Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Desperate Times

The Republicans are so desperate to do something, anything, labeled “healthcare” that they are dragging Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who a week ago had brain surgery, back to Washington to vote on some version — no one knows quite yet which one — of their attempt to kill Obamacare.

Scott Lemieux at LGM is not impressed with McCain being so “mavericky.”

John McCain is the ultimate example of the worthlessness of the theater critic school of political punditry.  McCain has been a party-line hack for virtually his entire political career.  And the two significant exceptions weren’t about principle. He supported campaign finance reform to deflect from his role in the Savings and Loan crisis. And he cast some meaningless votes against Bush’s early agenda out of personal pique from the campaign. That’s it. His reputation for being a “maverick” comes entirely from making noises about being independent before voting the party line. Flying in to vote to deny more than 20 million people the healthcare he’s currently benefiting from to pay for an upper-class tax cut will be the ultimate culmination of a disgraceful political career, and the countless pundits and reporters who bought his act feel for a ludicrously obvious con.

Of course, there’s a chance that he could do the right th…Christ, I can’t even finish typing this.

This little flurry of drama reminiscent of Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” is bringing attention back to the GOP attempt to undermine healthcare for 23 million people.  As Paul Krugman notes, they’ve allowed the distractions of Russian meddling, Jared Kushner’s faux innocence, and Anthony Scaramucci’s beauty tips to the new press secretary to take the spotlight off what Mitch McConnell and his minions are trying to pull off.

I’m not saying that everyone should ignore Trump-Putin-treason and all its ramifications: Clearly, the fate of our democracy is on the line. But we mustn’t let this mother of all scandals take up all our mental bandwidth: Health care for millions is also on the line.

And while ordinary citizens can’t yet do much about the looming constitutional crisis, their calls, letters, and protests can still make all the difference on health care. Don’t let the bad guys in the Senate do terrible things because you weren’t paying attention!

So pick up the phone, call your senators, and do your civic duty.

One bark on “Desperate Times

  1. I’ve been wondering when someone would notice that Emperor McCain has no clothes. All the adulation (“American hero” blah blah) has given me cramps. What sort of hero would choose Sarah Palin to be a candidate in any capacity much less Vice President, one heart attack away from the Oval office? What sort of candidate would pull the stunt he did as he dropped everything in his run for President to rush to DC to sit in on an important meeting about funding and then sit at the table as silent as the moon, adding nothing to the discussion? McCain has been trading on his time in service as a prisoner of war in Viet Nam for years. He was heroic then, right now not so much.

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