McCarthy’s dismissal Tuesday afternoon was a largely Democratic firing with the House’s minority party delivering 208 of the 216 votes to oust McCarthy. That left a handful of Republicans who knowingly voted to oust their leader and who are now considered persona non grata by many fellow conservatives.
Rep. Bob Good, one of those vital eight votes, says the party disunity is both temporary and necessary.
“This was about striking a blow against the swamp cartel," Good said on American Family Radio Wednesday morning. "The uniparty system in Washington that is not working for the American people, that's failing the country, that has given us $33 trillion in national debt, and frankly, a Republican leadership, leadership system that we warned about back in January during the Speaker battle."
In the radio interview, Good called McCarthy’s debt ceiling agreement with President Joe Biden “terrible." He also criticized the continuing resolution, passed over the weekend, to avoid a partial government shutdown.
“Both of those were passed with overwhelmingly Democrat votes, repeating the failures of the past when Republicans have had majorities. We were just unwilling to continue the status quo,” Good told show host Jenna Ellis.
McCarthy made 15 rounds of promises
Concerns with McCarthy’s leadership were more fiscal than social, Good said, and McCarthy failed to deliver on numerous promises he made during his contentious rise to the speaker’s chair, the congressman claimed.
Back in January, now nine months ago, McCarthy and his lieutenants were forced to make promises and deals with hold-out lawmakers in the Freedom Caucus in order to win the powerful House Speaker post. The vote for Speaker went through 15 rounds of ballot counting until the California lawmaker was officially named Speaker.
Good said McCarthy failed to bring a balanced budget to the floor, to reduce spending to pre-COVID-19 levels, or reduce non-defense discretionary spending.
“He didn’t do any of that and more,” Good insisted.
Joining Good in the vote to remove McCarthy were Republicans Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Nancy Mace, Matt Rosendale and Matt Gaetz, the fiery Florida lawmaker who made the call to vacate the chair.
Rep. Mike Waltz, also from Florida, voted to keep McCarthy as Speaker. In an interview soon after the historic vote, Waltz said he opposes Gaetz and the Republican minority who took down their own leader.
“I certainly understand the frustration in the sense that Washington has got to change. Our debt is out of control, inflation is out of control, and everyday Americans are suffering,” Waltz said on Washington Watch Tuesday. “But I have to tell you, I disagree with the tactics.”
“It’s done a disservice to our body,” agreed Rep. Mark Alford (R-Missouri), who had voted to keep McCarthy. He appeared later on the same show hosted by Tony Perkins.
Alford said McCarthy went out of his way to appease Gaetz and other hardline conservatives in the party.
“Kevin worked tirelessly from the beginning to win over five or six people who he was never going to win over to begin with,” he said.
Waltz: Omnibus bill could have been stopped
Good or bad, the result of the tactics is that no business gets done while Republicans sort out their leadership.
Committees will continue to function but no bills will be presented on the House floor.
Critics of the eight Republicans say the grinding halt to business puts the House on a path to the year-end massive omnibus spending bill with thousands of pages that will go unread.
“Nobody knows what’s in them except for a few people,” Waltz said, which was an issue House Republicans have vowed to avoid.
“That’s the real irony," he said. "I mean, the main justification from Rep. Gaetz, my colleague from Florida, and those that voted with them was that we're not appropriating the way the Constitution and the law demands us to, that year after year, we go to these big omnibus bills where you'll have the Department of Labor thrown in with the Department of Defense thrown in with the Department of Homeland Security."
By getting rid of McCarthy, and with daily work grinding to a stop, that is the likely result.
"And the Democrats in the Senate are going to jam us with it,” Waltz predicted.
Back on the AFR show with Ellis, Good said “transformational change” is necessary and the delay is worth it.
The congressman said he was willing to go into a partial government shutdown to bring about that change but McCarthy lost his support with his all-out commitment to keep government running at 100 percent.
Good: 'Final straw' was shutdown showdown
“The final straw for me with McCarthy," Good relayed, "would be this past Friday when he made it very clear in our conference meeting that he would do anything to avoid any type of shutdown."
The word "shutdown" is misleading and a scare tactic, Good added. “It’s really a temporary pause in operations for about 15% of the government that’s considered non-essential while the other 85% continues to hum along, the Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits and so forth," he said.
Waltz, a combat-decorated retired Army colonel, said he believes the handful of Republican dissenters were out to get McCarthy. Their lack of planning for the aftermath is proof, he insisted.
“I come from the military," Waltz commented. "I've led soldiers and Green Berets into combat. You have an objective. You have a strategy to achieve the objective, and then you put resources behind it. With all due respect to those who are behind this, I haven't seen any of that. I think this was personal, and personal is getting in the way of good conservative policy."
That is the kind of leadership McCarthy lacked, Good said.
“There was no basis to defend Kevin McCarthy, in my view," he told Ellis. "I believe that we will be more united after we have a new Speaker."
Emotions are now running high, Good said, but the "status quo" was "destroying the country and was unsustainable."
