Matt Kibbe joined Glenn on radio today to analyze the announcement that several Republicans would be challenging John Boehner for Speaker of the House, most notable Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX).
"I still think the odds are against us because nothing like this has ever been done before," Matt said. "But, remember, just two years ago in January, there was a failed attempt to replace John Boehner that was secretive. They had the votes, and it fell apart on the House floor. This strategy is different. You have a number of members that have publicly come out and said, I will not vote for John Boehner. Louie has come out and said he is willing to be an alternative. Which he didn't last time. No one did."
While Louie's chances for success are up in the air, Matt feels like he is changing the way Washington works simply by issuing the challenge.
"Well, this is a game changer because it shifts the balance of power away from this inside game. The way things used to work. You just didn't go after the leadership because the leadership controlled the money. They control whether or not you get the committees. They basically control whether or not you get to be reelected. These ten or so folks that have come out, they're making it safe for everybody else to be true blue. That's what's different," he said.
Disclaimer: We're sure that people will only think Glenn had Matt onto the show because FreedomWorks is a sponsor. They are. It's not.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment:
Glenn: Louie Gohmert is running for Speaker of the House. Even if it's not Louie, let's make sure John Boehner is not Speaker of the House. But Matt Kibbe is on from Freedom Works.
Matt, how real is this Louie Gohmert run for Speaker of the House tomorrow?
MATT: You know, it's very real. I still think the odds are against us because nothing like this has ever been done before. But, remember, just two years ago in January, there was a failed attempt to replace John Boehner that was secretive. They had the votes, and it fell apart on the House floor.
This strategy is different. You have a number of members that have publicly come out and said, I will not vote for John Boehner. Louie has come out and said he is willing to be an alternative. Which he didn't last time. No one did.
Ted Yoho said he's willing to run against Boehner. So this is a public campaign with a lot of very gutsy guys sticking their heads out knowing Boehner will come after them. But the point is: Grassroots America has an opportunity to weigh in this time.
GLENN: I'm looking at the list of just the people you rate, of the, you know, top 50 people in Congress. Steve Pearce. He voted against Boehner, but hasn't -- do you have any information on like Justin Amash or any of these guys?
MATT: All those guys are on our target list. Right now we have a target list from 40 to 70 guys. Remember, we only need 29 to do this. That is a doable number.
Right now I'm personally aware of nine people that have either come out already or will come out today against Boehner. But we haven't really started. We haven't started targeting the incoming freshmen, many of whom explicitly said they won't vote for John Boehner for Speaker. We haven't targeted these high percenter performers in very Republican districts, where doing the right thing is not only the right thing, but it's the safe thing to do.
GLENN: How many incoming people were there that said --
MATT: Well, there's 50-plus new incoming guys coming in. I think I can count about a dozen that actually ran against Boehner in order to win their seat.
STU: Brat and Palmer said they will vote against Boehner. So you have those two.
Stutzman may be a tenth after the initial nine that I saw come out.
So, you know, Matt, looking at this list, if you have just the people who have come out, the people who voted against Boehner last time, and the people you rate at 100 percent, Freedom Works rates at 100 percent, you're already at 21. And you go to your 95 percent people, you're at 35.
GLENN: Right. And you have 50 percent new people -- fifty new people coming in. You get ten of those --
STU: Yeah, you're in great shape.
GLENN: I mean, what does this mean if this happens, Matt?
MATT: Well, this is a game changer because it shifts the balance of power away from this inside game. The way things used to work. You just didn't go after the leadership because the leadership controlled the money. They control whether or not you get the committees. They basically control whether or not you get to be reelected. These ten or so folks that have come out, they're making it safe for everybody else to be true blue. That's what's different.
But I think it's really up to the listeners right now to make those calls to post on Facebook to make it abundantly clear that this is a must-do thing if we're going to shake Washington up.
STU: Can you explain the process a little bit? Obviously if Louie Gohmert gets 29 votes, he doesn't become Speaker of the House. Why is 29 votes so important? And what happens afterwards?
MATT: The next Speaker will have to get a majority of all of the members voting, and that's likely to be the entire Congress. We're missing one because -- because the Republican that just resigned. But that really doesn't change the numbers.
One of the big misinformation pieces out there is that if you vote against Boehner, you're helping Nancy Pelosi. The only way you help Nancy Pelosi is if you vote for her or if you vote present. She cannot get a majority if Republicans split their vote between Louie Gohmert and John Boehner.
Now, if we get that 29 --
GLENN: So if you're spineless and you don't want to take a stand, you are helping Nancy Pelosi.
MATT: Yes.
GLENN: But even if you vote for Boehner, have the balls to do it, man. Stand up.
MATT: Yeah. You have to put your -- and this is a public vote. And the voters will get to see where you are. But if Boehner doesn't get the majority, it goes back to the Republican conference. And there will be a fight for who the next Speaker will be because Boehner will be done at that point, and it will not just be Gohmert, but you'll see guys like Jim Jordan likely or some other conservatives throw their hat in the ring.
And I just think -- I think you got to shake things up. If you keep doing the same thing over and over again, you'll get the same result.
GLENN: The people who caused the problem won't be the people who fix the problem. And John Boehner is part of the problem. And I'm increasingly concerned about this progressive movement in the Republican party. I mean, I saw the that Mike Huckabee is throwing his hat in the ring or he's at least leaving Fox to, you know, decide -- to study. Of course, he's going to run. And I think he will run, quite honestly, to hurt Ted Cruz. I don't think that's his feeling.
But I'll bet you some of the advice he's getting is motivated by that. If you take in, you put Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, they start to split that Christian vote. And that allows -- that allows somebody like maybe Rand Paul to be the stronger one. And then the media takes Rand Paul out by doing two things.
By one, saying that he's too radical. And then two, by being passive-aggressive and saying, you know, Rand Paul, we don't really know who he is. He's certainly not in lockstep with those religious people. And we don't even know where he stands on Israel. And that will just kill him. And I think that's what they're doing. They're just chopping us up into little bitty pieces. We have to start standing together and say, enough is enough with this progressive Republican party. Enough is enough.
Call your -- call the congressmen now. I want you to pick up the phone, and I want you to call your congressmen, and you tell them. If you vote for John Boehner, not another dime, not another sticker, not another campaign, not another vote, nothing. Don't you -- you lose my email address. You lose my phone number. I'm done with the G.O.P. if you put John Boehner in one more time. I'm done.
Here's the switchboard number. (202)224-3121. Go on Facebook. Go on Twitter. Call the local office. But you have about 24 -- when does this vote come down?
MATT: Sometime Tuesday. Probably in the late morning.
GLENN: Is this --
STU: Not a lot of time to try to put this together.
GLENN: Give me a percentage of change this is. How big of a deal is this?
MATT: Oh, if we get -- if we get this done, this is -- this is radical change because what it does is it makes the next Speaker, no matter who it is start to pay attention to the American people. John Boehner's biggest problem is his only audience is the lobbyists and the Republican conference that votes for him. He doesn't care about anything else. And this goes back to that see change you're talking about. The new politics goes directly to the American people. It's more democratized. The only way -- the guys that you elect are going to keep their principles, is if we step up and defend them and force them to be as good as they can be.
GLENN: Okay. This is it. (202)224-3121. Thanks, Matt. Appreciate it. Matt Kibbe from Freedom Works.
Front page image courtesy of the AP.
