfare and their staff as a tool to pummel R’s, Gaetz wants the comparable ability to fight back. Yet the McCarthy types HATE having that happen, wouldn’t be prudent, you’ll say something embarrassing, etc. It is a desire to control messaging, when the fighters want to use as many tactics as the left as they can to win.
Not an easy situation by a long shot.
But these are early days. A lot can happen. The question is whether McCarthy’s ego is too big to empower the fighters.
“…and the Dems crushed it this last time with abortion messaging and ballot harvesting….”
What’s this?? No mention of either Soros or SBF (for starters).
Sir, you write excellent posts; but you do those two a DISTINCT DISSERVICE!
I’ve avoided commenting as I am, and still are, very conflicted on this whole situation. I view McCarthy as a Boehner clone who is the one that drove me from the GOP to register as an independent. I have no belief that he will do anything other than advance any uniparty agenda.
I also understand the argument of GOP party unity. However, the GOP will NEVER be a hivemind like the Democrats; which is a good thing.
Maybe this is the best time for a GOP civil war to try and remove, or lessen, the uniparty/RINO/GOPe side. No matter what happens what can a narrow majority House really do?? It’s impotent from the get go. The Senate and the Prez will block all legislative endeavors. House hearings, while nice for the base, will be ignored by the MSM no matter what the revelations are. The House in GOP hands really amounts to not much more than a hill of beans. And I blame McCarthy and McConnell for a good portion of that situation.
Credibility and clowns, not that there are things that might be important to focus on.
Look squirrel!
I view McCarthy as a Boehner clone
Not quite. McCarthy is a pure career politician. He landed a job as a legislative aide in 1987 (at age 22) and has been employed by legislative bodies ever since. Boehner actually ran a small business for 14 years. The trouble is, he was a man of careerist disposition who didn’t much care about the interests and passions of Republican voters (as seen in his recent gush over hag Pelosi – contrast with what he has to say about Ted Cruz). Boehner and his wife couldn’t teach their daughters principles of civic life or what to look for in a husband. (To be sure, Boehner’s alcoholism likely impaired his effectiveness as a parent).
Oh for the good old days when Nancy was still the speaker?
Sometimes a hill of beans is worth more than a pile of manure.
In 1856 it took 133 votes and two months to elect a Speaker.
The country was divided and on the verge of war. The country is nearly as divided today. Take a deep breath.
I find it instructive that squishy Republicans/GOPe types are so outraged. How long will it take for McCarthy forgo his personal ambition and make a decision for the good of the party.
I just heard a specious argument from a Congressman on Newsmax. “We can’t control the border,etc. until we elect a speaker.” Let’s take a week or two to elect a speaker and take fewer Fridays off during the year. This is the silliest argument for electing McCarthy I’ve heard.
The Democrats are organized and united. That has been their “secret sauce” for many years.
The GOP has a small majority in the house. In order to make any gains they must be organized and united too. This spectacle is a temper tantrum by a few people who don’t understand political strategy and tactics. They want what they want, and they want it regardless of the costs to the party.
It’s why the Republicans are called the stupid party. Individuality is a good thing, but in team sports and politics, teamwork pays off. McCarthy may not be the perfect speaker, but no one else in the Republican caucus is either. Do not let the desire for “perfection” override the practicality of the “good enough.”
Based on this display of inability to work together, which will continue to plague the caucus for the future, I’m now expecting that this year is going to be devoid of any major wins for the House. Sad, very sad.
“This spectacle is a temper tantrum by a few people who don’t understand political strategy and tactics.”
“Political strategy and tactics” is the excuse used every single time the GOP fails, sells out, or otherwise screws over the people who vote for them. “Political strategy and tactics” is what brought us John McCain and Mitt Romney as GOP Presidential candidates and was going to bring us Jeb Bush until Trump came down that golden escalator. “Political strategy and tactics” is why the GOP can’t do ANYTHING to cut the budget, secure the southern border, stop groomers from exposing children to drag shows, and on and on and on and on.
What’s sad about this affair is it exposes that the House GOP is largely comprised of eunuchs. The greatest political opportunity of their lives is staring them in the face and all they care about is maintaining their place at the GOP money trough.
Mike
I’m confused.
Which is it?
The point a lot of people are trying to make, here and elsewhere, is that McCarthy is NOT “good enough” — rather, that he is not good at all for the purposes of the conservative movement, those being to retake the GOP and move the party away from being Democrat-lite.
A commenter on a recent Powerline post (which I can’t link directly) noted this in relation to the Speaker election.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/01/the-good-and-the-bad-and-ugly.php
The implication is that the observation applies to leadership in the Congress as well. Queen Pelosi may be the best example, but King Mitch is a close second.
Prince McCarthy appears desirous of joining those exalted ranks.
The peasants are revolting.
https://www.politisink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/wizard-of-id-peasants-revolting.jpg
For more on the Peasants cartoon –
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/06/03/revolt/
For more on the President quote –
https://www.cdh2a.com/ben-franklin-republic-if-you-can-keep-it/
Trivia: of the search results on Franklin’s (attributed) remark, all but this one refer to Trump as the nascent monarch; none of them is a scholarly source for the quote.
“JJ on January 4, 2023 at 9:52 am said:
McCarthy makes me think of something I heard a long time ago – Those who want and seek power are the ones who least deserve it.”
There is apparently another JJ commenting here. That was not my comment. Mine was about the inability of the GOP to work together. Which Mike Bunge finds so repellent.
To which I ask, why has this country moved farther and farther left over the last fifty years? Has it been because the Democrats were disorganized and in disarray? No, they have been willing to move in increments. Their policies are not very good, so they have to stay organized and united to make their gains. They have used not only politics, but journalism, academia, and social media to continue to further their aims.
The GOP, on the other hand, has seldom been united, valuing individuality over teamwork. Also, most Republicans are not obsessed with politics and have not realized how difficult it is to actually implement the polices we value.
In football, if every member of the team carries out his assignment, you will make gains and score touchdowns. But if one/two players don’t make their blocks, the gains are elusive as are the scores. The Democrats know this. They get all their members to stick together, even when some are reluctant to. Note: Joe Manchin and Kristin Sinema bucked the trend for a while, but she’s left the party and he’s been brought to heel.
We don’t like those facts. We believe that everyone should recognize how much better our policies are and no compromise should be necessary. We want a great shift to conservative values, and we want it now. Realistically, it’s not going to happen.
When we get a small majority in one house, the only way to move our policies forward is to stick together and be willing to move in increments toward the goal.
For instance, if the House can just restore regular order to the budgeting process in this term, that would be something worthwhile. Just that one thing. Myu guess is that it’s not going to happen. I hope they prove me wrong.
JJ:
Well put.
One of the strange things I’ve noticed is that, although the right believes the left is motivated by emotion and the right by reason, the right is also often very much motivated by emotion and a kind of entrenched impatience, as well as a demand for ideological and uncompromising purity of purpose and act (I don’t necessarily mean moral purity; I mean politically conservative purity). They’re ready to bolt if a candidate doesn’t display that sort of righteousness as they define it.
I wrote a post in 2014 that touched on this issue, and also this post from 2015.
As it happens there are possibly resonant answers in this conversation between Caroline Glick and Yoram Hazony released today. [ https://youtu.be/xzroVVoFckI ]
Check it out.