Who are McCarthy’s Vote Counters?
Look, the groupthink that gripped Republicans before the mid-terms was a widescreen infection.
McCarthy himself, I am told from numerous people, seriously believed the minimum number of seats the GOP would win on election day 2022 was 27, and the best election day performance would be a gain of 42 or 43 seats.
It was, obviously, completely delusional thinking.
Whose thinking was it? Staff? Consultants? McCarthy himself?
The expectation setting was a whoever was responsible should be fired moment.
But now we saw yesterday, the biggest inside baseball game in Washington, the vote for Speaker or Majority Leader of the Senate.
If someone running for Speaker of the US House can’t count votes, it’s a real problem.
As former Speaker Boehner said, if you don’t have 218 votes, you don’t have anything.
But who was counting the votes for the Speakers race?
Was it McCarthy?
Was it his staff?
Was it both?
This 19 and 20 votes against was a total failure of the vote counting, and expectation setting, by McCarthy.
The expectations set by Team McCarthy for the mid-terms and the vote for Speaker should be deeply concerning to all, since it likely means that McCarthy’s Speakership (if successful) will not last long, since his whip count will likely be off at least five GOP votes.