And, of course, they do.
When House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced Tuesday that he opposed a bipartisan deal to create a commission to examine the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, it served notice that the proposal was in trouble. House Republicans can’t kill the proposal by themselves, but it seemed to signal the party’s overall stance on this, which would put pressure on members to fall in line.
And if McCarthy put the nail on the board, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) may have just delivered the hammer blow.
McConnell told colleagues Wednesday morning that he, too, opposes the proposal. In a later speech on the Senate floor, McConnell pitched the commission as redundant — pointing to legal prosecutions and other congressional probing using the regular committee process — and suggested it was a partisan proposal.
Shamelessness is a powerful, powerful thing.