GOP nominee for House Speaker withdraws his candidacy; the GOP's need for a clown van continues unabated

Someone else is in the dock now that Tom Emmer is out.

From AP via Yahoo! -

Republicans nominate Mike Johnson for House speaker after Emmer's withdrawal, desperate to end chaos

House Republicans chose Rep. Mike Johnson as their latest nominee for House speaker, hours after an earlier pick, Rep. Tom Emmer, abruptly withdrew in the face of opposition from  and hardline GOP lawmakers.

Johnson of Louisiana is member of House GOP leadership, a lawyer specializing in constitutional issues who had rallied Republicans around Trump’s legal effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

[snip]

Republican Rep. Tom Emmer abruptly abandoned his bid to become House speaker Tuesday, withdrawing within hours of winning the internal party nomination after Donald Trump objected and hardliners refused to support him for the gavel.

Emmer becomes the third House Republican to fall short in what has become an almost absurd cycle of political infighting since Kevin McCarthy's ouster as GOP factions jockey for power. Refusing to unify, far-right members won't accept a more traditional speaker and more moderate members don't want a hardliner.

Johnson looks to be the kind of hardliner that the "moderates" claim not to want

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 makes his case...for being Cheeto's running mate

Certainly not as a decent human being, but that would utterly disqualify him from being one of Cheeto's hangers on.

However, he's got the "petty, vindictive, and cowardly" part of the job description down pat, to the point where the Rs who voted against him may be thinking that they'd change their votes if only he were like them all the time.

From CNN, dated 10/4 -

McCarthy behind move to kick Pelosi out of her office, sources say – so he can move into it

Kevin McCarthy was behind interim Speaker Patrick McHenry’s move to kick former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Majority Leader Steny Hoyer out of their office spaces, two Republican sources told CNN.

GOP Rep. Garret Graves told reporters on Wednesday that McCarthy is getting the office that McHenry has ordered her to vacate.

She didn't even vote to depose McCarthy; she didn't vote to keep him, either.  She was out of town, escorting the body of a friend, Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

From the vote to depose McCarthy -

Yes, McCarthy didn't even have the fortitude to face the target of his ire.  Nope, he did dirt to someone who did nothing to him but waited until she was a continent away to do it.

Basically, he exhibited the epitome of cowardice.

But it's not just him; it's the entire GOP caucus.

From The Hill, dated 10/4 -

House GOP takes revenge on Democrats after McCarthy ousting

Allies of toppled former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are fuming at Democrats for failing to back him amid his historic ejection — leaving Democrats arguing the GOP has no one to blame but themselves.

Republican ire hasn’t just been centered on the eight members of their own conference who ignited and backed the vote to oust McCarthy, but also the Democrats who voted in unison to remove him.

No has explained why members of the Democratic caucus should be thought of as responsible for fixing the Republicans' mess. 

The Rs (including McCarthy) *chose* to embrace and empower their most radical members; that's on them.  

They made this mess; they need to clean it up.

I'm not a Biblical person, but this reminds me of a saying taken from Hosea 8:7, emphasis added by them..

In other House Speaker news, Cheeto has endorsed one of the Rs who are declared candidates for the speakership.

From AP -

Donald Trump endorses Jim Jordan to succeed Kevin McCarthy as House speaker

Former President Donald Trump is backing Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the pugnacious House Judiciary Committee chairman and longtime Trump defender, to succeed Kevin McCarthy as House speaker.

“Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C., representing Ohio’s 4th Congressional District,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site early Friday. “He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!”

Not surprising the someone deemed liable for raping someone thinks so highly of someone noted for using his position to protect sexual predators.

Get your popcorn out, and fasten your seatbelts - this is shaping up to be an entertaining but bumpy ride.

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.

When all is said and done, Kevin McCarthy will be as famous as Neville Chamberlain.

Of course, that's not a good thing.

