OK, I know the senior Senator from Arizona has brain cancer. My grandfather died from some flavor of brain cancer many years ago so I’m sensitive to the subject; however, to say John McCain has been erratic lately is nothing new. His behavior has been inexplicable for his entire public career. McCain has been a thorn in the side of Republicans for decades. Ironically, former Senator Barry Goldwater—the so-called arch conservative (also from Arizona)—turned out to be just as hostile to Conservatives as McCain. The only difference is Goldwater didn’t begin saying so publically until he was out of office while McCain has been at war with the Right flank of his party since at least the 1990’s.
Yeah, I just called Barry Goldwater and John McCain hostile to Conservatives—especially the religious ones. McCain has a track record of attacking his own party on a national basis with the same zeal as Charles Munger Jr. does here in California.
As many of you are being reminded right now as you watch the Obamacare farce of “repeal and replace,” often both Republicans and Democrats believe in big government; they only differ on which areas should be the largest. McCain believes firmly in one rule for himself and a different one for the rest of us. If he had the same healthcare that he wants the rest of us to be forced to have, he would be in hospice or worse yet a military cemetery.
Yesterday John McCain is marched out as the savior of the Senate as he gives Republicans enough votes—along with the tie breaking vote by the Vice-President—to allow the Senate to debate Obamacare. A few short hours later, the first amendment offered to the bill is shot-down as the motion fails 43 to 57.
This exercise in symbolism over substance taking place in the US Senate is not intended to result in any significant changes to Obama’s hallmark legislation but to paint a target on the House of Representatives as being the obstructionists in the legislative bottleneck. This political jujitsu is just a game being played-out to pass the buck (or in this case blame) to someone else. That way the Senate can enter their delayed summer recess having done their best rendition of Pontius Pilot washing his hands of this unpleasant business before him.
This is how big government really works…pass the buck to others, keep the issue to campaign on in the next cycle, and most important, don’t really fix anything. This is the real definition of legislative gridlock.
Look for Senators to give us a lot of smoke and mirrors over the next week or so and then adjourn for summer recess. The only truly bipartisan thing coming out of their chamber is a campaign to blame the House of Representatives saying that they did their job and the fate of Obamacare is in the hands of those other guys.