I'm dating myself and perhaps some of this blog's readers here: do you remember Edger Bergen? He was a 20th century ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer. He is best remembered as the creator of Charlie McCarthy, a wooden dummy who mostly spoke nonsense which many people found very funny. Charlie McCarthy was created by Bergen, using a nine-inch length of broomstick for the backbone and rubber bands and cords to control the lower jaw mechanism of the mouth.
Kevin McCarthy is a member of the House of Representatives who is in his ninth term. He served in various roles in House Republican leadership since 2009 and was elected Speaker of the House in January 2023 following the longest proceeding for the selection of a Speaker (15 rounds of voting) in more than one hundred years.
Kevin McCarthy might appear to some people to be lacking a backbone to stand up to his challengers. Sometimes it seems some of his fellow Republicans are actually doing his talking (watch their lips), while at other times McCarthy gives the appearance of speaking for himself. It's almost like Charlie McCarthy is the Speaker of the House.
Here's a small portion of a transcript from an actual Edger Bergen/Charlie McCarthy radio dialogue that has some modern-day relevance:
McCarthy : I'm a giant
Bergen : You are not. You're nothing of the kind.
McCarthy : Well, I'm a small giant.
Bergen : No, you're not!
McCarthy : I'm, uh... I'm tougher than forty men!
Bergen : You're not.
McCarthy : Well, er... twenty men.
Bergen : No.
McCarthy : No? Ten men?
Bergen : Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Charlie? Why do you act like that?
McCarthy : I don't know. I guess it's just a stage I'm going through…
Bergen : Now go over there and behave yourself!
McCarthy : Yes, sir. Everything I do is wrong.
Substitute Kevin McCarthy for Charlie McCarthy. For Bergen's dialogue, substitute some name at random such as Donald Trump, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, or Majorie Taylor Greene. The question is, is Kevin McCarthy just a puppet for the likes of Trump, Gaetz, Jordan or Greene?
Kevin McCarthy is currently navigating waters that would challenge the most skilled mariner. Unfortunately, McCarthy is not a skilled mariner.
The very narrow Republican majority in the House, the result of the election tsunami that never occurred, leaves McCarthy in the most precarious of situations. As Congress approaches a likely shutdown of the federal government on October 1 McCarthy has floated all sorts of proposals to get a budget, the defense bill, or even a short-term continuing resolution in place, all to no avail.
The House Republican caucus has 222 members, just four members more than a bare majority. There are 20 or so members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus who have challenged McCarthy's leadership at various stages. There are 18 Republicans who hold seats in districts that President Joe Biden carried in 2020. There is the crazy caucus consisting of members like Gaetz, Greene, Bob Good, Paul Gosar and some others for whom the budget debates are merely a stage for far right-wing performance art.
The 18 Republicans from Biden districts are treated like the poor stepchildren of the family. While McCarthy bends over backwards to serve the far right, the 18 Biden-district members are left hanging.
Among those 18 are Republican members of the New York delegation who narrowly won their seats in 2022. They are expected to go along with whatever McCarthy works out with the far right. They appear to have no say in what will be done.
The various plans offered up by McCarthy thus far renege on the deal McCarthy and congressional Republicans agreed to in the spring of this year when the debt ceiling crisis was averted. The far right is pushing McCarthy to go beyond reneging on that deal with proposals to tack on various policy matters to the budget plans including abortion, vaccinations, and various culture issues.
They all know that at the end of the day none of that is going anywhere. Not only are Democrats in the Senate, House, and White House opposed to the McCarthy budget plans, but so too are many Senate Republicans.
What this all demonstrates is that McCarthy, operating as the right-wing's puppet, is incapable of running the House. Running the House is part of the constitutional process for governing on a federal level.
Matt Gaetz and others keep threatening to propose a "motion to vacate" in the House, which would force a vote on removing McCarthy from the Speakership. It is a hollow thread and they know it. As the old political saying goes, "you can't beat somebody with nobody." Gaetz and company have no one to offer as an alternative to McCarthy.
And actually that doesn't matter. Gaetz and his allies will in any and all cases continue for the next fifteen months to pull the strings on McCarthy, making him jump when they want him to jump, and to say what they want him to say. Everyone knew and accepted that Charlie McCarthy was made of wood. Kevin McCarthy pretends to be the leader he is not.
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