Two members of the GOPe caucus supporting McCarthy.
Posted on 10/07/2015 11:44:36 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Man, this is tough stuff from an influential conservative at a moment when McCarthy’s desperately trying to convince righties in the House to give him a chance as Speaker.
In an unguarded moment, House speaker-in-waiting Kevin McCarthy claimed credit for the decline in Hillary Clinton's poll numbers because House Republicans had formed a congressional committee investigating the attacks in Benghazi, making it look like a political witch hunt.
“I heard from him at 6 a.m. the next morning,” Gowdy told the Post on Tuesday when asked about McCarthy. “How many times can somebody apologize? Yes, he’s apologized as many times as a human can apologize. It doesn’t change it. It doesn’t fix it. The only thing you can say is, instead of listening to someone else’s words, why don’t you look at our actions?”…
According to the Post, Gowdy trailed off while discussing forgiveness:
“Kevin is a friend, which makes the disappointment, frankly, even more bitter. If faith tells you to forgive somebody…” Gowdy trails off. “It’s tough,” he says after a moment. “People should go by what we’ve done. How many people have we interviewed? How many of those people have been named Clinton?”
Gowdy told the Post that he has spoken to some of the Democrats who voted to form the Benghazi committee “because what Kevin said put them in an incredibly bad position.”
As the chairman of the Benghazi committee, Gowdy’s the one guy more than any other who could have absolved McCarthy of his gaffe. No dice. Which raises the question: Does McCarthy have the votes to win the Speaker election? And if he doesn’t, er, who does?
Democrats are expected to back their own choice, probably Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, meaning a Republican would need 218 GOP votes to win. Assuming the Freedom Caucus sticks together and opposes Mr. McCarthy, it could force a deadlock. If he didn’t win the majority of members voting for a speaker, the voting would be repeated. That would be a painful rebuke to him, though he has expressed confidence in his ability to win…
For the Freedom Caucus to take a formal position in the speaker race and endorse a particular candidate, under its own rules, 80% of its members would have to agree. So far, it appears unlikely Mr. McCarthy could reach that level of support. Some members say they are getting calls from constituents urging a vote against Mr. McCarthy, and others express more favorable views about Mr. Webster.
“If 80% of HFC support McCarthy, then the group probably should be disbanded,” Rep. Justin Amash (R., Mich.) tweeted this week. “I’m not worried about that happening.”
If the Freedom Caucus balks at McCarthy then he can’t get to 218 — at least on the first ballot. The House would vote again, and again and again and again if need be, although the public humiliation to the GOP caucus generally and to McCarthy specifically if they kept getting deadlocked would wear down the resolve of one side or the other quickly, I think. (Or rather, I hope: Boehner’s apparently prepared to stay on for as long as it takes until a new Speaker is chosen.) Either McCarthy would drop out or members of the Freedom Caucus would defect and help elect him. And once McCarthy’s gone, the caucus will quickly move towards … Jason Chaffetz? I doubt it: McCarthy loyalists might not want to reward a guy who jumped in to the Speaker’s race in hopes of thwarting him. It might require a dark horse who’s acceptable to both sides, like Gowdy himself, being drafted for Speaker to resolve the stalemate. Or maybe this is all just gamesmanship by the Freedom Caucus to increase its leverage. When the Atlantic asked GOP Rep. and Freedom Caucus member Mick Mulvaney if they’d commit to support McCarthy, Mulvaney told them it depends. The FC wants seats on the Steering Committee, which determines the make-up of other House committees, to make sure that conservatives have some influence over the workings of the House. If McCarthy is prepared to give them that, plus some other “process reforms,” perhaps an … understanding can be reached. So that’s probably what’ll happen.
Via Mediaite, here’s Gowdy defending the Benghazi committee this morning on MSNBC. Exit question: If it looks like McCarthy doesn’t have the votes on the first ballot, why would House Democrats vote for Pelosi for Speaker when they could vote for McCarthy instead? Pelosi can’t win even if she ends up with more votes than McCarthy gets; it takes an absolute majority of 218 to choose a Speaker and Democrats are far, far short of that. In that case, logic suggests that they should push McCarthy over the top if he’s in trouble. If he falls short, there’s a risk that he’ll drop out and that the eventual Speaker will be further to the right than he is. He’s the Dems’ best chance to replace Boehner with another centrist while sowing discord among House Republicans by elevating McCarthy to the throne with left-wing votes.
Hillary Clinton of course, made use of this McCarthy gaffe in a New Hampshire townhall hosted by NBC’s “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie on Monday:
“This committee was set up, as they have admitted, for the purpose of making a partisan political issue out of the deaths of four Americans,” she said. “I would never have done that, and if I were president and there were Republicans or Democrats thinking about that, I would have done everything to shut it down.”
Throughout the interview, Clinton referenced McCarthy’s comments — made during a contentious interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity — as a means to do something she’s been unable to do ever since the e-mail story broke in March: Play offense.
McCarthy would be worse than Cryin’ Johnny Boehner!
So McCarthy puts his foot in it within 48 hours of his name being raised for the new Speaker of the House.
Its Nature’s way of saying - NO, this clown is NOT the guy.
Pelosi lost the congress and yet the dumbocraps will still vote for her to lead them?
What the hell kind of evil witch she must be
Perhaps Boehner can autograph the bucket for old times sake.
Today saying the obvious is spun by the press and gop-e as tough stuff.
If he apologized he’s a friggin idiot!
She got our ambassador and other brace Americans killed and lied about it.
Republicans apologize to that lowlife Hilary? They still never learn.
McCarthy is evidently a retard.
Kevin McCarthy should see that if he is getting jumped on by other conservatives for this one remark, it must be because they want someone else for that position. Step aside, Kevin.
I am getting so cynical that I think that McCarthy did this at the behest of the DC Cartel to help Hillary.
This was such a bone headed move.
Or maybe, it was a Boehner-headed move.
Better to find out what an idiot he is now than after the GOP votes him into the position. Will they be dumb enough to vote for him anyway?
Hillary thinks she got a break but the wheels are already in motion and she’s getting the boot from her own party. As for McCarthy’s “gaffe”. Please. He did this on purpose to throw Gowdy and conservatives in the house under the bus. McCarthy is probably as big a slimeball as Crybaby John, and maybe even worse. The GOPe and the Democratic Party are in league together.
When we were kids my dad would tell us: “Sorry doesn’t catch it.” Yes there are some things that sorry doesn’t cover.
I think the GPOe better find someone other than McCarthy or Chaffetz. Both are tainted.
The GOP-E still wants a liberal democrat/republican in the role of speaker.
McCarthy must be a little too independent — he’s scaring the DC elites.
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