# Will Kevin McCarthy be the next speaker? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 1, 2015, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121 "2015-10-01T10:36:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/241 "2015-10-12T12:44:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Heh. I say he’ll have a shot next in 2024. When he’ll be the ripe old age of 55. He’s got plenty of time. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/242 "2015-10-12T13:26:21Z")
He has to get elected statewide first and I don’t think he thinks he can pull that off. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/243 "2015-10-12T13:28:03Z")
He could pull a Scott Brown and just try different states every cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/244 "2015-10-12T20:50:48Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Heh. I say he’ll have a shot next in 2024. Is this an official adaher prediction? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/245 "2015-10-12T22:18:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Some people can’t bring themselves to say “Democratic Party” and think it’s clever to leave off the last two letters. I wanted to hear him say it. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/246 "2015-10-12T22:29:19Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Some people can’t bring themselves to say “Democratic Party” and think it’s clever to leave off the last two letters. Is there a term for establishing the exact opposite of what you are trying to do? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/247 "2015-10-12T23:41:05Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Not always. We live in a great country, we don’t need a lot done. Yeah, you’re right. [Everything is awesome](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DWB7CBdvXU), and we have next to no problems that can’t be taken care of by the free market or the states. :dubious: And appropriations bills are hardly the only ‘routine’ bill that’s screwed up these days. The debt ceiling, the transportation bill, you name it. The GOP is governing, if you can call it that, by creation of artificial crises and hostage-taking. Meanwhile, while they’re not dealing with the essential parts of their job, they’ve got plenty of time for years of _Benghazi!_ hearings and investigations of Hillary Clinton’s email server. Sure, the Dems didn’t always get all the appropriation bills passed through regular order, but at least they _had_ regular order. Gingrich pretty much axed that when he became Speaker in 1995, and Boehner did the same when he regained the gavel for the GOP in 2011. Not to mention, the Dems were able to get things done because they were willing to compromise, and didn’t spend their time in the majority doing witch-hunts. (If they’d wanted one, simultaneous impeachment of Bush and Cheney was _there_. But Pelosi quite sensibly considered governing to be way more important than trying to impeach Bush and Cheney.) ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/248 "2015-10-12T23:53:54Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If that analogy had any validity whatsoever it would make sense. Congress doesn’t direct the country, it just makes the rules. It’s more akin to saying the rules of the road need to be changed constantly. Actually, the rules do need to change all the time. Just think about the issues in public policy we have today that literally didn’t exist just a few years ago: airspace regulation for drones, net neutrality, commercial space tourism, reallocating spectrum for new mobile networks and other stuff, the need to actually pass a law banning the military from torturing, deciding what to do with Guantanamo, normalizing relations with Cuba, treatment of state taxes for E-commerce, and so on and so on. Congress has simply passed the buck on a lot of these issues for years. Saying that Congress should only be in session a few weeks a year means that nothing happens on these and lots of issues. Saying “Yeahbut… They should get more done in a shorter period of time!” Well, I’m sure your boss thinks you should work twice as many hours for half the pay, but reality intrudes. That’s what reality does. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/249 "2015-10-13T06:44:08Z")
The Freedom Caucus apparently wants to make the Hastert rule a formal one. Didn’t know that. Elizabeth Drew: An important reason Boehner had been in a bind in getting legislation passed was that he was obliged to follow the “Hastert rule.” When Dennis Hastert was Speaker, for self-protection he adopted the practice that nothing would come to the House floor that wasn’t supported by a majority of Republicans. This approach both reflected and intensified the polarization between the two parties. Members of the Freedom Caucus want to make it a formal rule. But the Hastert rule is a convenient myth perpetrated by the right: in 2013 Hastert himself said, “The Hastert rule never really existed. It’s a nonentity as far as I’m concerned.” > [@adaher](#): > > I don’t think Ryan has Presidential ambitions. This was the best time for him to run. I find it hilarious that no Republican wants to be third in line for the Presidency. Krugman thinks that, “If Paul Ryan has any sense of self-preservation — and that is one thing he surely has — he will look for any way possible to avoid becoming Speaker.” More deeply, Ryan doesn’t really have that much good will with the Freedom Cabal. They like him because he gets good press. But if he aligns with the crazies, he no longer will. Much better to have it both ways and let Boehner stay on. [Paul Ryan, Centrist Crush - The New York Times](http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/10/paul-ryan-centrist-crush) ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/250 "2015-10-13T06:51:56Z")
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) endorses Dick Cheney for Speaker of the House. Not sure that would placate the cabal. If it did, it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Cheney was incredibly conservative but was also a deal cutter. Cheney is 74. While he was once House Minority Whip, that was in 1989. He obviously has few current ties to the House. > **[GOP Senator Wants Dick Cheney To Be Speaker Of The House](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/cotton-cheney-house-speaker)** > > A freshman Republican senator told Politico he wanted to see former Vice President Dick Cheney to be the next speaker of the House. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), an Iraq war veteran and a hawk on foreign… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/251 "2015-10-14T01:42:50Z")
Since the Speaker does not need to be a member of the House, how about Sarah Palin? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121.md?page=12)