Webster: I’d be Inclusive Speaker

Rep. Daniel Webster, a long-shot candidate for House speaker, said Friday that he wants to bring a “principle-based, member-driven” approach to Congress, but he seemed unwilling to even acknowledge that he was in a contest against a powerful foe.

Webster, a Republican from Florida, is considered a heavy underdog against House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Appearing on “The Laura Ingraham Show,” Webster downplayed the head-to-head dynamics of the race.

“I’m not running against a particular personality or anything like that,” he said. “If I can’t transform the House of Representatives, it’s just a matter of changing offices. I want to change to a principle-based, member-driven Congress.”

But Ingraham warned Webster that he had better be prepared to engage McCarthy.

“I’ll answer the question that for some reason, you won’t answer,” she said.

Why is the establishment working so hard to elect McCarthy? Ingraham said it is because of his prodigious fundraising track record.

“Kevin McCarthy is a money machine,” she said.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for his part, offered praise for McCarthy, who has come under fire for comments he made this week about the House investigation of an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Those comments suggested the motive for the probe was political, giving Democrats ammunition to bolster their contention that it amounts to a witch hunt against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“A lot of people who have never been on the field will explain to you that if the quarterback throws a single interception, we ought to pull him,” Gingrich said in a separate appearance on the radio program. “Kevin McCarthy the other night made a mistake. He’s going to make more mistakes.”

Part of the reason for that, Gingrich said, is that McCarthy likely would be more aggressive than outgoing Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

“Well, McCarthy’s going to take risks,” he said. “Sometimes it’s not going to work.”

Gingrich said conservative anger at the legislative branch ought to be directed at the Senate, where many House-passed bills go to die.

“The center of why conservatives are unhappy is the Senate, not the House,” he said. “And somebody needs to say that.”

Webster said the chief problem of Boehner’s leadership is that the House postponed the thorniest issues for the end of each session

Webster said the chief problem of Boehner’s leadership is that the House postponed the thorniest issues for the end of each session, giving Obama maximum leverage. He said the Florida Legislature operated in a similar fashion before he became state House speaker prior to his election to Congress.

Told that 62 percent of Republicans feel betrayed by their party, Webster said: “I don’t blame them. We have a broken system. America’s not broken. Washington is.”