Shields and Brooks on Spicer stepping down, GOP health care bill fumble

[Quixote1818]

[dalton99a]

1. Good piece

[mikeyDE]

2. I'm sick of stupid

Brooks said that 48 Republicans voted for the health care bill, "pretty impressive".

Fact: the bill didn't receive even one vote. When four senators pledged to vote No, McConnell pulled the bill rather than suffer defeat.

[Honeycombe8]

4. I guess he meant that 48 had pledged to vote for it. Which is as good as a vote...

in the Senate. The Senators' reputations are hooked on how they say they will vote.

So McConnell just saved time by not going thru the vote, since 48 wasn't enough to pass it. Although it may have been a definite 46...I think several were definite NAY votes, and a couple were "probably not."

[mikeyDE]

5. I get your point but

fact is last week 48 Senators did not pledge to vote yes (some did perhaps) but all 48 can truthfully say to constituents "I didn't kill the bill" and "I didn't vote for it." I suspect if it had come to a vote, there wouldn't have been 48 in favor. The two late No pledges were calculated to save several Senators at risk of losing seats or being primaried from having to pledge.

Of course, if McConnell succeeds in giving out favors to the at-risk, that all could change. Maybe as soon as Tuesday.

I guess what irked me about Brooks's statement was the "pretty impressive." There's nothing impressive about that lot.

[Honeycombe8]

6. That's true. That went right by me. I assumed they had pledged.

Did you see the movie The American President with Michael Douglas? In it there are scenes where the W.H. people have a war room going, and they are constantly working the phones calling the Congressmen and getting a yay or nay on a bill. Their word is as good as gold. They don't go back on their pledged votes, or their name is mud. They know the W.H. is tallying the votes to know what to do and have to get the right score.

That doesn't mean, though, that they actually got a yes for the ones that didn't say no, I guess. I thought they had.

[Honeycombe8]

3. I like these guys. They've been reporting on politics for a long time.

They have good insights into political goings on and people. Thanks.