The Incredible Shrinking Man!
Our job just got a little easier.
Links to recent posts:
What — We are still here! -- What will we do now? (January 25)
How — Wait, exactly how will we do this? (January 28)
Why — Why are we still trying to unseat McCarthy? (February 9)
When & Who — Replacing McCarthy - A Progress Report (February 16)
This week we learned that Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has released more than 40,000 hours of U. S. Capitol security camera footage from January 6 to Tucker Carlson.
Tucker Carlson is the Fox News cheerleader for election deniers, Q anon supporters, White Christian Nationalists and MAGA extremists of all kinds. He is also the most popular American news media personality on Russian TV. His pro-Putin rhetoric is so unreserved that excerpts from his show are frequently broadcast by the Russian network into Ukraine. That is one context we should keep in mind when considering what happened here.
Whose idea was this anyway? Almost certainly, it was not something McCarthy decided on his own to do. No previous Speaker would ever have considered acting so recklessly. It can only be seen as another sign of the Speaker’s weak leadership and his willingness to prioritize the demands of MAGA radicals over all else.
The January 6 committee was very careful to limit the amount of such footage it made public, regularly co-ordinating the release of any surveillance clips with Capitol Police so as to avoid compromising security. A spokesman for the committee said that the footage “was treated with great sensitivity given concerns about the security of lawmakers, staff, and the Capitol complex. Access was limited to members and a small handful of investigators and senior staff.”
What a betrayal it is for the Speaker to cavalierly release obviously sensitive material, acting with utter disregard for the safety of his fellow Members of Congress. No matter what their political beliefs, personal security is a top concern of everyone.
No Republican is running to the microphone to defend McCarthy for doing this. And we can be sure that many Members will have this episode in mind when we urge them to make a motion to “vacate the chair” and replace him with a moderate Republican as Speaker.
√By releasing sensitive security footage, Kevin McCarthy has just shown us yet another reason why he should be removed and replaced. His careless exercise of the Speaker’s authority in deference to the radical MAGA minority is a clear threat to America’s national security, as well as to Members’ personal safety while in the Capitol building. It cannot be allowed to continue
Feathers of Hope, unlike most other Substack publications, is not intended to be a showplace for one writer's work. Nor is it meant to be a newsletter, or a forum for debating issues. Posts here are not intended to stoke outrage or elicit sympathy. —- This site is "a meeting place for activists and their supporters". It's purpose is to facilitate doing something about an issue rather than just talking about it. Currently that issue is the Speakership of Kevin McCarthy and his empowering of radical MAGA extremists.
We have compiled a fairly long list of Press/Media individuals, and Members of Congress, both liberal and conservative, who may be open to the idea of replacing McCarthy. Right now we’re reviewing their biographies, records and priorities so our message to each will urge replacement of the Speaker for reasons most relevant to their particular concerns.
We could still use help with this work. So if you’d like to do more than just read about it, please contact JerryWeiss@substack.com. No one can do everything, but we can each do something.
At Feathers of Hope, this is what we are promoting:
A temporary cross-party alliance of moderate House Members use their majority number to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker with a “motion to vacate”.
That alliance stays united long enough to elect in his place a Republican Speaker who owes nothing to the far-right extremists.