My Kevin Is the First Pushmi Pullyou Speaker, Planning A Comeback

Denial is not just a river in Egypt. No, it’s central to the core of many Republicans and Kevin McCarthy just demonstrated that he’s one of that group, if not its poster child. McCarthy was on the air with Hugh Hewitt who asked McCarthy on Monday whether he would serve again as Speaker if Republicans are deadlocked on a replacement. Hope springs eternal, apparently. The Hill:

“Look, the conference has to make that decision. I’m still a member. I’m going to continue to fight and act,” McCarthy said.

Pressed again on whether he would take the job again if the eight GOP members who opposed him retreated, McCarthy remained open to the possibility.

“Look, whatever the conference wants, I will do,” McCarthy said. “I think we need to be strong. I think we need to be united. The eight, in my view, don’t look to be — it was a personal thing.”

He expressed frustration with the Republicans who voted against a GOP-only stopgap proposal. The party’s repeated failure to pass a temporary funding bill that included spending cuts and policy provisions prompted McCarthy to pass a “clean” stopgap to avoid a government shutdown, infuriating the hard-line GOP members who then voted to oust him.

McCarthy defended the decision, pointing to the war breaking out in Israel.

“They’re the ones who wanted a government shutdown,” McCarthy said. “We wouldn’t be paying our troops while we’re putting out a carrier strike fighter there – 30,000 American men and women in our armed services in the Middle East wouldn’t be being paid right now? I mean, what weakness would we be at?”

He’s got some backing. Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.) and Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) would like to see McCarthy back with the gavel in light of the Israeli war. Their logic escapes me. McCarthy was a weak sister in a time when there was only one global conflagration raging and now that there are two, he’s got what it takes?

The House is supposed to choose a leader by Wednesday. Let us hope that they do. I’m not sure that McCarthy’s reintroduction into the mix, as the Pushmi Pullyou Speaker is going to help matters any. And if the conference does reinstate him, that is just going to make them look flakier than anything — not to mention what a glutton for punishment McCarthy is going to be viewed as.

This is a nutty development if it takes place. On the other hand, having Jordan at the helm with the HBO documentary coming out soon on the goings on when he was a coach who turned a blind eye to sexual abuse of students is not going to be good optics. But Jordan as Speaker would be one thing: it would be an accurate depiction of the degeneracy of the GOP. In that sense it would be almost refreshing. At least the fig leaf would be dropped and we would see the GOP for what it truly is, unadorned and unmasked.

Or maybe Steve Scalise will take the gavel. Scalise is not a well man and I’m not sure that it’s a good idea to put somebody with his health problems under additional stress. Right now the job of House Speaker is the toughest one in Washington, bar none. I think it’s even tougher than the job of president right now, because the Speaker is under attack by a vicious pack of right-wing renegades.

I don’t know what will be changed by McCarthy following his own act, being restored back to the lead. The play was a disaster to begin with and so what will be different with McCarthy Take 2? I guess we’ll find out.