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Kevin McCarthy profiled in LA Times

November 14, 2010

Cong, Kevin McCarthy, whose district includes much of San Luis Obispo County, lands on the front page of the Sunday paper. [LA Times]

Political observers believe that McCarthy, 45, will be elected this week to serve as House majority whip for the Republicans, his party’s No. 3 leadership job, after winning only his third term in Congress.

“It’s pretty stunning for a third-term member to rise as quickly as he has,” said GOP strategist Matt Mackowiak. It’s also surprising given that the new whip was once turned down for a congressional internship.

McCarthy spent the fall election season traveling to Frog Jump, Tenn., Lake Oswego, Ore., Sioux Falls, S.D., and dozens of other places to help elect fellow Republicans. His ascension to the House leadership position is considered a reward for his work on behalf of Republicans.

The former California Assembly GOP leader will be responsible for counting noses and enforcing party discipline on important votes. He also will carry to the airwaves his party’s messages for a smaller, less costly federal government

With McCarthy in the No. 3 leadership position and California Republicans expected to lead more committees than members from any other state, the Democratic-leaning Golden State will wield considerable clout in the new Republican-controlled House.

Drawing on substantial contributions he received from financial and insurance industries he oversees as a member of the House Financial Services Committee, he provided about $1.6 million from his own political war chest this cycle to the party and more than 100 fellow Republicans.

McCarthy’s legislative achievements are limited by the fact that he spent his eight years in Sacramento and Washington in the minority, but he promises to wield greater influence once Republicans take over the House in January.

McCarthy is among a group of Republicans who have drawn criticism for voting against the economic stimulus and then seeking stimulus funds for local projects. He has repeatedly used the line that more people believe Elvis Presley is alive than believe the stimulus created jobs.

Yet he wrote the Transportation secretary seeking $30 million in stimulus funds for truck lanes on Interstate 5, saying the project would “quickly put people to work,” according to the Center for Public Integrity. McCarthy shrugged at the criticism. “I still don’t believe the stimulus worked … and I’m proud of my vote against it,” he said.

Also, the Times reveals a little-known fact about the Republican congressman: McCarthy, in a page perhaps taken from Jerry Brown, sleeps on an air mattress in his Washington office.


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It seems that all the slime progressives can’t take on McCarthy on the issues. They screem about the campaign money he takes on from the corporations and republicans but they don’t realize that this is the money the progressive/socialists use to feed them at the trough of government. Well, those liberal socialists need to get out and take care of themselves, and they will have to do it. This country is in an impossible to fix downward spiral, and the looters of taxpayers dollars will be the first to be hurt. The aristocratic left like John Kerry, Obama, Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank have never cared about anyone but themselves. Same for Unions. Go get a Union job! Impossible unless you are connected.


And so those railing about McCarthy are afraid about losing the dole. The heck with them. It is their fellow travelers who have brought this country to it’s knees, although they do not realize it yet.


Kevin McCarthy is a person of human excellence and those who rail against him have none. They will always have none: money, respect, intelligence, or knowledge. They belong to the party of none. Loosers and looters.


Socialism does not work and never has unless you are a monk or a nun. Fools!


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Spectator: I would really like to respond to your comment(s) in your latest posting, but based on the bad spelling, poor grammar and lack of sentence structure, where to begin; perhaps addressing your disjointed attempts to lump everyone or group you don’t like in to a single “evil” entity as you tried would be a start: progressive, socialists, government trough feeding liberal socialists, aristocratic left looters of taxpayers dollars Union members, that are apparently “gypsies” (fellow travelers?) that only care about themselves- does that about cover it? Sheesh.

Your idealistic view of Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy certainly shows your world view point; the man may have worked very hard to get himself elected to Congress, but since then his “work” is all about furthering his stature and position in the party’s upper echelon by doing favors for the monied elite that happen to have a conservative view. How well has he represented his Congressional district with all of the running around he does trying to garner favors with Republican candidates all over the nation? Exactly where has his money come from?

Your last point about Socialism not working and never have worked is absurdly false; have you ever heard of Norway or Denmark or Sweden? Crime is low, so is homelessness, and they all have single payer healthcare. Look it up if you don’t believe me, then come back here with some facts.


