Representative Steve Womack (R-AK) said Friday on CNN’s “The Lead” that while attempting to choose a House Speaker, his Republican colleagues were “peeing on the electric fence.”
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Your conference voted by secret ballot and determined that Jordan should not remain the speaker candidate. So I have to ask: in the midst of two major foreign policy crises and this pending government shutdown, what on Earth was this week about? What on Earth was this week all about? Why did Jim Jordan force these three votes and waste this entire week?”
Womack said, “Well, Jake, you’re right. Sometimes we can be slow learners. It is kind of ironic that we’re doing this interview in the shadows of the Will Rogers statue from Oklahoma right behind me. And you remember what Will said about this whole business of learning, ‘People learn by reading, people can learn by observation, and sometimes people learn by just peeing on the electric fence for themselves.’ So, that is a situation that is reminiscent of House Republicans right now.”
Tapper said, “I also know Will Rogers said, ‘I’m not a member of an organized political party, I’m a Democrat.’ And maybe that was true of the Democratic Party at the time, but it sure describes your party right now, which is, at least on the House side, just a God-awful mess. Do you think you’re going to get it together, your party? Can you all rally around someone? Is there somebody you like? A Tom Emmer seems kind of like a Womack Republican, maybe?”
Womack said, “I like anybody that we can muster 217 votes for.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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