Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Monday, July 24, 2017

What Fresh Hell Is This...

Jon Chait is right.  The American Shitburger Act is the worst designed major policy in history.

It does not make sense as a policy; it accomplishes very little by way of improving anyone's lives beyond the few who will receive a major tax cut.  It makes the American healthcare system demonstrably more unfair and less efficient.

And it still could pass.  As Chait notes, McConnell seems to be running roughshod over the Senate Parliamentarian in crafting his legislation.  I have no idea what that even means.  If the Parliamentarian says that you need 60 votes for the bill and McConnell says 50....what happens, exactly?  I would think the courts would decide and that means it comes down to John Roberts and whether he meant what he said in that nice graduation speech he gave.

It does seem that Collins is a hard no. In fact, I could see her pulling a Jeffords at some point and becoming an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.  That would be more impactful if she could get Murkowski to join her.  That is if Blake Farenholdt doesn't shoot them first.

After that, they are talking about dragging John McCain back from his sick bed to make sure other people don't have the chance to survive cancer, too.  A lot of nice things have been said about McCain, and as someone who lost his father to cancer in the last week, I want to say, "If John McCain hauls himself back to DC to strip other people's healthcare away from them, Fuck John McCain."

We've accustomed to seeing the Republican Party as master strategists who can bend DC to their will.  Really, they are magic at making government not work.  I doubt they can get this through, but if they do....?

I don't see how Democrats don't recapture the House.

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