The “persisted” line was coined by Hillary to try and rationalize her upset loss in 2016 and her subsequent whining about it. Since then she has persisted right into a well deserved obscurity. Yes, occasionally there is justice in the world.
But one guy has recently epitomized the spirit of the lame Dem feminist compliment. Though, in a much better fashion. That man is the new lead dog of the House majority. Welcome, Speaker McCarthy.
When a lot of pundits, including me, and fellow pols counted him out he calmly worked the problem. Granted, he did this by folding. However, the insurgents of late may soon find that promises and the application of promises are two different things. They also may see the commitments honored, but they themselves cut out of the spoils of victory. Such is DC reality.
Another interesting facet of the abovementioned process is how parliamentary it became. As a fan of that system, I found the one on one arm twisting and exploding passions on the floor of the House fascinating. Imagine if we adopted another parliamentary tradition and Joe Biden had to come down to the House once a week and answer questions from the likes of McCarthy or Jim Jordan? Now, that would be fun.
A further point of interest was the self serving and vindictive performance of Matt Gaetz of Florida. Alleged Mann Act violator Gaetz said his opposition to McCarthy was based on ideology and House procedures. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Gaetz was focused on revenge on McCarthy because when Gaetz was caught with his pants allegedly down to his ankles with an underage female campaign volunteer, McCarthy called Gaetz into his office and slapped him down hard for the pervy error in judgment. Then McCarthy leaked Gaetz’s groveling apology. Gaetz bade his time until last week and then served his dish cold.
But populist moondog Gaetz then went over the top in his self-professed nobility and martyrdom, as he tends to do. That drew the attention of freshman GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, who called Gaetz out for using opposition to McCarthy as a fundraising ploy. He bashed Gaetz, but good. We will see and hear a lot more from former Navy SEAL Van Orden in the months to come.
McCarthy takes over a House majority less divided than you might think. After that intramural scrimmage the real game is afoot and Republicans are united in their blood in the water attitude towards the Biden administration. There are even those who think the week long ballot festival was an exercise in the GOP embrace of internal democracy and freedom of thought.
As the Democrats are an authoritarian party and thus march in jackbooted lockstep, Republicans fight between themselves because some actually believe in things and have the courage to defy their superiors on principle.
Well, that may be a tad too rosy a picture to paint of the latter day rebels. But the whole process riveted a lot of people and perhaps got Republican infighting out of the way before it really mattered.
In any event, Kevin McCarthy has persistent work cut out for him in stopping the Biden agenda. It is very likely enough Republicans will support him in that endeavor to make life miserable for Biden. Thus, in the recent speakership fight, all’s well that ends well.