On Wednesday, I was the idiot writer who volunteered to cover the McCarthy vote. I decided to report it as straight news rather than editorialize since it was hard enough to write while simultaneously keeping an eye on the Badminton Match from Hell unfolding on C-SPAN. So I kept my trap shut.
I understand the rationale behind wanting to remove McCarthy. I also understand that the vote was a tacit admittance that the Democrats can still call the shots in the House. Now, before you start throwing rocks at me or calling me a RINO, I’m not saying that there will not ultimately be a positive outcome. I’m just saying some ugly precedents may have been set and that the optics were horrible.
Have I ticked off everyone? Raise your hand if you haven’t been offended. Okay, moving on then.
The event was enough to rattle more than a few cages on the Republican side, and 45 GOP House members want to prevent such a small group of representatives from ousting a speaker again. They have drafted a letter to the other members of the House GOP conference to that effect.
Dated October 5, the letter notes that less than 4% of the Republican conference joined with Democrats to override the will of 96% of party members in the house. The letter lauded McCarthy’s term as speaker, and the signers said that while they were “ashamed and embarrassed,” they refused to allow the eight Republicans who wanted the vote to dictate “every outcome in policy and personnel” going forward, including the selection of the next speaker. It also stated in part:
As such, we, the undersigned, remain committed to the conservative and transparent objectives Speaker McCarthy outlined at the outset of the 118th Congress. It is our responsibility to identify the right person at this moment to lead us into the future to achieve the conservative policy objectives that we and the American people all share. We cannot allow our majority to be dictated to by the alliance between the chaos caucus and the minority party that will do nothing more than guarantee the failure of our next Speaker.
“Chaos Caucus.” That’s a new one. I wonder if it will stick. I predict you will be hearing it on all of your not-so-favorite news outlets by the close of business today.
While not outlining a specific plan, the lawmakers called for fundamental changes to the structure of the majority. That is a rather broad statement, and strategies are likely being formulated as you read this.
Read the full text of the letter below:
Letter to GOP Conference 10.5.2023 by PJ Media on Scribd