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"Over the last week it has become clear to me that our conference is deeply divided and needs to unite behind one leader," McCarthy said in a prepared statement following the closed-door meeting with House Republicans, where the party had been expected to vote on Boehner's successor. According to members who attended the meeting, McCarthy told his colleagues that he was "not the one to unify the party" — a stunning pivot for a politician who has rapidly as-cended in the House, and who, by some accounts, had been campaigning for the position up until that morning.Ironically, the deep divisions that led to McCarthy's downfall also contributed to his rise. Since the Republicans swept into the House majority back in 2010, the party Establishment has struggled to keep its fringe hardliners in line. McCarthy, who has only been in Congress since 2008, only became Majority Leader last year, after those hardliners succeeded in booting his predecessor, Eric Cantor, out of office in an upset by a little-known primary challenger in his home district.Boehner himself faced an internal revolt back in January, and prior to his announcement that he would retire at the end of October, there were rumors that Republican Congressman Mark Meadows and other members of the House Freedom Caucus, a small but powerful group of ultraconservatives, would force a vote to remove him as Speaker. The Hill reported then that House conservatives were "warm" to the idea of McCarthy as Speaker, and that at least one Freedom Caucus member told McCarthy he "could have his support."Rep. Peter King tells me that members are crying in cloakroom, unable to handle the unrest and confusion. 'A banana republic,' he says.
— Robert Costa (@costareports)October 8, 2015
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Now that McCarthy is out of the race, the House is in a full scramble to find a speaker. One of the many ideas to surface yesterday was the idea of a "caretaker speaker"—a figurehead who could lead the House through the 2016 election. One rumor floating around is that a longtime member from outside the GOP leadership, such as Congressman Greg Walden, of Oregon, or retiring Minnesota Congressman John Kline of Minnesota—or even a non-member such as Mitt Romney (according to at least one pundit) or Newt Gingrich (according to Newt Gingrich)—could take the gavel until the party finds a more permanent replacement after the next election. (Interestingly—or maybe stupidly—the Constitution technically allows for the Speaker of the House to come from outside of the House of Representatives.)Read on Motherboard: Republicans Are Angry About the FCC's Perfectly Ordinary Rulemaking Process
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As for House Democrats, they're gleefully capitalizing on their opponents' dysfunction. "While House Democrats are trying to grow paychecks and fix our country's crumbling infrastructure, House Republicans are mired in a leadership scramble that has only gotten messier by the day," New York Congressman Steve Israel said in a statement to VICE. "It's infuriating and past time for Republicans to put American jobs above their own jobs."Democratic Majority Whip Steny Hoyer's office added in their own statement, "Today's news is yet another sign that Republicans are unfit to lead the House and our country and that they will continue to prevent the House from achieving progress."The confusion surrounding the Speaker's race has eliminated confusion from the other leader-ship race in the GOP. McCarthy said Thursday that he'll be staying on as House Majority Leader, a position that several conservative members had been jockeying for in the wake of Boehner's announcement. Reps. Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Tom Price of Georgia had both ben running to replace John Boehner. Neither returned our requests for comment on whether they intend to run for Speaker instead.The only certainty by the end of the day was the fact that the traditionalist wing of the Republican Party is officially dying out. Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp, a frequent critic of the House leadership, perhaps summed it up best, tweeting Thursday that, "Today, the establishment lost."Follow Paul Blest on Twitter.On VICE News: Kevin McCarthy Just Dropped Out of the Race for Speaker of the House