Saturday, January 07, 2023

THE HOUSE HOSTAGE-TAKERS ARE OVERGROWN TEENAGERS

Kevin McCarthy is now the Speaker of the House, after fifteen ballots. Even on the final ballot there were six Republicans who refused to vote for him, but because they voted "present" this time, he won a majority of votes cast for candidates.

But there's still a great deal of Republican grumbling about the events of this week. Many of the Republican complainers, in Congress and out, are using a newly popular insult:


These people believe that Democrats and Republicans form one big "uniparty." They say this upsets them -- but what they won't do is leave the Republican Party, even though they claim it's selling them out.

As rebellions go, it's very adolescent. I'm reminded of the title of a parenting book from a couple of decades ago:


Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall? is the essential message of the Republican rebels. We know that thirteen members of this week's anti-McCarthy faction got money from his Majority Committee PAC, including three who never voted for him in any of the fifteen rounds (Eli Crane of Arizona, Bob Good of Virginia, and Matt Rosendale of Montana).

As a Grid News report told us this week, the anti-Kevin movement wants to be treated like a separate party, but the anti-Kevins don't have the spine to become a separate party:
A week after the midterm elections in November, a small group of far-right GOP lawmakers and activists gathered on K Street in Washington, D.C., to discuss strategies to use their narrow majority to extract power in the House. The next Congress, influential activist Ed Corrigan said, could be a “European-style coalition government” run by three groups: “The Democrats, the Republicans and the Freedom Caucus.”

... The strategy outlined by Corrigan went beyond just extracting concessions from House leaders — it amounted to a game plan for the House Freedom Caucus to operate as a third party in a de facto parliamentary system, essentially co-governing the chamber with mainstream Republicans....

“What would coalition government look like in practice?” Corrigan asked the group.... “I would recommend the Freedom Caucus would be granted a specific number of committee assignments, and committee and subcommittee chairmanships,” as well as a variety of other new powers, including putting a Freedom Caucus member as chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee.
We're told that the rebels' demands have largely been met -- and yet there are still complaints about the "uniparty."

Well, grown up. Get out and form a party of your own. Either stop complaining about Kevin McCarthy or stop expecting him to drive you and Cheryl to the mall.

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