Agreeing to allow a single member call for a no confidence was the deal McCarthy made and it was going to be used by the ring wing with complete certainty. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said he didn’t fault Democrats for not giving McCarthy a helping hand this week. “Speaker McCarthy made a decision to get as close as he possibly could to the radical wing of his party, and by doing that he made it virtually impossible for the Democrats to come to his aid,” POLITICSU.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESKEVIN MCCARTHY The 12 Most ‘What Did He Just Say?’ Moments From Kevin McCarthy’s Farewell Press Conference An unrestrained Kevin McCarthy used his farewell address with the Capitol press corps as an airing of quite a few grievances. By Jonathan Nicholson Oct 4, 2023, 04:10 PM EDT Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) relationship with the press was always a tenuous one. While no one could argue he was not available — his impromptu walk-and-talk gaggles clogged many a Capitol hallway — he also often gave rote, seemingly focus-grouped answers to questions. So when McCarthy gave his first press conference after being stripped of the speaker’s gavel by a combination of party dissidents and House Democrats, he was finally free to speak his mind. ADVERTISEMENT McCarthy was removed on a dramatic 216-210 vote after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) offered a resolution declaring the speaker’s post vacant. The move came after a last-minute deal Saturday to keep the government open with a bill passed with Democratic votes, upsetting House GOP hardliners. Eight of them voted with Democrats to oust McCarthy. The result of McCarthy losing the gavel was an almost hourlong display of him being wistful, sometimes charming and also combative, letting slip things he probably would not have said if he were still speaker. As one X (formerly Twitter) wag put it, “This is the Kevin McCarthy Festivus airing of grievances farewell speech?” Below are some of the most eyebrow-raising moments: 1. He still may be miffed about not getting a Hill internship. A large part of McCarthy’s political persona is “the kid from Bakersfield” who worked hard, made some smart moves and whose experience shows America works. In his opening remarks, McCarthy mentioned how grateful he was to be the 55th speaker of the House. But the way he couched it showed he hadn’t forgotten being rejected when he applied, back when he was in college, to be an intern for his local congressman. “I did not know this man, but I thought he’d be lucky to have me, so I applied. You know what he did? He turned me down. But you want to know the end of the story? I got elected to a seat I couldn’t get an internship for. I ended up being the 55th speaker of the House.” (His congressman was former Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, who in 2021 called McCarthy a “hypocrite” for continuing to object to the 2020 election results on Jan. 6, 2021, after insurrectionists attacked the U.S. Capitol.) ADVERTISEMENT 2. He claimed Pelosi said she would have his back if an ouster was tried. He recounted a conversation he said happened between him and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whom he told he was having trouble getting votes in his party to become speaker because he wasn’t immediately willing to bend to demands that he change House rules to allow one member to trigger the ouster process. “She said, ‘Just give it to them. I’ll always back you up. I made the same offer to Boehner, the same thing to Paul [Ryan], because I believe in the institution.’ I think today was a political decision by the Democrats,” he said after they voted with eight Republicans to oust him. “My fear is the institution fell today.” (Pelosi’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.) He really has no self-awareness whatsoever. Any agreement was notionally on preserving institutions and he switched to team Trump again just after Jan 6th.
Possibly and, then again, possibly not. Arguably it was getting too friendly with the democrats that cost McCarthy. More likely the next speaker will only take the position if without the fragile rules and ability to vacate the position that McCarthy bought into.
As W. poetically put it, Fool me once shame on, shame on you. If you fool me you can’t get fooled again. We’ll see how it goes. What’s the over/under on 30 days until we get a speaker?
Kevin McCarthy is too pathetic even for a RINO for Speaker of the House. He had leverage over Joe Biden and all he can do is shave off a tiny $2 billion out of $87 billion allocated for IRS auditors which was not needed? He had to grow a pair to even challenge the IRS auditor budget? At a minimum, he should have demanded it be totally scrapped in exchange for the blank check policy on Ukraine which he and Joe Biden both supported. He folded like a cheap suit when it counted. I hope the next Speaker actually, tackles the $30 trillion budget deficit and demand actual cuts from the Democrats.
Marc Short says that Gaetz came to Washington for the teenage interns.. https://twitter.com/marctshort/status/1709680371627876852?s=20
LOL Matt Gaetz's GOP colleagues are so annoyed with him that they forced him to stand on the Democratic side of the House floor https://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-made-matt-gaetz-stand-with-democrats-report-2023-10