Senator John McCain of Arizona announced on Friday that he would oppose the latest proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act, leaving Republican leaders with little hope of succeeding in their last-ditch attempt to dismantle the health law.
Mr. McCain, who killed the previous repeal effort with his dramatic “no” vote in July, released a statement saying he would not support the latest proposal, by Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is Mr. McCain’s closest friend in the Senate.
“I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal,” Mr. McCain said. “I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried. Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will affect insurance premiums, and how many people will be helped or hurt by it.”
With McCain out this deal is dead, because I am convinced that both Senator Murkowski and Collins will also likely vote no on this bill. And right now the Republicans cannot afford to lose even one of them.
I imagine this was hard for McCain since his bestest buddy in the whole world, Lindsey Graham, put his name on this, but the man has brain cancer so how COULD he in good conscience have voted any other way?
Somebody in another thread asked if this meant we had to forgive John McCain for Sarah Palin, and the answer to that is no, no we do not.
What John McCain has done may seem admirable, but seriously it is the bare minimum that people should expect from their representatives.
Sarah Palin is a plague on this nation which keeps on giving, and there is NO undoing that.
Thank you, AGAIN, John McCain!!!! You are helping save the minorities and the poor throughout America.
ReplyDeleteThank you Gryphen. Thank you. Thank you. 'NO, NO WE DO NOT...'
Delete'Somebody in another thread asked if this meant we had to forgive John McCain for Sarah Palin, and the answer to that is no, no we do not.
What John McCain has done may seem admirable, but seriously it is the bare minimum that people should expect from their representatives.
Sarah Palin is a plague on this nation which keeps on giving, and there is NO undoing that.'
Not to mention McCain is having macabre fun swinging from 'no' to 'maybe' and back again dandling peoples lives in the process. Fuck him.
ReplyDeleteHe had no problem dumping wife #1 without batting an eyelash when she got cancer, but now that it's him....
DeleteGood to see you, dvlaries!
@12:15 Car Crash >NOT Cancer.
Deletehttp://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/carol.asp
http://heavy.com/news/2017/07/carol-shepp-mccain-john-mccain-first-ex-wife-children-kids-family-divorced/
The first wife was disabled in a car accident. You are probably thinking of Newt Gingrich. He left his first wife who had cancer.
DeleteSame story, different details.
I do forgive him.
ReplyDeletewhich makes you a fucking idiot!
Deletelol ok
DeleteI dropped him a note to thank him for standing up for regular order and the CBO report.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd like to do the same, there's a handy dandy form at https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form.
Didn't Rand Paul say he wasn't going to vote for the bill .Also he wasn't going to be bullied by twitler.
ReplyDeleteHe's said that before and still voted for it.
DeletePaul is a hypocrite and a liar. Media whore who only wants attention. Sound like anyone we know?
I forgive him too
ReplyDeleteand another fucking idiot.
DeleteI won't ever forget the damage he did to our country with his choice of Sarah Palin. We'll be suffering from that for years after he is gone. I don't forgive anyone who doesn't offer an apology.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, I am able to put this into a separate box and see that he has done the right thing. I appreciate that.
We would not be here had McCain not failed to vet and he went with the worst choice of a lifetime. He is unforgivable. He does not admit his mistakes and make amends.
DeleteWhat he is doing now is not amends. He is making better choices but he is not steady or honest.
When done>Ditto
DeleteSarah Palin energized and organized the Deplorables, opening the door to Donald Trump.
DeleteIf McCain hadn't unleashed the Kraken(head), Donald Trump would not be president.
So it's all his fault.
He'll have to do more than kill DeathCare twice to atone.
Perhaps Mccain has grown a conscience???? The idea of imminent death does strange things to one's conscience.
ReplyDeleteDoubt it.
DeleteBut I imagine it does give one a new found freedom to do whatever you want regardless of the consequences because you might not live to see them.
McCain is the most term-limited senator serving. He won't see the end of his term. I'm sure the doctors have told him he can count his time left in months, perhaps weeks. So there's nothing Donald Trump can threaten him with. He's considering his legacy and what he will leave this earth with. Being the Savior of Obamacare sits better with him than throwing tens of thousands off of their insurance and having the deaths of Americans because of it on his hands.
