You make me dizzy, Miss Lizzy
The way you rock and roll
You make me dizzy, Miss Lizzy
When you do the stroll
Come on, Miss Lizzy
Love me before I grow too old
— Larry Williams, 1958
This commentary is by Bob Stannard of Manchester, an author, musician and former lobbyist.
There is one person in America who really, really wants to be speaker of the U.S.House of Representatives and that’s California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy. And Rep. McCarthy will say and do anything to get this job.
You may recall that it was Rep. McCarthy who unintentionally exposed the truth behind the Benghazi hearings that lasted for years and cost taxpayers $7 million when he said, “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 .…” After holding Hillary Clinton hostage for 11 hours in a witness chair, this committee learned only one new piece of information: She had used a private email server, as had her predecessor.
And that jar of spilled beans led to the war chant of “Hillary’s emails,” which is still a talking point today for some. Even the committee’s chair said that McCarthy had “screwed up.” Why? Because for once in his life Kevin McCarthy told the truth. In fairness, McCarthy has told the truth twice.
The day after Trump supporters instigated an insurrection, McCarthy took to the floor of the House to condemn then-President Trump. “The president bears responsibility for the attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump.”
It was only a couple of weeks later when McCarthy slithered down to Mar-a-Lago to beg, grovel and ask for forgiveness from the man that he, McCarthy, had legitimately called out. After his confession session, McCarthy had this to say: “I don’t believe he provoked it if you listen to what he said at the rally,”
Actually, if you listened to what Trump said, McCarthy was right the first time. His total reversal exposed him as the hypocrite that he is. His inability to stand up to the former president who clearly did incite the riots has caused his tumor of hypocrisy to metastasize.
His flip-flopping has now demanded that he support “The Big Lie” that says his master actually won the 2020 presidential election and that it was stolen. Only a small handful of Republicans have pushed back against this Big Lie. One of them is Rep. Liz Cheney; R-Wyoming, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney is a true conservative Republican, having voted in lockstep with Trump over 90% of the time. She parted company over the Big Lie. She has spoken the truth, which is that the 2020 U.S. elections were the most secure elections in our history.
However, McCarthy has never been one to let the truth get in his way. In his appearance on Fox & Friends, he said, “Heard from other members concerned about [Cheney’s] ability to carry out the job as conference chair, to carry out the message.” When he thought the microphone was off, he said, “I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence.” On Wednesday of this week, the Republicans in the House are expected to throw Liz Cheney over the bridge, because she will not go along with the Big Lie.
Meanwhile, the Republicans are willing to turn a blind eye to Rep. Matt Gaetz, the smarmy character from Florida who thought it was appropriate to show inappropriate pictures to his colleagues while on the House floor.
Yes, it’s true that all politicians occasionally will say something that’s not 100% accurate. Sometimes they do so mistakenly. Other times they do so intentionally. Think back to what the former president had to say about Covid-19 to Bob Woodward versus what he had to say to Americans.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy made a conscious decision to sell his soul in exchange for power. Oh, man, does he ever want the power of that gavel. He doesn’t want that gavel to do good for Americans. He wants that gavel just for the sake of the power that it can wield. He wants to be able to perpetuate the Big Lie, because telling the truth has simply not been his forte.
Liz Cheney may be making McCarthy dizzy with rage, but the problem is not Liz Cheney. If Kevin McCarthy wants to get mad at someone, he need only go look into a mirror and get mad at the hypocrite that he sees staring back at him. In doing so, he might come to the same conclusion that the majority of Americans have, which is that a man with no soul, no moral compass, the inability to speak truth to power is the last man in the world who deserves to be in a position of power.
If you want to know what is wrong with America today, you need only to look at Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
