The House of Representatives said farewell this week to ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who resigned his seat instead of serving out his term as he had promised. It was an exercise in outrageous bullshit, with everyone pretending that McCarthy had accomplished anything beyond the bare minimum of keeping the government’s doors open.
In a speech on the floor, GOP's Patrick McHenry said that McCarthy had been: "A great leader for House Republicans, this institution, for America;" "a great Speaker;" "a legislative craftsman to make this place work;" "a legislative equivalent of an elite power athlete;" and "a political mastermind."
“Political mastermind” is definitely the real howler of that incredulous list. McCarthy's 118th Congress passed only 10 laws during its first year-- compared with Nancy Pelosi's 117th Congress, which passed 81 laws in its first year. McCarthy's House was only able to pass a mere 63 additional pieces of legislation-- Pelosi (probably the nation's greatest speaker, ever) passed 389 other pieces of legislation in her first year.
McCarthy also tried to give himself gave his own political eulogy, keeping up the absurd theme of “McCarthy the statesman.” But then he spoiled the "statesman" effect by resorting to nasty partisan sniping that we’ve come to expect from him-- with digs at both former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden.
But his rewriting of his own history was the most remarkable part of the farewell address. “If you come across that question of whether you should do what is right out of fear of losing your job, do it anyways,” he said yes, he said “anyways” in his final formal address). But what came next was the really embarrassing bit: “Because it is the right thing to do and this is what the nation requires.” Right-- the history books will surely remember McCarthy for always doing the right thing (nah, I don't think so).
The fact is that McCarthy’s real legacy will be the chaos of his selection as speaker (all 15 votes of it), the chaos and ineffectiveness of his short tenure, and the final embarrassment of how it ended-- with McCarthy as the only speaker in the history of the United States to be ousted.
McCarthy will also be remembered for being the guy who spoke the truth about Donald Trump well before he reached the White House. In a private meeting with House leadership in 2016, McCarthy infamously said, “There's two people I think Putin pays: [GOP Representative Dana] Rohrabacher and Trump. … swear to God.”
No comments:
Post a Comment