McCarthy fed GOP 'crocodiles' a 'steady diet of Democrats before getting eaten himself': columnist

When far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) triggered a "motion to vacate," House Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) made it abundantly clear that she had no desire to help save Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) from being ousted as House speaker. Jayapal bluntly told reporters, "Let them wallow in their pigsty of incompetence and inability to govern."

McCarthy, Jayapal argued, had pandered to the extremists in his party countless times. But as hard-right and pro-Donald Trump as McCarthy has been as House speaker, Gaetz believed that he wasn't far enough to the right. And he was ousted.

In his October 9 column, the Los Angeles Times' George Skelton expresses no sympathy for McCarthy — arguing that in the end, he became a target of the very extremism he catered to.

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"McCarthy's tiger that gobbled him up was a political animal hungry for attention: Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), supported by a small band of hard-right Republican mutineers," Skelton explains. "They complained that the GOP speaker reached across the aisle too often and dealt with the opposition party — you know, like the founders envisioned when they created our democratic form of government. We're built for bipartisan compromise in this country or little that's important gets done in government — at least when the two sides are closely matched as they have been in Washington in recent years."

Skelton, who has been writing for the L.A. Times since 1974, argues that McCarthy "stuck his head in the tiger's mouth" and paid a price for it politically.

According to Skelton, a quote from U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill is relevant to McCarthy: "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last."

"McCarthy made concession after concession in a desperate effort to appease GOP hardliners and save his speakership," Skelton observes. "He fed the crocodile a steady diet of Democrats before getting eaten himself."

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Read George Skelton's full Los Angeles Times op-ed at this link (subscription required).