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Not everyone who dislikes McCarthy is a socialist, and you demonstrate how manipulated your thinking is by this assertion. There are some of us who are free-market capitalists who believe that we are being sold a bill of goods. We believe that crony capitalism and fiat money have distorted the markets, take care of those who are first at the trough, and used the wealth of the American taxpayer to further the interests of the cronies abroad. I pay my own way, I think that public employees are hugely overpaid, I don’t support unions, and I am most certainly not a “progressive.”


However, I am QUITE capable of following the money, cross-checking SEC filings and researching professional and political connections. And as such, I am quite confident when I say that the division between Democrats and Republicans is a farce. Just because someone is telling you that they support the same philosophies that you do, does not mean that they practice them.


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Now that I think of it, Maldonado’s politcal career has devolved. First a rancher, then city councilman, then mayor, then assemblyman, then Lt. Governor. Now I guess he returns to being a rancher. But if he keeps being sloppy with his taxes, the IRS may take the ranch. Then he will have to work as a laborer for whomever buys the ranch at auction. Far fetched maybe. I used to like Abel, but the cost of the special election bugged me, so now I want to see him pay a little too.


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I seriously doubt that Abel will return to farming; how much do you want to bet that he has some “consulting” job or a lobbyist position already in his back pocket?


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Wasn’t the last Republican in this area to climb the political ladder so quickly named Huffington? Last I heard of him, he admitted he was gay, and went stomping off in tears. For awhile it looked as if Maldonado would climb the GOP ladder pretty quickly. But he decided he wanted to be Lt. Governor, which turned out to be temp work. Meanwhile we had to pay to elect Maldonado’s replacement.


Hmmm…I wonder how the McCarthy story will end?


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Kevin McCarthy is actually on of the few people in Congress who worked his way up from running a deli to caring enough about his community to run for Congress. I wish him nothing but the best and would guess that those people bad mouthing him on this site have never actually met him. He’s the real deal.


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I understand where you’re coming from, and why you have this perspective. He always ran a good business and was a contributing member of the community. However, the Kevin McCarthy which most people remember and the Kevin McCarthy which is the up and comer in the Republican party are two different people, to say the least. His enthusiasm for his party clearly overrides his judgement, given that the Republican party has upheld very few of the principles which it espouses.


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Well, “taxpayer”, you are an example of a person McCarthy has fooled. You’re not alone, unfortunately. McCarthy ran a deli? So that’s where he got the experience selling so much baloney.


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As Sting said: “They all look like game show hosts to me.”…or maybe he looks/acts more like a used car salesmen. Apologies to to used car salesmen. He’s slick and young, just what the right wants. No doubt they’re grooming him.


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The nightmare worsens.


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McCarthy is just another phoney narcissistic politician. A product of too much Bakersfield sun which has cooked his gray matter


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Does this mean he won’t be getting your support in 2012?


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McCarthy is an absolute two-faced, bought-and-paid for, self-serving political whore. While George Bush was in office he supported nearly every ill-conceived, disastrous and deadly Bush policy, but as soon as Bush was out of office, McCarthy began publicly distancing himself from Bush.


McCarthy would turn his own mother out as a street hooker if it meant garnering a single crucial vote. McCarthy is a total sham with good acting abilities and little, if any, conscience.


A complete, dangerous phony who is a pawn for the Heritage Foundation, which, in turn, is hell-bent on turning the U.S. into a fascist nation where the interests of big business and the military industrial complex rule.


If McCarthy would dare come to this forum, I’ll debate him and back up everything I have said.


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I can’t wait to see how you back up the part about him turning his own mother out as a street hooker.


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Thought I saw her last week wearing a miniskirt and thigh-hi boots at a truckstop outside Bakko……. (kidding!)


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It seems like you are talking about Polosi, Boxer, or Moonbeam. Surely you have the name wrong. Is it a typo, or are you just full of Obama?. If you debated McCarthy, everyone would see your shortcomings. FYI: In this country the voter rules as amply shown in the last election, and all are waiting for 2012. We will take an Obama to get rid of Obama.


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