Call it perspective. McCain finally has some.
https://twitter.com/AynRandPaulRyan/status/911178425624272896
ReplyDeleteomg
NO $hit-gibbon. Yikes!
DeleteDoes tinydjt know where his wife is, Alabama, Nambia,
Deleteor anything for that matter?
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/does-he-have-a-clue-where-alabama-is-internet-gobsmacked-by-completely-babbling-trump-at-moore-rally/
“We should not be content to pass health care legislation on a party-line basis, as Democrats did when they rammed Obamacare through Congress in 2009."
ReplyDeleteWhile I applaud his decision to vote against this cruel disaster of a bill, I am angered by his typical Republican revision of the facts. He claims that he would consider supporting the bill if it were "the product of extensive hearings, debate and amendment", and implying that the ACA was NOT the product of a similar process. However, that is patently untrue.
"In June and July 2009, with Democrats in charge, the Senate health committee spent nearly 60 hours over 13 days marking up the bill that became the Affordable Care Act. That September and October, the Senate Finance Committee worked on the legislation for eight days — its longest markup in two decades. It considered more than 130 amendments and held 79 roll-call votes.
The full Senate debated the health care bill for 25 straight days before passing it on Dec. 24, 2009."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/us/politics/obamacare-repeal-of-health-law-republicans.html
The ACA was NOT 'rammed through', any more than the Great Wall of China was built over a long weekend.
Thank you for reminding everyone of the facts about how the ACA became law!
DeleteIt may sound horribly cruel, but now that he has cancer we're supposed to pull out the "all is forgiven" card? Well, I can't do that and I've been in a breast cancer battle since February.
ReplyDeleteIt IS the minimum, Gryph, and he's pulled plenty in his "maverick" career, Palin being one of the worst.
he can die a horrible, painful death and rot in his grave for how he betrayed his fellow MIAs and for putrifying politics forever with Palin and Trump.
DeleteBetrayed his fellow MIA's? Really? Why don't you start watching the Vietnam documentary on PBS and get educated about what it was like to be a POW in Hanoi. McCain has committed sins all right. That ain't one of them.
DeleteI find this to be a thorough, albeit brief, biography of John McCain. He's an entitled no good scoundrel, but he has lots of company in the halls of Congress.
Deletehttp://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/make-believe-maverick-20081016
This guy picked that dumbass Palin to be an old man's heartbeat away from the presidency. I don't trust him until his vote is casted.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings on this. I am glad the Affordable Care Act is safe, once again and hopefully we move on to single payer. Buttt... if this piece of crap had gone through, many of Trump's and the Republican's followers would have had the biggest, most devastating (along with many others) wake up call. Now one can only hope that since this powerful lesson won't happen, that they be woke up in a way that doesn't mean we are lead into a war, because the Toddler in Chief feelings are hurt/terrified about Russian connections, and he wants to act like a tough guy (remember the video when campaigning, and he thought someone was rushing the stage, what a frighten old man). These people need to wake the Fuck up, and it is only going to happen when it hits close to home.
ReplyDeleteAs much as we might like to see his supporters experience a painful reality check, we must remember that millions of people - including the elderly, children, and people with disabilities - would also have to suffer along with them. Many lives would be ruined or lost and that's too high a price to pay for a little payback.
DeleteSome of his most devoted followers would still refuse to blame Trump for their pain and find some convoluted way to place the blame on Obama or the Democrats. After all, they still insist on blaming Obama for 9/11 and the disastrous response to Katrina even when shown proof that he was not yet in the White House.
'There are none so blind as those who will not see.'
They will only realize it when it hits them square in the wallet, and it's coming.
DeleteTed Lieu
ReplyDeleteTwitter › tedlieu
Thank you John McCain for your courage. War heroes who were captured tend to have a lot of courage. cc: @realDonaldTrumptwitter.com/SenJohnM…
39 minutes ago · Twitter
Ted Lieu (D)
United States Representative
Chad Johnson
ReplyDeleteTwitter › ochocinco
If Donald Trump was a real business man he would fight Kim Jong Un on pay-per-view...
