# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/121 "2015-10-08T20:29:49Z")
Maybe if you cry a little harder, John. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/122 "2015-10-08T21:01:22Z")
Is it just me or has Congress entered bizzaro world? It’s starting to sound like Boehner’s replacement might be Boehner himself. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/123 "2015-10-08T21:10:41Z")
Ever go to a wedding where the bride throws the bouquet and all the woman back away from it, like it was radioactive. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/124 "2015-10-08T21:28:18Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Ever go to a wedding where the bride throws the bouquet and all the woman back away from it, like it was radioactive. No, I’ve never been to a wedding like that. It would be quite a spectacle :D. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/125 "2015-10-08T22:36:14Z")
I’ve been to ones where the groomsmen run the other way when the garter is thrown. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/126 "2015-10-08T22:47:57Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Ryan has again rejected the opportunity, stating that he feels more usefull as chairman of Ways and Means. Which given the way Congress is acting these days, is probably really accurate. Hi could be elected Speaker and assign himself to Ways and Means… Really though no one wants John Boehner’so job, not even him. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/127 "2015-10-08T22:50:36Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I don’t think he would. He wants to have some kind of legacy better than leaving his party and the country in the lurch. Part of me wonders if he anticipated all of this, and if it was the point of the whole gambit. He demonstrates that the loons can’t replace him, then he plays staying on and retaining the gavel as a sacrifice. He works with the non-insane elements of his party and with the Democrats to get some actual governing done. Maybe he leaves at the end of his term, with some fresh accomplishments and bipartisanship (however minor) to put a shine on his last days in office. I don’t actually believe it, but it would be quite a maneuver. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/128 "2015-10-08T23:00:24Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I don’t think he would. He wants to have some kind of legacy better than leaving his party and the country in the lurch. > > I think this makes the so-called Freedom Caucus a much lamer duck than it makes Boehner. He is free to pass whatever he wants with the help of 30 Democrats, and kick the conservatives to the curb. They haven’t got the power to replace him. They just overplayed their hand and revealed themselves to be impotent. I concur with all of this. The only thing I’d add is that it at least _seemed_ like the Freedom Caucus had a good play. But it rested on the assumption that somebody really _wanted_ to be Speaker: first, that Boehner wanted to hold onto the gavel, and then that McCarthy really wanted to succeed Boehner, badly enough in either case that they’d negotiate with the Freedumbers if they had the votes to deny the Speakership to either. But then Boehner jumped rather than wait to be pushed, and McCarthy withdrew, and all of a sudden they’ve got no lever to use on anyone (and no one to use it on if they had it), just ~40 votes that are worthless by themselves. Serves 'em right. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/129 "2015-10-08T23:41:53Z")
The Freedom Caucus only play is the same one they always play: “we can’t win, but by golly we can fuck everything up!”. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/130 "2015-10-08T23:50:03Z")
So…the basic Republican playbook? ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/131 "2015-10-09T00:33:12Z")
Wow, I am so very bad at predicting things. I did not see this coming. And McCarthy is really bad at talking. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/132 "2015-10-09T00:56:29Z")
Paul Ryan will not be forced into the Speakership. What’s good for the House of Representatives, even what’s good for the House Republicans, is much less important to him than what’s good for Paul Ryan. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/133 "2015-10-09T01:06:40Z")
Hey! [How about Newtie?](http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2573731) > [@Washington Examiner](#): > > During an interview with radio host Sean Hannity Thursday, the former speaker told the host that while he isn’t pining to retake the position he vacated in 1999, he would not be opposed to serving as interim speaker if he had the 218 votes necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/134 "2015-10-09T01:10:28Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Paul Ryan will not be forced into the Speakership. > > What’s good for the House of Representatives, even what’s good for the House Republicans, is much less important to him than what’s good for Paul Ryan. Once it became known that Boehner had pleaded with him to take the job, there were no good outcomes for Ryan – either he sits his butt in the dunking stool over the piranha tank, or he is tagged as a disloyal wimp who wouldn’t take one for the team. I’ll bet he’s well and truly pissed. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/135 "2015-10-09T01:20:29Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > But how much good can he do at Ways and Means, if there’s the equivalent (or worse) of a vacuum in the Speaker’s office? > > Seems that he’s basically admitting that the job itself is a fuckup right now, and he doesn’t want to ruin his own career by stepping into it. I understand your reasoning, but Ryan has never been on a leadership track. If that was what he wanted to do, he’d have followed a career trajectory such as Eric Cantor or Steny Hoyer. He just doesn’t want to be in the leadership of the House. It’s not his thing. Frankly, I can respect that. ETA: And if I were him, I’d be really pissed at Boehner for making this public. REALLY pissed. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/136 "2015-10-09T02:42:37Z")
Ryan doesn’t seem to have any ambitions for higher office at this point, so his unwillingness to be Speaker would seem to be for the right reasons rather than pure selfishness. Besides, Boehner actually wanted the job, if Ryan’s a dick for not taking it, Boehner’s twice the dick for leaving it. Here’s a name that would actually make sense: Eric Cantor. They can name someone from outside Congress, and he wanted the job really bad, and his election loss aside, the Tea Party doesn’t hate him and neither does K street, so why not? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/137 "2015-10-09T02:49:23Z")
Here’s another crazy idea: we have over a dozen Presidential candidates. See if one of the ones with experience want to drop out and be 3rd in line from the President. Jindal and Kasich both have House experience and Kasich was fairly high ranking. Kasich would make a fine Speaker. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/138 "2015-10-09T02:51:11Z")
If a non-Member of the House is chosen Speaker, does that mean there’s an extra vote for tie-breaking? Why don’t the Republicans choose one of their mascots, say Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh? At least it would improve the average IQ of their caucus. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/139 "2015-10-09T02:53:20Z")
No, no vote, as he’s not representing any constituency. He’s just managing the floor. Which is power enough. In a 435-member body, one vote isn’t worth that much. But being able to choose committee assignments and what comes to the floor for a vote, that’s huge. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121/140 "2015-10-09T03:37:55Z")
SO, this choosing an outsider option is brand new to me. And that doesn’t happen much when it comes to US politics. If they hired an outsider, how would they pay the person? The speaker gets, what, about $50k over and above the normal Congressional salary. Would an outside Speaker get only that? Or would they be paid the full $225k? Even for 225 it’s a hell of a job for that amount of money. A comparable private sector position would be in the millions. Not that any of these bozos could qualify for one . . . Still, I wouldn’t say “no” to it. ROFL! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-kevin-mccarthy-be-the-next-speaker/733121.md?page=8)