Leave it to Congress to thoroughly muck up the swampy waters of Washington, D.C. even worse than they already are.
Republicans in the House, led by Speaker Paul Ryan, managed to seem even more ungovernable than a bunch of anarchists as the rollout of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) stumbled along.
The theatre of “Repeal & Replace” could have been classified as a comedy if so many Americans weren’t being squeezed with the onerous regulations, high deductibles and even higher premiums through Obamacare.
Don’t get me wrong, the AHCA was not a great bill, especially from a conservative perspective. I totally agree with the Freedom Caucus on the merits. Meaningful reforms like law suit abuse, malpractice reform and purchasing insurance across state lines weren’t present until Phase 3.
Instead of working towards a better bill, negotiating, and moving the ball further down the field, the Freedom Caucus said no. After seven years, and countless passed repeals vetoed by Obama, Republicans showed that they have no idea how to lead after being in the minority for most of the last twenty years.
I understand why so many on the right want assurances that our representatives do what the voters sent them to do. Congress and Republicans don’t have the best track record.
The roll out by Ryan and the White House was, well, lacking. Consensus, strategy and messaging should have been decided before the first press conference was scheduled. And it only went downhill from there.
In-fighting ruled the day until the vote for the AHCA was scrapped late last week rather than the GOP suffering a very public loss right out of the gate. Well, optics-wise this was worse than a loss, it was amateur hour.
Instead of looking like adults entering the room and restoring order, Republicans looked like a bunch of wild monkeys at feeding time.
Up For Debate 