'Giddy' Democrats see Kevin McCarthy 'playing right into their hands': Politico

Politico's Playbook reports that Democrats in the House of Representatives are "giddy" watching House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) desperately try to make amends with hardline conservatives who are revolting over the debt ceiling deal he cut with President Joe Biden.

As Politico notes, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for years showed she was willing to roll over her most progressive members' priorities to protect some of her most vulnerable members in swing districts, whereas now McCarthy is bending over backwards to cater to the most irascible members of his caucus.

"As Democrats see it, McCarthy is... playing right into their hands," writes Politico. "Since becoming speaker, McCarthy has exposed his 'majority makers' to votes on steep cuts to federal programs that benefit millions of Americans and, just last week, the reversal of a Biden administration rule that cracks down on a gun accessory used in several recent mass shootings. Both were priorities of the hard right and exposed members in swing districts to Democratic attacks."

What's more, the publication writes that even tougher votes are coming for Republican members.

IN OTHER NEWS: North Carolina GOP House speaker 'engaged in group sex with people seeking political favor': lawsuit

"Despite plenty of evidence that swing voters have sprinted toward Democrats in the wake of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, House Republicans have advanced multiple new abortion restrictions that could reach the floor later this Congress, including an appropriations rider tightening access to the abortion drug mifepristone," Politico writes.

Democrats have won a string of special elections in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the party sees protecting abortion rights as its strongest issue heading into next year's elections.