Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California showed his support for Dr. Seuss by sharing a video Friday of the lawmaker reading the late children’s author’s book “Green Eggs and Ham.”
“I still like Dr. Seuss, so I decided to read Green Eggs and Ham,” Mr. McCarthy said on Twitter where he shared the more than five-minute-long video. It had been viewed 2.5 million times by Saturday.
The video shows Mr. McCarthy reading the entirety of the classic 1960 children’s book while seated in an office dressed in a suit and tie. “Enjoy your day,” he says at the end of the clip.
Previously, Mr. McCarthy spoke up after the entity overseeing the Dr. Seuss estate said this week it would no longer publish six of his books that “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.”
“Green Eggs and Ham” is not among the half-dozen Dr. Seuss books that will no longer be published, however.
Mr. McCarthy faced scrutiny after sharing the video Friday from critics including a Democratic colleague on Capitol Hill and a fellow Californian hoping to replace him in Congress, among others.
“Dems are focused on getting stimulus checks, unemployment benefits & small business loans to the American people,” Rep. Ted Lieu, California Democrat, said on Twitter.
Mr. McCarthy, meanwhile, “is focused on Green Eggs and Ham, a book that continues to be published and accepted by the free market,” Mr. Lieu added. “There is a difference between the two parties.”
“I read Green Eggs & Ham to my kids at least once a week- a classic,” Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison said on Twitter to Mr. McCarthy. “But you voted against a bill that cuts child poverty in half, that would allow parents to keep food on the table & lights on in their homes! Put down the damn book & actually do something that will help folks!”
Bruno Amato, a Democratic congressional hopeful campaigning against Mr. McCarthy, called him a “clown.” “This man is a pure clown,” agreed Charles Booker, a Democratic Senate candidate from Kentucky.
Caleb Smith, a communications director for Mr. McCarthy, said on Twitter that the video was made “before the Seuss story was ever a thing,” adding that “libs are losing their minds” over the reading.
Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel died in 1991 at the age of 87 at his home in La Jolla, California. He authored more than 60 books in his life, including “The Cat and the Hat” and “The Lorax,” among others.
The six books to no longer be printed are “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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