Through three humiliating rounds of voting yesterday, while smiling and laughing with false bravado and confidence, Rep. Kevin "Qevin" McCarthy (Weasel-CA) failed to get enough votes to secure the object of his abject longing. According to the schedule, at noon today he continues the ritual humiliation that he so richly deserves:
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is still not close to becoming speaker.
After he failed three times to secure the 218 votes needed on Tuesday, he’ll be back at it again today at noon when the House opens and a fourth round of balloting for the speaker is expected to begin. It comes after a night of strategizing with his allies about how to overcome the opposition of roughly 20 hard-liners who refuse to vote for him.
McCarthy continues to express confidence, but he’s also switched his strategy. Instead of winning 218 votes — he only has 202 at the moment — he said Tuesday night that he only needs 213. That is one more vote than the 212 tallied by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), the Democratic leader. The thinking is that a handful of Republicans could vote present or not vote during roll call, which would lower the threshold for the votes needed to be selected speaker.
“You just have to get more votes than 212, where the Democrats are,” McCarthy said. [snip]
So far this week, he has:
- Tried to shame the defectors into submission. McCarthy said Tuesday morning that “they’re looking out for only positions for themselves, not for the country.”
- Refused to make additional concessions beyond the changes he announced Sunday and said the holdouts can’t make demands of the whole conference.
- Tasked conservative favorite Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) with persuading his detractors to give him a chance.
- Vowed to keep voting to wear out his opponents.
None of it has worked. In fact, things progressively got worse for McCarthy on Tuesday. On the third ballot, the number of opponents increased from 19 to 20.
The only problem for McCarthy in his latest "strategery"is that Democrats are not going to let Rep. Hakeem Jeffries' vote go under 212, and when it's clear after round 4 (or 5 or 6) that the numbers on the Republican/ Seditionist side aren't moving in his favor, but are continuing to move away, as they were after several rounds yesterday, the game will be up for him.
Speaking of games, does anyone else see Rep. Jim "Gym" Jordan (Sexual assault enabler-OH) playing McCarthy's "loyal" floor manager while simultaneously allowing the insurrectionists to vote for him for Speaker, setting himself up to be the "compromise candidate"? Whether it's eventually Jordan or another slimeball, the longer the voting goes on, the weaker is McCarthy's bid, the more he smells like a loser, and the stronger is the desire to get a Speaker in place for the Republican/ Seditionists to begin their important work of investigating Hunter Biden's laptop. But, whoever eventually emerges will be the weakest Speaker in recent memory thanks to the thin Republican/ Seditionist majority and the concessions made to the bomb- throwers on the far right.
BONUS: McCarthy arch- enemy Rep. Matt Gaetz (Underage sex trafficker-FL) is rightly trying to get the smug, entitled McCarthy evicted. "Squatter" lol --
Gaetz sent a letter to the Architect of the Capitol questioning why McCarthy is allowed to occupy the Speaker’s office. pic.twitter.com/gOlXOtlHQj
— Juliegrace Brufke (@juliegraceb) January 4, 2023
BONUS II:
There would be something fitting about Jim Jordan becoming speaker, since his only apparent skill is Yelling On TV but Republicans think that's all a speaker has to do, and oh boy are they going to realize how wrong they are
— Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman1) January 3, 2023
(Photo: Why is that man smiling?/ Alex Brandon, AP)
