Had he done so, he never would have been elected at all. The far-fascist wing is the worst, of course, but any thought that the rest are in any way reasonable is just not supported by current evidence. Any Republican caught consorting with Democrats in any way is immediately dubbed a “RINO” and drubbed out of the gang. These people are lost to reason, and respond only to threats from their right or talking point from Il Douche. Their Overton Window has shifted to somewhere between Atilla the Hun and Vlad the Impaler.
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Had he done so, he never would have been elected at all.
McCarthy does hail from solidly blue California, and he didn’t campaign as a MAGA extremist. So I do think he actually had a decent chance to deal at basic minimums with Democrats and still get reelected, as some other GOP representatives from heavily pro-Biden states have been able to do. This reaching of basic minimums could have led to some pragmatic support from Dems at least, as being better than the devil they don’t know.
But yes, definitely agree that’s the basic risk for McCarthy and the other GOP congressfolk who hail from from very blue states that Biden won. Getting primaried by extremists is always a real threat, even there.
…but any thought that the rest are in any way reasonable is just not supported by current evidence.
We can probably go into the weeds about what “reasonable” is defined as. But I do think many in the GOP are relatively sane - they’re just amoral and cynical opportunists.
Now that’s in many ways as bad or worse as being extremists, since that means they know better but are still actively enabling fascism. But it does mean that some appeal to their own self-interest has some chance of traction.
It just is going to take repeated losses to get that through. They just have to get it through their heads that Democrats aren’t going to bail them out from the kindness of their hearts.
And if it doesn’t get through, then we just have to keep beating them and keeping them out of power anyway.
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I guess you probably mean reelected to his House seat, not reelected as speaker. But while he is from California, his district and voter base is not “solidly blue” at all. In 2022 69.5% of voters in that district voted for the longshot Republican candidate for governor rather than the Democrat, and 67.7% voted for the Republican Senate candidate. McCarthy won about 2/3rds of the votes in his district so he would likely win against a democrat but there’s always a chance he could get primaried.
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No state is either solid blue or solid red. None. That includes California, the state that gave us both Nixon and Reagan.
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Yes, that’s what I meant in that response.
For his election as a House Speaker, in my original comment I meant that if he had offered anything solid to Democrats he wouldn’t need to have depended on winning over 8 GOP extremists to become Speaker. Which also means he wouldn’t have had to endure 15 humiliating rounds of voting, to then end up giving a narcissist like Gaetz the ability to fire him at will.
Now, yes that would have taken some skill to navigate. Which may well have taken more skill than McCarthy has. He would have had to make sure he gained enough Democrat votes to offset GOP votes against him, while still retaining a majority of GOP votes, all while not enraging all of MAGA against him. Which might not have been possible.
That said, we know what definitely didn’t work - what he actually tried instead. : )
It did not help that after all but ONE house Democrats voted in favor of the CR, he went on TV and then BLAMED THEM for nearly shutting down the government. That was literally what he said.
There is like 8 of them. This was HIS choice to cater to them. He’s just as extreme as they are and is merely cosplaying as a “moderate”… He’s absolutely part of the problem here.
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This was HIS choice to cater to them. He’s just as extreme as they are and is merely cosplaying as a “moderate”… He’s absolutely part of the problem here.
Absolutely agree. He made his bed by choice, and he can lie in it.
And I’m very happy with the Democrats under Jeffries making it stick.
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No state is either solid blue or solid red.
If by solid you mean 100% reliable, yes definitely agree. : ) But of course there are some states which tend to lean more one way than the other.
My overall point is that, in coming from a state like California with that kind of tendency to lean Democrat, McCarthy did have more room to operate than Congressfolk from, say, Alabama. He pragmatically could have worked with Democrats even a little bit, and still have some likelihood of being reelected.
He chose not to even try. So that’s even more so on him, as he had options but still chose a spineless way out. That also foolishly depended on Democrats saving his speakership from his own folly.
