Has Kevin McCarthy Single-Handedly Given Democrats the 2016 Election?
There are still 13 months until Election Day 2016, but when the history of this presidential election is written, the focal point will be October 8, 2015 at around 12:28 pm Eastern time. That’s the precise time, this afternoon, that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) completed his apparent mission to hand Democrats the presidency and the Senate, and some semblance of balance in the House. It’s the precise time that this happened:
“Kevin McCarthy stood up, and announced he would not be running for speaker of the house.”
McCarthy’s sudden, bombshell decision to drop out of the running for Speaker of the House is just the latest in a series of recent, McCarthy-connected events that have all but secured the presidency for Democrats. On the heels of current Speaker of the House John Boehner‘s resignation, McCarthy was the natural successor, and promptly took advantage by completely destroying Benghazi as an issue for Hillary Clinton. One under-reported fact about McCarthy’s Benghazi gaffe is that he didn’t just connect the select committee’s activities to Hillary’s poll numbers once, he did it three times:
“Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.”
“You’re going to see an enrollment correction, but more importantly, you’re going to see a select committee. When people in this country ask why Hillary’s numbers have dropped, because people don’t trust her. Why don’t they trust her? Because what the select committee in Benghazi found out she was doing.”
Then, the following morning, McCarthy made the same case to Fox and Friends:
“And when we look at Hillary Clinton’s numbers today, America says they distrust her. Why? Because they found out the truth about her. And the only way they found that truth about it was Benghazi select committee dug in to it and was be able to get the facts.”
That’s not a typo, he really said “was be able.”
Even if McCarthy had survived the gaffe, though, it would have been nearly impossible for him to buck the parts of the Republican conference that wanted Boehner gone, and now that McCarthy is sunk, the next candidate will be in even rougher shape. The only person this seems to be good news for is Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who could barely contain his glee as he told reporters he’s still running for speaker, minutes after McCarthy’s exit:
Paul Ryan has already said he won’t run for Speaker, so I guess that leaves Louie Gohmert…
Read More: Kevin McCarthy Has Single-Handedly Given Democrats the 2016 Election | Mediaite
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