Don’t kid yourself. Cotton may be a royal douche-bag, but he is not stupid.
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I’m going to disagree.
Tax cuts are more important to the donor class.
Repealing O-care is tricky in states that took Medicaid expansion money (like Kentucky). As it turns out, McConnell is slightly negative in KY polling and needs to thread this needle carefully. Waiting 4-8 months buys him and the GOP time.
It sure is clickbait. No one in the senate believes there will be arepeal or replacement
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Day? we are talking nanoseconds with the tRump
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I agree…but he is beholden to the KochBros… I can see him as their candidate in 2020 at the earliest…He’s a Xian, recently married ( no extramarital shenanigans), Harvard grad, served in Iraq, cleans up good, and is a young father, and is willing to do the Koch’s bidding. And he’s cagey…
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Many of us were convinced that the House wouldn’t even get to a vote on TrumpCare, but they managed to pass it. Yes, I know, more deliberative body, longer election cycle, closer divide between parties, but I’m not going to believe it’s dead until McConnell stands on the Capitol Steps, lights the whole bill on fire, and shoves it down his pants.
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I sincerely hope that I am wrong and that you are right. Just worried, and my fear is that this’ll go down just like the House version where they will do anything, I said anything for $50.
Clickbait.
Oh sure, they’ll make noise and dance around this a bit. But ultimately they’re not going to make a single move until they see what way the windsock faces on the White House. It’s no longer a sure bet to hitch your wagon to that dumpster fire…watch and see how many stay cagey on this until the point comes where they can no longer use Trump to serve their ends.
If you ask me, they’re waiting until Pence steps in. Just my gut call. McConnell is a crook, shady AF and a smarmy jackass…but he’s never been stupid and he’s all about protecting his own legacy.
I think a lot of these people on the Hill are waiting to see just how far down the tree root gets dug out before they make a final decision. Because when all is said and done, the only loss they fear is their own.
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The only thing they need to decide who wants to be re-elected.
CO resident here, pretty sure Gardner can see the demographics on the wall and knows he’s gonna get bounced in 2020. Does hold town halls, or meet with constituents. Doesn’t care about their concerns at all. If voting for trumpcare makes his post-government job even cushier, he’ll do it.
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Years back as I recall, Cornyn was considered as empty a suit as Ric Perry or Geo W Bush, then suddenly one day, voila, he’s a Leader of the Senate Republicans!!
Speaks volumes about how ignorant and uninformed in general Republicans are, and how pathetic Democrats are for continuously getting beat by these idiots and the handful of operators that are actually running the GOP, whoever they are.
In fact, that might be a good series of articles for TPM to run, who’s really running the GOP, in detail, not just Koch and ALEC and so on. I mean, I’ve heard Gingrich talk, ad-nauseum, and Stephen Moore, and Chris Collins, Devin Nunes and so on, and they are not really that smart. Not smart at all. Moore is a total idiot. But they know how to talk a lot and never deflect from their training. But who’s putting the words in their mouths? KellyAnn? Bannon (no, he’s just a fascist thug)? Colter? There must be people with brains, the rotted and fetid cesspools of hate and loathing and fear that they are, but brains nonetheless who put this GOP agenda together. They need sunlight, lots of it.
Instead of focusing on the tweets of the twit President, we need to focus on the creatures that are really driving the GOP bus, be it McConnell or Putting or whoever.
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“We’ve been talking about this for seven years, so now is the time to start coming up with some tangible alternatives and building consensus,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday afternoon.
They’ve been talking about this for seven years? and they say many parts of the US government are broken? Seven years? Did they serve beer while they talked? Perhaps had they invited (D)s to show them how to do it, they wouldn’t have taken seven years.
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I know there’s a lot of wishful thinking on this - that somehow one or more “moderate” Republicans will grow a backbone - but honestly, when is the last time you saw any of these people do more than engage in ineffectual theater, then roll over and join the majority in whatever despicable act they come up with?
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Mitch is going to make his move now, because this is his only window. The electoral calendar shifts to Dems this fall in VA/NJ and members of Congress will get into re-election mode. Mitch can get 50 votes. The bill won’t be popular but it will pass. There are 3 things that could change Mitch’s approach (which is why he is moving now).
- Result in GA-06
- Progress of #Trumprussia investigations and possible indictments
- Voter feedback to GOP Senators during recess.
What’s working against Mitch is the calendar. What works for him is that he has procedural authority to ram this thing through without much thought. GOP sabotage of the exchanges is also creating a sense of fatalism among the GOP electorate that is opposed to Obamacare repeal. That may get them to a point where they can pass it and still hold on to their base, nominally. This feels like 2005 when GOP members continued to blindly support the war even though all the warning signs were there.
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Quality and price are everything in “coverage.”
Based on the scenario you describe to say they will get there you would have to believe all this maneuvering is just for show and that they will eventually just produce a bill that looks nothing like what is being discussed and vote on it and surprise us all. That seems unlikely.
But Walmart loves ACA and it’s supplements for it’s workers and their families. It’s a huge help to them. Cotton is beholden to the Waltons.
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Update: Cassidy seems to be falling in line to support the rough bill outline a la Upton in the House because he feels like his concerns about pre-existing conditions are getting addressed (somehow). Source: Topher Spiro on Twitter. :-\
Susan Collins is perhaps the toughest vote for Republicans to get …
We’re screwed.
I think that one in the middle that kind of looks like it’s going both left and right, but then always goes right, is Collins.
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