“Speaker-in-waiting Kevin McCarthy admitted with pride what many of us have known for a long time: the Benghazi committee is part of a GOP strategy to derail Secretary Clinton’s presidential bid”, Engel said. Republicans on the committee had tried for months to keep the focus of the inquiry on the administration’s handling of the attacks, avoiding getting into the ins and outs of the various aspects on the email stories. (3) One point McCarthy raises near the beginning of the discussion is an important one, though it gets lost in the shuffle. “Are we going to tell the American people, or try to fool them, into believing that we can unilaterally repeal Obamacare, defund Planned Parenthood, bring down the president’s executive orders?” asked Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla.
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What would be the biggest challenge facing McCarthy if he wins? Maybe too high, says outgoing House Speaker (and fellow Republican) John Boehner.
McCarthy’s comments come at a pivotal moment for the 50-year-old Republican. And McCarthy’s Benghazi comments could reinforce the impression among a few of his critics that his gaffe-prone nature could hurt the party headed into 2016.
No doubt Republicans will clean up after McCarthy’s comments by insisting that the politics were a side benefit from a necessary investigation.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif. smiles after finishing a speech about foreign policy, Monday, September 28, 2015, during the John Hay Initiative, at a hotel in Washington. “I don’t think I have ever heard a single time Hillary Clinton’s name mentioned in conference”.
McCarthy helped elect many of those Republicans to Congress in recent years, recruiting them to run and raising money for their candidacies.
Divided House Republicans are searching for a way forward amid conservative fears that a new set of leaders might not be much different from the old.
As controversy swirled Wednesday, McCarthy’s office put out a statement meant to clarify his remarks.
If McCarthy moves up to speaker, he would leave an opening for majority leader, who determines what legislation goes on the House floor day-to-day.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), a Clinton ally, said Gowdy’s actions then were “nothing but a stunt”. But his messaging and emphasis heavily implies that the goal of the Benghazi committee was to hamper Mrs. Clinton’s political fortunes, rather than get at the truth.
Taxpayers might be interested in learning whether their hard-earned money – sorry, I could not resist invoking that favorite GOP cliche – was going out the door primarily to affect the chances of one particular candidate for president.
This should be the “litmus test” for a new Speaker: Will you continue to break faith with citizens by taking an illegal ObamaCare waiver for your own benefit or will you insist that Congress is not above the law.
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To date, the Republican obsession with Benghazi has been couched in concern for the four Americans who died – we need to find out what happened – despite their shoulder-shrugging in the face of similar attacks that occurred under George Bush.
