It wouldn’t take much thought to realize that Florida Representative Matt Gaetz probably isn’t the most favored man in Congress right now. Then again, based on a recent hit piece against him, he’s still got a lot going for him.
Gaetz, as I am sure you know by now, is known as a “heavy hitter.”
His most recent example of this took place two weeks ago when he, along with seven other GOP members, voted to oust Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Over 14 days later, the House still doesn’t have a leader, with the most recent vote to appoint a new speakership failing to gain any ground in any real direction.
BREAKING: Here are the 20 Republicans that just voted against @Jim_Jordan for Speaker on the first ballot:
Bacon (NE)
Buck (CO)
Chavez-Deremer (OR)
D'Esposito (NY)
Diaz-Balart (FL)
Ellzey (TX)
Garbarino (NY)
Gimenez (FL)
Gonzales (TX)
Granger (TX)
James (MI)
Kelly (PA)
Kiggans…— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 17, 2023
Naturally, there are those on both sides of the aisle who are rather upset with Gaetz for causing this added drama where they feel it was unnecessary.
And that’s exactly what a recent hit piece published by the Tampa Bay Times tried to assume: that Gaetz has lost friends and supporters on all accounts.
However, that’s not really what the piece ended up proving – quite the opposite, in fact.
The outlet’s writer, Emily Mahoney, noted that there is “bitterness toward Rep. Matt Gaetz” on both sides because of the part he played in ousting McCarthy.
One of her examples was that of Republican Representative John Rutherford of Florida, who was one of only 20 who gave a “no” vote in the most recent House Speaker election for Jim Jordan, Gaetz’s favored man for the seat.
As Rutherford told reporters Friday, “I’m a ‘no’ on allowing Matt Gaetz and the other seven to win by putting their individual as speaker.”
Rep. John Rutherford (R- FL) said he still supported Rep. McCarthy (R-CA) for the speakership, saying he had 96% of the conference's support: "I'm a no on allowing Matt Gaetz and the other seven to win by putting their individual in as speaker." pic.twitter.com/lDySGPzvoZ
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 13, 2023
Then Mahoney tried to switch to the other side of the aisle, saying that former Democratic House Minority Leader Perry Thurston was “frustrated by some of his fellow Democrats’ respect for Gaetz and his speaking acumen.”
Wait… was that supposed to be a bad thing?
Then, she wrote that “several Democrats joined Republicans in Gaetz’s committee” to vote on a number of issues.
So Gaetz is so bad that he’s gaining the respect of his co-workers? Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me.
And it doesn’t to Gaetz, either.
Tampa Bay Times wanted to write a piece where people who served with me in state government could say bad things about me.
My favorite quote is how the Dem leader at the time was ‘frustrated’ that Democrats voted with me and respected me:
“Thurston said he grew frustrated by…
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 17, 2023
