The Gang That Couldn’t Legislate

I will confess that I am rather enjoying the Republican blame game on their failed “healthcare” bill. Let’s review the players.

The president, who failed to make a deal with the politicians, and couldn’t close the deal, once famously observed, “I’ve watched the politicians. I’ve dealt with ’em all my life. If you can’t make a good deal with a politician, there’s something wrong with you, you’re certainly not very good.” Thanks for the insight, President KettlePot.

Mike Pence, the man with the deft touch with his former congressional colleagues, appeared to move a grand total of zero votes in the House. Not to brag, but this is exactly the same number I moved.

Paul Ryan is the policy wonk, the intellectual heft of the GOP. (In fairness, there really isn’t much competition for that title in the House GOP Caucus — he earned the title by virtue of once having served tacos to, and having worked for, Jack Kemp), and despite this immense knowledge base he gained from “working” for Jack Kemp, and from being that one guy in class who felt really touched by Ayn Rand’s “writing,” helped produce the Ishtar of healthcare legislation. (With apologies to Ishtar).

Tom Price, who never met a personally profitable healthcare bill he didn’t like, invest in and subsequently vote for, brought all of the policy and political legerdemain of a wet Twinkie to the fight.

Add to this incompetent, immoral and intellectually incurious group of “leaders” the stench of a bill that was actually a massive tax cut for the wealthy upon which the Republicans placed a rusty stethoscope so they could call it a healthcare plan — and one can see why this bill imploded (or exploded as the president would say).

It is almost as though you can’t truly take an awful piece of legislation that has the support of 17% of Americans, and have an inept team of self-impressed, self-serving, dishonest hacks shepherd it through the congress.

Who’d a thunk it?