18 hours ago · Twitter
Thank God for John McCain (never, ever thought I would say that!)
ReplyDeleteEach time he votes no, his choice of Palin becomes more forgivable.
ReplyDeleteHad a 'Strange' thought>
ReplyDeleteWhat if john had asked Lady Lindsey to be his running mate?
Even Moore Strange
@Anonymous 1:17 PM
DeleteI like what you did there!
dowl
"Somebody in another thread asked if this meant we had to forgive John McCain for Sarah Palin, and the answer to that is no, no we do not."
ReplyDeleteAll hear ye! All hear Ye! The great leader has spoken and provided his flock with his noble and glorious directive!
Arrogant wanker, isn't he?
DeleteAs if anyone blamed him personally for Palin in the first place. It was a political move that was out of his hands, remember, McCain wanted to run with Lieberman.
DeleteI forgive him. Sarah Palin is pretty much irrelevant to those of us outside Alaska. Seriously, when's the last news story you've heard on her? She shot herself in the foot by resigning as governor in order to cash in on her 15 minutes of fame. Those minutes are long over.
ReplyDeletePerhaps she is irrelevant as an individual, but her selection as a VP candidate - and the hate-filled campaign McCain permitted her to wage - inspired and encouraged the malevolence that ultimately got Trump elected.
DeleteThe prejudice and malice we've seen so much of in the past 10 years was always there, but people were shamed into hiding it. As a result of her campaign, and the election of our first black President, the ugliest of our national behavior is not only tolerated, but celebrated.
She has done irreparable harm to this country.
Republicans to Murkowski: Nice State You Have There. Shame If Something Should Happen to It.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans Threaten Alaska If Murkowski Turns Down Bribe
Wall Street Journal writer Kimberley Strassel’s column typically channels talking points from congressional Republicans, and today’s effort is dedicated to putting the squeeze on Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski. Strassel’s method of persuasion draws less on the theories of Hayek or Friedman and instead reflects the influence of the lesser-known conservative moral philosopher Vito Corleone.
Strassel throws in a handful of substantive defenses of the Graham-Cassidy bill. She touts the “formula twiddles Senate Republicans are considering to ensure rural states aren’t harmed by Medicaid block grants” — which is to say, the Republican plan will harm tens of millions of people but allegedly spare the denizens of Murkowski’s state. But the heart of Strassel’s analysis is that Murkowski has a nice state here, and it would be a shame if something happened to it. If Murkowski does not accept the bribe, Strassel warns:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/09/republicans-threaten-alaska-if-murkowski-turns-down-bribe.html
Health-Care Experts Keep Finding New Terrible Things in the Republicans’ Shoddy Repeal Bill
ReplyDeleteThe primary motive for the latest Republican plan to repeal Obamacare is, as one of its co-sponsors explained in a written statement, a “deadline.” Republicans have one more week to abuse the budget process in a way that would allow them to overhaul the health-care system without any Democratic votes. The frantic rush has created a shambolic piece of legislation whose directional impact is clear enough — it would massively reduce federal funding for health-care coverage — but whose specifics are barely knowable.
Two aspects of this shoddy design have recently come to light.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/09/experts-keep-finding-terrible-things-in-shoddy-repeal-bill.html
They can still do it again. All they have to do is put the 50% vote in the next budget bill. They can do it for both healthcare and taxes. Thus allowing them to pass anything with 51 votes.
DeleteBehind New Obamacare Repeal Vote: ‘Furious’ G.O.P. Donors
ReplyDeleteAs more than 40 subdued Republican senators lunched on Chick-fil-A at a closed-door session last week, Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado painted a dire picture for his colleagues. Campaign fund-raising was drying up, he said, because of widespread disappointment among donors over the inability of the Republican Senate to repeal the Affordable Care Act or do much of anything else.
Mr. Gardner is in charge of his party’s midterm re-election push, and he warned that donors of all stripes were refusing to contribute another penny until the struggling majority produced some concrete results.
“Donors are furious,” one person knowledgeable about the private meeting quoted Mr. Gardner as saying. “We haven’t kept our promise.”
