NEVERTHELESS, WE PERSISTED

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the following individuals and groups who stopped the Obamacare repeal dead in its tracks.  From the bottom to the top, I thank:

·         Donald Trump, for being so clueless.  He understood nothing about health care, nothing about this particular series of bills, and nothing about the legislative process.  Any other Republican president in my lifetime would have made sure the bill passed.  Do you think Republicans are beginning to realize that it’s a mistake to tie their fortunes to this asshole?

·         John McCain.  I don’t take back anything in my post on Tuesday.  McCain could have stopped this farce then.  But at the last minute, in the most dramatic way possible, McCain finally did the right thing.  At long last, Arizonans have a reason to be proud of one of our senators.

·         Lisa Murkowski.  I expected her to fold.  She didn’t, despite (or maybe because of) threats from the White House.  Good on ya, Lisa.

·         Susan Collins.  The unsung hero of the efforts to block repeal.  Wile E. Coyote (i.e., Mitch McConnell) knew that Collins was going to be a “no,” and that narrowed his margin for error immensely.  No other Republican had the guts to lead the way.  Thanks, Susan.

·         Chuck Schumer and all 48 of the Democrats in the Senate.  Everyone from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin stuck together and forced McConnell to sweat it out.  Way to herd those cats, Chuck.  Good on ya. 

·         But mostly, I want to thank everyone who called a congressman, even once; who rallied, demonstrated, and protested, and generally kept the pressure on Republican congressmen ever since last spring.  We did it, guys.  We won’t win every battle, but we can beat these bastards.