Poor Kevin McCarthy. It must be very taxing to try to remember which lie you’re telling at any given moment and why. Today McCarthy managed to off his political nemesis Liz Cheney — although there are those who say that that’s a bit like Darth Vadar offing Obi Wan Kenobi. As you recall, Obi Wan just came back all that much stronger.
Then after that busy morning’s effort, McCarthy had to pull it together to go see Joe Biden, along with Mitch McConnell and the two Democratic leaders. McConnell and Biden go back quite a ways. They get along. Biden, on the other hand, is said to have great distaste for McCarthy, and in no small measure because he keeps insisting on pushing the stolen election Big Lie.
So McCarthy had to switch gears really fast before he got to the meeting of the Big Four and here is how that went down.
Just hours after leading his caucus in the removal of Liz Cheney for her refusal to say the election was stolen, @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy tells reporters:
“I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election.” pic.twitter.com/Xt6Zdg9MQD
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 12, 2021
Ummmm….isn’t Elise Stefanik, Cheney’s replacement, questioning the legitimacy of the election? Or, did we just all dream it? Washington Post:
“You’re about to elevate someone to a leadership position who is still questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election results,” NBC News’s Kristen Welker asked McCarthy, referring to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who will probably replace Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as the third-ranking member of the Republican caucus in the House. “Does that not complicate your efforts to find common ground with the president?” […]
In an interview with the Washington Examiner published Monday, Stefanik again raised questions about the election.
“I have said that there are election irregularities and an unconstitutional overreach, which is why I objected to certain states,” she said, referring to her vote to block the electoral votes submitted by Pennsylvania on Jan. 6. “You can refer to my statement on the House floor. I fully stand by that, and voters support the focus on those issues. But the irregularity, the unconstitutional overreach, the lack of ballot security, those are important issues that the American people want to hear solutions from the Republicans on.”
Among other things, her statement that day claimed that affidavits in Michigan documented things such as “illegal counting of late ballots,” which they did not. Broadly, Stefanik has embraced the GOP’s have-it-both-ways strategy on the fraud claims being made by former president Donald Trump: pretend that something sketchy happened but, when citing specifics, point to things such as concerns about the way in which mail ballot access was expanded.
Last week, Stefanik also appeared on former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon’s podcast, where she endorsed a sketchy “audit” of votes cast in Arizona’s Maricopa County.
“I fully support the audit in Arizona,” she said. “We want transparency and answers for the American people.”
Again that framing: This is just about reassuring voters of the security of the election — in the face of direct and indirect suggestions that the election wasn’t secure.
So let’s see if we’ve got this straight: McCarthy supports the Big Lie and other Big Liars, Elise Stefanik chief amongst them, but not on Wednesdays when he’s about to meet face to face with Joe Biden. Is that about the size of it?
The hypocrisy is staggering. And not only is it staggering, it’s just plain difficult to keep track of.
McCarthy is in way over his head. The only reason he hasn’t been ousted is because no one else wants his job right now. Be surprised if he makes it as leader past 2022.
That would be okay, except the next one will be far worse.
Far less powerful as well…or have you already forgotten the detail that the GQP kneecapped the last Speaker that came from their party?
So the mad Hatter’s teaparty continues. Liz Cheney, although she’s also a supporter of trump’s policies, 92.9% voting record, she’s doing the right thing at the moment. Always have to welcome the prodigal son/daughter when they repent.
She hasn’t repented one damn bit. Her objection is that they are noisy and rude, nothing more. She’s making the bet that there are enough sane Republicans in exile to deny the GQP any further victories. She has little to nothing to lose by burning it all down from the outside. The GQP, however, still have so much left to lose.
U did notice my 93% Trump support? Earlier I listed some of her father’s crimes. Christ, i know she didn’t ‘repent’.
Lessee: McCarthy gets Cheney kicked out of her leadership position because she calls the Big Lie a Big Lie, and then he says it didn’t happen. I think his head will explode at some point, with all the contradictions he has in it.
He just now realized how big a mistake a mistake he has just made. Liz Cheney now has no incentive to NOT burn down the party with him still inside.
‘The hypocrisy is staggering. And not only is it staggering, it’s just plain difficult to keep track of.’
Or not. After all they are Republicans, the party of lie, cheat, stea,l to stay in power to rip us all off.