McCain the fraud

Here's what John McCain has actually done since that stirring speech about Senate bipartisanship

Sen. John McCain.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

John McCain, recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, returned to Washington this week to a rapturous welcome. But it's what he did afterward that is so remarkable. And it's only appropriate that his actions on the health-care bill Republicans are squeezing through the Senate will be perhaps McCain's final act as a politician, because it has all the hallmarks of his career: He's being excused from the skepticism other politicians receive while lauded for virtues he isn't demonstrating.

A brief summary of what has happened as of this writing: McCain came to the Senate and cast a "yes" vote on the motion to proceed, allowing debate to begin on ... something, but no one knew exactly what. There was not a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on offer, but a bunch of bills that might or might not be voted on in the ensuing days. There has not been a single hearing on these bills, no regular committee process, and no opportunity for more than a handful of Republican senators — let alone Democrats — to have any input into what they'd be voting on. Republicans needed McCain's vote, because two of their members voted no, and they have only a 52-seat majority (Vice President Pence broke the 50-50 tie).

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Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.