Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy broke the record for the longest House floor speech on Thursday night.  He spoke for more than eight-and-a-half hours in opposition to the Govzilla tax and spending bill by using the right that House leaders have to speak as long as they wish.

McCarthy has gotten criticism – including from we at the Hotline – for not fighting hard enough to get Republicans to oppose the god-awful “infrastructure” bill that passed earlier this month.

He partially redeemed himself with a speech that ripped the bill to shreds, using economic, legal, moral and Constitutional arguments.  “If I sound angry, I am,” he said as he began to speak at 8:37 pm.

McCarthy taunted Speaker Pelosi by asking: “Could she be the speaker in modern history — one of the few to lose the House twice and lose the most seats? I don’t know.”

He then proceeded to remind viewers of Pelosi’s infamous tour of her gourmet kitchen and its frozen stash of ultra-expensive ice cream:  “I can’t afford a refrigerator like that,” he deadpanned.

McCarthy broke Pelosi’s record for the longest House floor speech, but he also improved his odds of becoming Speaker next year.  He not only demonstrated an iron set of lungs, but the rhetorical ability to take the argument to the other side in a vigorous fashion.