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| Roll Call vote on S.Amdt. 667 to S.Amdt. 267 to H.R. 1628 (American Health Care Act of 2017), (Roll Call vote, July 28, 2017, United States Senate) |
But McCain's vote early Friday morning against the Republican Party's bill to take away healthcare from millions of Americans was not heroic, maverick, or confirmation of his supernatural streak of independence and decency to which we can only look upon in awe, (Business Insider).
McCain's vote was not even fleeting recognition that Americans deserve healthcare every bit as excellent as that McCain receives as he battles his own tragic bout with cancer.
No, McCain's grandstanding vote was all about McCain. And much of the American political press omits the fact two years ago McCain voted along with his fellow Republicans to deny healthcare to 10s of millions of Americans in an effort to repeal ObamaCare, (McCain and Healthcare Vote).
If we conceptualize the workings of the United States Senate in term of heroism, (never a good idea), the heroes are Sens. Lisa Murkowski, (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins, (R-Maine), along with the 48 Democratic Party and independent senators who represented the overwhelming pro-healthcare sentiment of the American people, (Esquire).
"If you want to laud Senator John McCain for his military service, or for his occasional high-profile stabs at bipartisanship, feel free. But it didn’t take a lick of courage to vote against an ACA repeal bill that was supported by fewer than 20 percent of the electorate, and which would have killed off some unknown number of his constituents if it passed," notes Joshua Holland at The Nation in a piece to which every political commentator should allude.
Friday's vote against Republicans and only Republicans including the lunatic in the White House to deny healthcare to the American people was not a "goddamned Frank Capra movie," (Pierce, Esquire); it was the sum total of American will and millions of citizens who told clueless senators they demand healthcare as an unalienable right.
"If millions of Americans had not raised their voices at town hall meetings, made phone calls to their senators, posted on social media, and resisted in other ways, this bill might already be law. But we know this fight is not over: the threat of repeal remains real. Republicans in Congress will not give up. Neither can we. MoveOn members will remain vigilant and prepared to mobilize at a moment’s notice if it appears Congress is attempting to advance a new bill," notes Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn.org, (Stewart, MoveOn).
A citizenry prepared to mobilize. That is the real feel-good story of the Summer.
As John Nichols writes, (Twitter):
They traveled to D.C.
They slept outside in wheelchairs.
They were arrested.
They never lost faith.
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