Republican Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) became an antihero of sorts early Friday morning when he cast a shocking vote against the Health Care Freedom Act, helping to defeat the “skinny repeal.”
“I’ve stated time and time again that one of the major failures of Obamacare was that it was rammed through Congress by Democrats on a strict party-line basis without a single Republican vote,” he said in a statement afterwards. “We should not make the mistakes of the past.”
Over on Twitter Friday afternoon, actor George Takei posed quite the interesting analogy: Is McCain essentially Severus Snape?
Takei’s suggestion isn’t totally off-base for Democrats and those opposed to the bill.
McCain might bear some resemblance to the “Harry Potter” character, after all. Remember: Snape seemed like he was a loyal Death Eater looking out for Voldemort’s interests for the longest time — he even (spoiler) killed Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore! — but turned out to be working against Voldemort and the resistance the whole time.
Similarly, McCain returned to Washington shortly after brain surgery to cast his vote, which many assumed would be in favor of the bill. That wasn’t the case, and McCain’s “no” vote elicited gasps and applause on the Senate floor. (It should be noted McCain wasn’t the only Republican to vote against party lines; Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also voted down the bill along with Senate Democrats and Independents.)
Alas, Twitter users weren’t exactly convinced.
You decide.
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