Kevin McCarthy, Message Wizard, Replaces Former Wizard Boehner

It is axiomatic in politics that you can’t beat someone with no one. It’s a lesson one would think House Republican conservatives are well aware of, but I’m beginning to think that is not the case. As an outsider who has been active in politics for decades, I assumed that the effort to oust John Boehner as speaker included a consensus conservative nominee that would attempt to replace him. But not only is that not the case, it appears that no conservative House member with name identification exceeding that of the current head of ISIS is even interested in the job. Forcing Boehner’s resignation now doesn’t resemble a coup so much as it resembles a suicide bombing: Blow the place up and see who wanders in to survey the wreckage.

Kevin “Benghazi” McCarthy is looking over the rubble for souvenirs he can sell on EBay

Right now Kevin “Benghazi” McCarthy is looking over the rubble for souvenirs he can sell on EBay. It’s ironic that in a year when we have so many Republican presidential candidates that we could loan the RINOs to the Democrats without any drop off in quality among the remainder, House Republicans may have to hire beaters to flush an opponent out of the bushes to take on Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Or was that the strategy all along? Defeat Boehner so his second–in–command could take over where he left off? A member of the crack Boehner message team that was outwitted by the pajama boys in the Obama administration every time they faced off, and who is already carrying on the Boehner tradition of lame brain public relations errors? Are rebellious House members planning to go after all the dominoes and hope they can persuade a conservative to join the queue at some time in the future? This could be an opportunity for outside intervention. I personally would like to know who conservative firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz thinks should be the next speaker. I have a pretty good idea who he doesn’t think is doing a good job as the leader of the Senate, so why not go positive and say something supportive about House conservatives that have been ignored for so long? Sure a Cruz endorsement will be construed as meddling in the affairs of the House, but during his first term in the Senate Cruz has ruffled more feathers than Frank Perdue, so what’s a few more? At the very least he might inspire someone to get organized in the other house. The important point is that regardless of the source of the impetus, conservative House Republicans need to get busy or risk becoming a noisy activist group, like Code Pink, that is always ready with a complaint, but in no condition to lead. The clock is ticking.

Michael R. Shannon——Bio and Archives

Michael R. Shannon (The Whole Shebang (mostly))  is a Virginia-based public relations and media consultant with MANDATE: Message, Media & Public Relations who has worked in over 75 elections on three continents and a handful of islands.