Update: After this story was written, Mike Johnson was selected as the Speaker of the House. My hope is he will be a departure from the politics-as-usual approach of McCarthy. However, in the article below I offer some reasons for skepticism. My skepticism is unrelated to Johnson in particular as he was put forward after the article was already started.

Republicans recently named Representative Mike Johnson as their 4th potential nominee for Speaker of the House. The search for a speaker has been something of an embarrassment for the party establishment, as the turnover of potential candidates continues to highlight that the GOP is no longer unified under the same old management.

I have no love lost for McCarthy. By all accounts he was simply a good old boy who worked the system for decades to get his chance at the top of the pyramid.