Who’s the RINO here? In House speaker mess, don’t blame Kay Granger and Co. | Opinion

It’s been two weeks. Do we have a House speaker yet?

Just kidding. We all know there’s no way congressional Republicans could get their stuff together that fast.

If anything, the aftermath of the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gets worse by the day. Now, two Tarrant County lawmakers are coming in for criticism merely for exercising the same rights that the insurgents who took out McCarthy did.

On Wednesday, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the current choice of most House Republicans to be speaker, came up short of the majority he needs to take the gavel. In fact, he got one fewer vote than in the initial balloting Tuesday — that’s how well the backroom arm-twisting is going for him.

Fort Worth Rep. Kay Granger and Rep. Jake Ellzey, whose district includes most of Mansfield and nearby parts of Tarrant County, were among the holdouts. They were joined by Rep. Tony Gonzales, a San Antonio Republican. All three were immediately hit with the tired name-calling that the far-right Crybaby Caucus uses in lieu of argument. All were tagged RINO (Republican In Name Only) moderates who deserve censure from their local parties and vigorous challenges in primaries.

All for doing what a group of allegedly conservative lawmakers did in ousting McCarthy: taking advantage of the tiny Republican majority to demand the leader they want, for whatever reason.

Ellzey’s spokesman said the congressman was not available to talk about his decision, and Granger’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Reasonable speculation has it that Ellzey, a decorated Navy pilot who served five combat tours, is concerned about ongoing support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. Granger, who spent years climbing the ladder in the pivotal Appropriations Committee, is not about to see cuts in defense spending. And in an online post, she alluded to “intimidation and threats” over the vote.

Or it could be personality or stylistic differences. Jordan is a hard-charger.

Whatever the reason, it’s rich for people to call out Granger, Ellzey and others while giving absolution to Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and his seven colleagues who dumped a GOP speaker after eight months.

Some have even said that the holdouts on Jordan are obligated to vote with a majority of the GOP caucus. Where was that argument when the Gaetz Gang betrayed 96% of House Republicans who wanted to retain McCarthy? A tiny fraction worked with Democrats to dump the California Republican and suffered no consequences, but Granger and the rest should swallow their objections or be labeled disloyal?

As they say online: SMH.

Granger voted for Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana for speaker. After McCarthy’s demise, Scalise was the initial choice of more Republicans than any other contender, including Jordan, but Scalise stepped aside when he couldn’t secure quite enough votes. In other words, Granger was voting with the GOP majority before it was cool.

Let’s dispense as well with the fiction that whoever is on the right side of whatever specific vote at whatever moment is the more “conservative” politician. None of this is about ideology or specific stands on issues. It’s about a group that is so clueless about governing that it would rather pitch a fit and grind the House to a halt than bank whatever wins it can when it barely controls one-half of Congress, let alone the White House.

Matt Gaetz is interested in conserving nothing other than Matt Gaetz.

It all seemed harmless enough until the vicious Hamas attacks on Israel. The House can’t do much without a speaker, and if aid to one of America’s most crucial allies is delayed one second by this nonsense, every last Republican member of Congress deserves to be fired.

Soon, we’ll also be back on the brink of a government shutdown if spending bills can’t get passed. Which party do you think voters will blame?

The Gaetz gang set this off without a plan for what would come next. No individual member of Congress should hold his or her breath to get whatever he or she wants. But some did, and the result could cost Republicans their majority next year. How many conservative bills will pass then?

Granger, Ellzey and others like them are merely playing by the rules set down by others who failed to think more than one step ahead. If we’re testing purity — and that seems to be the only thing that a fraction of GOP voters cares about anymore — the folks who turned against 96% of their Republican colleagues to create this mess have more RINO DNA than anyone.

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