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There’s no sign of Kevin McCarthy’s very bad week getting any better Thursday when the House reconvenes at noon to continue voting for speaker candidates. It’s worth pointing out here that this is a situation plenty of us saw coming down the road weeks ago, since immediately after the election. It’s a reflection of just how dead the Republican Party is that they knew putting McCarthy up for speaker was going to fail, and did absolutely nothing to stop it from happening.
They chose to put themselves through this humiliation, broadcast on live television for the whole world to see. They are choosing to continue it, not looking at the only viable, responsible option for creating a House of Representatives that could function: working with Democrats. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), who is not a maniac, told NBC News, “That’s really off the table. I don’t think anybody voted to do that. I don’t think that works very well in any time. I think it’s particularly unsuited to these times. The polarization is too great.”
That’s going to come back to bite Cole in the ass. He’s the top Republican on the House Rules Committee, arguably the most powerful of all the committees because just about everything that reaches the floor flows through it, and the members there determine which bills get to the floor, which bills are prioritized and when they’re scheduled. McCarthy just bargained Cole’s committee away in his concessions to the maniacs, handing some of its coveted seats to the Freedom Caucus. Have fun with that, Mr. Cole. If there’s ever a Speaker elected so that you can have a committee, that is.
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