Send in the clowns

Last week was a good one for bad government. Kevin McCarthy was ousted by his own party as Speaker of the House. It was the first time in the nearly 250-year history of the United States for this to happen in this way.

An alien landing in a spaceship might have assumed Representative McCarthy’s ouster was the result of nefarious dealings with a foreign power, or perhaps a bribery scandal that put him in a light seen as beneath the dignity of the institution. That dignity was lost long ago.

(This is despite Arkansas’ U.S. Rep. Steve Womack’s best efforts to maintain civility and decency within the House. Womack presided over the vote and said he “wanted to protect the integrity of the institution.” He was the one who had to announce that the office of the speaker “is hereby declared vacant” even though it pained him to do so. Unfortunately for Steve Womack and the rest of us, integrity and dignity were run out of Congress long ago.)

Kevin McCarthy’s sin, however, was that he had the gall to save the country’s money—and reputation— by keeping the government’s doors open. Because of the obstinance of less than two handfuls of far-right members of his own party, Kevin McCarthy was forced to work with the other side of the aisle.

He did. The government narrowly avoided a shutdown, and all should have been good for at least 45 days until the chamber could figure out budget related matters for the next 12 months.

Apparently working with Democrats was a bridge too far for Florida’s U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and seven cohorts. They acted on a change in the rules that McCarthy himself had agreed to in order to become speaker, which allowed a single member (out of 435) to call for his head.

It worked. But that’s all that worked. Now there are a couple of U.S. representatives working behind the scenes to become the next speaker. We’ve said it before and we say it again: Who would want that job?