Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
McCarthy Dares Hard Right to Oust Him
The health care of the members of the American Congress apparently extends to spinal transplants. At least, it appears that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has backbone that heretofore as been missing. One can only conclude he has had a medical procedure because he has finally stood up to the burn-it-all-down caucus. He finally told them that if they did not like what he was doing, they should try to oust him. That would only happen if the Democrats vote to remove him. There is no way the Democrats will let the yahoo right get their way.
The Washington Post reported yesterday,
You guys think I\'m scared of a motion to vacate. Go f---ing ahead and do it. \'I\'m not scared," McCarthy told the House GOP conference in a closed-door meeting Thursday morning, according to a lawmaker in attendance who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private remarks. Several lawmakers and aides recalled that McCarthy told lawmakers to move or file "a f---ing motion" to oust him.
The hard right demanded an impeachment inquiry of the president to get votes to keep the government funded. They got that inquiry, Mr. McCarthy announcing it earlier this week. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) described that as a "baby step." He insisted that the Speaker is the valet of the president. This followed a rather vicious attack from the floor of the House.
"I rise today to serve notice -- Mr. Speaker you are out of compliance with the agreement that allowed you to assume this role," Mr. Gaetz said of the agreement that allowed McCarthy to win the speaker’s election. "Reflect on the spirit of that agreement, build on the start we had moments ago. Began to comply no continuing resolutions, individual spending bills or bust, vote on balanced budgets and term limits," Congressman Gaetz continued. :Subpoena for Hunter Biden and the members of the Biden family whos been drifting off on this country."
This journal opined that a Speaker with some guts would have punished him long before he got back to his office. Now, it appears that the Speaker has taken a baby step in the direction of controlling his party. He has told the Gaetz brigade to put up or shut up. If Mr. McCarthy wins, he will have more or less settled the threat from his right for the rest of this Congress. Their big threat is to remove him. If they try and fail, they will be revealed as the paper tigers they are.
This should have happened a long time ago. Having made a deal with the yahoos to get the job, Speaker McCarthy effectively handed over the power of the office in order to simply hold the office. He went from having the kind of power in the House that King George III wielded in the American colonies to the kind Charles III has over the UK. The House does not work if backbenchers call the shots.
The extremists on the right are in exceedingly safe seats (gerrymandering and the primary system has created these monsters), so they have not fear of re-election challenges. What they do not have is sufficient numbers to oust the Speaker. A small minority can only hold the balance of power from the center. If the Democrats and the hard right make common cause, Mr. McCarthy is doomed. Given the current climate, the Democrats would rather die than join the yahoos.
Mr. McCarthy should have known this, and he should have been willing, as John Boehner was, to work with the Democrats whenever the yahoos get out of line. Be that as it may, he finally grew a backbone. It will be interesting to see if the transplant takes.
© Copyright 2023 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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