Kevin McCarthy goes on Meet the Press and shows that he's a lousy human being

He may be the Jeff Bezos of the U.S. House of Representatives, just with less money.

Cheeto hates Bezos, not because Bezos, though a vile human being, is still a better one than Cheeto, but because Bezos is wealthier than Cheeto.

Similarly, McCarthy is hated by Matt Gaetz, who's pretty vile himself.

Yet McCarthy, with his appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, while hated by Gaetz, proved that he is still pretty bad himself.

It's as if being despised by someone who's a lousy human being may not be a positive character reference.

Meet the Press' transcript is here.

McCarthy showed four things with his appearance:

1. While he was deposed by extremists in his own caucus (in fact, Gaetz made the motion to get rid of him), he blames Democrats for his ouster and hopes everyone else does too.  Notwithstanding the cluster-copulate that the R caucus in the House has become.

2. He may not be as pro-Putin/anti-Ukraine as Cheeto and Paul Gosar, but it's a matter of degree, not a matter of substantive difference.

3. Like most other Rs, he conflates being anti-immigrant with being anti-Hamas' attack on Israel.

4. He wants to be Speaker again; at least, he didn't rule it out.

From the transcript (emphasis added by me), though I recommend reading it in its entirety -

Actually, he showed a few other things, but those were the high points.

McCarthy out as speaker

Time for a mea culpa - not that I liked McCarthy, but I did predict that he would survive the first vote to depose him because the person leading it, Matt Gaetz, was so universally reviled by his colleagues..

I was wrong.

Oh, Gaetz' colleagues in the House still can't stand him, but they voted to depose McCarthy anyway.

From USA Today -

Kevin McCarthy ousted from House speakership after Republican rebellion: What you missed

Republican Kevin McCarthy’s deal with hardline House conservatives that handed him the speaker’s gavel in January unraveled on Tuesday as those same right-wing rebels, joined by Democrats, shoved him out of the seat.

McCarthy’s 269-day reign as speaker was ended by a 216-210 vote, a move that has no marker in modern history and paralyzes Congress for the time being.

The rebellion, led by conservative hardliner Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., has roiled the House in chaos. The move to oust McCarthy – known as a motion to vacate – had the support of a handful of hard-right lawmakers who have expressed anger at McCarthy for working with Democrats to avert a government shutdown.  

The House vote is here.

Two AZ Republicans were among those who to depose McCarthy.

On this vote, a "yea" is a vote against McCarthy while a "nay" is a vote to support his tenure as speaker.

Shutdown delayed; McCarthy on the clock

The MSM likes to say a shutdown has been "averted," but in reality, Congress just kicked the can down the road for 45 days.

From AP --

Government shutdown averted with little time to spare as Biden signs funding before midnight

The threat of a federal government shutdown suddenly lifted late Saturday as President Joe Biden signed a temporary funding bill to keep agencies open with little time to spare after Congress rushed to approve the bipartisan deal.

The package drops aid to Ukraine, a White House priority opposed by a growing number of GOP lawmakers, but increases federal disaster assistance by $16 billion, meeting Biden’s full request. The bill funds government until Nov. 17.

[snip]

The outcome ends, for now, the threat of a shutdown, but the reprieve may be short-lived. Congress will again need to fund the government in coming weeks risking a crisis as views are hardening, particularly among the right-flank lawmakers whose demands were ultimately swept aside this time in favor of a more bipartisan approach.

Thanksgiving will be on November 23 this year; this funding will expire just before that.  So we'll going through this again during the run up to that holiday.

Of course,  Kevin McCarthy may not be Speaker of the House at that point.

From BBC (UK) -

Hardline Republicans seek to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy

A hardline Republican says he will seek to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy this week, after he pushed through a last-minute spending bill with support from the opposition Democrats.

Mr McCarthy submitted the bill - aimed at averting a government shutdown - in defiance of the right of his party.

They had already vowed to topple him if he tried to overcome their opposition with Democratic support.

Hardline Republicans in both houses of Congress voted against the motion.

[snip]

On Sunday, Rep Matt Gaetz vowed to oust Mr McCarthy, telling the CNN that House Republicans needed "trustworthy" leadership.

