GOP Lied: Today's News for July 28th

CNN mustered all their schadenfreude into one big glaring headline this morning: 

OBAMACARE REPEAL FAILS

Sadly, their overjoyed headline ignores bigger problems for their Republican opponents.

But first, the story...

CNN:

GOP Obamacare repeal bill fails in dramatic late-night vote

The Senate has dealt a devastating setback to Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, defeating a GOP "skinny repeal" bill early Friday morning.

Sens. John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins joined with Democrats to oppose the measure, a major blow to President Donald Trump and the Republican congressional agenda.

These three are the heart of the Left wing of the Republican Party, so it is no surprise they would be against any repeal of Obamacare.

McCain, who ran as "me too" against Barack Obama in 2008, is a former fiscal conservative who lost his way in trying to win the White House, and never really came back.

Murkowski is the daughter of former Alaska governor Frank Murkowski, who crookedly bought himself an airplane with state money. Thanks to that, Alaska voters gave us Sarah Palin to replace him. Lisa Murkowski lost to a Tea Party candidate in 2010, only to run as a write-in candidate and win the general election.

Susan Collins has a long tradition of bucking the GOP on social issues, and has danced on both sides of the health care issue, having supported the State Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, but voted against the original Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare).

At this defeat, President Trump expressed the sentiment of many Republicans best:

3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017

Of course, Fox News downplayed this news somewhat:

Fox News:

Senate rejects amendment to 'skinny repeal' of ObamaCare as 3 Republicans vote no

Senate Republicans failed to pass Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed “skinny repeal” amendment in a vote Friday morning, signaling what could be the end to any hopes of repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

Notice the lead sentence in both stories. In the CNN story, it was "The Senate has dealt a devastating setback", whereas Fox has it as a simple "Senate Republicans failed to pass". On the other hand, CNN was more tepid about what this means for repealing Obamacare, calling it only a "setback", whereas Fox was a bit more definitive, saying it signals "what could be the end to any hopes of repealing and replacing ObamaCare".

How would I have written that first line?

A Senate vote on a proposed "skinny repeal" amendment, which would have ended parts of the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare, was defeated when 3 Republicans voted against it.    

Admittedly, it lacks the schadenfreude of CNN, or the chicken little posturing of Fox, but it tells the story accurately.

But there is more to this story:

Washingtonian:

Eric Cantor: “If You’ve Got That Anger Working for You, You’re Gonna Let It Be”

This interview with the former House Republican majority leader reveals a truth Republicans might not want you to know right now:

Let’s back up a moment. Remember the summer of 2013, when the “Defund Obamacare Tour” drove the news cycle all through Congress’s August recess? The town halls organized by the political arm of the Heritage Foundation enlivened the base and furthered what had been the GOP’s core message since 2010—that Obamacare was bad and, if Americans helped Republicans hold both chambers, it could be repealed.

Cantor helped create that perception. Earlier that summer—after many failed attempts over the years to shred the law piecemeal—Cantor promised colleagues that the House would vote on a “full repeal.” But even after it did, the measure was dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Cantor—in Congress 13 years and, fairly or unfairly, once thought to be above electoral reproach—paid the price. His 2014 avenger, now-congressman David Brat, bludgeoned him for being soft on Obamacare, among other things. But the failure to make a dent in the law landed a bigger blow on the party. After seven years of pledging they could dismantle Obamacare, if only they had control of Congress and the White House, Republicans—at last in charge of both—have faced deep divisions over a replacement.

Asked if he feels partly responsible for their current predicament, Cantor is unequivocal. “Oh,” he says, “100 percent.”

He goes further: “To give the impression that if Republicans were in control of the House and Senate, that we could do that when Obama was still in office . . . .” His voice trails off and he shakes his head. “I never believed it.”

He says he wasn’t the only one aware of the charade: “We sort of all got what was going on, that there was this disconnect in terms of communication, because no one wanted to take the time out in the general public to even think about ‘Wait a minute—that can’t happen.’ ” But, he adds, “if you’ve got that anger working for you, you’re gonna let it be.”

Time for the TRUTH: The Republicans NEVER intended to repeal Obamacare.

In summary, the Democrats were honest but stupid about Obamacare, and the Republicans lied about their intentions to get elected. America, have you figured out that neither political party was ever on your side? You got played.