Yahoo Finance Kevin McCarthy Mocked After Asking If Americans Are Better Off Than 2 Years Ago
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tried to stop passage of the Inflation Reduction Act on Friday by using a rhetorical question made famous by former President Ronald Reagan.
In the process, he forgot the lawyer’s No. 1 rule: Never ask a question you don’t know the answer to.
In a speech on the House floor, McCarthy asked, “Is America better off today than they were two years ago?” which referenced a question Reagan asked during a 1980 presidential debate with then-President Jimmy Carter.
McCarthy: Answer me this question. Is America better off today than they were two years ago? pic.twitter.com/w3RwXX77Pd
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 12, 2022
Although McCarthy’s question was strictly a rhetorical device that he probably assumed would agitate Democrats, he probably wouldn’t like the answers Twitter users gave to his inquiry.
That’s because, though inflation remains an issue, things have drastically improved since 2020, when the country was being devastated by COVID-19 before vaccines were developed.
Was @GOPLeader born yesterday? Or did he forget that two years ago we were in the midst of the worst pandemic in a century that devastated our country, made even worse by Trump.
Biden is digging us out of the hole Trump made. https://t.co/zp7nhO6tog— Rep. Nydia Velazquez (@NydiaVelazquez) August 12, 2022
Seems like a pretty easy "yes" here. I mean even if you are a Republican, 2 years ago was lockdown COVID era? https://t.co/J94y9DjewN
— Lincoln Michel (@TheLincoln) August 12, 2022
I am vaccinated, businesses have reopened, Las Vegas is back in full force and then some, the leader of Al Qaeda is dead, CHIPS Act, Inflation Reduction Act, unemployment is down - yeah we're like, infinitely better off. https://t.co/6unhB0JSYe
— Mark Riffenburg (@ItsJustMarkNV) August 12, 2022
Kevin, two years ago things were so bad that THE REPUBLICAN PARTY voted to let everyone - not just rich people - have free money. https://t.co/cIz4sqLy84
— Johnny McNulty (@JohnnyMcNulty) August 12, 2022
Two years ago we were in the middle of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, we had no Covid vaccines, and the unemployment rate was more than double what it is today. https://t.co/BSzlEz0g55
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) August 12, 2022
Ummm...yah. https://t.co/0LpELHKO00
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) August 12, 2022
there was a field hospital in central park and we were using shipping trucks as morgues https://t.co/XdHfZRsMmY
— jess mcintosh (@jess_mc) August 12, 2022
Two years ago we couldn't travel, see friends/family, eat out at restaurants, and had to trade copies of Hulk #181 for a can of Lysol and a couple rolls of toilet paper.
No one, and I mean NO ONE, self-owns like McCarthy. https://t.co/tTha4Z5hfq— Mike Avila (@mikeavila) August 12, 2022
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
