John McCain Is Not Your Health Care Hero

Democrats need to take the right lesson from Friday's dramatic rescue of the Affordable Care Act: You can be grateful for Sen. John McCain's vote, but he's not your hero. The Atlantic reports McCain is a man of principle, but those principles are "process, decorum, and Senate traditions." It may seem "silly" to put process over the actual policies being voted on, but that's what McCain does, and he did it again Friday, valuing process ahead of party or ideology. "We must now return to the correct way of legislating," he said in a statement. But he also said: “From the beginning, I have believed that ObamaCare should be repealed and replaced." Here's what else you need to know about Friday's health care vote:

  • Vox argues there's another reason McCain isn't the hero of the ACA's preservation: Republican senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins have opposed every GOP health care bill for weeks, standing up to threats of violence from Republicans in the House, shaming tweets from President Trump, and more.
  • Sen. Amy Klobuchar made sure that was recognized when she interrupted Sen. Chuck Schumer's praising of McCain to ask, “Can you also not forget the two women senators who were there from the beginning?” Roll Call reports.
  • In addition to McCain, Murkowski, and Collins, the Washington Post gives credit to five Democratic senators from Trump-supporting red states, especially Sen. Joe Manchin, whose West Virginia went for Trump in 2016 by 42 points, who never wavered in their opposition to the GOP health care bills.

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