Coop Scoop: Democrats Must Not Save McCarthy

Let him twist slowly, slowly in the wind.

October 3, 2023

By Marc Cooper

It’s sorta hard to believe but there are actually high level Democrats who are quietly contemplating a move to “save” his speakership if and when the Lunatic Fringe Faction of the GOP moves to remove Kevin McCarthy quite literally any day now.  Chief Lunatic and admirer of young women, Rep. Matt Gaetz, had made it clear that if McCarthy pacted with Democrats –as he did on Saturday to keep the government open—Gaetz would trigger a vote to dump McCarthy.  “Working with the Democrats is a yellow brick road that has been paved by Speaker McCarthy,” Gaetz said.

This is no easy lift for the pack of deplorables led by Gaetz.  McCarthy only has a five seat majority and there are more than 5 Republicans who would easily vote to oust him.  Problem is: who would replace him?  Nobody has a clue as nobody wants the job.  And there’s another possible glitch in purging McCarthy.  Because the Democrats have so many seats in the minority, if just a half dozen or more abstain in any vote to retain McCarthy they would be saving his bacon as the Republicans would fall a vote or two short of their goal.

But I have a question: WHY on God’s green earth, no less in the middle of an election cycle, would congressional Democrats go to bat for a such a sordid example of human dysfunction embodied by Speaker-in-name McCarthy?  WTF?

No ranking Dem has yet made the argument publicly (probably out of fear of being lynched by base voters) but there IS an argument for saving Kevin’s ass that’s making the rounds.  It goes something like this:

He’s not a good guy but he’s a better guy than the real hard line MAGATs. After all, he did make the deal with the Dems to keep the lights on. And anybody who will replace him will definitely be to his right and will most likely be a full-on MAGA Werewolf and we don’t want that. So it’s better to keep him there and keep the war between Republican factions going full blast.

To which I respond, AYFKM?  McCarthy is no moderate. Not by any measure. Nor is he a fascist. He’s a sub-par intellect – the very essence of a dolt--who has never shown much interest in ideology or policy and is purely a careerist and opportunist.  Currently, he’s just an errand boy for Donald Trump.

He let the government stay open on Saturday not out of principle, but merely because the pressure opposing a shutdown was too great (and add to that his ear probably being chewed off by McConnell and other GOP Senators who were fighting to stop the shut down).

As the New York Times reported:

Democrats have a litany of complaints about how they believe they have been wronged by the speaker. Just this past weekend, they accused him of jamming them with a 71-page stopgap bill with no time to review it. Mr. McCarthy then appeared on a Sunday news show portraying Democrats as the party backing a shutdown, when it was mostly Democrats who approved the legislation that averted it.

Well, that’s true enough but it’s hardly the worst thing McCarthy has done.  It was the current Speaker, more than anyone else, who rushed to save Donald Trump from political demise after January 6.  The day after the assault on the Capitol, McCarthy soundly denounced Trump (as did McConnell) and it looked like for a few hours, or even a few days, that the Trump Era was crashing down as his congressional minions and flunkies ran for cover.

But…no.  Within days, a chastened and cowardly McCarthy was on a plane to Florida, ending up in Mar-A-Lago where he proceeded to give Trump the full treatment.  Not an escalation of his attack from a few days earlier. But rather a full apology, a nice buffing of Trump’s shoes, and a pretty good BJ from what we hear.  All was forgiven. Worse, that little mix up at the Capitol wasn’t even mentioned, as if January 6 had never happened.  Appearing with Trump, glad handing him, and taking myriad photos of the two guys just being guys, was McCarthy’s way of resurrecting Trump who he had almost buried just a few days earlier.

I think it fair to say that Trump’s political survival after January 6 is primarily the work of one Kevin McCarthy, born in Bakersfield but one string short on a Buck Owens guitar.

So what if he gets canned?  So what if a raving MAGA crazy replaces him?  Hey, I am all for that! If it were up to me I would want to see the handsy Lauren Boebert, or the execrable Jim Jordan as speaker. I mean, let’s get it over with. Let the GOP be the GOP, especially going into the elections.  The anemic Republican majority is already in trouble if not doomed.  Let them go full-on bonkers before the election so the defeat of the Republicans is even more egregious come next November. Hey, could Justice Thomas also be drafted as Speaker? I’m for that, too.

Sorry to be so open and shut about this but, really, what’s the fear of a worse Speaker (if that is even possible).  The House cannot legislate anything on its own with a Democratic Senate and White House. What is a new extremist speaker gonna do anyway? Obstruct. Lie. Defend Trump. Make threatening noises about Medicare and Social Security? Seat a bogus committee to trash the FBI?  Crank up a bogus and ill-destined impeachment of Biden? Play patty cake with the convicted January 6 rioters to portray them as martyrs? Be totally comfortable presiding over a House still infested with sub-literate Babbits, Jesus Freaks, Rotarians and Indiana insurance brokers who still claim 2020 was stolen? Hey, wait, that’s what we have now thanks to McCarthy.

Keep your eyes open in the days to come to see if the Democrats are really stupid enough to save this turd. My suggestion is that when and if the vote comes to the floor to oust McCarthy, the Democrats should vote in block to strip him.  The bigger the vote against him the better.  One of the more deceptive ways to bolster McCarthy if that vote comes down would be for Democrats to just skip the vote or, worse, to vote “present.” That would radically raise the threshold to oust McCarthy and the Dems can always plead they had nothing to do with it as they did not vote for him…not their fault he survived the Gaetz House coup.  Would the Democrats really engage in such cynical subterfuge? Um, yeah. I think so.

The Republican Party is a viable and growing threat to American democracy.  For president, it is supporting a totally corrupt, crazed, resentful ignoramus who clearly wants to be a dictator (but who might wind up with an ankle bracelet). No quarter should be given the Republicans as our goal for 2024 must be to punish them and reduce their numbers and power.  Nothing short of that will do.

If Gaetz, Boebert and Company go ahead and string up Kevin McCarthy Democrats should treat him like a piñata not somebody worth saving. ++

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