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Sparking speculation that he’s working out some kind of humiliation fetish in a very public way, on Thursday Kevin McCarthy plowed through a third day of losing speaker votes in the House. Once again, McCarthy’s big win for the day was managing to adjourn at the end of the day rather than voting and losing through the night. Seriously, Wednesday’s adjournment was such a big win that on Thursday at one point Republicans gave themselves a standing ovation for having managed it.
But the House only adjourned on Thursday after McCarthy loss number 11. So that’s another achievement for Kevin-11, as Erin Gloria Ryan has dubbed him: He managed to lose more times on Thursday than on either of the previous two days, having started off the day with just six losses under his belt. But that was pretty much the only progress Thursday saw.
McCarthy also ended both Wednesday and Thursday with claims that he was close to a deal to peel off some votes from his Republican opposition. Not enough to actually win, but enough to look like he was making progress. Super close to that deal, guys, really! Except that after ending Wednesday with major concessions, he got no additional votes on Thursday and had to offer still more concessions.
Bear in mind that the job of speaker of the House involves getting legislation through Congress—knowing how many votes you have and which votes you can get by offering which new provisions. McCarthy is showing, vote after vote, that he is ridiculously unqualified for the job he is trying to get. This isn’t just any show of weakness. It’s a show of weakness tailored to the moment, and his weakness is further highlighted by the fact that he’s attempting to follow in the footsteps of one of the best vote-counting, vote-managing speakers ever.
The House returns at noon and Daily Kos will be following the action, or lack thereof.
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