What Kevin McCarthy failed to learn from Nancy Pelosi
In my opinion, Nancy Pelosi is gorgeous, I’m talking Miss United States gorgeous. In the hilarious and smart film, Miss Congeniality, Sandra Bullock plays a scruffy FBI agent who reluctantly goes undercover as a Miss United States beauty pageant contestant. She quickly learns to walk the walk, then proceeds to kick ass in heals and a push-up bra. She doesn’t win Miss United States, but she is crowned Miss Congeniality.
Nancy Pelosi has spent a lifetime kicking ass, as the first woman Speaker of the House in 2006, then again in 2018. Always poised under pressure, even as violent insurrectionists attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. With a dimpled-cheek smile, and large sparkling eyes, she helped lead House members to safety, uttering the words poo poo more expertly than Robert De Niro drops the F-BOMB.
She is beauty, she is grace, she’s a pro at saving face. In 2021, several House democrats tried to derail Pelosi’s speakership. But she finessed the votes to become only the 6th person ever to win with fewer than 218 votes. She convinced three members previously voting against her, to vote “present” decreasing the voting pool from 435 to 432, lowering the threshold from 218 to 216. This allowed her detractors to save face while keeping Democrats united.
Kevin McCarthy thought he could repeat Pelosi’s maneuver. Instead, he finds himself with only 200 votes, after 11 attempts. Meanwhile presumed Democratic minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries currently has 212 votes. There is no way for McCarthy to convince 13 of the 20 never Kevin Republicans needed to change their votes to “present,” let alone to Speaker.
Nancy Pelosi’s Speakership ended after one of the most successful Congresses in history. Kevin McCarthy can’t even get the 118th Congress started. Although ideally, I wish the DOJ would arrest enough House Republican on the second anniversary of the January 6th Insurrection to disrupt the vote, my prediction is that McCarthy will withdraw, and someone like House Republican Whip Stephen Scalise will become Speaker. Sorry Kevin, it’s just not as easy as Nancy Pelosi made it look. As a consolation, you have won Mr. Uncongeniality.
Chicago native Lorraine Evanoff earned her degree in French from DePaul University then became a Certified Financial Manager. She worked as a finance exec in film production for seven years in Paris, then in Silicon Valley during the dot-com era, and later for various Hollywood production companies, notably as CFO of National Lampoon. She is currently living in Los Angeles with her husband.