GOP Politicians And Pundits Really Want To Blame McCarthy's Ouster On Democrats
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The Democrats’ mascot may be the donkey, but Republicans tried to make them the scapegoats on Tuesday.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted as House speaker after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) filed a motion to declare the speaker’s office vacant.
The measure passed 216-210, thanks to votes against McCarthy from eight Republicans and all House Democrats.
But while Democrats made up the majority of votes to remove McCarthy, the effort was the work of Republican Gaetz, who says he is angry that McCarthy has worked with the Democrats to prevent the federal government from shutting down last week.
Therefore, it would seem that people angry at McCarthy’s ouster should be mad at Gaetz, not Democrats, who basically left it to the Republican members to save or not save McCarthy.
So, even though the Republican House is facing a dumpster fire to try to figure out who can get elected as the next speaker, GOP politicians and pundits decided the Democrats were at fault.
Ari Fleischer, a White House press secretary in the George W. Bush administration, seemed to accuse the House Democrats of masterminding McCarthy’s political demise “with the help of Matt Gaetz,” even though it was the other way around.
Unbelievable. The Democrats, with the help of Matt Gaetz and a handful of GOP Members, just ousted the Republican Speaker of the House. What a mess. This is so foolish. Why would anyone want to be Speaker of the House.
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) October 3, 2023
Others chimed in with their own blame game.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), a key ally of Speaker McCarthy, seems to criticize Democrats for not helping McCarthy:
“I know you support the constitutional order except in a moment like this ... You can’t be counted on in a moment like this with the state of the speakership.” pic.twitter.com/wEEiZ7bMZo— The Recount (@therecount) October 3, 2023
You can’t blame Dems for the blow that right-wing bomb throwers landed on Kevin McCarthy. But! What you can say is that they failed to do the right thing on behalf of the American people. https://t.co/AT7zmJPXJJ
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) October 3, 2023
Remember, Democrats may say they want more responsible Republican leadership, but they will side against that every chance they get - and then complain if anyone tries to hold them responsible for their own choices. https://t.co/6HpnQagZpP
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 3, 2023
Make no mistake, it was Democrats who ousted McCarthy today, Republicans voted over 90 percent against it, they just needed Gaetz’s help to do it.
— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) October 3, 2023
Many people correctly thought the idea that an ouster organized by a disgruntled Republican congressman should be blamed on the Democrats is ridiculous.
Republicans are incensed that Democrats didn't stop Republicans from attacking Republicans
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 3, 2023
if "American politics" were broken, we'd have seen things like this happen when Democrats controlled the House
but we didn't
what's broken, very specifically, is the Republican Party— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 3, 2023
Most Americans want responsible House leadership. Democrats are not responsible for how Republicans behave. If the GOP caucus can’t responsibly govern, it should splinter and we can reorganize the House accordingly. Otherwise Dems shouldn’t take sides in internal GOP disputes.
— Guillermo Mena 🇵🇷🇺🇸🏳️🌈🇺🇦 (@GuilloMena) October 3, 2023
It wasn’t the Democrats who initiated the motion to vacate. It was Matt Gaetz. And the reason he was able to do that was fully McCarthy’s fault. He shouldn’t have tried to appease extremists https://t.co/RjPe8gfy0E
— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) October 3, 2023
the GOP can literally oust their own Speaker and mfs will still call it Democrats' fault
Kevin McCarthy could walk into the rotunda tomorrow morning and shoot an orphan's pet dog on CSPAN and it would still somehow be Democrats' fault https://t.co/hRPinYALoO— DaSkrubKing (@DaSkrubKing) October 3, 2023
Although McCarthy could run to replace himself as House Speaker, he said after his removal that he will not seek the position.