I am mock bereft: KMac is retiring from Congress at the end of this year. He’s been one of my favorite targets for years and I’ll miss having him to kick around. I will not, however, miss his pernicious impact on our politics via his weakness and sycophancy

KMac was against the Dipshit Insurrection before he was for it. KMac and McConnell’s refusal to stay the course against the Indicted Impeached Insult Comedian after J6 has led us to this bizarre moment in which one of our major parties is on track to nominate a deranged criminal. Trump expressed his “gratitude” by causally betraying KMac this fall.

KMac’s weakness empowered the likes of Matt Gaetz to exercise power in the House GOP Caucus. Thanks, Kev.

KMac’s weakness led to the ridiculous Speakership vote at the beginning of 2023. America was held hostage for fifteen ballots and was Speakerless for three weeks. Thanks to KMac a religious fanatic who cannot stop stepping on his Johnson wields the gavel in the people’s House. Thanks, Kev.

2023 was not KMac’s first grab for the brass ring. After John Boehner retired in disgust in 2015, KMac tried to fill the void. His loose lips sank the good ship KMac, so he remained majority leader. FYI, I regret being so hard on John Boehner. He’s actually a decent chap whose speakership was ruined by far right extremists. I could not, however, resist calling him Speaker Boner. When the fruit is that low hanging, you gotta pick it.

I can’t think of a single substantive thing that KMac either accomplished or believed in. He’s strictly a process pol whose sole talent is fundraising, which has been a problem for House Republicans since KMac’s ouster. Thanks, Kev. That one wasn’t sarcastic…

Looking back on 2023, there’s one thing KMac can feel good about: He may not be Speaker, but neither is his frenemy Steve Scalise. That brings me to the point of this post. When it looked as if Scalise might win the gavel, I collected my Scalise pieces and posted The Scalise Files.

Let’s do likewise for KMac with what I like to call the Nasty Nine:

10/1/2015: Untrustable In Hungria: The Kevin McCarthy Story

1/16/2018: Kevin McCarthy: Candyass Candyman

8/2/2021: Quote Of The Day: January KMac Edition

2/9/2022: Forrest Gump’s Evil Twin: Run, KMac, Run

4/22/2022: KMac’s Reality Show Moment

9/7/2022: KMac & The Commitments

1/24/2023: KMac’s Funny Valentine

7/24/2023: Expunge KMac

9/27/2023: KMac’s House Of Cards

KMac’s house of cards has collapsed leaving nothing but wingnutty ruins. He announced his retirement in a Wall Street Journal oped. There’s a paywall, so I’ve only read excerpts, but I hear it reads more like a job solicitation than anything else. It’s a pity that this wasn’t the headline: Used Speaker For Sale.

As I said at the top of the post, I will miss having this clueless dolt to kick around. His departure is classic KMac: He made a mess and now he’s running away from it like a cowardly weenie. History will hold him in as much contempt as his contemporaries. I will still miss mocking him: He’s a bad joke but his successor is a menace.

Arrivederci, KMac.

Jackson Browne got the last word in the Forest Gump’s Evil Twin post, so let’s do it again.