Oh boy, Little Luke is just beside himself: "I've never seen anything like this before!"
Yes, Kevin McCarthy, John Boehner's widely expected heir to the House speaker's post, just dropped out of the race -- a short time after he was seen entering the building holding his wife's hand and smiling.
Darell Issa is saying he dropped out because he couldn't get to 218 votes -- the same votes everyone expected him to reach easily. Uh huh.
Last night, a certain wingnut blogger reported that McCarthy, despite warnings from the leadership, was still carrying on an affair with Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC). There were enough details that I figured it was leaked in an attempt to sandbag McCarthy, because this blogger is notorious for getting everything wrong.
About the same time, a story appeared on Breitbart saying that Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) was warning all candidates for Speaker of the House that they should drop out if they were doing anything that might embarrass the GOP. (He referenced Bob Livingston, who withdrew from a previous Speaker's race when Larry Flynt threatened to publish evidence of his adultery.)
So it sure looks like the teabagger faction took him out at the knees.
By the way: Boehner is staying on until a new Speaker is elected.
