Politics –
House Speaker Job Sparks GOP Fight
Look out, Republican Party — the fight to replace John Boehner as the next House Speaker is about to get down and dirty.
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When John Boehner announced he would resign as House Speaker, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California was seen as the heir apparent to replace him. However, Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah doesn’t believe McCarthy has what it takes to be an effective House Speaker. He also claims more than 50 house Republicans won’t back McCarthy. So, Chaffetz has thrown his own hat into the ring, in a race that could spark an ugly public fight and turn the House floor into complete chaos.
For a party struggling to present a governing vision for the country, particularly leading up to the presidential election, it’s the last thing Republicans need.
Chaffetz and a growing contingency of Republicans strongly believe leadership hasn’t taken a hard enough line against President Obama and Democrats. In fact, it was this contingency that likely forced Boehner out, in hopes of a hard-line replacement — which would not be McCarthy.
“You don’t just give automatic promotion to the existing leadership team,” Chaffetz said on “Fox News Sunday.” “That doesn’t signal change. I think they want a fresh face and a fresh, new person who’s actually there at the leadership table in the Speaker’s role.”
Chaffetz insisted he is being recruited by fellow Republicans and he wants to “bridge the divide” inside the GOP conference. “He’s been in existing leadership for years and years, and the strife and the divide is getting worse, it’s not getting better,” Chaffetz said of McCarthy.
After a disastrous nationally televised interview on Fox last week, McCarthy appears to be in over his head. The majority leader suggested the House’s select committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack was driven by politics against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. His true but politically ignorant statement has made Republicans on and off Capitol Hill wonder if he is really up to the task of being second in line to the President of the United States.
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Peggy Noonan from the Wall Street Journal probably summed up the GOP’s feelings best, writing: “Mr. McCarthy is well-liked in the House, a veteran said to be a natural lover of the nuts and bolts. But it will be surprising if some of his fellow Republicans don’t start asking: “He’s got the guts and the hunger, but does he have the brains?”
Noting the anti-McCarthy sentiment, Chaffetz penned a letter to his Republican colleagues, arguing that the party needs to communicate its vision clearly — and that he’s the candidate who can do that.
“Look, I want to have a speaker who can actually speak and make the case to the American people,” Chaffetz said, while making the case that McCarthy is just not that guy.
However, Chaffetz did not make a great case for himself to become House Speaker, after a highly panned and factually incorrect hearing last week on Planned Parenthood.
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This is a critical moment for the GOP. With the House and Senate both under Republican control, they have failed to put together a unified agenda to challenge President Obama. With so many independent factions inside the GOP, each with their own agenda, it’s no surprise they are infighting — even as they control both houses of congress.
If anyone believes the race for House Speaker ends with McCarthy and Chaffetz, guess again.
Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida has already announced he will go up against McCarthy. Other possible candidates who could launch bids for House Speaker include Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jeb Hensarling of Texas, who both initially ruled out running last month, before McCarthy’s candidacy weakened. House Budget Chairman Tom Price, who is running for McCarthy’s current post as majority leader could also decide to instead run for speaker if he is able to assemble more support.
Many Republicans wanted former vice-presidential nominee and current Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who chairs the powerful tax writing panel, to consider running for House Speaker, but Ryan is uninterested in the job and has reiterated his support for McCarthy.
“Kevin’s record in Congress demonstrates a rare combination of principle, leadership, and effectiveness. I have no doubt that his experience and skills make him the best choice for speaker,” Ryan wrote on Townhall.com.
McCarthy can’t lose more than 29 GOP votes in a contest where 25 Republicans already voted in opposition to Boehner earlier this year. If no one can get to the required 218 votes, the scramble to find someone who can could throw the full House into a state of deep uncertainty — just as Congress has to deal with major national issues, including the possibility of the first-ever default on the national debt. It would also showcase the fact that at least for now, no one can govern the rambunctious Republicans.
It is quite the spectacle isn't it? Second only to the spectacle being played out for the Repub presidential nomination, with Trump still leading the pack (though perhaps beginning to fade a bit) and Jeb! still fighting for his politcal life. Seems to me the Republican party of today is, indeed for the most part, just a fractuous chaotic mess; the very definition, IMO, of an absolutely Ungovernable party. Different factions at war with each other, the most extreme factions fighting for dominace of the party. Look at the kind of individuals who are now considered "leaders" of the GOP; the men touted as that party's "best and brightest" …smh. It's a sorry state of affairs. It really is. However, as I've expressed many times before – If the Repubs weren't so dangerous, their nonsense could almost be considered comedy gold. About McCarthy Last Thursday (or Friday) night, Rachell Maddow… Read more »