McCarthy Panders His Way To The Top

For that act of generosity, McCarthy should expect a nice present from the Clintons this Christmas.

Conservative thinkers are right to ask whether McCarthy is smart enough to lead his party. What do Republicans do when they find out that the person on the fast track to becoming the next speaker can't speak?

Yet the really troubling thing about that interview -- and about a dozen more I've heard McCarthy give on television and radio -- is not that the Republican can't communicate. It's that he can't lead because he's too busy following the crowd. He seems especially anxious to pander to whatever media celebrity he happens to find himself in front of on any given day.

Hannity took full advantage. He pressed McCarthy to promise that, unlike current Speaker John Boehner, he would complete four action items: "Defunding Planned Parenthood, defunding executive amnesty and immigration, defunding Obamacare, and this Iranian deal is an unmitigated disaster that will lead to a modern-day Holocaust." The host demanded to know: "Will you tell conservative America tonight that you will fight to the end ... to defund those issues and use the power of the purse?"

"Yes, the answer is yes," McCarthy said.

How will his pledge to crack down on immigration play with his constituents? Is McCarthy telling farmers one thing and Hannity another? I hope the congressman gets an earful back home.

McCarthy obviously wants to be popular and well-liked. And so naturally he went into the contentious game of politics and now aspires to lead a Republican caucus that is divided more ways than you can count.

That doesn't make any sense. Of course neither does much of what McCarthy is promising to do for conservatives. He'll have to stop pandering and start thinking on his own if he wants to be taken seriously.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.