They shoot horses, don't they?

"Where do we go from here? Tax reform, I hope. And I also hope the ruling party has their poop in a group on this one. If not, we might end up with another early morning session, where some brave Senator will have to put that horse out of it's misery also."

When I was a young man, there was a movie which was showing that I really liked. It was called "Thy shoot horses, don't they?" For the sake of this article, I will not go into the movie plot - but I will borrow the title to make a point. 

Last night, lying on the operating table in critical condition, was a very sick health care fix. It was given one final shot at life, and if it would work out, would be a long shot at best. In the middle of the operation, one of the doctors came in and pulled the plug. Dr. John McCain turned to the nation and said it was a mercy killing. Why? Well, they shoot horses, don't they?

There are tens of thousands of people who are madder than hell right now with John McCain. Traitor! Turn coat! However, I am not. I have addressed this issue before. For seven years now, the Republican's played liar's poker with not even a pair of aces to show. All that time, a better mousetrap could have been concocted which would have replaced the failing ObamaCare. But they did not. And to keep this charade from going on any longer, Dr. McCain pulled the plug.

I am going to take some flack for one for what I am about to say, but I don't care. John McCain has done some very heroic things in his life. And he has done some disappointing things while in politics. What he did last night (in my opinion), was one of the most heroic things he has done in his political lifetime. He stood against his party, he stood against his President, and he did right thing. He did a mercy killing on something which could have turned out to be catastrophically bad for the Republican Party for many years to come. 

If the Republicans had even the most simple and basic plan which they could have slipped right in once ObamaCare was repealed, McCain would have helped lead the charge. But they did not. All they had was the "skinny repeal" - with a promise they would work with the House in conference to come up with something "better". McCain could see the hand writing on the wall. Out of frustration, Paul Ryan might have just put the "skinny repeal" up for a vote as is. And if it passed the House, Trump was sure to sign it. Then we would have had a bigger mess than we have now. 

In all fairness, I will say this. Even though McCain was a big part of the solution by casting the deciding vote last night, he was also part of the problem. He too, like many in the GOP, campaigned on a "repeal and replace" platform. The Republicans who made that promise were either naive or bald faced liars. I choose to believe they were naive. Everyone thought that someone else had the magic key. In reality, nobody had a key to anything - except rhetoric.

Where do we go from here? Tax reform, I hope. And I also hope the ruling party has their poop in a group on this one. If not, we might end up with another early morning session, where some brave Senator will have to put that horse out of it's misery also.