The backlash from big donors as well as the grass roots panicked Senate Republicans and was part of the motivation behind the sudden zeal to take one last crack at repealing the health care law before the end of the month.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/us/politics/republican-donors-obamacare-repeal.html
Every attempt to repeal Obamacare has been built on lies. Graham-Cassidy is no different.
On Wednesday, in a discussion of the latest Republican health care bill, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley told the truth. “You know, I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn’t be considered,” he said on a conference call with reporters. “But Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign. That’s pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill.” More blunt was Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts who, earlier in the week, told a Vox reporter that “If we do nothing [on health care], I think it has a tremendous impact on the 2018 elections. And whether or not Republicans still maintain control and we have the gavel.”
This honesty was noteworthy—it was newsworthy—because it pierces a cloud of dishonesty. We know what Graham-Cassidy, the Republican health care bill, would do. It would slash Medicaid and other federal health care spending, ending health coverage for tens of millions of Americans. To Democrats, this is intolerable. To many Republicans, this is what it means to have a “small government” society; this is the system working. But it’s at odds with the party’s promises of the past seven years: repeated pledges to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something cheaper, better, fairer, and more comprehensive. Republicans can’t square that circle, so instead, they’ve opted to lie and hope, amid the scramble, they get away with it.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/09/graham_cassidy_like_all_obamacare_repeal_is_built_on_lies.html
Big donors mean the FASCIST Koch brothers.
DeleteWell, maybe if they did their fund raising with a LOT of little donors they wouldn't have to dance t the Koch brothers tune? But the Republican Party has always relied on the deep pockets of a few über wealthy right wing Deplorables like Koch and Mercer. They can't fill their war chests with a lot of little donors like Obama did. (Or Sanders.) Republicans couldn't be bothered with a lot of $5 and $10 checks. They want all those zeros and they want them fast.
Yep. If they can tie this lack of donors to Trump, they'll get rid of him. I always said if Trump threatened their re-election chances, they'd be first in line to impeach him or invoke 25.
Trump Continues to Score Lowest on Characteristics Deemed Most Important
ReplyDeletehttp://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/219833/trump-leadership-qualities-assessed-year-later.aspx
If the U.S. Adopts the G.O.P.’s Health-Care Bill, It Would Be an Act of Mass Suicide
ReplyDeleteThe fundamental thing to understand about Senate Republicans’ latest attempt to repeal Obamacare is that the bill under consideration would not just undo the Affordable Care Act—it would also end Medicaid as we know it and our federal government’s half-century commitment to closing the country’s yawning gaps in health coverage. And it would do so without putting in place any credible resources or policies to replace the system it is overturning. If our country enacts this bill, it would be an act of mass suicide.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/if-the-us-adopts-the-gops-health-care-bill-it-would-be-an-act-of-mass-suicide
How Tom Price decided chartered, private jets were a good use of taxpayer money
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/national/how-tom-price-decided-chartered-private-jets-were-a-good-use-of-taxpayer-money/2017/09/22/7ca65e7c-9f42-11e7-8ea1-ed975285475e_story.html
Fine Price's sorry ass and charge him for every cent our tax money has extended for his flying time.
DeleteI detest the white Republican men we currently have sitting in Congress. They could care less about the Americans they supposedly serve!
Nail them to the wall, Americans. Rise up and fight!!!
Two female administration officials (can't remember who) also used private jets but they PAID for them out of their own pockets, didn't use tax dollars.
DeleteSo this is simply a matter of Price milking his position. Mnuchin too.
One was Betsy DeVos. As much as I hate her positions on education, I do have some respect for her in that.
DeleteThe Graham-Cassidy Health-Care Bill Is a Clear Danger to People with Preëxisting Conditions
ReplyDeletehttps://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/the-graham-cassidy-health-care-bill-is-a-clear-danger-to-people-with-preexisting-conditions
Republicans are advancing yet another effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act that is as bad as the one defeated in July, if not worse. This one makes large use of block grants, a long-standing Republican idea to promote “state flexibility.” The concept might sound good, but in reality, it would be disastrous for the millions of low- and moderate-income people it purports to help.
