Many reporters think Kevin McCarthy is dumb. Why can't they say so?

Granted anonymity, some journalists do just that. “He’s a lightweight,” says one veteran political journalist who has covered McCarthy.

“I would never consider him to be smart,” says a TV figure who has interviewed him several times.

“In a strange way that is hard to explain, he’s gotten more stupid the longer he’s here,” opines a longtime Capitol Hill reporter who has watched McCarthy since his early days of palling around with the wonkier likes of Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor.

While not every Congressional reporter I spoke to shares this view — several offered faint praise by noting that there are plenty of dumber members; others make the point that anyone who masters a Congressional caucus must have something good going on — it’s safe to say it’s not an obscure opinion.

“We have a grudging respect for his political savvy, navigating himself to the position he’s gotten,” says one beatster. “He has incredible emotional IQ.”