WASHINGTON – Forget alternative facts. We’ve now entered the era of alternative math.
After joining seven of his GOP colleagues – over the protest of some 96% of the party – in ousting former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) is now arguing Republican speaker-designate Steve Scalise (R-LA) is not, well, the speaker-designate.
Good’s claim comes after 113 Republicans voted for House Majority Leader Scalise, even as only 99 supported Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
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“No one got a majority,” Good exclusively told Raw Story early Wednesday evening. “There's 221 in the [GOP] conference, and the majority leader got 110 of the eligible voting members—you can't count the three delegates from the territories that are not allowed to vote for speaker.”
That’s right. Good says the three votes from three official Republican conference members – who also happen to be official delegates sent to Washington to represent the American citizens living in Guam, American Samoa and Puerto Rico – don’t count inside the GOP conference, because, he argues, they are forbidden from voting on the House floor.
Still, the Freedom Caucus member’s math doesn’t seem to add up. Just don’t tell that to Good.
The second-term Virginian is all-in on Jordan’s already failed speaker bid, though he says the math is on his – and not on speaker-designate Scalise’s – side.
“It's not accurate to say he had a majority,” Good said. “Now he had 110. Jim Jordan had 99. I think there were 11 who voted for someone else or voted present. So I think Jim Jordan’ s support was more enthusiastic. I think he has less in the way of hard nos. And I also think that Republican voters across the country want Jim Jordan as speaker.”
"More enthusiastic" seems to be the new Freedom Caucus barometer, especially after some 96% of Republicans backed McCarthy before he was enthusiastically ousted by 4%.
By similar calculations, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan’s popularity is skyrocketing.
“He’s the second most popular Republican in the country,” Good said.
Thing is, Raw Story can’t find any poll that comes anywhere close to showing that Jordan’s nationally popular on the right, even as regular Fox News connoisseurs know him as a brilliant, giant-slaying hero.
A recent YouGov survey doesn’t even have Jordan showing up in the top 50 most popular Republicans.
YouGov doesn’t seem to know Freedom Caucus math though. Neither does Scalise who knew contemporary Republican arithmetic was hard even before alternative math was introduced into the equation.
After supporting McCarthy last week, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) now both oppose Scalise. And they’ve got company.
“There’s at least 20” House Republicans who remain steadfastly opposed to Scalise, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) told reporters at the Capitol earlier Wednesday.
Flashbacks of the 15 rounds it took McCarthy to secure the speaker’s gavel in January are unavoidable at the Capitol these days, even to Good.
“You guys have already been here?” Raw Story asked.
“Yeah,” Good told Raw Story.
