We might never know McCainâs real motivation, but what he did was great.
Along with every Senate Democrat.
While ultimately knowing his âreal motiveâ is impossible one could consider that this was a Senator who knows that it is unlikely that he will ever run in a republican primary in the future, that he is in little need of campaign contributions in the future and was fully aware of how dreadful, dysfunctional and abhorrent the bill and the process that lead to the bill was. The added bonus was that he could stick it to a President that he obviously is not fond of.
Iâm ashamed to say Tillis was one of the heavies dispatched to strongarm Murkowski, but she didnât break. Youâve got an amazing senator, Alaska!
Keep in mind that Arizona, under former Governor, Jan Brewer, chose to expand Medicaid under the ACA. Even our reactionary Republican Governor Ducey didnât want a âskinny repealâ, which could have cost the state billions of dollars over time.
McCain voted the only way he could, under the circumstances and after his loud call for a return to bipartisanship. That was good. But then he had to muck it up with false claims about failing ACA and lack of Republican input into the ACA. When it comes to McCain, not only do I have no fucks left to give, but according to my figuring, he owes me at least four fucks. Maybe three after this vote.
A lot of crap in his original statement ⌠the ACA wasnât ârammedâ through anything and only survived without Republican votes because they refused to engage with Dems as the minority, same as they just refused as the nominal majority.
But it sure is a satisfying result.
Paul Krugman sees things real and gets it right.
I started with McCain because so many journalists still fall for his pose as an independent-minded maverick, ignoring the reality that he has almost always been a reliable partisan yes-man whenever it matters. Incredibly, some commentators actually praised his performance earlier this week, focusing on his noble-sounding words and ignoring his utterly craven actions.
We usually castigate McCain and his ilk for talking grandly and then making the bad vote when the chips come down, so Iâll not overly begrudge him in this moment talking shit politics after making the good vote.
âRevenge is a dish best served cold!â
Trump attacks McCain: âI like people who werenât capturedâ
McCain replyâs back, âPayback is a motherfu*cker!â
McConnellâs look while McCain is voting makes me happy.
McCain realized his vote to allow debate was such an obvious partisan reversal of his stated position that Chuck Todd might even call him on itâŚ
He knows he only has a little time left to serve his constituents appear on Sunday talk shows.
I think what really happened was that Johnson, McCain and Graham all wanted assurances from Ryan that the bill would be âamendedâ in the House so that they would get another chance to kill it in the Senate. When Ryan refused to promise anything (because he wanted the Senate to kill it now) McCain, Graham and Johnson all drew straws to see who would be the one to spit in McConnellâs eye. McCain just got the short straw
Well, kind of ill timed, I thought. He drags McCain over the coals on the one day when he does the right thing. He wrote the article before the vote, Iâd imagine, and the probability that McCain would vote the party line seemed like a sure thing.
Iâm sure Krugman is happy to be wrong this one time about McCain.
Sounds like from the video folks were already starting to clap thinking that McCain had voted yes and bill would pass!
Uhhh, Paul? How can we fix things?
Maybe we should vote 'em out?
I do believe it was one of these. For you Donnie
Cabaging off another post, ACA was first saved by Antonin Scalia dropping dead, and now by John McCainâs brain tumor.
For the âVengeful Godâ types, this needs no explanation.
I agree that it was a concerted effort, except I think Graham stepped aside to LET McCain have his moment of political theater.
Once again, Lindsey Graham bloviated about how bad that bill was, but still voted for it without even a whimper. At least McCain found the courage to vote his conscience.