My, oh my, oh my… Kevin McCarthy's well-publicized gaffe (revealing that the Benghazi congressional "committee" was nothing but a witch-hunt designed to reduce Hillary Clinton's poll numbers) has even Republicans ducking for cover. Very few here were surprised; and no one should be surprised that it was McCarthy who made the gaffe -- the future speaker is not the brightest bulb in the circuit.
McCarthy gave a quickly-organized speech to the John Hay Initiative on foreign policy last Monday in a Republican effort to signfify his "readiness" to assume the awesomely powerful position of Speaker of the House. Parts of it appear below, some of which Rachel Maddow featured on her show tonight. It is frankly beyond embarrassing, at least to me.
I personally place a huge value on written and spoken language as a reflection of intelligence. I know many Kossacks do as well; one can tell from reading the postings here. Language is important. It reveals much about character, intelligence, to some extent personal values, and self-esteem, or lack thereof, among other things. Frankly, I'm horrified that any public official, let alone someone this significant, would butcher the English language the way he does… The character of some people the radical right are able to elevate to powerful positions is truly remarkable. Kevin McCarthy, I'm afraid, is significantly verbally challenged, and possibly mentally challenged to boot.
After Boehner's surprise announcement last Friday, apparently McCarthy, the anointed successor, was set up with a foreign policy speech for this past Monday. Parts of that speech were featured on Rachel's show today and are the subject of this diary. Dana Milbank reported on the speech in The Washington Post earlier this week: "For Rep. McCarthy, the likely new House speaker, words still fail him" … https://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Most of my diary is a copying of portions of this article; I've done some editing that brings out the horror of an important government representative's treatment of (1) usage of the English language; (2) the importance of communication with citizens in a public forum; (3) the importance of hiring staffers who can write coherent sentences; (4) the importance of proof-reading public comments; (5) the ability (or lack thereof) to edit on the fly.
Milbank writes:
Kevin McCarthy is about to ascend to the highest office in the House of Representatives and become second in line to the presidency.
But there is a problem: The speaker-apparent apparently still can’t speak.
I have been tracking the California Republican’s valiant but often unsuccessful struggles with the English language for some time now, and I was alarmed to watch him lose another round on Monday during a foreign-policy speech to the John Hay Initiative, a new outfit of the neo-conservative bent.
“If I look at history of where we are it seems a lot like 1979,” McCarthy informed his audience in the ballroom of Washington’s St. Regis hotel.
“We must engage this war of radical Islam if our life depended on it because it does,” he opined.
“I have visited Poland, Hungria, Estonia,” he said, and also “visited in our, uh, the allies in the Arab Gulf.”
He has, furthermore, been informed that we “live on the greatest nation that’s ever been on the face of the Earth.”
McCarthy called for “an effective politically strategy to match the military strategy,” and he lamented that “we have isolated Israel while bolding places like Iran.” He blamed President Obama’s White House for “putting us in tough decisions for the future,” but he voiced hope that a “safe zone would create a stem the flow of refugees.” And he scolded the Department of Veterans Affairs for failing to assist returning servicemen “who fought to the death in Ramadi.”
[Emphasis added.]
HE WAS READING HIS SPEECH.