Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Salena Zito: McCarthy Wants to Arm His Caucus for 2022 Battle

 For Republicans to win back the majority in the House, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said GOP candidates, whether they are incumbents or challengers, must spend time with voters in their communities and come up with solutions about their concerns.

The House minority leader said spending time focusing on the latest outrage on social media or the daily spectacles coming out of Washington, D.C., won't get them anywhere.

    "The most important thing is to listen to people, because when you listen, you'll hear the concerns, and you'll be prepared to be able to find ways to solve them," said McCarthy in an interview with the Washington Examiner.

    The Californian stressed that the path forward for Republicans does not go through the Beltway. "The Republicans' road to the majority bypasses Washington, D.C., and that means bypassing Washington, D.C., press as well," he said. "Our focus is on the hardworking American taxpayer; that is where our focus is going to be. You've got millions of kids who are out of school, and they've been out of school for more than a year. You've got people out of work. Why aren't we focused on the two fundamental items that put us back on track?"

    The House leader has been in the national spotlight for the past two weeks, beginning with the conference vote that ousted former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming from leadership and his decision not to support legislation for a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

    McCarthy said his problem with the commission was how broad it was. "And it's the point I've made the whole time, the scope," he said. "Nancy Pelosi's been trying to play games with this." Why, he asked, does it not cover other safety breaches that have affected either members of congress or the Capitol complex itself, such as the 2017 shooting at a Republican congressional baseball practice or the fatal attack on Capitol Police on April 2?

    "If we're going to have a commission that looks at, for the security of the House, why wouldn't we include those?" he asked. "Why would we try to exclude that?"

    Last week, the Democratic-led House voted to create an independent commission on the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. The bill passed 252-175, with 35 Republicans voting in support of the commission.

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell echoed McCarthy's position one day later, with Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine, both of whom voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, unhappy with the bill in its present form.

The commission bill will need 10 Senate Republican votes to begin debate and allow amendments.

    McCarthy is where many minority leaders of their party have found themselves ahead of the last three wave election cycles: Trying to bring together a fractured but energized party itching to be in the majority but not quite there in terms of developing their message.

    In the 1994 wave election cycle, then-House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich rolled out "The Contract with America" just six weeks before that cycle's midterm elections. The document offered up detailed legislative actions with a promise to uphold them. The strategy worked, and for the first time in 40 years, Republicans won a majority in the House. They kept it until 2006 when voters became fatigued with two wars in the Middle East, the mishandling of Hurricane Katrina, several scandals and a Republican Party that had lost its way on spending.

    In the 2006 cycle, Democrats succeeded by finding centrist candidates to run in swing districts and combined that with values-messaging that was not overtly partisan. The gamble worked, and despite the fracture between the left wing of the party and its new centrist officeholders, Democrats picked up 31 seats in the House, and Pelosi became the first female speaker.

    Four years later, then-House Minority Leader John Boehner held together yet another fractured party ahead of the 2010 midterm elections. It was filled with traditional conservatives and establishment types. The base of the party had found themselves attracted to the new candidates running, who were often small businessmen and women who had never been in politics before, rising up as part of the tea party movement.

Boehner's "Where are the jobs?" quip, which he had repeated for over a year during the slow recovery, became the central theme of the campaign in the closing days of the 2010 midterm elections. Against a still-popular president working hard to hold his party's majority, the Republicans not only gained back what they lost in 2006 but built on it, winning a net total of 63 seats.

    McCarthy says his priority and message right now for voters is bringing the country "back to normal." Like Gingrich, Pelosi, and Boehner, he too faces a fractured party, with a conservative populist wing making up the majority and the rest holding lingering resentment toward former president Donald Trump.

    Republicans surprised everyone last fall, including themselves, when their party picked up 14 seats in the 2020 presidential elections in a year they were predicted to lose 15 -- the Senate majority won by Democrats was the smallest for any party since 2000, when Republicans won 221 seats.

    So how does McCarthy expect to capitalize on last year's gains when much of the cultural curators such as the larger media, Hollywood, big corporations, and the major sports leagues are all pushing against anything conservatives stand for? He says that is easy, go directly to the people, and don't just remind them who has their back, show them.
"It's just not part of a message. It's what we do," he said.

    Democrats listen to Hollywood and what they say about regular Americans at award shows, he said. "We go listen to the people at truck stops and diners and all across America, where people who are going to work every single day or wanting to try to work every day, take their kids back to school."

    McCarthy said Democrats are more concerned about what Hollywood thinks of them than about the concerns of everyday Americans, "You try to bring up going to school, they fight us on it," he said. "You bring up, 'Let's send the money to the classrooms to open it up,' they want to delay it two years. You talk about the ability to follow science and put people in Congress back to work, they want to keep proxies so people don't come to work and still get paid. They don't want bills to go through committee, so you don't have an opportunity to have an amendment, to have a voice for the constituents you represent."

McCarthy gets plenty of questions about Cheney and Trump, but he says he is rarely asked by the national press about what he has found to be the biggest concerns among voters as he has been traveling across the country, "I'll tell you, one is about the economy and getting people back to work. I don't think we get asked enough about that."

    The other, he said, is what are the even deeper problems at the border besides the evident ones coming from the surge of illegal immigrants flooding border towns, "Who's actually coming across our border?" he asks. "Are there terrorists coming across our border? Are we being told about it?"

