News/Commentary

Geraldo attacks Matt Gaetz over ‘torturing’ McCarthy: ‘What in the world were you, 19 colleagues doing?’

January 27, 2023 | | Print Article

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and “The Five” co-host Geraldo Rivera butted heads on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show Thursday, with the Florida firebrand making studied, calm arguments concerning actions by the House of Representatives and Rivera melting down, calling it another “do-nothing Congress.”

(Video Credit: Fox News)

Rivera seems to still be stuck on the process of selecting Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as Speaker of the House which took four days as Gaetz and others held Republicans’ feet to fire on a number of issues. The process played out exactly how the Founding Fathers envisioned it and ended up with a GOP consensus and McCarthy taking the gavel. The constitutional maneuvering appears to be a foreign concept to Rivera who claims to be “absolutely outraged” by the new Congress.

Gaetz was joined by 19 other conservative Republicans in standing up to McCarthy, questioning his voting record and stances on issues.

“What in the world were you and your 19 colleagues doing torturing the speaker, your speaker, your speaker-designate Kevin McCarthy?” Rivera ridiculously demanded of Gaetz. “What was that for? What did you hope to attain in that?”

“So, first of all, I’ve got some constituents in the military that could talk to you about real torture,” Gaetz informed the grandstanding leftist. “I don’t think sitting through 15 votes quite qualifies.”

Gaetz and his conservative colleagues want to put a stop to omnibus bills that are not read and contain massive amounts of pork, catering to special interests. Republicans insisted that more time be allotted to read bills and that transparency and accountability be expanded especially when it comes to throwing money and weaponry at the Ukraine conflict.

“We believe that instead of having omnibus spending legislation that comes to us with only a few hours to consider thousands of pages and then vote on something that funds every agency of the government all at once, that we should take individual votes on appropriations bills,” he contended. “That’s a concession we didn’t have when voting began. It’s one we earned by the time it ended.”

The congressman also stated that the House will consider a single item in a bill, not a number of them tied together, eliminating the practice of getting one good one passed by passing several very bad ones.

“We also believe that when bills are considered, they should comport to a single subject so I don’t have to do what I’ve had to do in the past, and vote on the farm bill at the same time you’re voting on whether or not there’s gonna be war powers in Yemen. We also wanted open amendments so Republicans or Democrats could offer germane adjustments to legislation and everyone could take votes on these things. You know, members of Congress, speakers, they come and go, but when…” Gaetz started to explain before Rivera interjected.

Rivera then sought to sandbag Gaetz.

“Congressman, with your filibuster right now, you are portraying yourself to the American people as a thoughtful legislator,” Rivera sneered.

“Thank you,” Gaetz responded.

“And yet, the publicity that you get – characteristically – almost inevitably is flamboyant, it’s confrontational…” Rivera stated, attempting to smear the Florida conservative.

As the men then proceeded to talk over one another, Gaetz finally got a word in and clapped back at Rivera.

“I make a substantive argument about changes to the process and you call me flamboyant and confrontational?” he challenged the preening leftist, prompting Hannity to step in.

“He answered your very specific question about what he was fighting for,” Hannity stated in defense of Gaetz. “My only argument – and Matt and I talked in December, you can verify this as true – my only beef with everybody was I wanted everybody to be in full agreement by January 3rd. Four days, it came and went. Now everybody’s on the same page.”

Latest posts by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles