McCarthy’s term as Speaker has been as embarrassing as it was short-lived. His insistence on caving to the 20 or so votes of the far right over reasonable compromises with the democrats’ hundreds of votes was certainly a choice. But it was a bad one and it was his ruin. Last minute moves to diffuse your own bomb don’t inspire loyalty.

Now who? Who wants it that isn’t a nightmare or a fuckup? Preserved head of Nixon?