The Great Eight Or The Hateful Eight?

The eight Republican House Members who joined Democrats to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy have been called the Taliban wing of the GOP, MAGA extremists, “a nihilistic bloc

of far-right Republicans,” and now, by Ben Domenech in an article for TheSpectator.com, “the hateful eight.”

And those are just the names we can print on our family friendly website.

The eight are Reps. Bob Good (R-Va.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who put forth the motion to vacate on Oct. 2.

Mr. Domenech’s criticism was best summarized in these paragraphs from his article:

As the speaker race begins, the odds favor Steve Scalise or Jim Jordan — both more satisfying to the right wing than McCarthy, but far less capable of fundraising as he did to protect the tenuous hold of moderates in blue states. But no matter who replaces McCarthy, the center of gravity for Republican leadership in Washington that stood with House leadership for the past nine months is now in the Senate. With the upcoming elections likely to return Mitch McConnell to majority leader status, or pass the baton to one of the three Johns, it stands to be there for the foreseeable future.

That is not, to say the least, good for the next generation of conservatives.

We hate to break it to you Ben, but Kevin McCarthy was never going to raise money for, or give money to “the next generation of conservatives.”

At best he would pour millions into the pockets of his favorite consultants to run content-free campaigns for the empty suits he called his “majority makers,” thereby ensuring that he had a majority with no agenda.

What’s more, several of the eight are “the next generation of conservatives” and they know who helped them and who opposed them in their respective primaries – hint, it wasn’t Kevin McCarthy.

Here’s what Mr. Domenech’s wife – the media personality formerly known as Meghan McCain – had to say about Rep. Mace:

“Nancy Mace has the political instincts of noodle salad — what an absolute feckless disappointment she has turned out to be,” Meghan McCain, the conservative commentator and daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, wrote on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

But wait, wasn’t Nancy Mace the establishment pick in her primary against Katie Arrington?

Yes, she was and here is what she said about abandoning Kevin McCarthy and the GOP’s DC Uniparty establishment:

Mr. Good and Mr. Rosendale exclusively told Steve Lance, the anchor of "Capitol Report" on NTD, The Epoch Times' sister media outlet, why they voted in favor of the motion to vacate.

Mr. Rosendale said Mr. McCarthy had a "lack of trustworthiness," reported Steve Lance.

During his tenure, the House approved legislation dealing with U.S. energy and border security, and a conservative National Defense Authorization Act that included a 5.5 percent increase in military pay.

However, "the only place that we had failures was when Kevin McCarthy was left to his own means to negotiate large spending legislation," Mr. Rosendale said, which included the debt ceiling bill and the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government for another 45 days.

"So while I do believe that we must compromise and collaborate, especially when we have divided government, what I will not stand for is a speaker to mislead us, to tell us false information, and to allow the Democrats to actually dictate the legislation that is coming out of this body when we hold the majority," he said.

Mr. Good echoed Mr. Rosendale's reasons for ousting Mr. McCarthy as speaker. He cited the debt ceiling deal, which Mr. McCarthy negotiated with President Joe Biden months ago, and the CR, which passed on Sept. 30. The latter, Mr. Good said, was the "last straw" for him, according to Mr. Lance’s reporting.

Anyone notice a theme here? Like lack of trust in Kevin McCarthy.

In a press call reported by KOMONews.com Rep. Mace said, “I could not, in good conscience, continue to support a speaker who was unwilling to tell the truth. To me, you have to have honesty and truth, especially how divisive this country is. We had a guy who was telling Conservatives one thing, moderates another, and Democrats something else. This is not the way to lead.”

We agree with Reps. Mace, Good and Rosendale, you cannot and should not keep a leader who won’t keep his word – that’s not good for the Republican Party and the conservative movement, to say nothing of the poor example it sets for “the next generation of conservatives” Mr. Domenech was whinging about.

To us the eight Republican House Members who voted to vacate the chair are “the great eight.” We urge House conservatives to unite around a “keep our word” candidate for Speaker, who will follow through and actually fight for the conservative issues Republicans run on, but under Kevin McCarthy could never quite get around to legislating on.

• Government Shutdown

• Kevin McCarthy

• Steve Scalise

• Jim Jordan

• vacate the chair

• Candidate switches

• lawfare

• Matt Gaetz

• Congressional leadership

• Freedom Caucus

• Byron Donalds