Jan.06

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

This Week in Schadenfreude: Sometimes It Writes Itself

Yesterday, reader J.K. in Silverdale, WA, sent us a brief message: "Well, I guess this week's schadenfreude item can write itself." And just in case we couldn't figure out what J.K. was talking about, the lead story on Politico, as we write this, is headlined: "Dems bask in the speaker schadenfreude."

Let us remind everyone that every bit of schadenfreude that McCarthy inspires is richly deserved. He voted against certifying the 2020 election results and, in various other ways, enabled the insurrection. He's thrown longtime, loyal allies like Liz Cheney under the bus in the venal quest for power. He's pointedly remained silent while Donald Trump embraced antisemitism and white supremacy. He's promised to use his powers as speaker, if he ever gets them, to punish his opponents. And all of this is just in the last couple of years. He was no peach even when he was coming up the ranks. Readers with a long memory may recall, for example, that his pet issue for many years was limiting abortions to "forcible rapes." Regardless of one's position on abortion rights, this is pretty skeezy because it implies that some rapes (presumably statutory rapes) really aren't so bad. It is also worth remembering that McCarthy was a serious candidate for the speakership once before, in 2015, and Republicans decided he was icky enough that they passed him over in favor of Paul Ryan.

The problem, when it comes to this item, is that we can't exactly explain why McCarthy is worthy of schadenfreude attention this week. The item at the top of the page, and the two items we wrote previously, explain it quite thoroughly. So instead, we are going to run down the 10 best jokes at McCarthy's expense we've seen this week:

1. Rep. Chuy García (D-IL) put this picture on his Twitter feed:
   
   
   
   The caption is: "The only Kevin that can defend a house."
   
   
2. Given what happened with Liz Truss, this has already become something of a cliché. That said, it's still funny:
   
   
   
   As you can see from the logo in the corner, the folks at the Lincoln Project seem to have beaten everyone else to the punch.
   
   
3. This was put together by the staff of The Daily Show with Stephen Colbert:
   
   
   
   
4. When an absurd situation emerges, it's rare that there isn't some relevant bit from Monty Python available for deployment. This week, the Black Knight scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail has been making the rounds:
   
   
   
   For those unfamiliar with the movie, the key line is "'Tis but a scratch."
   
   
5. From Twitter: "You ever leave a job and secretly hope everything will fall apart once you're gone?"
   
   "Nancy Pelosi is living your dream."
   
   
6. The 1A headline on the satirical website The Onion right now is "Incredibly Productive House Of Representatives Assembles For 8th Vote In Just 3 Days"
   
   
7. This image is all over the place on Twitter:
   
   
   
   It is accompanied by the text: "Kevin McCarthy has lost the Speaker of the House SIX TIMES... One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six Times!"
   
   That said, whoever wrote this forgot to observe that this week's House deliberations are brought to you by the letters "F" and "U."
   
   
8. From the comments section of DailyKos: "Things like this never happened when I was Speaker of the House" - George Santos
   
   
9. Presented without comment: www.haskevinmccarthybeenelectedspeaker.com/
   
   
10. And finally, one of the finest memes of any sort we've ever seen:
    
    
    
    

If the Republicans don't bring this baby home soon, one can only imagine the sort of snark that next week will bring. (Z)