ReplyDeleteThe Cassidy-Graham bill adds a new coat of paint to the Republican repeal-and-replace effort, but the content is still poison. It would slash the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and premium subsidies by $243 billion between 2020 and 2026, and then completely end federal funding in 2027. It would also turn these provisions into a block grant, which lends states enormous leeway in spending the money. On top of all that, the bill would hit each state’s federal Medicaid spending with a per-person limit, allowing states to receive pre-ACA Medicaid dollars in the form of block grants for non-elderly, non-disabled people.
Those facts should end the discussion. But it’s still worth diving into the destructive potential of block grants.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/block-grants-would-be-a-disaster-heres-how-we-know/2017/09/22/7bcdc678-9f17-11e7-9c8d-cf053ff30921_story.html
Yes, the Republican Party has become pathological. But why?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.vox.com/polyarchy/2017/9/22/16345194/republican-party-pathological
McCain blasts fellow Republican Grassley for ‘clearly’ trying to distract from Trump-Russian probe
ReplyDeleteA spokeswoman for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Friday issued a biting statement aimed at Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), accusing his Republican colleague of “clearly” trying to “distract” from multiple investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Grassley on Wednesday wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray, demanding to know “If the FBI did provide a defensive briefing or similar warning to the [Trump] campaign” about Russian efforts to interfere in the election
“If the FBI did not alert the campaign, then that would raise serious questions about what factors contributed to its decision and why it appears to have been handled differently in a very similar circumstance involving a previous campaign,” Grassley wrote.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/mccain-blasts-fellow-republican-grassley-for-clearly-trying-to-distract-from-trump-russian-probe/
Paul Krugman: Republicans are America’s pre-existing condition — and they’re killing us
ReplyDeleteNew York Times columnist Paul Krugman blasted the Republican Party’s latest bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on Friday as “incompetently drafted” and teeming with “obvious, blatant lies.”
On top of all of that, he wrote, the Graham-Cassidy bill is “stunningly cruel” in its seeming indifference to the suffering of patients and its savage cuts to programs that benefit women, children and the poor.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/opinion/graham-cassidy-lies-healthcare.html
Just saying... If Republicans had never called the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare, there would be no need to Repeal and Replace it.
ReplyDeleteAin't that the truth.
DeleteAbsolute truth and further testament to the fact that GOPers would tear off their own noses to spite their stupid faces.
DeleteI said that before it was even passed.
DeleteI also said that eventually they would claim it as their own.
I still maintain that is what will happen.
A bipartisan committee will meet, fix Obamacare and rename it "Trumpcare." Then it will pass and Trump will be all giggles that his name is on something that passed.
He doesn't give a shit WHAT is in the bill. He just wants the name Obama gone and his name on something.
So they're going about this all wrong. They need to fix the ACA so it's better, then slap Trump's name on it.
BTW, they are undermining the ACA something awful now.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sunday-hours-obamacare-website-to-be-shut-down-for-portion-of-most-weekends_us_59c5a20be4b0cdc773316974?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
He’s a McCainiac, McCainiac on the (Senate) floor
ReplyDeletehttps://www.vox.com/vox-sentences/2017/9/22/16352670/vox-sentences-mccain-graham-cassidy-no
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) warned Republicans that if they try to bring up Graham-Cassidy for a vote, he has 100 amendments ready to go that will keep the debate going until the reconciliation language expires on September 30.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2017/09/22/democratic-senator-dropped-100-amendment-mega-bomb-gop-plot-kill-obamacare.html
Republican Senator Admits During A Town Hall That Obamacare Repeal Is Near Death
At a town hall in Iowa, Republican Sen. Joni Ernst admitted that it is unlikely that the Senate will vote on the Republican Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill.
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/09/22/republican-senator-admits-town-hall-obamacare-repeal-death.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lisa-murkowski-obamacare-repeal_us_59c27eafe4b0186c220748a4?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
ReplyDelete"It’s just math."
Sen. John McCain's decision to oppose the Graham-Cassidy health care bill came on the same day Mike Pence began a major public push in favor of the legislation, leading to more humiliation for Pence as the bill nears collapse.
