McCarthy is Done and Now, the Real Story Begins, Part V

By Rich Kozlovich

So far I've published four pieces on this, Part I,  Part II, Part III, and Part IV.  When I finished Part IV I was confident there would be no Part V because Steve Scalise looked like he'd be their pick. He has an impressive record, and as far as can tell, he's well liked among Republicans, and is in no way as divisive as McCarthy.   

Well, now, here we have Par V, and there may even be a Part VI, and more.  As I'm watching this unfold I couldn't help but think about Obama saying you can never underestimate Joe Biden's ability to screw things up!  Well, chuckling, rolling my eyes, and shaking my head:  Never overestimate the Republicans ability to get things done.

Initially Scalise won the nomination with 113 votes, but even though Jim Jordan ended up supporting Scalise, he received 99 votes, and it appears there are too many, surprisingly, too many "never Scalise" members.  By Thursday, it was made clear he couldn't win a floor vote, so, according to Rebecca Downs it appears Steve Scalise is dropping out of the speakers race saying:

"It’s been quite a journey. And there’s still a long way to go. I just share with my colleagues that I’m withdrawing my name as a candidate for the speaker designee,"....... "This country is counting on us to come back together. This House of Representatives needs a Speaker and we need to open up the house again. But clearly, not everybody is there. And there’s still schisms that have to get resolved."

Now it's being reported Republicans will meet today at 10:00 AM to discuss what to do, and it appears Jordan is back in the race, but it also seems clear there will be no vote this week. There's a reason why the Republicans are called the "stupid party", and the "worthless party".  They earned it. 

 

McCarthy is Done and Now, the Real Story Begins, Part IV

It's the Governance Stupid!

 

By Rich Kozlovich

 

I discussed in Part I how all this talk about dumping McCarthy would create chaos was a load of horsepucky, and why.  Then Part II dealt with all the actual chaos that was created by these McCarthyite and McConnell CINO's (Conservative in Name Only).  I think Part III was especially good as I think I clearly established all the rants against Gaetz were immaterial logical fallacies and none of what was said abrogated the facts regarding the charges against McCarthy.  McCarthy's actions were the issue, not anything else. If Gaetz lied about what McCarthy did or didn't, then they should have exposed him, they didn't.  McCarthy was guilty as charged.  That was the issue, and everything else was a red herring fallacy.  

 

As a result its been posited Rep. Gaetz might lose his seat in Congress in the next election over this.  Make no mistake, the CINO leadership is going to do all it can to dislodge him. His reaction?  If he loses his seat, the that's okay because ousting McCarthy is ‘absolutely’ worth it. 

 

While those eight Republican heroes who voted to oust McCarthy are being called rebels, they view McCarthy and his ilk as the rebels.  After all what else would you call those who ignore the Constitution, and violate the trust of the base with their twisted agenda. 

Promises matter by John Green says:

The lesson is that in a system which depends on good-faith negotiations, integrity is important, and promises matter. When men working within that system lack honor, agreements aren’t agreements, and deals aren’t deals. Without honor, the system can’t work -- and hasn’t been working for many years.

McCarthy learned the hard way about Democrat promises, which I think is remarkably telling.  Nancy lied to him!  He was shocked, shocked I tell you. 

 

How could he have been in Washington all these years, and in leadership roles and not know the Democrats lie....a lot.... because they have no stable moral foundations, and they will never let hypocrisy stand in their way. 

 

 Now we're seeing a new battle emerge for Speaker.   There were two top contenders, Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise, both far more conservative than McCarthy.  As for talk McCarthyites were going to bring him back ...well..... the beauty of America is you can dream any dream you like, but the rest of the world doesn't have to share it, and even after saying he wouldn't run again, he backtracked saying if they wanted him he would graciously accept.  Now that's dreaming.  

Top conservative leaders in the House and Trump endorsed Jim Jordan for Speaker, but now Jordan says he will vote for Scalise, and they wisely told Fox News they wouldn't have a public debate over this as it was an in-house Republican issue, to be dealt with in-house. Have no doubt, Fox would have worked to make them look like a dysfunctional family and incompetent legislators. 

 

So, with Jordan supporting Steve Scalise, who has an impressive record, who faced an attempted assassination, and is now fighting cancer.  I think he feels if his life is going to be cut short, he wants to make sure he leaves something behind that is meaningful.   

 

So, now he's the Republican choice, and he actually wants the job as I don't think Jordan really wanted it.  He's the hard driving debater type who loves going after the left, loves showing his knowledge, intellect, and logic to defeat them, and if Speaker, he'd have to give that up.  The truth is, both Jordan and Scalise are strong conservatives, unlike McCarthy. However, there are problems.  

 

There are at least twenty House Republican who say they won't vote for him.  So, using the logic used against the Heroic Eight, are they "rebels"!  And will all those who railed against the Heroic Eight call them out as "rebels"?  How about those 45 CINO's who sent a letter condemning Gaetz?  Since there are 221 Republicans in the House, and only 45 signed that letter, that means 176 didn't agree.  So, are they "an arrogant minority" and "rebels" also?   Will Gaetz's detractors call them out for that?

 

Of course the Democrats are going to put up their own candidate, but they know they will lose, but even so, they're willing to be gracious, and have offered to enter into a bipartisan coalition to run the House.

 "House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Democrats were ready to enter into a bipartisan agreement to run the House of Representatives........... “To the extent that my Republican colleagues are unable to resolve the ongoing Republican civil war, we’ve made clear as Democrats that we are ready, willing and able to find common ground, to enter into a bipartisan path forward. So, we could govern the House in an enlightened fashion that ensures that bipartisan priorities that have significant support from Democrats and Republicans in the House can receive an up or down vote. So that we could move forward and get things done for the American people as opposed to allowing the extremists within the House Republican conference to continue to dominate the agenda.”

Imagine that!

• McCarthy is Done and Now, the Real Story Begins, Part I
• McCarthy is Done and Now, the Real Story Begins, Part II
• McCarthy is Done and Now, the Real Story Begins, Part III