The Daily Caller posted an article today about the resignation of John Boehner and the speculation as to who will replace him.

There is a statement in the article that I really like:

In sports, if a team isn’t doing well, you fire the manager. You do this because you have to do something, and it sends a message. The fact that you can rarely blame all a team’s struggles on the manager hardly matters (which is why the Nats should fire their manager and the general manager — for giving him that sticking bullpen).

Sometimes change, in and of itself, can shake things up. Sometimes winning is as much about chemistry as it is about substance. If you like a guy personally, you’ll give him more leeway. If a guy wronged you in the past, you’ll be skeptical of him forever. Who cares if he’s no more conservative than the last guy?

As a New York Jets football fan, I can relate to that statement. However, it may be really accurate in the battle to replace John Boehner.

The odds-on favorite to be the new Speaker of the House is Kevin McCarthy, who represents a district in California. Representative McCarthy is well-spoken, handles the media well, and seems pleasant enough in dealing with the media, but he is not a conservative. The Conservative Review gives him a Liberty Score of 45 percent (hardly a passing grade). The Liberty Score® grades members of Congress on the top 50 votes over the past six years.

The Daily Signal posted an article yesterday about the possibility of Representative McCarthy as Speaker.

The article states:

If the torch is passed on to McCarthy, he will face challenges with lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum. The Wall Street Journal said, that if elected, McCarthy “would inherit a series of messy legislative problems that could require him to risk alienating colleagues before he even acclimates to the new job.”

A member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, spoke on “Fox News Sunday” about a possible McCarthy speakership.

Mulvaney said McCarthy is a “ground-up” type of leader. But that “the important question is, will things change? Will they change for the better or will we simply replace Mr. Boehner with somebody else who will do the same thing.”

Obviously, time will tell if Representative McCarthy will be any better for conservative causes than John Boehner. However, from what I have seen, Representative McCarthy will be more accessible to conservative news outlets and has a style that works better in communicating with people of all political stripes. I want to see conservative causes advanced, but I am hopeful that in the process conservatives will be able to soften our image with the American public. I firmly believe that conservative ideas are better for America, I also firmly believe that the liberal media has so totally demonized conservatives that our ideas are not being heard. I had an interesting experience at a recent high school reunion when someone who evidently had a very negative opinion of conservatives talked to me for a while and was amazed to find out that I was actually a rational person. Representative McCarthy is a very personable politician, and I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt before reaching a conclusion about his conservatism. Admittedly, his rating from the Conservative Review is horrible, but I think we have to go back to the “Buckley Rule.” The Buckley Rule (invented by William F. Buckley) is to support the most viable conservative candidate.