ReplyDeleteJust as the Trump administration sent Mike Pence out to stump for the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain announced his decision to oppose the plan, leading to more humiliation for a feckless Pence and potentially killing the legislation.
While Donald Trump simply tweeted about the bill, Pence was positioned — as he often has been — as the salesman for it, attempting to spin the devastating effects it would have on millions of Americans.
But while Pence stuck his neck out for the draconian plan, Republican Sen. John McCain announced that he would not support it. In a statement devastating to the White House’s efforts, McCain wrote, “I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal.”
...Pence spoke to two Alaska radio stations, in a bid to squeeze that state’s moderate Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski to support the legislation. The interviews were designed to work in concert with efforts by Senate Republicans to bribe Murkowski with Alaska-specific provisions.
After chatting about fishing for halibut and silver salmon, Pence told KENI in Anchorage that the bill “is our best opportunity to repeal the most onerous elements of Obamacare.” On KFQD, also in Anchorage, Pence rhapsodized that the bill meant “all 50 states will be able to craft healthcare solutions that will lower the cost of health insurance.”
In neither interview did Pence explain that the bill allows insurers to increase costs for people with pre-existing medical conditions as it guts the protections passed into law by President Barack Obama and Democrats in the Affordable Care Act.
https://shareblue.com/pence-humiliated-after-media-blitz-as-mccain-announces-opposition-to-health-care-repeal/
Medicaid Directors Of All 50 States Issue Joint Statement Slamming GOP Health Bill
ReplyDeleteThe Graham-Cassidy healthcare proposal is so bad that every single Medicaid Director in America hates it.
http://addictinginfo.com/2017/09/22/medicaid-directors-of-all-50-states-issue-joint-statement-slamming-gop-health-bill/
Trump’s HHS Sec. Latest To Be Caught Spending HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS Of Tax Dollars On Luxuries
ReplyDeletehttp://addictinginfo.com/2017/09/21/trumps-hhs-sec-latest-to-be-caught-spending-hundreds-of-thousands-of-tax-dollars-on-luxuries/
KARMA!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the club, Sassy Gay Republican. It’s terrifying in here.
http://addictinginfo.com/2017/09/21/trump-regrets-move-over-sassy-gay-republican-is-all-of-the-healthcare-angst-we-need-right-now/
Obama Just Made A VERY Powerful Statement About Trump’s Attempts To Repeal Obamacare (VIDEO)
ReplyDeletehttp://addictinginfo.com/2017/09/20/obama-just-made-a-very-powerful-statement-about-trumps-attempts-to-repeal-obamacare-video/
I swear that the primary goal - other than passing ANYTHING they can claim as a legislative victory - is to harm, or kill, the greatest number of middle-class and poor people as possible. If a disproportionate percentage of those people are in blue states, that's a happy bonus.
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans in Congress have become stunningly and proudly EVIL, beyond all expectations.
McCain has always been a conundrum. I have so much respect for what he went through in Vietnam, and he has a long track record of bipartisanship.
ReplyDeleteEarly on in the '08 campaign, I was happy he got the nomination because he was one of the few Repubs I could stand. I didn't agree with him on everything, but I had some respect for him.
Then, in the general, he folded to the conservative wing. Even before he picked Palin, he had lost my respect. Looking back, it seems like he couldn't handle the pressure of the campaign, and he couldn't find a way to be true to himself.
However, since then he has returned to the old, respectable McCain, apart from continuing to stand by Palin. I think maybe he knew she would crash and burn, and he just played nice with her in order to be (or appear to be) a gentleman and to not cause friction or problems for himself.
I think his Palin pick and his behavior in general during the '08 campaign was an aberration in his very long career. I see no point in continuing to be angry with him; that only harms me. So, yeah, I forgive him. I still wish he hadn't picked her, but at this point, I'm willing to let it go.
Spoken like a real man. Bravo!
DeleteCould have been a female!
DeleteEye roll.
Yep, I spoke as a real woman. :)
DeleteYou're such a miserable, old ass. I don't need your permission to forgive anyone. The man has redeemed himself. I'm betting My President appreciates what he's done and if you understood him, half as much as you claim, you would too. When they go low Griff goes lower!
