You know what they say … the seventh time is the charm?
That’s a bad joke, but the good jokes have been flowing on Twitter since Tuesday, as Representative Kevin McCarthy of California has lost six consecutive votes to elevate him as House Speaker amid vicious intra-GOP fighting.
“It’s about egos, not about policy,” Rep Nancy Mace told The Independent, referring to hard-right group of “Never Kevin” legislators blocking the vote. “They were asked point blank yesterday, what more do they want? They didn’t have an answer.”
Meanwhile, Florida’s Matt Gaetz on Wednesday called Mr McCarthy a “a desperate guy” who hasn’t offered a “public apology,” telling reporters he’s ready to “vote all night, all week, all month … and never for that person.”
Even a belated semi-endorsement from Donald Trump hasn’t been enough to secure Mr McCarthy the Speaker’s gavel so far.
Regardless of what happens when the Congress takes its seventh vote on Wednesday evening, plenty in the Washington commentariat have found room to make fun of the GOP’s calamitous start to its newly elected House majority.
Comedian Jon Stewart quipped that vote-fest was “the best season of cspan … ever,” while reporter Josh Marshall made a reference to the “Festivus” Seinfeld episode, declaring the House fiasco meant “Kevstivus” would continue being celebrated until the GOP could vote on a new speaker.
The allusions didn’t end there.
Representative Chuy Garcia of Illinois, one of the many legislators who has enjoyed a bit of schadenfreude watching the vote process, joked that Macaulay Culkin’s character in Home Alone is “the only Kevin that can defend a house.”
As the House headed for ever-more votes, The Independent’s own Eric Garcia declared we were now “entering Seventh Kevin”.
Others joked that the multiple votes were just par for the course for Mr McCarthy, who was often supportive to the point of obsequiousness towards Donald Trump, delivering a jar of Mr Trump’s favourite Starburst flavors to the White House. Mr Trump, meanwhile, reportedly called the GOP leader “My Kevin” in private.
“If the goal is to humiliate McCarthy into dropping out of the Speaker’s race,” journalist Josh Tyrangiel wrote on Twitter, “his opponents have not been paying attention to the man’s incredible appetite for humiliation.”
Others got more obscure with their jokes, with legal commentator Elie Mystal mockingly saying on Twitter he was “now calling on ABC to offer Kevin McCarthy his Dancing With The Stars contract NOW, so he can leave this fight with dignity.”
Last but not least, even the editors of Wikipedia got in on the action, albeit subtly, adding a passage to Mr McCarthy’s page describing his “historic” bout of “humiliation” at the hands of his colleagues.
