Kevin McCarthy (Photo by Nicholas Kamm for AFP)
All of the concessions that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made in his desperate bid to become House Speaker are coming back to haunt him as his caucus can't seem to get on the same page and now he is starting to point fingers at his deputies for their failings -- many of which are his fault, according to a report.
Politico said McCarthy's travails have led him to start looking for "scapegoats" in an effort to escape blame and allay doubts that he is not up to the job.
As the report notes, "Within days of Kevin McCarthy clinching the speakership, some of his allies began to fret: How the hell was he going to live up to all the promises he’d made to conservatives to win their support? How, in particular, would he pass a budget that would balance within 10 years — a tricky feat even before he took cuts to Social Security and Medicare off the table?"
Adding that his "chickens are coming home to roost," the report states that the embattled McCarthy won't own up to his failures and now wants to spread the blame.
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Pointing out that McCarthy has taken shots at Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-TX) as "incompetent" and chief deputy Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) as "ineffective," the report states, "People close to McCarthy tell us that he perceives both men as disloyal (and we know from covering McCarthy for almost a decade that he holds grudges)."
According to one Republican aide, it was inevitable that McCarthy's unbridled ambition would put him in the place he is in today.
“He made a bunch of promises during the speaker race that were always untenable, but he made them anyway,” they explained. “At a certain point, a lot of that stuff is going to collide, and he’s getting nervous and looking for others to blame.”
You can read more here.
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