A Republican Fiasco Years in the Making
Bloomberg News Jonathan Bernstein Op-Ed:
"After seven years of pledging to repeal and replace Obamacare as soon as possible, Republicans today pulled their bill from the House floor just before a scheduled vote -- because it was going to go down in flames.
We should pause and realize what a big deal this is. The number one agenda item for years, the one that most House Republicans campaigned on when first elected, and they couldn't manage to even get an initial bill out of the House. Not only that, but it was clear this week that even though most of them were willing to vote for it, practically no one was enthusiastic about what they had produced. It also polled terribly, and conservative health care wonks hated the bill.
Who was responsible? A president with a short attention span and no grasp of either process or policy didn't help. A speaker of the House with little experience or, so far, much in the way of demonstrated legislative ability wasn't helpful, either. Then there is the rejectionist House Freedom Caucus, who have shown again and again that they are willing to let the perfect (from their very small minority point of view) be the enemy of the good. This time, that wasn't hard, since no one really thought the House's product was any good.
Really, however, this is only the latest climax of a long cycle of Republican dysfunction which dates back to George H.W. Bush's administration, when House radicals upended Bush's budget deal with Democrats in a dramatic floor vote. "
Full text:
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-03-24/a-republican-fiasco-years-in-the-making
Even Ryan surprisingly admitted they don't know how to govern, only oppose. The empty symbols and platitudes that help get R's elected do not prepare them for actually being responsible for governing and creating policy. This is a long standing issue with the R party that is illuminated well in Bernstein's Op-Ed.
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Fabulous health insurance plan! Then he pushes the House plan and they said there was no plan B. He never had his own plan. Like everything else, he lied!
