Just 11 days after undergoing surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor, John McCain returned to Washington to help Republicans move forward a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. Following the vote, McCain took to the Senate floor and delivered a riveting speech lamenting how craven partisanship has destroyed the Senate and prevented its members from doing the work of governing.
McCain was greeted with applause from his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and even some hugs from Democratic senators. Not surprisingly, the highest praise for McCain came from the political media, who jumped at the chance to take one more turn on the tire swing.
Let’s look at some highlights from the speech that brought tears to the eyes of every pundit who worships each week at St. Bipartisanship of Both Sides Do It.
I’ve stood in this place many times and addressed as president many presiding officers. I have been so addressed when I have sat in that chair, as close as I will ever be to a presidency.
Oh, what could have been! Had John McCain won in 2008, we’d still be at war in Iran, and 20 million fewer people would have health insurance. Hey, those things sound familiar.
I’ve known and admired men and women in the Senate who played much more than a small role in our history, true statesmen, giants of American politics. They came from both parties, and from various backgrounds.
The audience for this speech is centrist political pundits. The kind of people who fantasize about Michael Bloomberg running for president as an Independent, and believe every problem in America could be fixed in five minutes, if only there was more civility in Washington. This is a master class in reeling them in early. He admires colleagues from BOTH parties!
Our deliberations can still be important and useful, but I think we'd all agree they haven't been overburdened by greatness lately. And right now they aren't producing much for the American people.
Don’t sell yourself short, Senator. You joined every one of your Republican colleagues in confirming an Attorney General who was considered too racist to be a federal judge…in 1986.
Both sides have let this happen.
Both sides do it!!! A bold choice to play the song everyone came to hear so early in the set. Thought he’d save that for the encore. I can only imagine Ron Fournier mouthing “I love you” at the TV, and then sending the senator a box of his favorite donuts.
Let's leave the history of who shot first to the historians.
Come on, Senator. We all know Han shot first.
We've all played some role in it. Certainly I have. Sometimes, I've let my passion rule my reason. Sometimes, I made it harder to find common ground because of something harsh I said to a colleague. Sometimes, I wanted to win more for the sake of winning than to achieve a contested policy.
This particular passage earned McCain quite a bit of praise, which is odd, because it’s every bit the type of hollow rhetoric everyone claims to hate about politicians. Not only is he lessening his own culpability by implicating everyone else, he also fails to actually take responsibility for anything specific. There’s nothing bold or refreshing about this.
Since he didn’t bother to name a single instance where he contributed to the current political dysfunction he took to the Senate Floor to condemn, here are just a few that come to mind:
- Voting to convict on both Articles of Impeachment against President Clinton.
- Reversing his position on climate change and immigration to deny President Obama political wins.
- Holding the debt ceiling hostage to win entitlement cuts.
- Picking Sarah Palin to be his running mate.
- Pushing the lie about death panels.
- Helping Mitch McConnell steal a seat on the Supreme Court from Merrick Garland.
Speaking of which…
All we've really done this year is confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
I sold my dignity to a man who mocked me for getting captured in Vietnam, and all I got was the chance to confirm the guy he picked to fill the Supreme Court seat I stole for him!
I voted for the motion to proceed to allow debate to continue and amendments to be offered. I will not vote for the bill as it is today.
He voted for it six hours later.
The Obama administration and congressional Democrats shouldn't have forced through Congress without any opposition support a social and economic change as massive as Obamacare. And we shouldn't do the same with ours.
This is the most important part of the speech and reveals what a pathetic con it is. When Democrats took up health care reform in 2009, they held hearings in five different Congressional committees. The final bill included 188 amendments offered by Republican Members of Congress. Democrats spent months engaging in bipartisan negotiations, before it became clear Republicans had no interest in supporting any health reform plan. Then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell admitted that the entire GOP healthcare strategy in 2009-10 was denying bipartisan support for whatever bill Democrats put forth. John McCain assisted McConnell by supporting a filibuster of the Affordable Care Act. By continuing to blame Democrats for the GOP’s lack of bipartisanship, he remains an accomplice to McConnell’s strategy of putting party before country. The fact that he’s doing it in a speech that bemoans how divisive our politics have become is deeply cynical and dishonest.
I have every intention of returning here and giving many of you cause to regret all the nice things you said about me.
I hope that Sen. McCain recovers and returns to Washington. However, I have nothing nice to say about the hollow words he spoke on the Senate Floor, and for that, I can rest easy knowing I will have no regrets.