Michael Gaynor
Tragically, aging and ailing Senator McCain teamed with "resist" Democrats and pro-Planned Parenthood nominal Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins to prolong Obamacare and postpone Trumpcare
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By Michael Gaynor
August 2, 2017

McCain apparently punished President Donald Trump for disparaging him personally by joining with RINOS Murkowski and Collins and a united block of 48 Democrats to delay the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.

2008 Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain put Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama, then a rookie United States Senator, in the White House by telling the world that Obama was a fine young man instead of a radical who wanted to bring about, for example, a single payer health care system in the United States.

When McCain had the chance to undo some of the significant damage former President Obama did by voting with 49 Republican Senators, McCain instead stood with former President Obama and cast the deciding vote to keep Obamacare in place.

Hopefully, that grievous mistake was the result of brain cancer instead of a desire for revenge against President Trump for opining that becoming a prisoner of war does not epitomize heroism.

Punishing the whole country is NOT the right way to rebut.

Instead of standing by his presumably principled opposition to Obamacare and voting for its repeal, for which he had voted in 2015 (the year before he ran for one more Senate term), McCain shamelessly teamed with the Senate's 48 Democrats and two "Republican" Senators who supported Planned Parenthood and won its praise, (1) Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, who was appointed to the United States Senate by her father, then Governor Frank Murkowski, and Maine's Susan Collins, to keep Obamacare in place, and (2) Maine's Susan Collins, who at least can claim to have changed her position on repeal and voted against it in 2015.

After the 49 to 50 vote, Planned Parenthood crowed: "Meet the women who stood strong to defeat #Trumpcare since the beginning. Thank you @SenatorCollins &@lisamurkowski¨http://buff.ly/2w6ToUP" (www.pacificpundit.com/2017/07/29/abortion-mill-planned-parenthood-thanks-susan-collins-and-lisa-murkowski/).

In "Murkowski and Planned Parenthood" (www.politico.com/story/2011/03/murkowski-and-planned-parenthood-051155), posted on March 11, 2011, Politico's Sarah Kliff explained that Murkowski and Collins were Planned Parenthood sympathizers:

"Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has come out in opposition to the House's attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, making her the first Republican senator to specifically support the beleaguered organization.

"'I believe Planned Parenthood provides vital services to those in need and disagree with their funding cuts in the bill,' Murkowski wrote in a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Vice Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). 'I ask you to consider these programs going forward to determine if there is room for allowing continued funding.'

"Murkowski's move follows that of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who last week came out against the House vote to defund Title X, the only federal program dedicated to reproductive health issues.

"'Sen. Collins is a longtime supporter of the Title X family planning program, and she believes the House's decision to completely eliminate the funding is unwise,' Collins spokesman Kevin Kelley said. 'The program has successfully reduced the number of unplanned pregnancies, therefore helping to reduce health care costs.'

"Planned Parenthood receives Title X funding, which is defunded in the Republican spending bill. Planned Parenthood defunding was the subject of a separate amendment to the spending bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.)."

It was not at all a surprise that Collins stood by Obamacare. In 2015, she was the only Republican Senator who voted not to repeal Obamacare.

It was only slightly surprising that the opportunistic Murkowski flip flopped after voting for repeal in 2015.

Murkowski is not a very popular Senator in her home state.

Murkowski took her father's United States Senate seat in 2002 and was elected to a full time in 2004 with a plurality of the votes.

In 2010 Murkowski lost the Republican Senate primary, but selfishly stayed in the race as an independent and won with less than 40% of the votes.

In 2016 Murkowski ran for reelection as a Republican and won with less than 45% of the votes.

Had Murkowski said in 2015 that she would not vote to repeal Obamacare, she would not be a United States Senator today.

Murkowski betrayed those who voted for her because she voted to repeal Obamacare and is banking on the passage of years to make her reelectable again.

McCain is unlikely to run for reelection, so Arizonians will not pass judgment on his betrayal of them, apparently to gain revenge again a man who did what he did not – win the Presidency of the United States of America.

In "The Godfather" (1969), Don Corleone said "Revenge is a dish that tastes best cold."

McCain apparently punished President Donald Trump for disparaging him personally by joining with RINOS Murkowski and Collins and a united block of 48 Democrats to delay the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.

McCain should have atoned for his unsuccessful presidential by voting to repeal again.

Instead he frustrated President Trump and assured himself of glowing obituaries in The New York Times and the Washington Post.

If McCain had voted with Collins not to repeal Obamacare in 2015, Kelli Ward, who challenged McCain in the 2016 Arizona Republican Senate primary, might have given Trump the 50th vote that would have permitted now Vice President Pence to break the tie.

Alas, political candidates determined to win sometimes find deception a winning strategy.

© Michael Gaynor

 

The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
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Michael Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member... (more)

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