New York Post Blasts 'Republican Saboteurs' for Opposing McCarthy's Speaker Bid

The New York Post criticized Republican lawmakers for blocking Rep. Kevin McCarthy's bid for the speakership on Wednesday.

The Post characterized the dissenters as a "small group of Republican saboteurs."

Republicans won by a narrow margin in the 2022 midterms, flipping the House and setting up McCarthy, R-Calif., for the speaker's gavel. However, a group of House Republicans, including Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., refused to support McCarthy, denying him the 218 votes needed.

Six consecutive ballots failed to give McCarthy the majority on Tuesday and Wednesday. No members can be sworn in until a speaker is named, so no new bills will be able to advance.

The Post took to one of their trademark outspoken covers to lecture Republicans to "Grow Up!"

"Small group of Republican saboteurs blocks McCarthy from taking power," read one headline. "Stop this madness and go after Biden," urged columnist Michael Goodwin.

According to the Post, McCarthy's failure to secure the speakership hinders the House Republicans' ability "to serve as a check on President Biden following two years of united Democratic rule in Washington." It also mentioned that the "sneering" Democrats "had trouble disguising their satisfaction with how House Republicans were beginning their two-year mandate."

Goodwin said it was "more than a personal rebuke" to McCarthy but rather "a mark of incompetence and a worrisome sign the party is so fractured it will not be able to unite to accomplish anything of significance for the next two years."

"Instead of being a check on the White House and the Democrat-controlled Senate and using its investigative power to probe President Biden and his family's corrupt business deals, the chaos suggests too many Republicans are freelancing and engaged in a fool's errand masquerading as an act of principle," wrote Goodwin. He added that it looked like "amateur hour" because the holdouts lacked any "viable alternative to McCarthy."

He said it was "madness" and "fundamentally incoherent."

"Most important, a shootout in a lifeboat is not a persuasive argument that the party is ready to govern," he argued.

Goodwin said the "clown show" was a "gift to Democrats" and probably made Pelosi feel "vindicated" because she was unable to keep "The Squad" in line, who, however, never blocked leadership agenda.

He said Republicans could "screw up and accidentally stumble into a scenario where [House Minority Leader Hakeem] Jeffries gets elected speaker."

These "rebels without a cause" risked turning "conservatism into a punch line," concluded Goodwin.