The media narrative for the last five days, from when the 118th Congress got seated, has focused on how Kevin McCarthy had to make deep concessions to “right-wing, pro-Trump, election-denier GOP members” to secure his Speakership of the House.
The NY Times called it “a remarkably public show of intraparty strife.” The Washington Post, as usual, went further in saying that McCarthy survived “a GOP revolt.” Reuters was dramatic too, writing that McCarthy’s dream job could “become a nightmare.” CBS News noted that McCarthy was finally elected on the 15th ballot. NPR gleefully described how the last time it took a party this long was in 1923 when Frederick Gillett (R-Mass.) became Speaker. As usual, the media missed providing crucial context.
The Speaker is elected at the beginning of a new Congress by a majority of the Representatives-elect present in the chamber. In the 435-member House, the Democrats have 212 seats, and the Republicans have 222. [One House seat is vacant]. It would take at least 218 votes to become Speaker if all 434 members were voting.
The Democrats united quickly behind Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to become Minority Leader after former speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she would step down. With all 212 Democrats physically present, under orders from Jeffries, McCarthy had to make concessions to the so-called “right-wing” members to get to 218. If 20 fewer Democrats had been in the chamber, McCarthy could have easily clinched the position on the second try, needing only 208 votes.
The number of tries to get to the Speaker post is only relevant if the House business comes to a standstill. The Washington Post was alone in providing some context here when it noted that it took Rep. Nathaniel “Bobbin Boy” Banks, a member of the nativist American Party from Massachusetts, nearly two months and 133 votes to become speaker in 1856 — the most protracted and most contentious speaker election in its history. It was a time when lawmakers relied on trains and horse buggies to commute to the Capitol.
But during the drama last week, no crucial House business was imminent. With New Year’s Day falling on a Sunday and Americans digging out from extreme weather conditions and flight cancellations during the holidays, stock markets were closed on January 2 and only opened at 1 PM on January 3, the day the new Congress was seated. Ceremonial duties, such as the new speaker gaveling the chamber to order and swearing in House members, were delayed, but only by four days. Democrats and the media were furious that no Speaker was in charge to commemorate election officials on the second anniversary of January 6.
We suspect that the extreme GOP holdouts, many of whom still do not recognize the presidency of Joe Biden, purposely delayed giving McCarthy their votes to avoid him from presiding over such needless ceremonies. They knew that the Democrats under Pelosi had milked this story to death, having publicly released former President Trump’s tax returns a few days earlier and referring him for criminal prosecution. By the end of the week, the House got its 55th speaker after all, as McCarthy became the highest-ranking GOP official in the nation as the second-in-line to the presidency after Vice President Kamala Harris.
As context, the media last week also failed to talk about how nasty the Democrats’ infighting was during the previous Congress, with each battle bringing significant defeat to left-wing policy priorities. Nationalizing elections, defunding the police, expanding Medicare with a drug plan, paid leave, and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants all failed despite the party controlling all branches of government.
And the Democratic bickering was all out in the open. We noted a year ago how the party’s progressive leader, Pramila Jayapal, was a fixture on TV for weeks, cajoling moderates to support the $6 trillion Build Back Better package. She even dared Speaker Pelosi when she held proceedings in the House hostage and prevented passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill – a substantial unforced error – giving Republican Youngkin the Virginia governor’s mansion. The infrastructure bill promptly passed, but the moderates tanked BBB forever when West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin pulled out in Dec 2021. Jayapal had lost miserably, exposed her members to cast tough votes for a proposal that ultimately failed, and triggered Biden’s falling poll numbers. Not one member of the media talked about the Jayapal fiasco last week.
If our media were fair, it would have noted that the so-called GOP infighting to elect McCarthy came at no policy cost to the Republicans. If anything, the holdouts extracted crucial concessions from moderate McCarthy, who has a reputation like Senate Leader McConnell for abandoning party goals.
By forcing 15 votes and including a provision for a single member to have the right to bring a no-confidence motion about his leadership, the conservative wing of the GOP ensured that the party would be faithful to the voters that sent them to power. More importantly, the country needs an aggressive speaker to place checks and balances on a woke administration that has lost its way, ushering in the country’s worst inflation record and exposing America to international conflicts in multiple theaters.
Indeed, we are encouraged by McCarthy’s first speech as Speaker, as he seems to have learned a lesson. “It’s time for us to be a check and provide some balance to the president’s policies,” he said. “We will use the power of the purse and the power of the subpoena to get the job done.” He added, “I hope one thing is clear after this week: I never give up.”
Last week’s drama was good for the country’s sake, but you would never know it if you followed the mainstream media.
Republished with permission from TIPP Insights