    In April, Customs and Border Protection announced that U.S. border agents had arrested two Yemeni men on a terror watch-list in separate incidents as they crossed the border with Mexico illegally.

    McCarthy said he is frustrated by the White House's seeming ambivalence about this. "I'm worried that there's not a greater concern or action to stop what is going on right now," he said. "I think people are going to look back in hindsight, and they're going to say I warned them about it."

    Between the border crisis, the culture wars, the lingering effects of pandemic shutdowns, inflation and the gasoline crisis, McCarthy said he wants to arm Republicans for an election-year debate that will allow them to earn their majority back.

    Salena Zito is a CNN political analyst, and a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between. To find out more about Salena and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CREATORS.COM

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL. Like these tools are actually running for office to do the will of the people. THEY ARE IN IT FOR THE DIRTY MONEY. Every damn one on both damn sides.

Anonymous said...

If Republicans want to win then they need to say and do what their constituents want. Arrest and deport the illegals. Build more prisons instead of emptying the ones we have. And stop brain washing our children with Critical Race Theory and Transgender Sex Ed. Teach them about God, Gold, and Guns. Beans, Deens, and high capacity magazines. Teach them that savages never want to be friends. They only want to burn, rape, loot, and kill.

Anonymous said...

Republican affiliation really is a mental illness. Selena proves her cult membership thoroughly.

Anonymous said...

They're all idiots, but we all are even more idiotic putting their asses right back in. I only wish they paid their employees (us) better.

Anonymous said...

McCarthy obviously knows little about Guest. Like Harper before him, Guest does not get out into his district and listen to people. Every event is tightly controlled and choreographed. That's the RINO way.

Anonymous said...

If you think juggling those of differing political beliefs in this small cesspool of choices is going to scratch the surface of the problems our grandkids are up against your simply an idiot. Just try for once to look forward 40 years...take your hands off the damned joy stick, put cheeto’s down for a bit.

Anonymous said...

Like everything else in this country, we have the best politicians money can buy.

Anonymous said...

@4:01. I truly hope your post is satire…

Anonymous said...

4:32 - 'we', includng you, are not an employee of the elected politicians, unless of course you are part of the gilded class of government employees - in which case you damn sure don't need to be complaining about what you get 'paid' (including, of course, all the benefits you collect that most of the working peons of the world only wish we could receive.)

Try again later, Karen, when you have a legitimate complaint or comment.

Anonymous said...

"...must spend time with voters in their communities and come up with solutions about their concerns."

Dayum! What a concept. Ima write that down.

What's a 'deen'?

Liberalism Is Psycho said...

Anonymous said... Republican affiliation really is a mental illness.
June 1, 2021 at 4:11 PM

You're reading the print on the wrong packet of Kool Aid, Luther.

Anonymous said...

@12:50 AM
deens are sardines
Survivalist Superfood

Messick said...

"McCarthy says his priority and message right now for voters is bringing the country "back to normal.""

What this guy and others of his type fail to realize is that "normal", for many people, has not worked out for them over the past several decades.

This congressman is part of the problem.

Anonymous said...

How about we have term limits for Congress instead!

Anonymous said...

10:37 pm "gilded class" of government employees is hysterically funny unless you meant those who are elected or appointed.

The rest are just working folks without the special benefits you imagine. They don't get to go to Walter Reed at all unless they are part of the active military on duty in the DC area.
You know, if folks actually bothered to learn about the specifics of how government works , they'd spend more time being mad a the elected people from your State and local communities.

Anonymous said...

1:23 - What's Walter Reed and other federal benefits and perks got to do with 'elected people in my local community'?


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Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, “How I sold out to da Man.” Robbie Bell again performs: “Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells” and “Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine”. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to “Dancing with the Stars”, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.

Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and “Big Cat” Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).


Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.

Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".

In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.

Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.

Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.


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Trollfest '07

Jackson Jambalaya is the home of Trollfest '07. Catch this great event which promises to leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Sonjay Poontang and his band headline the night with a special steel cage, no time limit "loser must leave town" bout between Alan Lange and "Big Cat"Donna Ladd following afterwards. Kamikaze will perform his new song F*** Bush, he's still a _____. Did I mention there was no referee? Dr. Heddy Matthias and Lori Gregory will face off in the undercard dueling with dangling participles and other um, devices. Robbie Bell will perform Her two latest songs: My Best Friends are in the Media and Mama's, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be George Bell. Sid Salter of The Clarion-Ledger will host "Pin the Tail on the Trial Lawyer", sponsored by State Farm.

There will be a hugging booth where in exchange for your young son, Frank Melton will give you a loooong hug. Trollfest will have a dunking booth where Muhammed the terrorist will curse you to Allah as you try to hit a target that will drop him into a vat of pig grease. However, in the true spirit of Separate But Equal, Don Imus and someone from NE Jackson will also sit in the dunking booth for an equal amount of time. Tom Head will give a reading for two hours on why he can't figure out who the hell he is. Cliff Cargill will give lessons with his .80 caliber desert eagle, using Frank Melton photos as targets. Tackleberry will be on hand for an autograph session. KIM Waaaaaade will be passing out free titles and deeds to crackhouses formerly owned by The Wood Street Players.

If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.

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