Fair & Balanced Kilmeade

I came across this clip of Brian Kilmeade 'interviewing' one of the 8 Republicans who voted to oust Speaker McCarthy.  Kilmeade spends the entire time attacking Representative Burchett.  The tone of Kilmeade's questions is extremely combative while Burchett is calm and collected.  This is clearly neither fair nor balanced.  Kilmeade comes across very poorly when compared to Burchett, who tries to answer the loaded questions equanimously.  Burchett makes great points while Kilmeade offers nothing but excuses for McCarthy's failures.  At no point does Kilmeade concede any of Burchett's complaints about the speaker.  The big one - "we're bringing in $5 trillion and spending $7 trillion" - was brushed aside.  "That's not McCarthy's fault."  Okay, Brian, whose fault is it?  No one?  Who do we hold accountable?  Maybe the leadership?

Again, the contrast between the two was stark.  Kilmeade was belligerent and irritated, while Burchett was composed and concise.  It felt like Kilmeade was demanding that Burchett admit wrongdoing and beg forgiveness.  Great objectivity, Brian.  Now I understand why Gutfeld is always down on Kilmeade.

McCarthy Out

I did not like the choice of McCarthy as speaker.  He has been in DC too long.  He is part of the swamp.  Republican voters are not in favor of more money for Ukraine.  As part of a continuing resolution, McCarthy agreed to send more money to Ukraine.  And why are we doing a continuing resolution?  What happened to the idea of drafting a budget and passing it?  We've had months to write a budget.  No, we're just going to spend willy nilly?  Sigh.  When looking at how thin was McCarthy's election to the job, he should have been more wary.  McCarthy bargained with the Democrats to get them what they wanted and they repaid him by joining a tiny cadre of Republicans to kick him out of the speakership.

Much as McCarthy may have deserved this fate, does it advance the goals of the Freedom Caucus?  Many say no.  All those Republicans who voted to keep McCarthy are unlikely to rubber stamp whoever the Freedom Caucus want in the job.  With aisles crossed to kick McCarthy out, it is possible that aisles will be crossed to get his replacement.  If so, the speakership will move left toward the Democrats rather than right toward the Freedom Caucus.  If the establishment Republicans disliked Matt Gaetz before, he is downright hated now.

However, it is important to know that the US is in a downward spiral.  The borders are so out of control that the mayor of New York City has railed against immigrants.  The debt has grown by $7 trillion in the last 3 years.  The Congress shows more interest in Ukraine than the United States.  The president is clearly suffering age-related dementia.  So are some of the leaders in the Congress.  Criminals are coddled and victims are charged when they defend themselves.  Insanity reins.  Throwing a wrench into this system might be helpful.  Worst case, it brings the inevitable crash forward, but we are on the path to destruction.

Let the government shutdown for a few months and have the states fend for themselves.  Really, the federal government does more harm than good these days.

Republicans with a Spine?

Kevin McCarthy has now failed to secure the speakership after 6 votes.  It is time to step aside and let someone else be speaker.  Of course, he's not going to do that.  He may yet arrange for Democrat votes to push him over the needed votes.  Imagine what sort of concessions that will require.  If he was truly interested in the good of the party, he would negotiate for another role and give up the speakership.  Really, the last Congress already settled the budget until September and the divided government means that anything the Republican House does will just be canceled by the Democrat Senate.  If ever there was a time for this sort of intraparty fight, now is it.  Once it's resolved, they won't get anything done anyway.  It's gridlock until January 2025, at minimum.

The great thing about the handful who have taken the fight this far is that they have been shown to possess something very rare among elected Republicans: a spine.  Yes, if McCarthy is finally elected, which he probably will be, he is going to be vindictive to these insurgents.  They know that, and still they protest.  Now, if only the rest of the Republicans could muster such sangfroid.

McCarthy Unqualified

The newly elected members of the House of Representatives met today to elect a Speaker.  The expectation was that Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, would be elected Speaker.  On the first vote - the one that has determined the Speaker for the past century, McCarthy failed to win a majority; he needed 218 votes but received 203.  In fact, the plurality of votes (212) went to a Democrat.  On the second ballot, McCarthy again failed to win the majority.  On the third ballot, McCarthy's vote total dropped to 202.

The Freedom Caucus telegraphed this move, allowing McCarthy the opportunity to politic in advance of the vote.  Either he failed to politic - which demonstrates that he is unqualified - or he failed to win the votes to avoid this embarrassment - which also demonstrates that he is unqualified.

Prior to the second vote, Matt Gaetz called upon the Republicans to vote for Jim Jordan.  On the first ballot, the votes for speaker were divided among 1 Democrat and 6 Republicans.  On the 2nd and 3rd ballots, the votes were divided among 1 Democrat (212), Kevin McCarthy (203/202), and Jim Jordan (20/19).  Unable to elect a Speaker, the House adjourned until tomorrow.

How will this impasse be overcome?  McCarthy could request votes from Democrats to make up his deficit, but that will involve some serious concessions that would destroy his speakership from the start.  He could offer concessions to the Freedom Caucus - which has a much stronger position that it had yesterday - to win enough votes.  However, that again leaves him as a weak Speaker.  He could step aside.  Even if he does this, Jordan will not be elected Speaker.  Jordan has shown hostility to the uniparty that has driven the debt to astronomical levels, ignored the open border, and shoveled billions of dollars to Ukraine.

Fresh of their 'victory' in the 2022 election, the Republican Party is imploding before it can even exercise power.  Time for popcorn!

Boehner Resigns at Last!

John Boehner, Republican Speaker of the House, has announced that he is resigning.  He will remain in position for 1 month, long enough to cave in to Obama's budget demands on Planned Parenthood.  Yes, with nothing to lose, Boehner is almost certainly going to leave office in much the same way he served, spinelessly.

 

When Boehner first became Speaker in 2010, I was optimistic that the Republicans might push back against the leftism of the president.  Time and again, he demonstrated an unwillingness to fight for Republican principles, or any principles.  Now and again, he would talk a good game but he never enacted it.  No, for four years, all I heard from him was that he could not stop the president's agenda unless Republicans won the Senate.  Then came the 2014 election in which the Republicans crushed the Democrats, acquiring the Senate.  Finally, the Republicans will stand against the leftism of the president.  No, instead they passed a budget that would constrain the Power of the Purse for the incoming majority.  They didn't want to risk a shutdown so soon after such landslide election.  Um, why do you think the voters chose you, the opposition party, if not to oppose?

 

When the Republicans won their sweeping victory in the 2014 election, I was sadly correct in my prediction of the difference it would make: none.  The Republicans have failed their voters to such a degree that the voters will follow anyone who seems to have a spine.  Donald Trump has a spine.  Four years of Boehner's feckless leadership has brought the Republican party to this sad state.  Boehner has secured for himself a failed Speakership, an example of what not to do for future Speakers.

 

The current expectation is for the Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, to be the next speaker.  If he is, the Republicans will demonstrate that they haven't learned their lesson.  Why have one milquetoast resign to be replaced by another.  That may be unfair to McCarthy but I had no idea who he was until today.  That he has been the majority leader for this disaster of a Congress is not a good sign.

Now if only Mitch McConnell would resign from the Senate...