Someone is feeling a little too big for his britches.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)
made it official this weekend, announcing that he will run against current Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to be speaker of the House.
Chaffetz said on "Fox News Sunday" that he was “recruited” by members displeased with McCarthy’s ascent and that he would “bridge the divide” in the House GOP. […]
"We need somebody who's out there who is actually going out there and making the case to the American people, talking to the Senate about what we need to do, and going on the national television shows and winning that argument," Chaffetz said. "We don't seem to win the argument, and that's a problem."
His argument is that McCarthy's recent
brush with truth telling on the motives of the Benghazi committee means that Republicans need to be led by someone who won't tell the truth. He
says "one of my strong suits is actually going on camera and going before the media and making the case to the American people." That's after his
widely panned performance presiding over the committee that spent five hours grilling Planned Parenthood's Cecile Richards with
laughably and transparently bogus "facts." And then he did
this on
Fox News Sunday:
Asked if he would shut down the government to defund Planned Parenthood, a move that some party firebrands have endorsed, Chaffetz seemed confused.
"Well, look, we're going to have that discussion internally," Chaffetz said on the Fox show. "We're—my job is to help put a bill on the president's desk. The president's solution is to just borrow more money from China? That's not a solution. I want to solve this problem."
The great communicator. Chaffetz's entrance in the race further complicates the mess Boehner has left the House in with his resignation. The leadership elections are currently scheduled for this Thursday, but sources tell Politico that Boehner is considering delaying them to give McCarthy more opportunity to shore up support.