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+--- Thread: Politico Opinion | Many Reporters Think Kevin McCarthy Is Dumb. Why Can’t They Say So? (/showthread.php?tid=272270)
Politico Opinion | Many Reporters Think Kevin McCarthy Is Dumb. Why Can’t They Say So? - SteveG - 11-15-2022
Many Reporters Think Kevin McCarthy Is Dumb. Why Can’t They Say So?
Washington’s last taboo: calling someone stupid.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/06/03/kevin-mccarthy-washington-media-taboo-intelligence-00036894
Is Kevin McCarthy a great big dummy?
That’s not a rhetorical question. Read between the lines of some of the coverage during McCarthy’s 15 years in Congress and you start to suspect that many folks who pay close attention to our likely next House Speaker don’t think he’s the sharpest tool in the shed.
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The hints slip in, often as asides: McCarthy is “a golden retriever of a man,” “not known for being a policy wonk,” “not known for his immersion in policy details,” “not known to have a mind for policy,” “a coastal extrovert of ambiguous ideological portfolio who … would far rather talk about personalities than the tax code” and “not necessarily a policy wonk or political mastermind like his predecessors in House leadership.” His elevation would mean that “even though the fractured House Republican caucus may benefit from McCarthy’s networking abilities, others may have to step up to help filter out the details of policy quagmires to come.” No wonder “many believe he lacks the political and tactical gravitas to be a force” and “there are those who privately question his policy chops and intellectual abilities.”
It’s not hard to conclude that the authors of these lines may be trying to tell us something.
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It turns out that stupid may be one of Washington’s last taboos. Left to their own devices, insiders will bandy about all kinds of notions about prominent pols: Who’s a liar, who’s losing their marbles, who’s a dupe. But while other polite norms have crumbled — conventions against alleging dishonesty shrank during the Trump years; recent coverage of Sen. Dianne Feinstein suggests there’s a new candor about discussing senility — out-and-out accusations of dopiness are rare.
Even in opinion columns, the language tends to elide the subject. About the roughest recent assessment of McCarthy’s intellect among the writers who are actually permitted to share their point of view came from conservative Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, who called him an “ambitious plodder ... someone difficult for his colleagues to attack because he never had anything remotely interesting to say.” (In the same column, Gerson had no problem using short, specific, non-euphemistic language about other aspects of McCarthy, calling him a “liar” and a “hypocrite.”)
Re: Politico Opinion | Many Reporters Think Kevin McCarthy Is Dumb. Why Can’t They Say So? - SteveG - 11-15-2022
This spring, McCarthy found himself at the center of another baffling foot-in-mouth story: After New York Times political reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns reported in a new book that McCarthy had told fellow Republicans after January 6 that he intended to call on Trump to resign, McCarthy denounced the report as “totally false.” A day later, an audio recording emerged of McCarthy saying just what the pair had reported.
“Was denying the thing that was on tape dumb?” asks a reporter who has covered McCarthy. “Yeah. And we all said at the time, ‘Man, what an idiot.’”
Re: Politico Opinion | Many Reporters Think Kevin McCarthy Is Dumb. Why Can’t They Say So? - mrbigstuff - 11-15-2022
hey, no need to slag on Golden Retrievers! come on!
Re: Politico Opinion | Many Reporters Think Kevin McCarthy Is Dumb. Why Can’t They Say So? - Lux Interior - 11-16-2022
You only need to be a bit smarter than your constituents.
Re: Politico Opinion | Many Reporters Think Kevin McCarthy Is Dumb. Why Can’t They Say So? - SteveG - 11-16-2022
Lux Interior wrote:
You only need to be a bit smarter than your constituents.
You know what that sez about Marjorie Taylor Greene's district don't you?
Re: Politico Opinion | Many Reporters Think Kevin McCarthy Is Dumb. Why Can’t They Say So? - RgrF - 11-16-2022
Bakersfield is one of the few California areas that McCarthy, MTG or even Boebert could win a seat. You'd think the rest of the GOP congressional caucus might realize that and look for some real leadership. Like him or hate him, McConnell knows how to wield power - McCarthy not so much.
Re: Politico Opinion | Many Reporters Think Kevin McCarthy Is Dumb. Why Can’t They Say So? - Buzz - 11-16-2022
Kevin McCarthy gives a bad name to Golden Retrievers.... at least real Golden Retrievers' loyalty is genuine.
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Re: Politico Opinion | Many Reporters Think Kevin McCarthy Is Dumb. Why Can’t They Say So? - $tevie - 11-16-2022
Reporters won't say that Trump is a traitor and a grifter, nor that Herschel Walker has a serious brain condition, nor that MTG is a horny moron.
Most reporters work for giant corporations owned by conservative billionaires and as a result are not a very reliable source for truth these days.