Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Roger Simon in studio to comment upon the recent letter by the Conservative Action Project calling for a new US House of Representatives leadership.
Leahy: Roger Simon is in studio with us. Roger, this morning at about 11:00 a.m. Central Time, noon Eastern Time, the House of Representatives will convene for a seventh ballot. So far, after six ballots, it’s been pretty much the same, 212 for the Democrat Hakeem Jefferies, all the Democrats aligned 201 Republicans for McCarthy, 20 Republicans for Byron Donalds, a Republican congressman from Florida, and one voting present.
Simon: Present, yes.
Leahy: You have a comment you wanted to add to this.
Simon: And one more thing is to watch out for media manipulation. We’ve been manipulated for years by the media and now more than ever by Fox News, unfortunately, because the first thing out of Brett Baier’s mouth is, this is chaos. That’s like trying to sell something. If it bleeds, it leads and all that kind of stuff.
Leahy: This is chaos as opposed to just reporting what happened.
Simon: Which in the old days was what always happened. It may not be really chaos. I take the argument that ought to get this thing done and then negotiation is going on. That’s what this is all about.
Leahy: I do want to add this. Fox News does appear to be taking the side, if you will, of McCarthy.
Simon: Yes.
Leahy: It appears that to be the case. And again, I’m no fan of McCarthy, other than what’s your alternative? Asterisk. I will say this.
Simon: Like Elon Musk? (Leahy laughs) C’mon.
Leahy: If you look at who is setting himself up to be the alternative to Fox News, it’s our good friend Steve Bannon with Real America’s Voice. You see them on the internet. They are hitting it hard in favor of the opposition.
Simon: And then The Epoch Times is taking an even-handed view, which is what they do.
Leahy: Yes. And I think that The Star News Network, we’re taking an even-handed view on it as well. I think some of our listeners probably are more aligned with the Steve Bannon viewpoint, maybe.
Simon: Yes, I am emotionally more aligned with that. But the other side of me looks at it in another way. But I think that what the media should be doing is what is just reporting this because it ain’t chaos. Chaos is a big word. (Chuckles)
Leahy: What’s interesting is you brought this to my attention, and I think it’s fascinating. This is a letter that was sent yesterday. Headline from the Conservative Action Project: Conservatives Call for New House Leadership. The signators are quite interesting.
Before we get to the signatory, let me read what the letter says. And there’s a lot in this letter. I think that’s quite good, actually. Conservative organizations and the millions of grassroots conservatives we represent are united in our support of the 20 courageous members of Congress seeking to change the status quo in Washington.
Over the past decade, the House has grown increasingly autocratic. Rank and file members are routinely denied a chance to participate in the legislative process. Committees are ignored. Deals and loopholes for interest abound.
And there is virtually no amendment process for any bills, large or small. The outcome reflects the process. Bills that cater to a handful of members in leadership and K Street lobbyists, but ignore the priorities of voters. I think that is an accurate description.
Simon: Oh, 100 percent. 100 percent. It’s very well written, too
Leahy: And what I would tell you about this is this was a creation of Nancy Pelosi right after the 114th Congress. She created this and the term, and I’ve been a big supporter of what we call regular order.
Regular order is where a bill is considered in a subcommittee. It’s marked up, changes are made, and it goes on to a committee. And so by the time it gets to the House, people who are experts have had a chance to review it.
Simon: Also, one of the commentators on Fox last night recommended the idea of no omnibus bills. Every bill in terms of funding should be for the agency specifically. Omnibus bills are murder.
Leahy: They are terrible.
Simon: As of now, they have 72 hours in the negotiation here to read it. I couldn’t even read it in 72 hours.
Leahy: They’re typically 2,000 to 4,000 pages of junk.
Simon: Earmarks for every goddamn thing in the world. (Beep sound) Beep, beep, beep.
Leahy: I hope we got that. Did we get that, Patrick? You are the man.
Simon: We’re beeping that. I haven’t been on here in a while. There is no telling what I’m going to say. (Leahy laughs)
Leahy: That’s what makes it so much fun.
Simon: And I get beeped a lot.
Leahy: Here’s the thing though, Roger. It’s interesting, if you’re on a podcast, you can say whatever you want, right? Yeah. But with the old FCC guys, they’ve got a list of words. You know, the list, the George Carlin list. Okay, but let’s continue on this point. I think you’re quite right about the point here. I think you’re entirely right.
There are other complaints. Rather than engage the critics in good faith negotiation, Kevin McCarthy has instead maligned both the requests and the messengers. He is publicly and through proxies leveled attacks against members of his own party, including threatening to deny committee assignments for those who continue to oppose him.
Moreover, he has failed to answer for or commit to halting his coordinated efforts in the 2022 elections to promote moderate Republican candidates over conservatives. Now, that sentence has changed. Like the past couple of hours, they cut a deal with Club for Growth. So they’ve made that concession. I don’t have any problem with that critique that these folks have put together.
Simon: No.
Leahy: The question is, you know, okay, cut the deal. Let’s move on. The signators on this are a lot of our friends.
Simon: Yes.
Leahy: Ken Blackwell, who is the chairman of the Conservative Action Project. Good guy. Jenny Beth Martin, our very good friend of the Tea Party Patriot Citizens Fund. Jim DeMint, Brent Bozell, Dave Bossie, and Cleta Mitchell.
Simon: I know most of those.
Leahy: These are really great, conservative people.
Simon: And Jenny Thomas.
Leahy: Let me say this about Jenny Thomas. She’s been a very strong, conservative, grassroots leader for a lot of time and has been very effective. And frankly, I was very impressed with the testimony that she gave to the January 6 Committee, weren’t you?
Simon: Yes. The woman is whip-smart, but of course, she’s married to a guy who is, too.
Leahy: Clarence Thomas. But they were trying to lay a trap for her in that, and she went in and she just knocked it out of the park.
Simon: Because she understands them better than they understand themselves.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