From the National Archives of the UK -

Chamberlain and Hitler 1938

After the First World War, the map of Europe was re-drawn and several new countries were formed. As a result of this, three million Germans found themselves now living in part of Czechoslovakia. When Adolf Hitler came to power, he wanted to unite all Germans into one nation.

In September 1938 he turned his attention to the three million Germans living in part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland. Sudeten Germans began protests and provoked violence from the Czech police. Hitler claimed that 300 Sudeten Germans had been killed. This was not actually the case, but Hitler used it as an excuse to place German troops along the Czech border.

During this situation, the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, flew to meet Hitler at his private mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden in an attempt to resolve the crisis. Use this lesson to explore documents concerning Chamberlain’s original meeting with Hitler and advice given to him at home in Britain.

Kevin McCarthy, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representative, is doing his best Chamberlain imitation (don't misunderstand me - the most extreme members of the House's R caucus are NOT Adolph Hitler and the Nazis, but neither are they honorable public servants or even simply decent human beings).

From Truthout (but many other outlets have stories on the same topic), from 9/27 -

A Small Cadre of GOP Hard-Liners Is Pushing US 

Toward Government Shutdown

If the shutdown occurs, it will be because Speaker McCarthy let the far right 

dictate critical legislative decisions.

The U.S. government is set to run out of money later this week, not because the U.S. has suddenly gotten poor, but because hard-liners within the GOP are looking for major policy concessions from the White House and the Democratic-controlled Senate simply to keep government operations afloat. Without those concessions, many Republicans have made it clear they will refuse to cast their votes for the 12 appropriations bills that keep the system ticking along.

This is the latest installment of what has become an entirely dysfunctional congressional ritual — using vital legislative deadlines as bargaining chips in a high-stakes effort to impose a far right agenda on the body politic. If the borrowing limit needs to be raised, a significant number of Republicans simply refuse to vote for the increase. If government needs to be funded through appropriations bills, as is the case this week, these same hard-liners see it as an opportunity to leverage their votes in exchange for massive cuts to federal spending and the adoption of a raft of other policy demands.

Guess that McCarthy would rather be called "Mr. Speaker" than "Mr. Public Servant."

I've already predicted that McCarthy will be a one-termer as Speaker; his performance regarding the potential shutdown of the federal government doesn't change that prediction.

Well, it's not as if Swalwell was *wrong*

From Taegan Goddard's Political Wire, dated 7/27, quoted in its entirety because the underlying source, The Daily Beast, is behind a wall -

McCarthy and Swalwell Get in House Floor Feud

July 27, 2023 at 5:18 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 352 Comments

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) nearly came to blows when they ran into each other outside of the House chamber, the Daily Beast reports.

Said McCarthy: “If you ever say something like that to me again, I’m gonna kick the shit out of you.”

Another member provided context: “They were in each other’s faces. Basically nose-to-nose. And Swalwell said something like, ‘Are we really gonna do this?’”

After some back-and-forth, McCarthy issued a challenge to Swalwell: “Call me a pussy again, and I’ll kick your ass.”

Said Swalwell: “You. Are. A. Pussy.”

After both men stared each other down for another moment, McCarthy eventually relented.

Pretty sure a couple of McCarthy's AZ supporters would agree with Swalwell, but won't do so publicly, because even members of the Freedumb Caucus realize that whoever deposes McCarthy would be less likely to appease them than McCarthy.

Paul Gosar update: Kevin McCarthy is threatening to impeach Joe Biden, but he's going after the wrong person

The threat:

From Forbes -

McCarthy Threatened Biden With An Impeachment Inquiry—Here’s What That Is

KEY FACTS

There is no “explicit definition of what constitutes an impeachment investigation,” according to the Congressional Research Service, which prepares reports for Congress, so all that’s known about the inquiries is based on how they’ve been historically done.

Launching an impeachment inquiry—or impeachment investigation—is not a required step in the impeachment process, as it’s not outlined in the Constitution, but it’s usually the first step toward bringing articles of impeachment, according to the research group.

