McCarthy was supposed to be on a glide path to Speaker and may still be but he now has an opponent.
"Days away from selecting a new speaker of the House, Republicans are locked in an increasingly personal battle for power, as former allies snipe at one another even as they promise to reform their fractured party — and institution."
"California Rep. Kevin McCarthy is facing a new challenge from his former ally Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who is criticizing the majority leader in sharp terms. Chaffetz says McCarthy can't get the 218 votes on the floor needed to become speaker, while McCarthy allies privately bash the Utah Republican as woefully unprepared to lead the House Republican Conference."
"Days away from selecting a new speaker of the House, Republicans are locked in an increasingly personal battle for power, as former allies snipe at one another even as they promise to reform their fractured party — and institution."
"California Rep. Kevin McCarthy is facing a new challenge from his former ally Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who is criticizing the majority leader in sharp terms. Chaffetz says McCarthy can't get the 218 votes on the floor needed to become speaker, while McCarthy allies privately bash the Utah Republican as woefully unprepared to lead the House Republican Conference."
To hear that Chaffetz being called unprepared by supporters of Kevin McCarthy-of all people-is rather shocking.
Is Chaffetz more unprepared than McCarthy?! I wouldn't have thought this were possible.
There are a few different issues at work here.
1. Politically I think McCarhty is going to turn out to be the gift that keeps on giving.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/10/kevin-mccarhty-may-well-be-gift-that.html
His acknowledgement of the worst kept secret in Washington-that the Benghazi Commission is nothing but a Super PAC to leak oppo research on Hillary to the media was disastrous to the GOP.
Have you noticed that since then Hillary's emails are no longer at the top of the page in Politico anymore? Because the entire exercise is now discredited.
Overall, McCarthy always has this look of a deer in headlights.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/10/kevin-mccarthy-has-look-of-deer-caught.html
Overall he looks like a deer in headlights as this is exactly what he is. He lacks the experience needed for the job-he has the least experience of any House Speaker going back to 1891.
But he's in a GOP party that is now so dysfunctional that lacking experience is seen as a virtue-see the GOP primary.
2. You do wonder what will happen after Boehner in terms of keeping the government open and raising the debt ceiling. Indeed, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that the ceiling need to be raised by the start of November.
Of course, this may be deliberate forcing Boehner to raise it before he leaves. Which is smart-who wants to count on an unproven entity like McCarthy?
"A new early November deadline puts fresh pressure on House Speaker John Boehner to spend his last month in Congress wrangling fellow Republicans to do something they loathe: raising the debt ceiling."
"Late Thursday, the Treasury Department said the federal government would need to increase its borrowing limit by Nov. 5, less than a week after Mr. Boehner leaves Congress. House Republicans will hold elections to pick his successor in the coming week, but few want to force a new speaker to deal with such an uncomfortable task right away."
“I really think that Speaker Boehner will try to get this addressed before he leaves office,” said Rep. Bill Flores of Texas, chairman of the Republican Study Committee. “He’s trying to get all the difficult votes out of the way.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/debt-ceiling-deadline-puts-new-pressure-on-boehner-1443827007
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/house-republicans-boehner-mccarthy-chaffetz-price-scalise-214414#ixzz3nhLKOEiw
McCarthy-assuming he beats Chaffetz which seems to be the conventional wisdom-is talking about giving the Tea Party more of a voice in decisions. "The Freedom Caucus, led by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, would have a seat at the table, as would the moderate Tuesday Group and the conservative Republican Study Committee, among other GOP groups. This regular confab would either come as an additional meeting of House Republican leadership, or a discussion between the group leaders and McCarthy. It’s a clear attempt to give the party’s warring factions more say over governing — and is in line with McCarthy’s style.
Furthermore, the Freedom Caucus has been pushing for more representation on the elite House Republican Steering Committee; additional slots on prime committees like Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means and Financial Services; and support from the National Republican Congressional Committee.
McCarthy is working to address their concerns, but these kinds of seismic changes require the support of the majority of the conference. A large swath of the GOP membership does not want to hand out “goodies,” as one source put it, to trouble-making lawmakers who have caused headaches for the party, and helped topple Boehner.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/house-republicans-boehner-mccarthy-chaffetz-price-scalise-214414#ixzz3nhLhhEW7
"Late Thursday, the Treasury Department said the federal government would need to increase its borrowing limit by Nov. 5, less than a week after Mr. Boehner leaves Congress. House Republicans will hold elections to pick his successor in the coming week, but few want to force a new speaker to deal with such an uncomfortable task right away."
“I really think that Speaker Boehner will try to get this addressed before he leaves office,” said Rep. Bill Flores of Texas, chairman of the Republican Study Committee. “He’s trying to get all the difficult votes out of the way.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/debt-ceiling-deadline-puts-new-pressure-on-boehner-1443827007
No wonder Boehner is considering slow peddling this.
"But meanwhile, in a nod to the ongoing war for control of the House GOP, Speaker John Boehner is considering delaying the election for majority leader and whip, a blow to Reps. Steve Scalise (La.) and Tom Price (Ga.), but a boon to conservatives who are looking to run a candidate against the pair of Southerners. It would also aid members seeking to change the Republican Conference rules to force candidates to resign other leadership posts and chairmanships while they run for new posts. Those changes would be debated before the election"Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/house-republicans-boehner-mccarthy-chaffetz-price-scalise-214414#ixzz3nhLKOEiw
McCarthy-assuming he beats Chaffetz which seems to be the conventional wisdom-is talking about giving the Tea Party more of a voice in decisions. "The Freedom Caucus, led by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, would have a seat at the table, as would the moderate Tuesday Group and the conservative Republican Study Committee, among other GOP groups. This regular confab would either come as an additional meeting of House Republican leadership, or a discussion between the group leaders and McCarthy. It’s a clear attempt to give the party’s warring factions more say over governing — and is in line with McCarthy’s style.
Furthermore, the Freedom Caucus has been pushing for more representation on the elite House Republican Steering Committee; additional slots on prime committees like Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means and Financial Services; and support from the National Republican Congressional Committee.
McCarthy is working to address their concerns, but these kinds of seismic changes require the support of the majority of the conference. A large swath of the GOP membership does not want to hand out “goodies,” as one source put it, to trouble-making lawmakers who have caused headaches for the party, and helped topple Boehner.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/house-republicans-boehner-mccarthy-chaffetz-price-scalise-214414#ixzz3nhLhhEW7
All this should make it even harder for him as Speaker to lead. If you want the best argument against the GOP it's why should you elect them to office as they don't believe in governing?
The idea of building a Republican majority seems quaint indeed-after 2004 that idea was all the rage-as the party doesn't believe in governing.
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