Morning After Reading

Here's some selected reading on yesterday's abomination.

Charles Pierce on Republicans celebrating taking away health care from millions of their fellow citizens:

They had a party in Washington on Thursday to celebrate the fact 24 million people would be made free by losing the healthcare that has made their lives easier since 2009. This was a thing to celebrate. 

They had a party in Washington to celebrate that people with diabetes, or a genetic disposition to Parkinson's, or a congenital heart defect, would be made free because their insurance rates would be subject to the kind ministrations of Republican governors like Sam Brownback, or Republican state legislatures like the one presently sitting in the newly insane state of North Carolina. This was a thing to celebrate. [snip] 

They had a party in Washington to celebrate the fact that taking healthcare from poor people was enough to give the top two percent of Americans a trillion-dollar tax cut. This was a thing to celebrate. 

They had a party in Washington to celebrate the fact that sexual assault can now be considered a preexisting condition. This was a thing to celebrate. 

Goddamn them all. Goddamn the political movement that spawned them and goddamn the political party in which that movement found a home, and goddamn the infrastructure in which their pus-bag of an ideology was allowed to fester until it splattered the plague all over the government. Goddamn anyone who believes that blind, genetic luck is a demonstration of divine design. Goddamn anyone who believes in a god who hands out disease as punishment. Goddamn anyone who stays behind the walls and dances while the plague comes back again.

We could stop right there, but something this abominable deserves piling on.

The Washington Post editorial board on Republican nihilism:

WHAT A BETRAYAL: Republicans promise to maintain access to health insurance for people with preexisting medical conditions, and then on Thursday press a bill through the House that would eliminate those guarantees. 

What a joke: Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) objects to the loss of protection, and then pretends that a paltry $8 billion over five years will fix the problem. 

And what hypocrisy: House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) claims to be restoring fair process to his chamber, and then orchestrates a vote on this hugely consequential bill before the Congressional Budget Office can tell lawmakers what it would cost or how many people would lose access to health care as it took effect. [snip] 

This process began with Republicans seeking to solve a problem that exists only in their imagination: the supposed catastrophic failure of Obamacare. Their solution has involved half-baked legislative language and magical thinking at every step. It is beyond sad that this is what passes for a “win” for President Trump and the Republican majority in Congress.

Catherine Rampell on the Myth of the Moderate Republican:

For years, reports of a mythical figure have lingered in Washington and reverberated through congressional districts around the country. Its legend is spread by talking heads, donors, even many of us in the news media. 

This is the Myth of the Moderate Republican. [snip] 

We’re told of these centrist leading lights of the Grand Old Party, people who listen to experts and weigh evidence, who are serious and sane and even sometimes inclined toward making PowerPoint presentations. They emphasize substance over sloganeering, country over party. 

They are reasonable, rational, sensible. Or so we like to tell ourselves.But at the point that they vote to remake 18 percent of the economy without hearings, without expert testimony, without a public text of a bill even a day before their vote, without waiting for an estimate of either the budgetary or human cost of their handiwork — well, at that point, they lose any claim to “seriousness” or “moderation.”  

If there’s one thing to take away from Thursday’s health-care vote, it’s this: Next time you think these Moderate Republicans are going to save the United States from doing something catastrophically stupid, constructed from the whims of ideologue colleagues, disabuse yourself of the notion. 

Immediately and forever.

This is the best reason not to vote for any Republican, whether or not they voted for this present abomination. Their only compass is one that tells them what's the expedient thing to do, regardless of how it effects others. Those Republican Representatives that voted "no" this time voted that way in an attempt to save their skins, in order that they may continue to plague this country in the future.

John Nichols says no quarter should be given to Republicans:

... What House Republicans voted for on Thursday will not be the final word on this issue. But the votes those Republicans cast for this particular bill ought never be forgotten. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warned Republican backers that “they have this vote tattooed on them. This is a scar that they will carry….” Her admonition should serve as a call to arms. [snip] 

They should be held to account for their willingness to tear apart a health-care system in order to reward campaign donors and political allies at the expense of ailing Americans. These wicked politicians will face opposition in 2018. Their opponents should pull no punches. What Ryan and his minions have voted for is not just wrong. It is immoral. 

That is the message that must go forward from this awful day. No quarter should be given in delivering it.

Like nothing else we can recall in recent years, this has exposed the Republican Party for what it is: a collection of amoral sociopaths, liars, hypocrites and nihilists who are unfit to wield power in this country.

BONUS:  For a look at how many would lose coverage in the districts of the partying Republicans, click here. (h/t TPM)