Good Grief. Kevin McCarthy Learns a Hard Lesson About Democrats and Political Nihilism

A unanimous Democratic caucus joined eight right-wing Republicans in voting Tuesday to vacate the House speaker’s chair. The following day, the now former speaker, Representative Kevin McCarthy, said he’d believed that “Democrats who said they wanted to keep government open” would have rewarded his doing so by voting to preserve his speakership.Mr. McCarthy told the press on Wednesday that after Republicans won the majority last year, he confided in Speaker Pelosi that he was “having issues with getting enough votes” to be leader because some members wanted to restore a rule allowing “one person” to call a no-confidence vote on the speaker.“I had the power to call the vote on her,” Mr. McCarthy said of Ms. Pelosi, “but I never would — I lost some votes because of it — and she said, ‘Just give it to them. I’ll always back you up.'” In Mr. McCarthy’s telling, Ms. Pelosi said she “made the same offer” to the two previous Republican speakers, “because I believe in the institution.”Mr. McCarthy called the decision to vote with objecting Republicans “a political decision by the Democrats.” That is putting it chartably. It brings to mind the running gag in the “Peanuts” comic strip, where Lucy Van Pelt played over and over the same trick, promising to hold the football for Charlie Brown’s kick — only to yank it away at the last second.Good grief.The first time, one felt sorry for poor Chuck, but sympathy evaporated after decades in which Charlie kept landing flat on his back. This is the fate that could befall the GOP. Mr. McCarthy wanted to keep the government open, which lined up with Democratic interests, so they supported him. The last time a speaker faced a revolt on this scale was March 1910, when Republicans whom the Sun dubbed “insurgents” joined with the Democratic minority to “humble” another Republican speaker, Joseph “Uncle Joe” Cannon.“That the insurgents will take advantage of every opportunity to embarrass Mr. Cannon and his organization,” the Sun wrote, “is now evident to the leaders.” Democrats joined the disgruntled Republicans in a “surprise” move, stripping Cannon of his seat on the powerful Rules Committee.The Sun described Cannon as “humiliated,” but he refused to hand over the gavel without a “motion to vacate the speakership.” Unlike Mr. McCarthy, that vote fell short. Cannon kept his job, though only for a few months. Democrats rode the chaos they’d helped orchestrate to their first majority in 16 years.Even President Reagan fell for the Lucy trick, signing an amnesty for three million persons who were in the country illegally on the condition that Democrats pass stronger border enforcement. The Democrats failed to deliver.In 1982, when Reagan sought to reduce taxes, the speaker at the time, Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, a Massachusetts Democrat, demanded tax increases. They struck a compromise: Cut $3 in spending for every dollar in taxes hiked. O’Neill broke his word — and in 1990, his party teed up the same football for Reagan’s successor.Congressional Democrats told President George H.W. Bush that they’d cut $2 in spending for every $1 of increase but passed $137 billion in hikes and sent spending skyrocketing. Democrats also promised that if Bush broke his famous pledge — “Read my lips: No new taxes” — they would refrain from using it against him. They broke that agreement and used the issue to drive him from the White House.Mr. McCarthy is the latest officeholder to compromise and act on President Hayes’s sentiment: “He serves his party best who serves his country best.” It’s a worthy ideal, but one that — on Washington’s political gridiron — works only if your opponents are good sports, too.

Good Grief. Kevin McCarthy Learns a Hard Lesson About Democrats and Political Nihilism

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