Political analyst Dick Morris told Newsmax on Friday the skills Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., used to get fierce opponents of him as speaker back on his side shows promise for when he finally assumes the role.
A new agreement among House Republicans earlier Friday broke a logjam in the fight for the speakership, as 15 of the 20 holdouts flipped to McCarthy's side. But after the 13th round of balloting, the California Republican still fell short of the 218 votes needed to become speaker. (Newsmax reported Republicans believe they have the votes for McCarthy in the 14th round, which was set to take place at 10 p.m. EST Friday.)
"I think that this demonstrates that McCarthy will be a very good speaker," Morris said on "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "To navigate everything he's navigated and to succeed at it and go through it and get those votes one at a time, I think it was an act of juggling that would have made Sam Rayburn, the historic speaker of the House, proud."
Morris, author of the bestseller "The Return: Trump's Big 2024 Comeback" and host of "Dick Morris Democracy," also said he has newfound respect for many of the Republican holdouts because of the rules changes they have pressured McCarthy to accept to get their votes. Morris was a fierce critic of the dissidents, referring to them as rebels without a cause and saying they were destroying their political careers.
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"I also think that the rules changes are very good," Morris said. "I think it makes sense to have votes on each earmark, to have the budget bill separately — say I like the defense budget but not the Medicare budget — and I think that those are all very good changes.
"So I went from hating these Taliban rebels to admiring those who have come on board."
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