The Left Was Missing in Action From the McCarthy Spectacle

If you rely on the corporate media, the 15 ballots it took to elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House might seem like a triumph for the Democratic Party, whose “quiet competence and unity,” NBC declared, “is a stark contrast not just to GOP fecklessness” but also to the usual media storyline of “Dems in disarray.” For once, Bloomberg noted approvingly, Democrats flexed their “unity muscles.”

Isn’t it pretty to think so? But while it’s true that Democrats stuck together to deliver 15 unanimous tallies for their candidate, minority...