Sen. John McCain’s speech Tuesday afternoon before his Senate colleagues would have been more impressive had he practiced what he preached.
Instead, he voted for a health care bill he had yet to read, yet knowing it would cause an additional 20 million Americans to lose their health insurance.
Moments earlier he had belittled Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s closed-door shenanigans in crafting the bill and how blind allegiance to the party line — Republican or Democrat — was hurting Americans.
McCain said the senators’ obstinacy to compromise was hurting their cause.
The Republicans’ do-or-die pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act without anything suitable to replace it has only served to make Obamacare more popular, he said.
McCain saved his stiffest rebuke for those colleagues willing to be manipulated by President Trump.
“Whether or not we are of the same party, we are not the president’s subordinates. We are his equal,” Trump said.
A popular line of thinking is that as long as Republicans can get long-awaited legislation passed they are willing to look the other way to Mr. Trump’s many conflicts of interest including sheltering his business dealings while president. Though against the law, Trump continues to profit from his business holdings, including renting office space in Trump Tower to federal agencies.
Even Russia’s involvement with the 2016 campaign seems to be of little consequence to Republicans.
POLITICS seems to draw things in sharper relief.
Disagreements are deal-breakers.
It wasn’t always that way, contends McCain.
Despite serious disagreements, the members knew they had “an obligation to work collaboratively to ensure the Senate discharged its constitutional responsibilities effectively … in order to make incremental progress on solving America’s problems and to defend her from her adversaries,” he said.
McCain admitted he was as guilty as others in letting politics get in the way of progress.
“Sometimes, I made it harder to find common ground because of something harsh I said to a colleague. Sometimes, I wanted to win more for the sake of winning than to achieve a contested policy,” he said.
