Excerpt
SUMMARY: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week's news, including the Republican search for a new Speaker of the House and Hillary Clinton’s coming out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): And now to the analysis of Shields and Brooks. That’s syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.
Welcome, gentlemen.
So, please explain what is going on.
Mark?
MARK SHIELDS, syndicated columnist: Sure, Judy.
(LAUGHTER)
MARK SHIELDS: Turmoil, chaos, toxic upheaval. And those are the friendly sources that are describing what’s going on in the House Republican Caucus.
What you basically have is a group of Republicans, one-sixth of the House Republicans, who view their election as a mandate to stand up and oppose the Democratic President and his overreach, by their judgment, in power, to frustrate him, to oppose him, and to repeal what — the Obama thing, and do not accept the concomitant responsibility of the governing party, of which they’re a member, to govern.
They’re the majority party, and so they’re essentially holding the entire caucus hostage.
JUDY WOODRUFF: But they’re holding the Congress, I mean, the House of Representatives…
MARK SHIELDS: They’re holding the House. But it means that the majority cannot operate the House.
Speaker Boehner after four years, said, I have had enough, leaving. Kevin McCarthy, his heir apparent, could not get to the 218. You have to get a majority of your own caucus. There’s 247 House Republicans. You have to get 218 of them in order to get elected speaker.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.
MARK SHIELDS: So, I guess that’s it, pretty simply. And so there is paralysis, quite honestly. And the party is in turmoil. And it has an implication nationally in the presidential election, because this is supposed to be the governing example of the Republicans.
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