ReplyDeleteIt's still a free country, for NOW kinda sorts, and Gryph can state his opinion as you can yours.
DeleteWhy are you here if you hate him so much? Think you're MAGAing?
Hey 7:38 PM Go to your room, kid, your emotions are getting to you.
DeleteJust today, Drumpf was ripping on how stupid and cowardly John McCain is.
DeleteSo you're betting against his own words.
That's rather exceptionally stupid, even for a troglodyte trumpazee.
Serves to reinforce my belief that these idiots don't even listen to him.
Choosing Sarah Palin has led to Donald Trump in the White House. If McCain had chosen anyone else, we wouldn't have that Orange Anus threatening to start WWIII.
DeleteSorry, but until he publicly apologizes for choosing Sarah Palin I, for one, will not forgive him anything. No matter how many times he kills DeathCare.
If they don't have the votes it won't even come up for a vote. McConnell can't afford another loss.
ReplyDeleteHowever...this doesn't mean it's dead.
Plus, the Republicans are likely to put the same rider on this year's budget bill; that they only need 50% to pass tax deform, er, reform. And maybe healthcare too.
Anything to avoid, bypass or undermine that 60 vote majority.
I hear they are thinking of eliminating the state tax deduction from the federal income tax. That would be a huge moneymaker for the feds but devastating for everyone else (who isn't rich.) That deduction has been part of income tax from the beginning of income tax. It goes back to the founding fathers, Federalist papers or something. I was only half listening to NPR. But if the Republicans try to eliminate that, they'll have as much success passing their tax deform...damn!....reform as they had passing their death, er, health bill.
LOL. Two years with no major legislation? And they're going to ask their constituents to re-elect them.
DO NOT trust McCain!
ReplyDeleteDo not let up on the phone calls and protests. McCain has a history of saying one thing while voting for the exact opposite.
Since they can't replace it they're going to kill it through starvation.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sunday-hours-obamacare-website-to-be-shut-down-for-portion-of-most-weekends_us_59c5a20be4b0cdc773316974?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
"The Trump administration plans to shut down the federal health insurance exchange for 12 hours during all but one Sunday in the upcoming open enrollment season.
The shutdown will occur from 12 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET on every Sunday except Dec. 10.
The Department of Health and Human Services will also shut down the federal exchange — healthcare.gov — overnight on the first day of open enrollment, Nov. 1. More than three dozen states use that exchange for their marketplaces."
"The Trump administration has come under attack from critics who say that it is intentionally undermining the Affordable Care Act, through regulatory actions. It shortened the enrollment period, withdrew money for advertising and cut the budget for navigator groups, which help people shop for plans.
And now HHS is closing the site for a substantial portion of each weekend — for maintenance, officials said. That is the same time that many working patients — the prime target group for ACA insurance — could be shopping for their insurance, critics noted."
"Open enrollment season will run from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15, less than half the time people have had to sign up during the first four years of the exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act.
More than 12 million people enrolled on the state and federal marketplaces for 2017 coverage, including more than 9 million on the federal exchange. Some customers give up coverage over the course of the year.
Advocates were already nervous that fewer people would sign up during the shortened period this time around."
"The Trump administration plan will have the site operating 93 percent of the time — over an enrollment period that is half as long as it used to be. In effect, instead of a 90-day enrollment season, the Trump administration cut it to 45. With the maintenance shutdowns, cut it to an equivalent of 42 days."
Don't forget they cut advertising too. There is basically no publicity about enrollment and now they're going to cut the online access by more than 50%.
If this were called Trumpcare it would be running 24/7 year round and he'd be hawking it with every speech his gives.
That is what Democrats need to do. Bet a bipartisan committee together to fix all of the problems of the ACA, then name it TRUMPcare. Then Trump will pressure the Republicans to pass it, which they will because they need a win for the upcoming 2018 election cycle. Their donors still won't be happy but they will have passed something and Trump will have his name on it. That's really all he wants. He wants Obama's hame gone and his name on something. Tell Trump it's like that Australian plan he liked and he'll be all over it. You'll never shut him up.
It's all about marketing. Are Democrats really that stupid?