OPINION:
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Let’s talk about a pair of deceased U.S. lawmakers.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday saw his political career pass away in front of his eyes as he was booted out of the House speakership in a historic first. But he could rise again. You never know. Still, now dead.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, on the other hand, isn’t going anywhere. The California Democrat died last week at age 90. She’d been out of it for the last few years (funny how that happens in your late 80s).
And it didn’t take long for irate liberals to damn the dead on social media.
“As a human, I wish her family well. As a Californian, can we please get someone younger than Methuselah?” terremoto25 wrote on Reddit.
“Such a waste of retirement years. Sadly this is what our politicians do. Die on the job without a clue who they are,” Depth_Over_Distance wrote.
“Dying in office is the only way the boomers and even older generations are ever going to give up power,” CTRexPope wrote.
That’s Ms. Feinstein in a nutshell. She was worth more than $100 million. Go home! Enjoy your grandchildren. Sit on the front porch, watching the sunset (sleep in for the sunrises, they’re not for you).
But no, Ms. Feinstein wouldn’t go away. She wasn’t there for her husband of 40 years, Richard C. Blum, who died of cancer last year. She was here in Washington, probably not knowing where she was. He made his millions being married to Ms. Feinstein, who was undoubtedly passing along insider information. (Just Google it — the man made money moves that no one else could’ve made.)
“It sucks she died,” Gluteusmaximus1898 wrote on Reddit. “It sucks even more that she clinged onto power until she died, rather than retiring and enjoying her life. Much like RBG, she tarnished her own legacy by refusing to retire.”
RBG is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who clung to power for so long that she died while Donald Trump was president instead of retiring while Barack Obama was in the White House. Mr. Trump ended up appointing her replacement, who shifted the balance of the court to six justices seated by Republicans and just three by Democrats.
Then there was Mr. McCarthy. He died (hard) inside when eight Republicans joined every Democrat to oust him from the House speakership. Hours before, he had dared Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, to “bring it on.” Mr. Gaetz said it had already been broughten (cq, “Mean Girls”), and Mr. McCarthy was flushed out.
Mr. Gaetz summed it up succinctly: “I would say that the conservative agenda was being paralyzed by Speaker McCarthy. We hadn’t even sent in a subpoena to Hunter Biden. Our oversight was lackluster. Our spending priorities were misaligned. The top-line budget was going to lead to more inflation, more debt, more challenges. So the best way to advance the conservative agenda is to move forward with a new speaker.”
Oof. That hurts. Mr. Gaetz said the GOP coalition had suffered through “eight months of a failed speakership” and had to move on. He continued:
“What paralyzed the House of Representatives was not taking up appropriations bills. We left for a six-week vacation while the appropriations process hung in the balance because I forced these people to take a few votes.
“You think I’m paralyzing the House of Representatives? I think the House of Representatives has been paralyzed for the last several decades as we’ve refused to pass a budget as we’ve governed by continuing resolution and omnibus bill. So I think that this represents the ripping off of the Band-Aid, and that’s what we need to do to get back on track.”
Mr. Gaetz also said that the speaker got ousted for a simple reason: “The reason Kevin McCarthy went down today is because nobody trusts Kevin McCarthy. Kevin McCarthy has made multiple contradictory promises. And when they all came due, he lost votes …”
So, two members of Congress have died in the last week. Ms. Feinstein’s legacy is forever tarnished because she wouldn’t just retire. Mr. McCarthy’s legacy (never that well established in just eight months) disappeared after he challenged a young upstart to come at him.
He did, and the speaker was ousted — the first time that has ever happened in American history.
Still, for the record, whatever side of the aisle you’re on, I think we can agree that Washington is completely dysfunctional. And it’s not getting fixed anytime soon.
• Joseph Curl is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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