"I do intend to file a motion to vacate against Speaker McCarthy this week," said Mr Gaetz, long a vocal critic of the Californian congressman. "I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy."

I think that McCarthy will survive the initial threat to his speakership, if only because Gaetz is so profoundly and personally unpopular.

Plus, instead of voting for Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, the Rs will try to select a speaker from their caucus.

And though he may be a lousy human being and a worse public servant, the least bad R may be the one that they're intent on deposing.

The Senate vote on the measure is here.  The only surprise in it is that a certain Senator from Arizona didn't vote against the measure because it didn't contain enough money for hedge fund managers.

The House vote on the measure is here.  No surprises here. Arizona Republicans Biggs, Crane, Lesko, Schweikert, and, of course, Paul Gosar voted against it; all other members from AZ voted for it.

Kevin McCarthy wins a MAGA beauty contest. Is clusterf*ck a category in one?

It took three days, a slew of compromises with the most rabid members of the GOP caucus, and a record 15 votes, but Rep. Kevin McCarthy is finally Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

A lot of effort was expended by and for a probable one-termer, if he even lasts a a full term as speaker.

Either the Democratic Party regains control of the House in 2024 or he'll tick off some of the more extreme members of his caucus and they'll depose him the next time he runs for Speaker.

But this time, he won.  Eventually.

From CNN -

How McCarthy survived the House chaos to win the speaker’s gavel

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz strode into House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s office on Monday night with a list of demands. Among them: The chairmanship of a key House Armed Services subcommittee.

McCarthy rejected the offer. That decision set in motion a chain of events that left Gaetz and McCarthy locked in open confrontation on the House floor late Friday night. Gaetz, McCarthy’s staunchest opponent, dramatically denied McCarthy the final vote he needed to become speaker – then Gaetz and the last holdouts abruptly changed course allowing McCarthy to win the speaker’s gavel on his 15th attempt.

McCarthy may have won the election, there were some hard feelings in his caucus.

From WRAL (NC) -

U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson of NC seen restraining GOP colleague on House floor

North Carolina U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson stepped in to stop a heated confrontation on the House floor late Friday. The flap, between Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and Alabama Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, had escalated after a tense vote for the House speaker.

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ultimately elected House speaker early Saturday after a 15th vote.

Actually, describing them as "hard feelings" may be understating the situation.  It got downright messy on the House floor,

Get ready - Congress' next couple of years will be rocky.  And entertaining.  

But mostly rocky.

Matt Gaetz is a tease

From The Hill -

Gaetz says he ‘will resign’ if Democrats help elect a moderate Republican for Speaker

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), one of the main opponents to House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) becoming Speaker, said Thursday that he “will resign” from Congress if Democrats help to elect a moderate Republican Speaker instead.

Fox News’s Laura Ingraham asked Gaetz in an interview if he would be alright with an outcome in which there’s “ultimately a deal” struck with moderate Democrats on a consensus candidate in exchange for some kind of co-control of House committees.

If any Democrat is seen as aiding and abetting the circular firing squad otherwise known as the House Republican caucus, that person will be forever tainted...if only for taking away a great source of entertainment from the rest of us.  The GOP tantrum is the best thing on C-SPAN right now.

Still...if he agrees to take Paul Gosar with him I'll advise him to not let the door hit him in the ass on the way out.

Gaetz' partners may be asking if it can be treated with penicillin

Of course, Gaetz' partners may be so young that they don't know what penicillin is.

Pointed to this by Taegan Goddard's Political Wire.

From Twitter -

Probably not something to boast about/campaign on when Florida is setting bad records.

From CBS News - 

Florida reports highest number of new COVID-19 cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic

Florida on Friday reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19 — the most infections in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to data released Saturday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Over the last seven days, Florida saw a 50% weekly increase in new cases, reporting 110,477 cases from July 23 to July 29, according to the Florida Department of Health. In July, Florida was one of four states that accounted for 40% of the country's total infections, according to White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients. During that time, the Sunshine State recorded one out of every five of the nation's new cases, he said.

1. Wear a damn mask.

2. Get vaccinated.