Why The Gang of 20 Is Right

Timothy Birdnow

The House Speaker kerfuffle has Republicans at each other's throats these days. I've been in some nasty arguments with people I generally respect who want to crown the RINO Kevin McCarthy because "we need to get on with the work of government" as if that is anything of any value whatsoever to the American People.

I personally think this gridlock is great; it means no new laws, no more spending, no more mischief at our expense. If they never pass a single law and fight the next two years I'll be fine.

Also, if McCarthy is such a great leader why can't he close this deal? He could have made concessions well before the vote. He didn't because he just assumed he would be handed this. And he did not want to concede anything.

Nancy Pelosi ended the decades long tradition allowing the Speaker to be removed. She saw John Boehner booted, and wasn't going to let the left wing of her party do that to her. But McCarthy only promised to restore that rule after the third unsuccessful vote. What kind of leadership is that?

Is it any wonder there are people holding out?

At any rate a friend named Mark McDougall observed:

He hits a Mark McGuire sized home run here.

There are many disturbing things about Kevin McCarthy. He attended the WEF meeting in 2018 in Davos, for instance. He also attended the WEF meeting with Joe Biden (and Texas Governor Abbott.)

Why?  If Biden ws there why would McCarthy go crawling to Klaus Schwab? One American on his knees is one too many.

McCarthy threw Donald Trump under the bus, I might add, after the Jan. 6 self-guided capitol tour. He called for Trump to be censured, for instance, despite there being no evidence Mr. Trump did anything wrong. (He called for peaceful protests, and asked the attendees to stand down.) This after providing lukewarm support for Trump after the election theft.

Politics is notorious for betrayal and lack of loyalty, but a man who would be Speaker generally must have everyone's trust. How can you trust a guy who would do that? And isn't it about time we as a nation started demanding loyalty from those who govern? If we just dismiss this sort of thing as "just politics" we simply perpetuate it.

If McCarthy were not a RINO and turncoat, would not the media be bitterly against him and on the side of the insurgents?  They are not; do a Google search. They like the disharmony but support McCarthy.

Matt Goetz chronicles McCarthy's stupidity at The Daily Caller:
McCarthy voted for Biden's money pit in Ukraine, and even urged Biden to blow more there.

McCarthy believed the lie of "Russian collusion".

In June 2016,McCarthytold other GOP congressmen, "There’s two people I think Putin pays: [Rep. Dana] Rohrabacher and Trump.”

McCarthy voted to remove U.S. monuments from the Capitol building, joining Democrats and kowtowing to BLM.

McCarthy opposed anti-trust legislation to break up the big tech monopolies.

One of his top advisers works as a lobbyist for Pfizer.

And while McCarthy promised a red tsunami, what did he deliver?  It was his job to see to it that the GOP won big in the House. He did raise a lot of money, but gave most of it to Republican RINO types who were running in unwinnable races. How do you put your trust in a guy who could barely win in a slam-dunk election?

He opposed reinstating the motion to vacate which was established in 1801 because he liked Nancy's power grab and wanted to be king.

McCarthy defended Liz Chaney. He is going to keep earmarks in spending bills.

Shortly after the election it was obvious Ryan, er, McCarthy was going to have trouble winning, but what did he do? Nothing. At least nothing to assuage the fears of his detractors.

Speaking of Ryan, he made it quite plain in a podcast where Mr. Mccarthy stood:

"He's playing the inside game to win the vote for speaker. He knows exactly how to do that, He was better at that than me, and I wouldn't count him out ever because he really knows how members think, how they operate, and how to play a vote counting game."

In other words he was wheeling and dealing and buying votes or threatening fence-straddlers. Still he fell short.

I get it; you have to be a wheeler and dealer to be Speaker. But this is just buying the votes, not actually convincing people you are the man for the job. McCarthy can't because, well, he's not the man. He's a guy who blows in the wind.

And he's obviously a man lacking any deep-seated convictions or principles.Vote grubbers inevitably are such.

I would add McCarthy did run a deli when he was young, but sold it to pay for college and then went to work for a Congressman, so he's essentially like Joe Biden - someone who spent most of his career in politics and not in the school of hard knocks.

McCarthy was one of what they called the Young Guns, along with Eric Cantor (loser), and Paul "Pee Wee" Ryan. This triumvirate couldn't fill a thimble with their conservatism. Why do we think McCarthy will do any better than Cantor or Ryan?

Anyone who expects a leadership better than that of Paul Ryan is sadly mistaken. The two men are cut from the same cloth. Both (and Cantor) talked a good game but moved to the center when given their druthers. They claimed to be proudly conservative but what did they do? None of them have shown themselves to be anything but luke-warmers.

Again, if McCarthy is so conservative why is the media supporting him? PBS called the insurgents "hostage takers" for instance. So why are  conservatives siding with the media?

I think at the end of the day  (well, maybe not literally the day) McCarthy will be Speaker. Sadly Jim Jordan gave him a boost (and refuses to run himself). I do not understand Jordan's thought processes here at all (maybe there is a dandy little FBI file somewhere on him? I hate to think that but who knows. Ditto Marjorie Taylor Greene.) Certainly Jordan must know McCarthy will be another Ryan or Dennis Hastert. What does he think will be achieved by putting so squishy a man in charge? If nothing else McCarthy has not shown himself to be especially competent at the basic skills needed for the job.

I am just astonished at how many good conservatives are on board with McCarthy and who argue for "getting things done" as though that is a good thing. We railed against the Swamp and now are fine with the Swamp if it's our particular alligator there.

If we make no changes nothing will change. Kevin McCarthy is a Bush-era type squishy and those are the ones who got America into this pickle in the first place. So we think we can fix our problems by doubling down on the things that caused them?

We need a Churchillian, a guy with a spine. But we are supporting Mr. Rubber Backbone and are going to be shocked, SHOCKED! when he gives us a feckless and duplicitous Speakership.

See here, here for more criticisms by members of the 20 insurgents.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 12:24 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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