Posted on 01/07/2023 1:28:57 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Across four long and at times humiliating days, Rep. Kevin McCarthy clawed his way through 15 ballots and hours of back-room dealing to secure a House Speakership he has coveted since 2015, slowly eroding the opposition of 20 renegade Republicans intent on forcing change to the way Washington spends money.
The once-in-a-century drama inside the Capitol played out on national television, and at times resembled the more raucous British Parliament. Lawmakers traded barbs and insults, openly bargained for concessions and even had to be restrained before the final victorious vote to avoid fisticuffs between GOP Reps. Mike Rogers and Matt Gaetz.
Even a former president, Donald Trump, had to intervene with his own pressure. And still it took an extraordinary reversal by the final six holdout Republicans, who changed their votes of opposition to “present” early Saturday to lower the threshold of victory so McCarthy could squeak out a win by a 216-212 margin.
Believe it or not, the surreal struggle to win the gavel may prove to be one of the easier missions the affable California Republican will face in the 118th Congress.
“That was easy, huh?,” McCarthy quipped in the wee hours of the morning Saturday after securing the victory and accepting the speakership. “I never thought we’d get up here.”
His humor, nonetheless, pointed a compass at the arduous path that lies ahead.
The Speakership race exposed a long-simmering divide between establishment Republicans with a penchant for conceding to last-minute spending laws that have bloated the national debt from $6 trillion to $32 trillion over the last two decades and the more restless, rebellious members of the House Freedom Caucus forged in the fires of the Tea Party and MAGA movements and their take-no-hostages tactics.
(Excerpt) Read more at justthenews.com ...
Whatever “concessions” he made are in the past now.
Swamp business-as-usual, here we come.
Leftists should never have an easy road.
I loved every minute of the Speaker fight.
It was something new & entertaining that I had never seen in politics before.
Whatever “concessions” he made are in the past now.
Swamp business-as-usual, here we come.
Ha ha ha ha still shilling for the rodents are we?
The power given to one single member to in effect recall McCarthy makes you look like a fool.
Rest up Surrender Monkey your side is in for a rough ride once the new Church Committee, probably chaired by Thomas Massie, “goes black” and the criminals don’t know what lie to tell.
Political opposition to the permanent political class is so unseemly.
I apologize, Karen. I didn’t realize you were still here.
You may go now.
-PJ
“Just the news”, but they are throwing around sensationalist hyperbole like the National Enquirer!
Not impressed with them today.
“...the opposition of 20 renegade Republicans intent on forcing change to the way Washington spends money”.
So by their standards trying to get some accountability and fiscal restraint equals “Renegade”.
Political opposition to the permanent political class is so unseemly.
*********
Not in my insignificant book, it needs to happen or the status quo is maintained regardless of the consequences.
Rebellions even if put down, can set the road for incremental positive change.
A source in the men’s room at the Capitol is claiming a
bead of sweat has rolled off McCarthy’s forehead.
Portends battles ahead
It’s D.C. Edith
One group of RINOs battled another group oRINOs. It’s like watching the Discovery Channel, but boring.
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