Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) finally got what he wanted. Very early this morning, after four days and 15 rounds of voting, McCarthy received the votes needed to hold the coveted gavel.
McCarthy received 215
votes while House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) received 212 votes.
Six Republican members voted “present.”
This concluded a week
of intense drama, however, for McCarthy, all’s well that ends well.
As he reached the
magic number, McCarthy received a standing ovation and warm embraces from his
colleagues.
McCarthy acknowledged
his wife and family in the gallery above as Republicans chanted, "USA!
USA!"
https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1611614352347373569
It has been quite a
journey for Speaker McCarthy
McCarthy began as a staffer
for Congressman Bill Thomas from 1987 to 2002. McCarthy was
elected to the California State Assembly in 2002. He became the
Republican floor leader in 2003.
Then in 2006, he was
elected to the United States House of Representatives.
Since then, McCarthy
has steadily risen through the ranks of the House Republican leadership team.
First, he was chief deputy whip, then he rose to whip, and following that he
became minority leader.
Today, McCarthy is
the highest-ranking Republican in the nation and third in line for the
Presidency.
The victory was
historically significant, albeit for all the wrong reasons.
This
is for the first time in 163 years that the speaker's race had lasted
15 rounds. The last race to take more than one ballot occurred in 1923, reelecting
then-Speaker Frederick Gillett took nine rounds of voting.
There were roughly 20
members who stood against McCarthy, most of these were from the
House Freedom Caucus.
So what they these
members want?
Rep.-elect Anna
Paulina Luna (R-FL) revealed what they wanted.
https://twitter.com/realannapaulina/status/1611488675929690113
But the ice was
beginning to thaw, perhaps McCarthy had conceded to some of the demands. In the
fourteenth round, more than half of the holdouts changed their vote to McCarthy.
Only six members
remain steadfast in their opposition of McCarthy, this includes Reps. Andy
Biggs (R-AZ), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Bob Good (R-VA), and
Matt Rosendale (R-MT), and Rep.-elect Eli Crane (R-AZ). All of them voted
“present” in the 15th round.
There were copious
occurrences all through the various rounds.
A baby was born
Rep.-elect Wesley
Hunt (R-TX), flew to and from Texas on Friday after his wife had
delivered a baby.
But it wasn't always
good news.
The dissenters in
Freedom Caucus were attacked by colleagues
Rep. Dan Crenshaw
(R-Texas) reacted
to the Freedom Caucus voting against McCarthy by using Democrat
talking points. He called them dimwitted and inarticulate, before branding them
as terrorists
https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1610744445917401118
Rep Marjorie Taylor
Greene of Georgia, claimed
that members of the Freedom Caucus, such as Gaetz were using
their power of the vote to negotiate plum panel assignments and that it wasn’t
for the cause.
https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1610349653941264384
Even the amiable Sean Hannity appeared to lose patience with the
Freedom Caucus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hF5aw5K9-Q&t=483s
The reactions weren’t
always strictly verbal.
After the 14th round,
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) appeared to stridently reprimand Gaetz. At one point it
appeared Rogers was lunging toward Gaetz and had to be physically restrained by
others.
https://twitter.com/cabot_phillips/status/1611575316966776833
Photo stills of the
incident looks like the works of Caravaggio.
https://twitter.com/morgan_rimmer/status/1611584998217244673
One of the dissenters
alleged that they receive threats.
Rep Lauren Boebert (R-CO)
claimed that McCarthy endorsed a threat of removing all committee assignments
for Republicans voting against him for Speaker.
https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1610422894756069377
But there were rare
displays of cordiality as well
Democrat Squadron
leader AOC conversed with both GOP Reps Gaetz of Florida and Paul Gosar of
Arizona on separate occasions.
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1610348154901397504
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1610375672001712128
Among those who burst
the bubble of tension with humor was the inimitable President Trump
https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1611145969114181632
https://twitter.com/Sir_R_U_L/status/1611402665736687616
https://twitter.com/RepCardenas/status/1610393942196981761
https://twitter.com/dougf24/status/1611306608805412864
https://twitter.com/RepChuyGarcia/status/1610741023709200398
So what do we make of
this drama?
The many critics of
the GOP from both parties contrasted this chaos with the 'order' among
Democrats.
All 212 Democrats
backed election-denier Representative
Hakeem Jeffries of New York for the speaker.
The critics claimed
that the GOP is fractured and obviously blamed President Trump for sowing
discord in the D.C. echo chamber.
Do they have a point?
The only group that
has a total consensus is a flock of sheep.
Human beings, even
identical twins have a diversity of opinions on any given issue. This is real
diversity.
The diversity on the
Democrat side, which they love to boast about is superficial. It is based on
race, sexuality, and ethnicity which are related to genes, but when it comes to
opinions on key issues, they have a total consensus.
There are strict
rules in this echo chamber, and even the slightest hint of dissent is severely
punished. Consequently, the rest of the sheep stay in line. Irrespective of
what they really think they follow the flock. They vote according to orders and
when they speak it is from a pre-approved script. This is a disservice to
their constituent.
Citizens in a
district in Florida who vote for their Democrat representative and citizens
from a district in Washington who vote for a Democrat representative, do so
with different expectations. Because no two districts in different states are
alike. In fact, no two districts in the same state are alike.
But if you look at
the voting records, Democrat Reps from Washington to Florida usually have an
identical voting record irrespective of bills.
Why is dissent so
difficult? Because the penalty for dissent is a cut in campaign funds or
perhaps the funding of a primary challenger.
Despite being called Democrats,
the party operates like a totalitarian state, this is what they intend to implement
across America.
Hence it is a cause
for celebration that intra-party democracy thrives in the GOP.
Had Rep. Jeffries
emerged victorious due to the divide in the GOP, the blame would have been
placed on the dissenters. Fortunately that didn’t happen.
Had McCarthy struck
deals with Democrats and emerged as the winner after some compromise, it would
have been disgraceful. But that didn’t happen either.
But instead, the
dissenters made their presence felt and probably got McCarthy to concede on
items pertaining to the America first agenda.
This is an achievement
and the kind of Democrat that the founding fathers had envisioned.
If the Freedom caucus
really wanted one of their own to be speaker, they should have begun the
groundwork from the beginning of 2022. They could have named someone such as
Jim Jordan as a candidate and campaigned for him. Hopefully, they will be
prepared for this in 2024, particularly if McCarthy begins
mcconnelling as Speaker of the House.
It will be
interesting to see how many of these demands made by the Freedom Caucus are
actually satisfied. If the demands are not met and the Freedom Caucus stays
mum, they too must be held accountable.
The electoral victory for McCarthy is merely the beginning of a
journey. The Freedom Caucus must continue to hold McCarthy accountable. If
McCarthy fails, they can use their new rule that allows a group of five members
to offer a resolution to remove the speaker.
Let’s end on an optimistic note and hope this McCarthy era produces
results that make voters happy
Also appears on American Thinker
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