Yet, McCarthy seems to be OK with Nazi sympathizers being part of his caucus/base of support:

From Media Matters for America -

Rep. Paul Gosar promotes another antisemitic site that praises Hitler and denies the Holocaust

Rep. Paul Gosar yesterday used his House.gov newsletter to promote USSA News, a fringe site that has posted content calling the Holocaust “the Holohoax” and telling readers to “stand up for Hitler.” Gosar’s promotion of the antisemitic outlet comes just months after he sent followers to a different site that has also denied the Holocaust and praised Adolf Hitler. 

Gosar has frequently promoted antisemitic media in recent years. He has met with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and repeatedly spoke at his conferences; and he’s promoted virulent antisemite Vincent James Foxx.

Oh, and George Santos is still part of McCarthy's caucus.

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.

Kevin McCarthy, the man who desperately wants to be Speaker of the US House, has achieved one thing. Insanity.

Widely attributed to Albert Einstein (but possibly not said by him), the main quote is "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

Kevin McCarthy has crossed that threshold.

Actually, the only way that he even sees it is to look into his rear view mirror.

From Politico -

McCarthy fails on 11th ballot amid hopes for tentative deal with conservatives

Kevin McCarthy and his conservative opponents have reached a tentative breakthrough after a days-long standoff, giving the California Republican’s speaker bid a needed momentum boost.

Conservatives will get more time to look over the details after Republicans agreed to adjourn the House until noon on Friday. But it’s a sign of life for McCarthy, who has struggled to show public strength after three days of 11 speaker ballots that have seen him fail to flip any of his opponents.

After 11 ballots, it seems to be time for McCarthy to seek professional help.

Short Attention Span Musing

...Am I the only one who thinks that Congress-elect George Santos is the incoming Congress' version of Madison Cawthorn?  Just as creepy, but with even more baggage?  And not just US-based baggage?

...It's been popcorn-riffic to see Republican Kevin McCarthy's desperation to be Speaker of the US House of Representatives.  He's made a lot of concessions to the MAGA types in his caucus in order to gain the support, but at this point, he could offer to step into the well of the house chamber and publicly kiss the ass of each member of the GQP's "Freedom" Caucus, and many of them still wouldn't vote for him.

...USSC Chief Justice John Roberts is desperate, too.  Unlike McCarthy though, he's worried about the legacy of his court.

It's too late - his time as chief justice will be remembered with neither fondness nor respect.

As if his support for the armed insurrection of 1/6 wasn't convincing enough, Kevin McCarthy announces his violent tendencies to the world

The fact that violence is something McCarthy thinks is so funny that it should be joked about proves two things:

1. There's a reason that Gosar, Biggs, et. al. refer to him as "Leader".

2. Keeping the House controlled by Democrats is imperative.

From CNN -

McCarthy jokes 'it will be hard not to hit' Pelosi with gavel if he becomes House speaker

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy joked at a Saturday night event that it "will be hard not to hit" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with the speaker's gavel if Republicans take control of the chamber in the 2022 midterms and he becomes speaker.

"I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel. It will be hard not to hit her with it," McCarthy said in audio posted to Twitter by a Main Street Nashville reporter.

Of course, McCarthy was only promising to do what the insurrectionists wanted to do anyway.

From the Atlantic -

It Was Supposed to Be So Much Worse

On the West Lawn of the Capitol Wednesday, a man in a pom-pom beanie clamored for blood. “Execute the traitors!” he shouted into a megaphone. “I wanna see executions!”

The man got the deaths he wanted, if not the executions. Four rioters died as a result of Wednesday’s insurrection at the Capitol.* Some of them had bigger plans too: Before the protest, pro-Trump radicals had posted online about their intentions to kill Vice President Mike Pence. They brought zip ties and wore Kevlar vests. Rioters erected a wooden gallows next to the Capitol Reflecting Pool, and police discovered two pipe bombs on Capitol Hill.