In the case of red states, that tends to be down to gerrymandering. I live in a state that elected 2 democratic senators, but still has a GOP majority house delegation. In the case of california, it’s more down to just diversity of the state and the legacy of the military industrial complex, especially in southern california.
Because he knows he’ll get primaried if he goes against the far right of the party.
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Again, I do think his coming from that district gives him a better chance than many to resist a MAGA primary. Or even another non-MAGA GOP candidate. All other things being equal, I personally think he would have withstood it. That’s just my subjective opinion of course.
But yes, that definitely would have been some difficult navigation at best. That might not have worked anyway.
And also, we know what didn’t work - what he tried instead. : )
But congresscritters are elected by voters in their districts, not by those who live elsewhere in their states. And obviously, some districts in very blue states are extremely red. In this sense, that McCarthy is from CA is irrelevant. 
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Sure, agree some districts in blue states can be extremely red. I don’t think that CA district would be defined as extremely red, when compared to other districts in red states. Again, McCarthy didn’t campaign as a MAGA extremist.
I also don’t think it’s completely irrelevant - context matters, including people in a state just being more used to the idea of having to work with Democrats in surrounding districts in terms of budget etc. The idea becomes a bit less shocking.
Just my take on it.
California has more Republicans, and thus more MAGA extremists, than any other state. That’s how you get freaks like Devin Nunes representing Californian districts in congress.
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The district got changed in 2022…
It is not a Democratic dominated district now. It was gerrymandered to be a much redder district.
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It would have been directly opposed to the only policy position he actually had. If nothing else, McCarthy was deeply partisan and committed to pushing republican only legislation. He clearly bought deeply into the never compromise and never collaborate across the aisle, never be bipartisan at all.
The only right decision he ever made was to avert government shutdown at the last minute. Even that was so late in the process that it wasted a ton of money as government agencies all cancelled plans and started the preparations for a shutdown on Thursday night so they could be completed on Friday before everyone was forced out. As a bonus then, he immediately blamed the people that saved us from a shutdown as being responsible for his policy of partisan one party only legislation not working.
He was doomed from the very beginning to lose the speakership. He could have gone out with a favorable legacy of funding the government early with full spending bills for everything on a bipartisan basis. Likely being better for the GOP long term as time passed and people forget they were unfit to govern as a whole.
Instead he goes out as a clown and failure while putting the GOP divide and disfunction on a podium. That’s the only legacy anyone will remember. Either way, he was going to lose the speakership.
State is not district. Anything at the state level is irrelevant to a district level election. Just look at a map of MD. A state that’s pretty solid blue at the state level. At the district level, there are some super crazy red districts where they are sure TFG is still president.
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He clearly bought deeply into the never compromise and never collaborate across the aisle, never be bipartisan at all.
Absolutely. No disagreement.
And that’s how he played himself. : )
McCarthy might not have had much of a chance to stay as Speaker otherwise - it was just a better chance than what he did.
Which as we’ve seen, most definitely did not work in keeping him as Speaker of the House. : )
Sure, you can still have MAGA extremists in California. But also, all Republicans aren’t MAGA extremists. Even in California.
Now, again, if they’re not true believing MAGA extremists but they’re still in the GOP, they’re enabling fascists. So in moral terms they aren’t any better, and are arguably worse.
That said, if they’re not MAGA extremists then they’re playing along from the category I previously mentioned of being amoral and cynical opportunists.
Which means there is a chance, as I previously mentioned, of playing to their self-interest.
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After watching the AOC video I posted above, I’m confused by McCarthy’s complete lack of navigation. Nevermind calling congress to session when they were supposed to be on recess, allowing this call to vacate to happen now, his waiving of the 48 hour window to whip up votes from the Dems is baffling. Like, just take a couple days and make some calls. 
Maybe it wouldn’t have succeeded, but to not even try is just weird. To me.
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